Social Flashcards
What is social psychology?
The study of our everyday lives
- Attitudes
- Relationships
- Language
Social approaches to studying this measure:
- Observable behaviour (flirting, walking)
- Unobservable behaviours (thoughts, feelings)
Do we need social psychology?
- Folk wisdom is inconsistent
- Notions exist simultaneously with opposites
- We cannot rely our intuitions to understand our behaviour
Examples from attraction research: Bahns et al (2017)
- Approached people in pairs around public spaces
- Asked to fill in surveys measuring attributes and traits
- Fully 86% of variables were statistically significant within-dyads: we select similar partners/friends
Sources of bias: Confirmation bias
- Desire to interpret information in a way to fit one’s opinion
- Seek out reinforcing information, ignore contradictory information
Sources of bias: Availability heuristic
- Mental shortcut that retrieves easily recalled examples when encountering a new situation or stimulus
- Often leads to erroneous conclusions
Sources of bias: Mood effects
- Underlying emotions can influence the way info is interpreted
- Good mood more likely to result in positive appraisal of situation
What is the empirical method?
- Strongest kind of evidence we can have
Accuracy - precise and carefully collected
Objectivity - free from biases and preconceptions
Open - prepared to update theories in face of conflicting evidence
Theory construction
- An explanation of how/why a behaviour occurs
- Derive testable hypotheses: one that can be proven wrong, from inductive and deductive reasoning
How do social psychologists get data: Questionnaire surveys
- Large numbers of people given same questionnaire
- Associations explored statistically
Pros:
- Large N
- Easy to administer
Cons:
- Can’t infer causation in most cases
- Poor completion/response rate
How do social psychologists get data: Systematic observation
- Unobtrusively observe behaviour of others
- Record responses
- Accuracy improved with >1 - observer
- Use of online data
- Online behaviours recorded permanently
Pros:
- Real world behaviour
- High validity
- Data where questionnaires are impossible
Cons:
- May be subjective
- Overt: Behaviour change due to presence
- Covert: Ethically unsound
How do social psychologists get data: Case studies
- Obtains data from only a few people or groups often as few as one
- Data collection methods can include open ended interviews, questionnaires, observations
Pros:
- Level of detail very high
Cons:
- May be subjective
- May be entirely ungeneralisable
Standard statistical approaches
Group differences:
- ANOVA
- t-test
Linear relationships:
- Regression
- Correlation
Category membership:
- Chi Square
Ethics in social psychology
- Moral obligation to protect research patients from harm
- Unacceptable to expose participants to physical or psychological harm
- Ethical standards followed to minimise risk, approved by ethical committees for ethical issues
- Respect for privacy: Difficult, intimate questions must be asked so we maintain confidentiality and anonymise data
- Obtain informed consent: Participants must give constant freely and without coercion, and have ability to withdraw freely
- Debriefing: Participants made fully aware of thee purpose of the study and any deceptions they underwent and why
Behaviourism approach to social psychology
- Behaviour explained through reinforcement
- Later incorporates thoughts, feelings: neobehaviourism
- Reinforcement- affect model of interpersonal attraction; ‘We like those who we associate positive feelings with’
Cognitive approach to social psychology
- We actively interpret their experiences and plan actions
- Cognitive dissonance: when our cognitions differ from others or the environment, we may behave in ways to reduce this tension
