Noba Chapter on Research Methods Flashcards
What is the social facilitation effect? And what is important about it
We preform better in comeption with others
It’s the first experimental study in social psychology
What did early scientists rely on?
Not fully accurate methods of recording
Ex. systematic observation or anecdotal evidence
What are the steps of the scientific method?
- observing the world around us and thinking of a question
- specific testable prediction, or hypothesis
- operationalize the variables they are studying.
What are independent / dependent?
independent variable, or “cause” (the presence of others),
the dependent variable, or “effect” (performance)
What are complex experimental designs?
multiple independent and/or dependent variables
Why have complex experimental designs become popular?
permit researchers to study both the individual and joint effects of several factors on a range of related situations. (how many factors can cause one result)
Also thanks to social neuroscience, an increasing number of researchers now integrate biological markers (e.g., hormones) or use neuroimaging techniques (e.g., fMRI) in their research designs to better understand the biological mechanisms that underlie social processes.
What is the major difference between field experiments and laboratory experiments?
people in field experiments do not know they are participating in research, so—in theory—they will act more naturally
Briefly, what is the lab study on agression?
See if northern americans (non honor culture) will react with anger the same as southern americans (honor culutre)
- Found that Southern Americans will become angry more, and strive to prove themselves after
What is naturalistic observation?
unobtrusively watching people as they go about their lives.
Ex. t seven universities to confirm that students are significantly more likely to wear clothing bearing the school name or logo on days following wins (vs. draws or losses)
What are experience sampling methods?
Systematic ways of having participants provide samples of their ongoing behavior. Participants’ reports are dependent (contingent) upon either a signal, pre-established intervals, or the occurrence of some event.
Ex. In some cases, participants are notified several times during the day by a pager, wristwatch, or a smartphone app to record data
What is priming?
The process by which exposing people to one stimulus makes certain thoughts, feelings or behaviors more salient.
Explain terror management theory (TMT), an example of priming:
terror management theory (TMT), authors believe that human beings are (unconsciously) terrified of their mortality (i.e., the fact that, some day, we will all die)
- Thoughts of death make us cling to religious / cultural beliefs
So we see if they cling once subtly reminded of their own mortality.
Explain the sex worker case with terror management theory:
If remined of mortality: participants will want to set fine higher
(motivated to defend their belief system in the face of a violation of the law)
What is a manipulation check found in priming studies?
For example, right after being primed, participants in a TMT study might be given a word fragment task in which they have to complete words such as COFF_ _ or SK _ _ L.
Participants in the mortality-primed experimental group typically complete these fragments as COFFIN and SKULL, whereas participants in the control group complete them as COFFEE and SKILL.
priming to unwittingly influence behavior is called?
social or behavioral priming
What is Ecological validity?
The degree to which a study finding has been obtained under conditions that are typical for what happens in everyday life
How are social psychologists using archival data for recent events?
Analyzing social media posts. Social media has extremely large sets of data (“big data”) to test creative hypotheses.
social psychologists have been guilty of largely recruiting____?
samples of convenience from—students—found at universities and colleges
Why are students not representative?
Aside from being an overrepresentation of young, middle-class Caucasians, college students may also be more compliant and more susceptible to attitude change
- Also most are psyc students
What are WEIRD cultures (acronym)?
western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic countries
What are the five most important ethical issues to be addressed?
- Informed consent: In general, people should know when they are involved in research, and understand what will happen to them during the study
- Privacy: Although it is permissible to observe people’s actions in public—even without them knowing—researchers cannot violate their privacy by observing them in restrooms or other private spaces without their knowledge and consent.
- Risks and Benefits: People who participate in psychological studies should be exposed to risk only if they fully understand the risks and only if the likely benefits clearly outweigh those risks.
- Deception: Social psychologists sometimes need to deceive participants (e.g., using a cover story) to avoid demand characteristics (Subtle cues that make participants aware of what the experimenter expects to find or how participants are expected to behave.) by hiding the true nature of the study.
- Debriefing: This is the process of informing research participants as soon as possible of the purpose of the study, revealing any deceptions, and correcting any misconceptions
When is deception allowed?
(a) when the benefits of the study outweigh the risks
(b) participants are not reasonably expected to be harmed
(c) the research question cannot be answered without the use of deception, and
(d) participants are informed about the deception as soon as possible, usually through debriefing
