PSYC 231 Week 1 Lecture Content

Question 1

What is social psychology?

Answer 1

The scientific study of the causes and consequences of peoples thoughts, feelings, and behaviours regarding themselves and other people

Question 2

What are the ABC’s of Social Psychology?

Answer 2

A is for affect (feelings) reflecting on how we feel around others
B is for behaviour (what we do in social interaction)
C is for cognition (thoughts) how do we think, make thoughts

Question 3

What are the levels of analysis?

Answer 3

Levels of analysis: The levels of generalization (or abstraction) for observing psychology; the scale of your focus, how broad or how narrow are our questions

Question 4

What are the levels of analysis for social psychology?

Answer 4

Biology- Physiology, genetic
Individual- Perceiving self/others, attitudes and persuasion
Social Interactions- Social influence, aggression, altruism, relationships
Cultural- Group processes, stereotyping and prejudice, conflict and cooperation

Question 5

What is an emotion?

Answer 5

A brief, specific response, both psychological and physiological, that helps people meet goals, including social goals.

Question 6

What is the intrapersonal function of emotion?

Answer 6

Refers to the role that emotions play within each of us individually
-Prepare the body for action
-Influence thought
-Motivate future behaviour

Question 7

What is the interpersonal function of emotion?

Answer 7

Interpersonal: Refer to the role emotions play between individuals within a group.
-Facilitate specific behaviours in perceivers
-Signal the nature of interpersonal relationships
-Provide incentives for desired social behaviour

Question 8

Which six emotions are present everywhere in the world?

Answer 8

Six emotions are present everywhere around the world: Anger, fear, disgust, surprise, happiness, sadness
-Facial expressions for these emotions are similar around the world, blind and visually impaired people make these same faces

Question 9

What do evolutionary approaches to emotion state?

Answer 9

-Emotions are biologically based behavioural adaptations meant to promote survival and reproduction
-Physiological responses to emotions (facial expressions, heart rate, breathing, vocalizations, and so on) should be cross-culturally universal.
-Similar patterns throughout emotions and across cultures.
-Adaptation, emotions are here to help the survival of the species. Signal things to ourselves and others. Provide social information that helps people understand how to interact in groups.

Question 10

What are two types of correlational research?

Answer 10

Observation- follow a group of people/ a single person and take notes on their emotions
Survey- Make a survey and send it to a group of people, have people speak about emotional experiences
Both describe your observations

Question 11

What are characteristics of correlational research?

Answer 11

-Examines things you can’t manipulate
-Longitudinal research
-Infers: Generalize results beyond the people that were in the experiment

Question 12

What does experimental research do to infer causation?

Answer 12

-Manipulate and change situations/contexts (variables)
-Infers: Generalize results beyond the people that were in the experiment

Question 13

What is a correlation?

Answer 13

-Measures if two or more factors are naturally associated/related with one another
-Strength of an association is reflected by a correlation coefficient

Question 14

What does a positive correlation entail?

Answer 14

Both variables are increasing simultaneously

Question 15

What does a negative correlation entail?

Answer 15

As one variable increases, the other variable decreases simultaneously

Question 16

What are two limitations of correlational research?

Answer 16

Direction of causality- correlation does not equal causation. Unsure which variable is directly causing the other variable to occur.
Third variables- Spurious correlation- a third variable is causing the relationship between both variables that was observed. Two variables seem related even though they aren’t.

Question 17

What does the Cannon-Bard Theory of emotion state?
James-Lange?
Schacters or Two-Factor Theory?

Answer 17

Cannon-Bard believes that emotions occur simultaneously with physiological response.
James-Lange: Body-first, bottom up process. Physiological response first, psychological response next.
Schacters or Two-Factor Theory: Pattern and label based, top-down process. Once an emotion is labelled, your body physiologically responds.

Question 18

What is the cognitive-appraisal theory?

Answer 18

The idea that our subjective experience of emotions is determined by a two-step process involving a primary appraisal of benefit or harm, and a secondary appraisal providing a more differentiated emotional experience
- Stimulus -> primary appraisal (benefit/harm) -> secondary appraisal (goals/motivations impact) -> emotion

Question 19

What’s an appraisal?

Answer 19

Judgement, when an individual consciously or non-consciously makes a decision to come to an understanding of what is going on in a situation.

Question 20

Which Core Appraisal Content leads to certain emotions?

Answer 20

Other-blame -> Anger
Self-blame -> Guilt
Danger/threat -> Fear
Loss/helplessness -> Sadness
Achievement/success -> Joy
Positive encounters -> Love

Question 21

What does Dual-Process Thinking consist of?

Answer 21

Automatic processes and controlled processes

Question 22

What are automatic processes?

Answer 22

Automatic processes- Human thoughts or actions that occur quickly, often without the aid of conscious awareness.

Question 23

What are controlled processes?

Answer 23

Human thoughts or actions that occur more slowly and deliberately, and are motivated by some goal that is often recognized. Consciously aware of completing these actions

Question 24

What does a secondary appraisal consider?
What are the basic psychological needs for thriving?

Answer 24

Takes into account our needs, goals, and motivations
Needs:
-Relatedness/belonging
-Competence
-Autonomy

Question 25

What are goals?
What are the two fundamental psychological motives that guide our behaviour?

Answer 25

Outcomes we strive for in order to meet our needs and desires.
Approach (growth) and avoidance (security)

Question 26

What is a theory?

Answer 26

An integrated set of principles that explain and predict observed events. Never 100% certain, not enough information to be 100% proven true or false.

Question 27

What qualities does a good theory have?

Answer 27

-Organizes and explains observations
-Generative- sparks new hypotheses, new research, practical applications to the world
-Is falsifiable- can be proven wrong

Question 28

What are experiments? What is the IV?

Answer 28

Laboratory simulations of everyday social processes- principle of control
Independent variable- Every detail of participants experiences are held constant but one/more features of their experiences varied across experimental conditions

Question 29

What is the DV?

Answer 29

The variable that is impacted by change in the IV.

Question 30

What is the principle of random assignment? What type of study occurs if random assignment is not an option?

Answer 30

Participants from a study are randomly sorted into conditions, each participant has an equal chance of ending up in either group. Does not take pre-existing differences into account.
-Correlational study

Question 31

What can determine causality?

Answer 31

Experimental research using random sampling and the principle of control

Question 32

What is hindsight bias?
What is another common assumption when encountering social psychology?

Answer 32

-Hindsight bias is a psychological phenomenon that allows people to convince themselves after an event that they accurately predicted it before it happened.
-Findings seem to apply to others, not to self

Question 33

What is each of our perspectives on the world shaped by?
What is the socio-cultural worldview of psychological research

Answer 33

-A unique socio-cultural worldview
-WEIRD- Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic countries. Most psychological research has been conducted in these countries.

Question 34

How does social position and socio-cultural worldviews influence our place in society?

Answer 34

-Some groups of people have advantages relative to other groups of people. Access to resources and benefits.
-Marginalized or stigmatized groups are excluded from having access to those advantages.

Question 35

How is privilege earned? What does having privilege cause?

Answer 35

-Most qualities that afford privilege are unearned.
-Privilege affords people the luxury of not having to think about privilege
-Often causes privileged people to dismiss, or not listen to the voices of stigmatized or oppressed groups

Question 36

What is system justification?

Answer 36

If there is a system that we live and exist within and are comfortable with, if something comes along to destablize that, our brains try to make it right. Try to explain the system and justify it, instead of confronting it.