Psy15 Chapter 2: Methods of Social Psychology Flashcards
hindsight bias
People’s tendency to be overconfident about whether they could have predicted a given outcome.
hypothesis
A prediction about what will happen under particular circumstances
theory
A body of related propositions intended to describe some aspect of the world
correlational research
Research that does not involve random assignment to different situations, or conditions, and that psychologists conduct just to see whether there is a relationship between variables
experimental research
In social psychology, research that randomly assigns people to different conditions, or situations, and that enables researches to make strong inferences about how these different conditions affect people’s behavior
reverse causation
When variable 1 is assumed to cause variable 2, yet the opposite direction of causation may be the case
third variable
When variable 1 does not cause variable 2 and variable 2 does not cause variable 1, but rather some other variable exerts a causal influence on both
self-selection
A problem that arises when the participant, rather than the investigator, selects his or her level on each variable, bringing with this value unknown other properties that make causal interpretation of a relationship difficult
longitudinal study
A study conducted over a long period of time with the same population, which is periodically assessed regarding a particular behavior
independent variable
In experimental research, the variable that is manipulated; it is hypothesized to be the cause of a particular outcome
dependent variable
In experimental research, the variable that is measured (as opposed to manipulated); it is hypothesized to be affected by manipulation of the independent variable
random assignment
Assigning participants in experimental research to different groups randomly, such that they are as likely to be assigned to one condition as to the other
control condition
A condition comparable to the experimental condition in every way except that it lacks the one ingredient hypothesized to produced the expected effect on the dependent variable
natural experiments
Naturally occurring events or phenomena having somewhat different conditions that can be compared with almost as much rigor as in experiments where the investigator manipulates the conditions
external validity
An experimental setup that closely resembles real-life situations so that results can safely be generalized to such situations
field experiment
An experiment set up in the real world, usually with participants who are not aware that they are in a study of any kind
internal validity
In experimental research, confidence that only the manipulated variable could have produced the results
debriefing
In preliminary versions of an experiment, asking participants straightforwardly if they understood the instructions, found the setup to be reasonable, and so forth. In later versions, debriefings are used to educate participants about the questions being studied
reliability
The degree to which the particular way that researchers measure a given variable is likely to yield consistent results
measurement validity
The correlation between some measure and some outcome that the measure is supposed to predict
statistical significance
A measure of the probability that a given result could have occurred by chance
basic science
Science concerned with trying to understand some phenomenon in its own right, with a view toward using that understanding to build valid theories about the nature of some aspect of the world
applied science
Science concerned with solving some real-world problem of importance
intervention
An effort to change people’s behavior
institutional review board (IRB)
A university committee that examines research proposals and makes judgments about the ethical appropriateness of the research
informed consent
Participants’ willingness to participate in a procedure or research study after learning all relevant aspects about the procedure or study
deception research
Research in which the participants are misled about the purpose of the research or the meaning of something that is done to them
