Overview of Social Psychology and Methodology

Question 1

______ psychology scientifically studies the influence of other people on a person’s thoughts, feelings,and behavior.

Answer 1

Social

Explanation

The other people may or may not be present to have influence. For example, a man may be influenced by his friends when he is with them. Even when he is not with them, he may still be influenced by his perceptions of what his friends would think.

Question 2

Social psychology is relevant to the extent that social influences significantly affect people’s ________.

Answer 2

behavior

Question 3

Social psychology considers how individuals are affected by social influences and how a person’s _____________ makes them susceptible to social influences.

Answer 3

personality

Question 4

A person’s _________ is the way in which they interpret the social world surrounding them.

Answer 4

construal

Question 5

A person’s construal can influence that person’s _________, behavior, and thoughts.

Answer 5

feelings

Question 6

A common interest among the disciplines of social psychology is social ________, which can be influenced by social and societal factors.

Answer 6

behavior

Question 7

Rather than examining individuals and the _____________ processes they undergo, sociology focuses on factors within societies which influence behavior.

Answer 7

psychological

Question 8

Sociology is similar to social psychology in that it examines social behavior. However, it provides laws and _________ concerning societies rather than individuals within society- - it looks at the bigger picture.

Answer 8

theories

Question 9

The key components examined in ___________ psychology are the characteristics which make individuals unique and different from one another.

Answer 9

personality

Explanation:

This field of psychology is similar to social psychology in that it examines social behavior. However, it attempts to explain social behavior using the personality traits of people.

Question 10

In ___________ psychology, individual differences can include factors such as introversion, intelligence, values, and self-esteem.

Answer 10

personality

Explanation:

These differences are studied to help explain why certain people perform certain behaviors while others do not.

Question 11

_________, social psychology, and personality psychology all attempt to explain social behavior through different approaches.

Answer 11

Sociology

Explanation:

These three disciplines attempt to explain why certain social behaviors are displayed in certain situations. The approaches used include examining personality traits and societal influences, such as economics and politics.

Question 12

A __________ is an idea or theory which a scientist wants to test and is the basis of an experiment.

Answer 12

hypothesis

Question 13

Scientists create a hypothesis based on the information they already know. A hypothesis is what they think will happen in a given situation. ___________ are then designed to test the hypothesis.

Answer 13

Experiments

Question 14

In order to determine whether a __________ is correct or not, researchers need to collect data.

Answer 14

hypothesis

Question 15

Hypotheses are sometimes derived from personal observations. However, in some cases, a researcher disagrees with the conclusions made by another researcher and thus develops a new _______ from which they think up specific hypotheses to test.

Answer 15

theory

Question 16

When a psychologist is interested in seeing what people do in a situation, they use the _____________ method, which involves watching a person and recording their behavior.

Answer 16

observational

Question 17

__________ observation involves researchers observing behaviors and recording their findings according to set criteria. These researchers are trained social psychologists and are conducting the observations in order to answer specific questions about a social phenomenon.

Answer 17

Systematic

Explanation:

For example, a social psychologist may record how many sentences in a conversation were said by each person.

Question 18

During participant observation, it is vital that the observer does not _____ the situation in any way while mingling with the subjects.

Answer 18

alter

Question 19

Examining accumulated documents or archives of a culture can expose much information about how a society views itself and can be used to follow changes in societal views over time. This form of observation is known as _________ analysis.

Answer 19

archival

Question 20

Many types of documents or archives such as newspapers, magazines, letters, diaries, and movies can be used to provide information about a society. Proper ________________ of this material is necessary.

Answer 20

categorization

Question 21

In order to ensure archival material is being examined objectively, two or more people must independently rate the material and reach an agreement on the rating. This process is known as _________ reliability.

Answer 21

interjudge

Question 22

Determining whether two or more variables are related is achieved using the ___________al method.

Answer 22

correlational

Explanation:

It does not indicate causality; i.e. does one variable cause the change in the other. Usually if a researcher determines that there is a correlation between two variables, he will then have to design an experiment to determine if there’s a cause and effect relationship between the two variables.

Question 23

A ______ is used to question people about beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors in order to uncover information which cannot be easily obtained by observation.

Answer 23

survey

Explanation:

Information collected via surveys is collated and used to determine relationships between the questions asked and the answers received from a large population of people. This helps researchers determine whether certain variables of social behavior are related.

Question 24

___________ determine the relationship between two variables by determining how the two variables are correlated. If two variables have a positive correlation, an increase in one variable will relate to an increase in the other variable.

Answer 24

Researchers

Question 25

A positive correlation indicates that both variables are heading in the same direction; that is, an increase or decrease in one variable will relate to a corresponding same direction change in the other variable. On the other hand, a negative correlation exists when an increase in one variable corresponds with a _________ in the other variable.

Answer 25

decrease

Question 26

In order to ensure that a sample of people being observed is a ________ representation of a larger population, random selection is used so that every person has an equal chance of being selected in the sample.

Answer 26

reliable

Question 27

________ implies that one variable is responsible for the changes observed in a correlated variable.

Answer 27

Causation

Question 28

Even though two variables may be ___________, one is not necessarily causative of the other. It is vital to determine why two variables are related, and thus whether one caused changes in the other, before stating causation.

Answer 28

correlated

Question 29

In order to determine whether one variable causes changes to another variable, the ___________ method is used. This method involves randomly assigning participants to conditions which are identical in all aspects with the exception of one variable, which is varied.

Answer 29

experimental

Question 30

A researcher changes the _____________ variable in order to determine whether changes to this variable caused changes in another variable.

Answer 30

independent

Question 31

A researcher may set up an experiment which aims to determine whether the number of bystanders present during an emergency affects a person’s response to the emergency. In this case, the number of bystanders is the ___________ variable and the researcher would be looking at whether the people’s responses change as the number of bystanders changes.

Answer 31

independent

Question 32

When testing a hypothesis, a researcher tests whether the _________ variable changes depending on the level of the independent variable.

Answer 32

dependent

Explanation:

While the independent variable is manipulated across different levels in each condition of an experiment, the dependent variable is not altered. Instead, it is observed in order to determine whether it changes in response to the variations in the independent variable. The independent variable would be the cause, and the dependent variable would be the effect.

Question 33

When an experimental design consists of more than one independent variable, each of which has more than one level, and includes all possible combinations of these levels, the design is ________.

Answer 33

factorial

Explanation:

These designs are important as there are many variables which can affect social behavior, and so it is useful for researchers to determine the effects of multiple independent variables rather than just one.

Question 34

When all variables of an experiment, apart from the independent variable, are kept constant and identical across all the conditions, an experiment has _________________.

Answer 34

internal validity

Explanation:

Experiments which have tight control over all the variables and ensure that the variables are identical and kept constant have high internal validity. However, when an experiment has differences between the conditions which are unaccounted for as independent variables, the internal validity is decreased.

Question 35

For an experiment to be internally valid, we need to be sure that whatever effects we observe can be attributed to the changes in the ___________ independent variables- - if there are other variables which are not being kept constant which might be responsible for the change, then the experiment has little internal validity.

Answer 35

independent

Question 36

To avoid compromising an experiment’s outcome and validity, researchers use ______ assignment to condition, a technique which ensures all participants have an equal chance of participating in the conditions of an experiment. This helps diversify the participant’s characteristics such as experience, background, and personality.

Answer 36

random

Question 37

________ validity refers to the extent to which the results obtained from an experiment can be generalized to describe other situations or people.

Answer 37

External

Explanation:

Often experiments differ from real life due to the constraints imposed in order to obtain internal validity. It is necessary to determine the external validity of an experiment in order to determine its value to describe or predict other situations.

Question 38

_____________ across situations refers to the validity of using the results from an experiment to describe or predict a real life scenario.

Answer 38

Generalizability

Question 39

Generalizability across people is similar, except that it refers to the validity of using ______________ results to make generalizations or predictions about people.

Answer 39

experimental

Question 40

_________ realism is a measure of how closely an experiment resembles situations in everyday life.

Answer 40

Mundane

Explanation:

As most experiments involve situations which participants rarely encounter in everyday life, the mundane realism of social behavior experiments is often low.

Question 41

In order to test the external validity of an experiment’s results, experiments are repeated many times, usually across different settings, or using different samples of participants. This process is known as ___________.

Answer 41

replication

Question 42

Replication is an important process as it indicates whether the results of an experiment are _________ to a larger sample of people, not just those tested. When an experiment is tested across a greater variety of variables, the generalization of the results can be determined. For example, a result about some aspect of behavior in females may not necessarily be the same as reported for males.

Answer 42

relevant

Question 43

The ___________ level, or p- value, is a statistical value used to determine whether a particular result is likely to occur due to chance or because of the independent variable

Answer 43

probability

Question 44

As the majority of previous studies in social psychology have been conducted in America, an increase in social experiments in other countries is occurring in order to determine whether the results differ across different cultures. ______________ research aims to determine how similar– and also how different- psychological behavior is across different cultures.

Answer 44

Cross-cultural

Question 45

Many studies are undertaken in a ___________. However, this decreases the external validity of the experiment as it is removed from real life situations. Field experiments increase the external validity of experiments since they relate to real life situations.

Answer 45

lab setting

Question 46

_____ research is conducted out of interest and does not aim to solve a specific problem important to society. It is usually aimed at finding the best answer to a question.

Answer 46

Basic

Question 47

_______ research is initiated out of the need to find the solution to a specific problem. The aim of this is to try and alleviate a problem in society. For example, research is conducted on the behaviors associated with sexual violence in the hope of determining how best to reduce it.

Answer 47

Applied

Question 48

Many experiments can be performed to find out different aspects of social behavior, however these experiments may have ___________ effects on the health and well- being of the participants during or following the experiment. To prevent this, researchers are obligated to evaluate the ethics of their experiments and adjust the design accordingly.

Answer 48

detrimental

Question 49

Some experiments involve explaining the experiment to participants prior to them taking part in the experiment. They are then required to give their consent to take part in the experiment. This is known as _________ consent.

Answer 49

informed

Question 50

Sometimes, in order to make an experiment as close to real life as possible, participants are misled about the nature of an experiment prior to participating in it. This is known as _________.

Answer 50

deception

Question 51

Once an experiment is completed, participants undergo debriefing during which the researcher ________ the purpose of the study and exactly what transpired during the course of the experiment.

Answer 51

explains

Explanation:

This event is crucial following deception experiments as researchers can determine whether the participant is disturbed or upset at being misled. In addition, it gives the researcher an opportunity to explain the purpose of their study to the participants.