Social Psychology, 1: Overview

Question 1

When did social psychology begin?

Answer 1

The first social psychological experiments, and publication of a Social Psychology text, occurred around 1900.

Question 2

Who does social psychology study?

Answer 2

The vast majority of studies focus on normal adult humans.

Question 3

Sociology

Answer 3

Field closely related to social psychology, however, emphasizes group rather than individual behavior.

Question 4

Philosophy

Answer 4

Social Psychology and all other sciences spring from philosophy, but differ in their reliance and emphasis on empiricism and the scientific method.

Question 5

Common Sense/Folk Psychology

Answer 5

Contains much ‘knowledge’ about social behavior, but many common proverbs are contradictory or oversimplified.

Question 6

Norman Triplett

Answer 6

Investigator in one of the first social psychology experiments, who studied how people compete against other people versus a clock.

Question 7

Max Ringelmann

Answer 7

Investigator in one of the first social psychology experiments, who studied how people perform in groups versus alone.

Question 8

Random Assignment

Answer 8

Essential component of experimentation, in which participants are randomly distributed to different experimental groups. This ensures groups that are as close to equal in background characteristics as possible.

Question 9

Kurt Lewin

Answer 9

Early social psychologist. Among other contributions, emphasized that behavior is a function of both the person and the situation.

Question 10

Scientific Method

Answer 10

Involves making predictions and collecting careful data to test those predictions. When theories disagree, researchers try to design studies in which the theories make different predictions, to discard or refine theories that do not predict behavior well.

Question 11

Correlation

Answer 11

Research design in which two or more variables are measured and studied for a relationship. Useful when variables are difficult to manipulate, but precludes causal interpretation.

Question 12

Experiment

Answer 12

Research design in which a variable is manipulated, and the effect of this manipulation is studied on another variable.

Question 13

Behaviorism

Answer 13

School of psychology that emphasized only observable stimuli and behavior. Known for studies of conditioning, such as the effects of rewards or punishment.

Question 14

Cognitive Psychology

Answer 14

School of psychology that emphasizes information processing. After behaviorism, reopened the “mind” as an area of study.

Question 15

Confederate

Answer 15

A research assistant acting (posing) as a research participant.

Question 16

Confound

Answer 16

In an experiment, a confound is an uncontrolled background variable. These confuse the interpretation of the study, because cause and effect is clearest when only the manipulated variable changes.

Question 17

Internal validity

Answer 17

Only applies to experiments; high internal validity means a causal conclusion can be drawn because the study is well controlled and confounds have been eliminated.

Question 18

External validity

Answer 18

Applies to all studies, and refers to how well the findings of the study generalize to other situations and persons.

Question 19

Meta-Analysis

Answer 19

Type of literature review (analysis of published studies) that uses statistical techniques to combine studies and draw overall conclusions about an area of research.