Psych Exam #1// Lecture #1 Chp 1&2 (Nature vs Culture) Flashcards
Nature
universal characteristics we share as a species
Culture
specific materials, ideas, and practices shared by a group, socialized through our interactions with others in the same culture
“the great leap forward” or “cultural big bang”
major shift in the brain allowed for modern human behavior.
“the revolution that wasn’t”:
roots of modern behavior can be seen in the stone age -in this view, we have been continuously selected for culture all along, and those capacities have evolved along with us and emerged across time
Social brain theory
brains are ‘expensive’ : intelligence arose from social pressures/ problems – living in a complex social group requires greater thinking capacity
Biological universals:
basic biological needs and motives: eating, sleeping, mating, etc.
Social universals
social functions across all members of our species: kingroups, religion, economy, etiquette, etc.
Psychological universals
capabilities of the mind: language, categorization, “self”, emotion, etc.
Emotion
universal “set” of emotions found across mammals (fear, anger, joy, sadness, disgust) important for surviva
Social coordination
Humans mimic one another’s behavior, even at a non-conscious level. Multiple examples
Emotional contagion:
we will subtly mimic the facial expressions of others, and we often ‘catch’ the emotional states of others .
Behavioral mimicry
we will often posture or move in a way similar to an interaction partner (especially if we like them), and doing so increases their liking for us
Linguistic mimicry
we will use the same types of words as a conversation partner – if your friend mentions his girlfriend is “running hot and cold on him” even if these aren’t terms you normally use – you’re likely to say “well when did she grow cold at you” as opposed to “when did she start pulling away?”
Asch’s studies on conformity in line length judgments
found that most people would give an answer that conformed to a group but violated their own visual perceptions (would choose the group answer over the one they could see with their own eyes
normative influence:
we will often do what others are doing in order to be liked/valued/accepted
Milgrams’ studies on destructive obedience
Milgram found that most people would obey an authority figure to give electric shocks to another person (a confederate, who wasn’t really harmed) even when they thought they might be injuring/killing him, violating their own moral judgments.
informational influence
we will often do what others are doing/tell us to do because we want to be correct, and we assume that they know something we do not
what was found in both studies?
a participant would be able to resist conformity or resist obedience if they saw just one other person who did not conform and/or did not obey. A single “ally” broke the social pressure of either the rest of the group or of the authority figure.
hypothesis
an idea about the possible nature of reality; a prediction tested in an experiment
within-subjects design
participants are exposed to all levels of the independent variable
between-subjects design
participants are exposed to only one level of the independent variable
theories
unobservable constructs that are linked together in some logical way
independent variable
the variable manipulated by the researcher that is assumed to lead to changes in the dependent variable
dependent variable
the variable in a study that represents the result of the events and processes
operational definitions
observable operations, procedures, and measurements that are based on the independent and dependent variables
confederate
a research assistant pretending to be another participant in a study
construct validity of the cause
extent to which the independent variable is a valid representation of the theoretical stimulus
construct validity of the effect
extent to which the dependent variable is a valid representation of the theoretical response
experiment
a study in which the researcher manipulates an independent variable and randomly assigns people to groups (levels of the independent variable)
random assignment
procedure whereby each study participant has an equal chance of being in each treatment group
Institutional Review Board (IRB)
is a committee that makes sure that a research study conducted in university settings is ethical. The board must contain at least one scientist, one nonscientist, and one person not affiliated with the university
consent form
a document that participants receive before a study begins; the form contains enough information about the study procedures, including any potential harm they (or others) might experience, so participants can decide if they want to participate
demand characteristics
any clues in a study that suggest to participants what the researcher’s hypothesis is
deception studies
research studies that withhold information from participants or intentionally mislead them about the purpose of the study
debriefing
an oral or written statement participants receive at the end of a psychological study; it serves two main purposes: (1) to fully inform participants about the study and answer any questions they have, and (2) to reduce or eliminate any stress or harm the participant experienced by being in the study
quasi-experiment
a type of study in which the researcher can manipulate an independent variable but cannot randomly assign participants to conditions
internal validity
the extent to which changes in the independent variable caused changes in the dependent variable
confounding
occurs when the two effects of variables cannot be separated
stimulus sampling
using more than one exemplar of a stimulus (e.g., more than one violent video game)
reactance
an unpleasant emotional response that people often experience when someone is trying to restrict their freedom
field experiment
an experiment conducted in a real-world setting
experimental realism
the extent to which study participants get so caught up in the procedures that they forget they are in an experiment
mundane realism
refers to whether the setting of an experiment physically resembles the real world
external validity
the extent to which the findings from a study can be generalized to other people, other settings, and other time periods
correlational approach
a nonexperimental method in which the researcher merely observes whether variables are associated or related
correlation
the relationship or association between two variables
correlation coefficient
the statistical relationship or association between two variables
meta-analysis
a quantitative literature review that combines the statistical results (e.g., correlation coefficients) from all studies conducted on a topic
random sample
a sample wherein each person in the population has an equal chance of being selected
margin of error
a statistic measure of the amount of random sampling error in a survey’s results—for example, a 3% margin of error means that the survey’s result could be 3% lower or 3% higher than the average response—the larger the sample is, the smaller the margin of error is
population
the total number of people under consideration
reliability
a measure that gives consistent results
validity
refers to whether a measure actually measures what it purports to measure
