Reviewer for Social Psychology Finals Flashcards
Social Psychology
The scientific study of how individuals think, feel, and behave in a social context
Cross Cultural Research
Research Designed to compare and contrast people of different cultures
Interactionist Perspective
An emphasis on how both an individual’s personality and environmental characteristics influence behavior
Behavioral Genetics
A subflield of psychology that examines the role of genetic factors on behavior
Evolutionary Psychology
A subfield of psychology that uses the principles of evolution to understand human social behavior
Social Cognition
The study of how people perceive, remember, and interpret information about themselves and others
Multicultural Research
Research designed to examine racial and ethnic groups within cultures
Social Neuroscience
The study of the relationship between neural and social processes
Difference between social psychologists and sociologists
Social psychologists focus on the individual level while sociologists focus on the group level
Social psychology started to become established as a distinct field of study
In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century
What ideas are consistent with the ideas of Kurt Lewin?
Behavior is a function of the person and the environment
Social psychologists should integrate research from personality psychology into their own theories and research
The behavior of different people may vary even if they are placed in the exact same social situation
Personality psychologists are more interested in
differences between individuals that are across situations
Kurt Lewin
German immigrant who made a major contribution to the development to establish principles like “behavior is a function of the interaction between the person and the environment.”
Both internal and external factors affect behavior
What marked the 1960’s and 1970’s in social behavior?
Expansion and debate
Leon Festinger
Theory of Cognitive Dissonance
Social Comparison Theory
Fritz Heider
Balance Theory
How do Social Psychologists and Clinical Psychologists differ?
Social psychologists are interested in situational determinants of behavior while Clinical psychologists develop therapeutic techniques to control people’s aggression
What was the dominant research method in social psychology up to the period of Confidence and Crisis?
Laboratory Experiment
Norman Triplett
Published first research article in social psychology at the end of the 19th century; Observed that bicyclists tended to race faster when racing in the presence of others than when simply racing against a clock. He did this in a scientific way
Gergen
Theories being tested in the social psychology laboratory were historically and culturally limited
What are characteristics of social psychology?
Broad perspective
Focus on the individual
Frequent use of experiment methodology
The difference between common sense ideas and social psychology
Social Psychology tests are put to the test because it is a scientific study
Who wrote the first three textbooks of Social Psychology?
William McDougall (1908) Edward Ross (1908) Floyd Allport (1924)
Gergen
Theories being tested in the social psychology laboratory were historically and culturally limited
What are characteristics of social psychology?
Broad perspective
Focus on the individual
Frequent use of experiment methodology
The difference between common sense ideas and social psychology
Social Psychology tests are put to the test because it is a scientific study
Who wrote the first three textbooks of Social Psychology?
William McDougall (1908) Edward Ross (1908) Floyd Allport (1924)
Gordon Allport
Published The Nature of Prejudice (1954); formed the Society for Psychological Study of Social Issues
Solomon Asch
1951, demonstrated willingness of people to conform to an obviously wrong majority
Internal Validity
The degree to which there can be reasonable certainty that the independent variables in an experiment caused the effects obtained on the dependent variables
Theory
An organized set of principles used to explain observed phenomena
Debriefing
A disclosure made to participants after research procedures are completed, in which the researcher explains the purpose of the research, attempts to resolve any negative feelings, and emphasizes the scientific contribution made by participants’ participation
Experimental Realism
The degree to which experimental procedures are involving to participants and lead them to behave naturally and spontaneously
Correlational Research
Research designed to measure the association between variables that are not manipulated by the researcher
Dependent Variables
In an experiment, the factors experimenters measure to see if they are affected by the independent variables
Mundane Realism
The degree to which the experimental situation resembles places and events that exist in the real world
Interrater Reliability
The degree to which different observers agree on their observations
Meta-analysis
A set of statistical procedures used to review a body of evidence by combining the results of individual studies to measure the overall reliability and strength of particular effects
Hypothesis
A testable prediction about the conditions under which an event will occur
Experiment
A form of research that can demonstrate causal relationships because (1) the experimenter has control over the events that occur and (2) the participants are randomly assigned to conditions
Random Sampling
A method of selecting participants for a study so that everyone in a population has an equal chance of being in the study
Basic Research
Research whose goal is to increase understanding of human behavior, often by testing hypotheses based on a theory
Experimenter Expectancy Effects
The effects produced when an experimenter’s expectations about the results of an experiment affect his or her behavior toward a participant and thereby influence the participant’s responses
Random Assignment
A method of assigning participants to the various conditions of an experiment so that each participant in the experiment has an equal chance of being in any of the conditions
Subject Variables
Variables that characterize pre-existing differences among the participants in a study
Deception
Research that provides false information to participants
External Validity
The degree to which one can be reasonably confident that the same results would be obtained for other people and in other situations
Correlation Coefficient
A statistical measure of the strength and direction of the association between two variables. The correlation coefficient can range from -1.0 to +1.0
Informed Consent
An individual’s deliberate, voluntary decision to participate in research, based on the researcher’s description of what will be required during such participation
Independent Variables
In an experiment, the factors experimenters manipulate to see if they affect the dependent variables
Construct Validity
The extent to which the measures used in a study measure the variables they were designed to measure and the manipulations in an experiment manipulate the variables they were designed to manipulate
Applied Research
Research whose goal is to enlarge the understanding of naturally occurring events and to find solutions to practical problems
Confederates
Accomplices of an experimenter who, in dealing with the real participants in an experiment, act as if they also are participants
Operational Definition
The specific procedures for manipulating or measuring a conceptual variable
Main Effect
A statistical term indicating the overall effect that an independent variable has on the dependent variable, ignoring all other independent variables
Interaction
A statistical term indicating that the effect that an independent variable has on the dependent variable is different as a function of another independent variable
Example of Poor Construct Validity
Does not correctly measure the conceptual variable it was designed to measure
Statistical Significance
The likelihood that the results of a study could have occured by chance, the odds that the results were obtained by chance alone are quite low
When is there an interaction between two independent variables?
If the effect that one of the independent variables has on the dependent variable depends on the other independent variable
Correlation
A measure of the association between two variables
Archival Research
Involves examining existing records of past events and behaviors
Positive Correlation
As one variable increases, so does the other, or that as one variable decreases, so does the other.
Negative Correlation
As one variable increases, the other decreases
Prospective Correlation
Obtained at different times from the same individuals
Self-Report Measure
People are asked to tell about their own thoughts, feelings, and actions
Event-Contingent Method
Specific method of using self-report measures
Common imaging techniques used in Social Psychology today
PET (Positron Emission Tomography)
fMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging)
What is the difference between Applied Research and Basic Research?
Basic research seeks to increase our understanding of human behavior and if often designed to test a specific hypothesis from a specific theory. Applied Research makes use of social psychology’s theories or methods to enlarge our understanding of naturally occurring events and to contribute to the solution of social problems
Overjustification Effect
The tendency for intrinsic motivation to diminish for activities that have become associated with reward or other extrinsic factors; getting paid big money for something that one enjoys doing
Self-Monitoring
The tendency to change behavior in response to self-presentation concerns of the situation
Downward Social Comparison
Defensive tendency to compare ourselves to others who are worse off than we are
Self-Presentation
Strategies people use to shape what other think of them;
Facial Feedback Hypothesis
Hypothesis that changes in facial expression can lead to corresponding changes in emotion
Bask In Reflected Glory (BIRG)
Increasing self-esteem by associating with others who are successful
Private Self-Consciousness
A personality characteristic of individuals who are introspective, often attending to their own inner states; high private self-consciousness, they know themselves well and spend a lot of time introspecting about them
Self-Esteem
An affective component of the self, consisting of a person’s positive and negative self-evaluations
Self-Concept
The sum total of an individual’s beliefs about his or her own personal attributes
Self-Perception Theory
The theory that when internal cues are difficult to interpret, people gain self-insight by observing their own behavior
Social Comparison Theory
The theory that people evaluate their own abilities and opinions by comparing themselves to others
Public Self-Consciousness
A personality characteristics of individuals who focus on themselves as social objects, as seen by others
Two-Factor Theory of Emotion
The theory that the experience of emotion is based on two factors: Physiological arousal and a cognitive interpretation of that arousal
Self-Awareness Theory
The theory that self-focused attention leads people to notice self-discrepancies, thereby motivating either an escape from self-awareness or a change in behavior
Self-Handicapping
Behaviors designed to sabotage one’s performance in order to provide a subsequent excuse for failure
Affective Forecasting
People’s difficulty projecting forward and predicting how they would feel in response to future emotional events
Implicit Egotism
A nonconscious and subtle form of self-enhancement
Terror Management Theory
Explains our relentless need for self-esteem; humans are biologically programmed for life and self-preservation. Yet, we are conscious of the inevitability of our own death. To cope with this fear, we construct and accept cultural world views about how, why, and by whom the world was created, etc. These worldviews provide meaning and purpose and a buffer against anxiety
Self-Schemas
A belief people hold about themselves that guides the processing of self-relevant information
How do people describe themselves?
They tend to point out how they differ from others in their social environment
What happens when there is a discrepancy in one’s Ideal Self and one’s Actual Self?
Ideal/Actual Self Discrepancies leads to disappointment
Self-Verification
The desire to have others perceive us as we truly perceive ourselves
Self-Consciousness
What happens when people focus on themselves.
What are the types of Self-Consciousness
Public Self-Consciousness
Private Self-Consciousness
Positive Illusions
Adaptive in that they promote happiness, caring for others, and productive work
Drunken Self-Inflation
Tendency to discount real and ideal self-discrepancies when drinking
Ingratiation
Tactic of strategic self-presentation, includes such behaviors as flattery, agreement, and putting one’s best foot forward.
Self-Evaluation Maintenance Theory
Suggests that people can have different reactions based on how important the domain is to their self-concept and how close they feel to people they are comparing themselves with
Max Ringelmann
Studied effects of the presence of others on the performance of individuals; Individuals often performed worse on simple tasks such as pulling rope when they performed the tasks with other people
Adolf Hitler
Had the most dramatic impact on the field; Rise to power and the ensuing turmoil caused people around the world to become desperate for answers to social psychological questions about what causes violence, prejudice, genocide, conformity, and obedience
Muzafer Sherif
(1936) Published groundbreaking experimental research on social influence. Witnesses groups of greek soldiers brutally killing his friends; researched powerful influences groups can exert on their individual members; demonstrated that it is possible to study complex social processes (conformity & social influence) in a rigorous, scientific manner
What are the ABC’s of the Self?
A ffect
B ehavior
C Cognition
What is the Looking Glass Self?
Other people serve as a mirror in which we see ourselves
Who coined the Looking Glass Self?
Charles Horton Cooley
What did Gordon Gallup study?
Whether or not animals recognized themselves in the mirror.
Where do Self-Concepts come from?
Introspection Autobiographical Memories Perceptions of our own behavior Influences of Other People Cultures in Which we Live
Introspection
Looking inward at one’s own thoughts and feelings
Impact Bias
When people overestimate the strength and duration of their emotional reactions
Where does Impact Bias come from?
When it comes to negative life events, people do not fully appreciate the extend to which our psychological coping mechanisms help us to cushion the blow.
When we introspect about the emotional impact on us of a future event, we become so focused on that single event that we neglect to take into account the effects of other life experiences
Who proposed the Self Perception Theory?
Daryl Bem
Vicarious Self-Perception
Inferring something about oneself by observing the behavior of someone else with whom he completely identifies
Who did tests in relation to Facial Feedback Hypothesis?
James Laird
What are the two types of Motivation?
Intrinsic Motivation
Extrinsic Motivation
What is Intrinsic Motivation?
Originates in factors within a person
What is Extrinsic Motivation?
Originates in factors outside the person
Who proposed the Social Comparison Theory?
Leon Festinger
Who proposed the Two Factor Theory of Emotion?
Stanley Schacter
What is the Recency Rule of Memory?
When people are prompted to recall their own experiences, the typically report more events from the recent past than from the distant past
What are Flashbulb Memories?
Enduring, detailed, high-resolution recollections
What are the two different Cultural Orientations?
Collectivism
Individualism
Describe Individualism
Values Virtues of Independence, Autonomy, and Self-Reliance
Describe Collectivism
Values virtues of interdependence, cooperation, and social harmony
What is Dialecticism?
A system of thought characterized by the acceptance of such contradictions through compromise
Self-Discrepancy Theory
Our self-esteem is determined by the match or mismatch between how we see ourselves and how we want to see ourselves
Who proposed the Self-Discrepancy Theory?
E. Tory Higgins
Actual Self
The kind of person you actually are
Ought Self
The kind of person you thing you ought to be, characteristics that would enable you to meet your sense of duty, obligation, and responsibility
Ideal Self
The kind of person you would like to be, an ideal that embodies your hopes, dreams, and wishes
Self Guides
Composed of our Ought Self and our Ideal Self
What happens when there is a difference between your actual and ought selves?
You will feel guilty, ashamed, and resentful; suffer from excessive fears and anxiety-related disorders
What happens when there is a mismatch between your actual and ideal selves?
You’ll feel disappointed, frustrated, unfulfilled, and sad; even depressed
What factors does our Self-Esteem rely on?
The amount of discrepancy
Discrepancy to the self
The degree to which we focus on our self-discrepancies
Self-Awareness Theory
Theory that self-focused attention leads people to notice self-discrepancies, thereby motivating either an escape from self-awareness or a change in behavior
Who proposed Self-Awareness Theory
Robert Wicklund
What are the two basic ways of coping with discomfort of self-awareness?
Shape up by behaving in ways that reduce our self discrepancies
Ship out by withdrawing from self awareness
What is choking in sports performance?
Paradoxical type of failure caused by trying too hard and thinking too much
Ironic Processes
Paradoxical effects of attempted self-control
Self Serving Cognitions
Harboring illusions of control, overestimating the extent to which they can influence personal outcomes that are not within their power to control
Procrastination
Purposive delay in starting or completing a task that is due at a particular time
Sandbagging
Self-presentation strategy by playing down their own ability, lower expectations, and publicly predicting that they will fail
Downward Social Comparison
When a person’s self-esteem is at stake, doing this with others who are less successful, less happy, or less fortunate
Spotlight Effect
Tendency to believe that the social spotlight shines more brightly on them than it really does
Strategic Self Presentation
Consists of our efforts to shape others’ impressions in specific ways in order to gain influence, power, sympathy, or approval
Self-Promotion
Term used to describe acts that are motivated by the desire to get along with others and to be liked
Base Rate Fallacy
The finding that people are relatively insensitive to consensus information presented in the form of numerical base rates
Central Traits
Traits that exert a powerful influence on overall impressions
Situational Attribution
Attribution to factors external to an actor, such as the task, other people, luck
Belief In A Just World
The belief that individuals get what they deserve in life, an orientation that leads people to disparage victims
Primacy Effect
The tendency for information presented early in a sequence to have more impact on impressions that information presented later
False-Consensus Effect
The tendency for people to overestimate the extent to which others share their opinions, attributes, and behavior
Social Perception
A General Term for the processes by which people come to understand one another
Correspondent Inference Theory
A theory holding that we make inferences about a person when his or her actions are freely chosen, are unexpected, and result in a small number of desirable effects;
Information Integration Theory
The theory that impressions are based on perceiver dispositions and a weighted average of a target person’s traits
Availability Heuristic
A tendency to estimate the likelihood that an event will occur by how easily instances of it come to mind; tendency to estimate the odds that an event will occur by how easily instances of it pop to mind.
Personal Attribution
Attribution to internal characteristics of an actor, such as ability, personality, mood, or effort
Implicit Personality Theory
A network of assumptions people make about the relationships among traits and behaviors
Covariation Principle
A principle of attribution theory holding that people attribute behavior to factors that are present when a behavior occurs and absent when it does not
Fundamental Attribution Error
The tendency to focus on the role of personal causes and underestimate the impact of situations on other people’s behavior
Confirmation Bias
The tendency to seek, interpret, and create information that verifies existing beliefs
Impression Formation
The process of integrating information about a person to form a coherent impression
Actor-Observer Effect
The tendency to attribute our own behavior to situational causes and the behavior of others to personal factors
Nonverbal Behavior
Behavior that reveals a person’s feelings through facial expressions, body language, and vocal cues
Counterfactual Thinking
A tendency to imagine alternative events or outcomes that might have occurred but did not
Priming
The tendency for recently used words or ideas to come to mind easily and influence the interpretation of new information
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
The process by which one’s expectations about a person eventually lead that person to behave in ways that confirm those expectations
Attribution Theory
A group of theories that describe how people explain the causes of behavior
Belief Perseverance
A desire to reduce cognitive uncertainty, which heightens the importance of first impressions
Need For Closure
A desire to reduce cognitive uncertainty, which heightens the importance of first impressions
Floyd Henry Allport
Founder of Experimental Social Psychology; wrote Social Psychology in 1924
William McDougall
He wrote a number of highly influential textbooks, and was particularly important in the development of the theory of instinct and of social psychology in the English-speaking world.
Stanley Schacter
well known in the 1950s for developing the “two-factor theory of emotion,” which posits that emotions are a joint result of physiological arousal and a cognitive interpretation of that arousal
Konrad Lorenz
Infantile features in many animal species seem to trigger a special nurturing response to cuteness
Scripts
Preset notions about certain types of situations that enable us to anticipate the goals, behaviors, and outcomes that are likely to occur in a particular setting
How do scripts influence social perceptions?
We sometimes see what we expect to see in a particular situation
People use what they know about social situations to explain the causes of human behavior
Mind Perception
The process by which people attribute humanlike mental states to various animate and inanimate objects, including other people
Along what dimensions do people perceive minds?
Agency
Experience
Agency as it relates to Perception
A target’s ability to plan and execute behavior
Experience as it relates to Perception
The capacity to feel pleasure, pain, and other sensations
How are Behavioral Cues used?
To identify someone’s physical actions
To determine his or her inner states
Charles Darwin
Proposed that the face expresses emotions in ways that are innate
Disgust
An adaptation which protects us from food poisoning; Insula in the brain was activated when people sniffed the rotten food and when they watched other people sniffing it
What are Nonverbal Cues that can influence Social Perception?
Facial expression
Eye contact (Gaze)
Touch
Malcolm Gladwell
Eye Contact Effect
Eye Contact Effect
People who look us straight in the eye quickly draw then hold our attention, increase arousal, and activate key social areas of the brain; this sensitivity is present at birth
Sigmund Freud
No mortal can keep a secret; if his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore
Channels of Communication that provide potentially relevant information
Spoken word
Face
Body
Voice
Inner Dispositions
Stable characteristics such as personality traits, attitudes, and abilities
Fritz Heider
Came up with the Attribution Theory; wrote The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations
Attributions
Explanations we come up with to understand others well enough to manage our social life
What is the process of coming up with Attributions?
Observing
Analyzing
Explaining their behavior
What are the two categories of attribution?
Personal
Situational
What is the task of an Attribution Theorist?
Understanding people’s perception of causality
What are the models that became known as Attribution Theory?
Jones’s Correspondent Inference Theory
Kelley’s Covariation Theory
According to the Correspondent Inference Theory, what are the factors people base their inferences on?
Degree of Choice
Expectedness of Behavior
Intendent Effects or consequences of someone’s behavior
Who proposed the Correspondent Inference Theory?
Edward Jones & Keith Davis
What kinds of Covariation Information are useful to determine if something is the cause of a behavior?
Consensus
Distinctiveness
Consistency
Who proposed the Covariation Theory?
Harold Kelley
Describe Consensus Information
Seeing how different persons react to the same stimulus
Describe Distinctiveness Information
Seeing how the same person reacts to different stimuli
Describe Consistency Information
Seeing what happens to the behavior at another time when the person and the stimulus both remain the same.
Cognitive Heuristics
Information-processing rules of thumb that enable us to think in ways that are quick and easy but that frequently lead to error
What are the effects of using Availability Heuristics?
False-Consensus Effect
Base-Rate Fallacy
What domains of life trigger the most counterfactual thinking?
Education
Career
Romance
What are the two steps of Social Perception?
Identifying the Behavior
Making a quick Personal Attribution
Who proposed Belief In A Just World
Melvin Lerner
Summation Model of Impression Formation
The more positive traits there are, the better
Averaging Model of Impression Formation
The higher the average value of the traits, the better
Extroversion
The extent to which he or she is sociable, friendly, fun-loving, outgoing, and adventurous
Valence of a Trait
Whether it is considered good or bad
Trait Negativity Bias
The tendency for negative information to weigh more heavily on our impressions than positive information
What contextual factors are important in determining Trait Information?
Implicit Personality Theories
Order in which we receive information about one trait relative to other traits
Solomon Asch
Discovered that the presence of one trait often implies the presence of other traits; central traits imply the presence of other traits and exert powerful influence on final impressions; Primacy Effect
Primacy Effect
The tendency for information presented early in a sequence to have more impact on information presented later
What accounts for Primacy Effect?
Once perceivers think they have formed an accurate impression of someone, they tend to pay less attention to subsequent information
Change of Meaning Hypothesis
Change of Meaning Hypothesis
Once people have formed an impression, they start to interpret information in light of that impression
Types of Confirmation Biases
Perseverance of Beliefs
Confirmatory Hypothesis Testing
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Biased Experience Sampling
Explains why even when we form a negative first impression on the basis of all available evidence and even when we interpret that evidence accurately, our impression may be misleading.
Pygmalion Study
Teacher’s expectations significantly predicted their students’ performance 36% of the time
Who proposed the Pygmalion Study?
Robert Merton
What are the Steps in the Process of the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?
A perceiver forms an impression of a target person
The perceiver behaves in a manner that is consistent with that first impression
The target person unwittingly adjusts his or her behavior to the perceiver’s actions
Satisficing
Describes the way people make judgments that while not logically perfect are good enough
Who coined the term Satisficing?
Herbert Simon
Personality psychologists are more interested than Social Psychologists in…
Differences between individuals that are stable across situations. Both personality and social psychologists are interested in how people think, feel, and behave; understanding causes of behavior; and the scientific approach to psychology
Kurt Lewin
German immigrant who made a major contribution to the development of social psychology by helping establish principles like “behavior is a function of the interaction between the person and the environment.”
Believed that both internal and external factors affect behavior
The 1960’s and the early 1970’s social psychology went through a period of
Expansion and Debate. Pluralism emerged on a larger scale after this period. It was a period of building on foundation.
Asch, Festinger & Heider developed basic theories about
Attitudes and Person Perception.
Leon Festinger
Cognitive Dissonance Theory & Social Comparison theory
Fritz Heider
Balance theory - attraction
Difference between clinical and social psychologist
Social psychologists are interested in the situational determinants of behavior. Clinical psychologists are more likely to develop therapeutic techniques to control people’s aggression than social psychologists
What was the dominant research method during the period of Confidence & Crisis?
Laboratory experiments.
Gergen
Theories being tested in the social psychology library were historically and culturally limited
What are characteristics of Social Psychology?
Broad perspective
Focus on the Individual
Frequent use of experiment methodology
Unlike common sense, social psychological theories are
put to the test
The following are true about the current Period of Pluralism in social psychology
There are important variations in the aspects of human behavior being emphasized
The socialness of social psychology has increased owing to the influence of European Social Psychogists
Cross cultural research is being conducted more extensively than in previous periods.
In the 21st century, which are likely to be emphasized in social psychology?
Biological and Evolutionary Perspectives
New Technologies
Sociocultural Perspectives
Who wrote the first three textbooks in social psychology?
William McDougal (1908) Edward Ross (1908) Floyd Allport (1924)
Who had a major contribution in the 1950’s?
Gordon Allport (1954) Nature of Prejudice Solomon Asch (1951) conforming to a wrong majority Leon Festinger (1954, 1957) people learning about themselves by comparing themselves to other people, how people's attitudes are changed by their own behavior
Internal Validity
The degree to which there can be reasonable certainty that the independent variables in an experiment caused the effects obtained on the dependent variables
Theory
An organized set of principles used to explain observed phenomena
Debriefing
A disclosure made to participants after research procedures are completed in which the researcher explains the purpose of the research, attempts to resolve any negative feelings, and emphasizes the scientific contribution made by participants’ contribution
Experimental Realism
The degree to which experimental procedures are involving to participants and lead them to behave naturally and spontaneously
Correlational Research
Research designed to measure the association between variables that are not manipulated by the researcher
Dependent Variables
In an experiment, the factors experimenters measure to see if they are affected by the independent variables
Mundane Realism
The degree to which the experimental situation resembles places and events that exist in the real world
Interrater Reliability
The degree to which different observers agree on their observations
Meta-analysis
A set of statistical procedures used to review a body of evidence by combining the results of individual studies to measure the overall reliability and strength of particular effects
Hypothesis
An individual’s deliberate, voluntary decision to participate in research, based on the researcher’s description of what will be required during such participation
Experiment
A form of research that can demonstrate causal relationships because (1) the experimenter has control over the events that occur and (2) the participants are randomly assigned to conditions
Random Sampling
A method of selecting participants for a study so that everyone in a population has an equal chance of being in a study
Basic Research
Research whose goal is to increase the understanding of human behavior, often by testing hypotheses based on a theory
Experimenter Expectancy Effects
The effects produced when an experimenter’s expectations about the results of an experiment affect his or her behavior toward a participant and thereby influence the participant’s response
Random Assignment
A method of assigning participants for a study so that everyone in a population has an equal chance of being in a study
Subject Variables
A statistical term indicating the overall effect that an independent variable has on the dependent variable, ignoring all other independent variables
Deception
Research methods that provide false information to participants
External Validity
The degree to which one can be reasonably confident that the same results would be obtained for other people and in other situations
Correlation Coefficient
A statistical measure of the strength and direction of the association between two variables. The correlation coefficient can range -1.0 to +1.0
Informed Consent
An individual’s deliberate, voluntary, decision to participate in research, based on the researcher’s description of what will be required during such participation
Independent Variables
In an experiment, the factors experimenters manipulate to see if they affect the dependent variables
Construct Validity
The extent to which the measures used in a study measure the variables they were designed to measure and the manipulations in an experiment manipulate the variables they were designed to manipulate
Applied Research
Research whose goal is to enlarge the understanding of naturally occuring events and to find solutions to practical problems
Confederates
Accomplices of an experimenter who, in dealing with the real participants in an experiment, act as if they are also participants
Operational Definition
The specific procedures for manipulating or measuring a conceptual variable
Main Effect
A statistical term indicating the overall effect that an independent variable has on the dependent variable, ignoring all other independent variables
Interaction
A statistical term indicating that the effect that an independent variable has on the dependent variable is different as a function of another independent variable
Who wrote the first research article in Social Psychology?
Norman Triplett
