The Science of Social Psychology

Question 1

what is social psychology

Answer 1

the scientific study of feelings, thoughts and behaviours of individuals in social situations

Question 2

types of questions social psychologists ask

Answer 2

• why do people risk their lives to save others
• why do people stereotype members of different groups
• what type of marriages last
• how do crowds turn into violent mobs
• why do fashions come and go
• how does the way we present ourselves on social media differ from reality

Question 3

necessity of good research

Answer 3

often our subjective impressions are wrong
(examples of bad research)
- prefrontal lobotomy: surgery that removes part of the brain to help with mental health, lead to people going brain dead
- facilitated communication: help autistic children communicate with physical instruments, research faulty due to research unintentionally giving cues and guiding child what to do

Question 4

become a good consumer of research

Answer 4

• research methods are important are important even if you don’t conduct research
• allows you to evaluate research using critical thinking

Question 5

how can research methods impact you every day

Answer 5

• research assists with critical evaluation of information
• avoids bias
• can help you make informed decisions (ex. making a purchase, most people are terrible at estimating when something is of good value)
• estimates based on other cues which may be purposefully misleading (ex. advertisements for temporary price cuts create a false sense of urgency and value for consumers
• estimated odds of contracting influenza by Canadians in 2009 (during H1N1 pandemic)
  (watched new program: 3/5)
  (heard very little: 1/50)
  (actual odds by Public Health Agency: 3/10)

Question 6

how do social psychologists find the truth

Answer 6

• like detectives, social psychologists gather evidence to answer a question
• good detectives want to collect as much evidence as possible

Question 7

types of research

Answer 7

basic: increase knowledge - explain how things work (starting point)
- applied: apply what you know to solve a problem - create a solution/strategy
- one is not better than the other, each have different goals

Question 8

steps in the research process

Answer 8

step 1: craft a research question
- firsthand observations, news stories, etc
step 2: examine existing literature for answers
- background information on a topic
-theory, a general framework that allows us to make and test predictions
step 3: form a testable hypothesis
- an hypothesis is an educated guess about the answer to your question
- an operational definition identifies the specific variable to be examined (you have to define your variables)
- take care of validity and reliability in your study
step 4: select the best method to explore your research question
- choosing the sample
step 5: analysis of research
- note limitations and areas where further research may be necessary
step 6: replication
- repeating research to verify findings
{these are the primary steps in the scientific method}
{if these steps are followed, then the findings can be useful}
{if these steps are ignored, the findings may be of little or not value}

Question 9

defining and measuring variables

Answer 9

variable: any characteristics that can vary
- eg. stress, weight, reaction time, sadness
operational definition: defines variables in terms of concrete, specific procedures used to produce or measure it
- eg. number of times you cry per day

Question 10

descriptive statistics

Answer 10

• describing whats going on
• what is the current status of a population
• what us the current status of a phenomenon
• who, what, where, when, and how
• involves a range of methods:
  1. self report measures and surveys
  2. observational research (problem: bias)
  3. field, archival, case studies

Question 11

self report and survey measures

Answer 11

• asking participants to describe their behaviours or mental statuses
• typically conducted in the form of interviews or questionnaires
• may not be appropriate for studying behaviours that people tend to lie about

Question 12

observational research

Answer 12

• can occur in a natural setting or controlled environment
• naturalistic observation
  (watching behaviour in a real world setting)
  (focuses on both people and environments)
• ex. Sandford prison study

Question 13

field, archival, case studies

Answer 13

field studies:
- data collected in a naturally occurring (ie, uncontrolled) settings
- can be descriptive or experimental
- capitalize on naturally occurring events that cant be replicated in labs
archival studies:
- gathering information from existing records
case studies:
- in depth analysis of an individual group, or event

Question 14

correlations

Answer 14

• exploring the relationship between 2 variables without inferring cause and effect
• answers questions such as:
  1. is X associated with Y
  2. does X predict Y
  3. as X increases what happens to Y

Question 15

correlational research design

Answer 15

• measure one variable (X)
• measure second variable (Y)
• statistically determine if X and Y are related
• correlations mathematically described by correlation coefficient
  (ranges from -1.0 - +1.0)
  (the closer to -1: strong negative correlation)
  (the closer to 0: weak or nor correlation)
  (the closer to +1: strong positive correlation)

Question 16

what do correlations tell us about relationships

Answer 16

positive correlation
- as one variable goes up, so does the other
- eg. number of compliments increases, so does self esteem
negative correlation
- as one variable goes up, the other goes down
- eg. people in grumpier mood are less likely to help someone else
no correlation
- no discernible relationship between 2 variables
- eg. greater ability to detect deception is not associated with shoe size

Question 17

scatterplots

Answer 17

depict correlation
- shows direction (positive or negative) of relationship
- which way is imaginary line through data points running
shows strength of relationship
- how tightly clustered are data points around imaginary line

Question 18

so you’ve found a correlation: what does it mean

Answer 18

• positive relationship between number of ice cream cones sold and the number of murders committed
  hypothesis #1: murder causes people to eat more ice cream
  hypothesis #2: eating ice cream causes you to murder
  hypothesis #3: third variable is causing an increase in both murders and ice cream sales
• bidirectionality causality
  (refers to a situation in which variable X could cause variable Y or vise versa
• third variable
  (an outside factor can create the illusion of a relationship between 2 factors)
  (ex. ice cream sales and murders, third variable being the summer, warm weather, etc. people more likely to go outside on nicer days, more opportunity to murder)
  CORRELATION DOES NOT MEAN CAUSATION!!

Question 19

advantages of correlational studies

Answer 19

• shows strength of relationship
• can make predictions about variables
• useful where experiments are unethical (eg. examining how murder rates fluctuate with the temperature)

Question 20

disadvantages of correlational studies

Answer 20

• variables are not manipulated (just measured)
• CANNOT assume cause and effect relationship exists
• correlation can show an association NOT a cause

Question 21

experiments

Answer 21

• look for cause and effect
• 2 essential characteristics:
  1. manipulation of variable
• independent variable (IV) - manipulated (ex. temperature in room)
• dependent variable (DV) - outcome measure (ex. aggressive behaviour)
  2. random assignment of participants to conditions
• experimental group: receives manipulation
• control group: does not receive manipulation

Question 22

correlation vs, experimental example: heat and aggression

Answer 22

• research problems: does an increase in temperature cause an increase in aggression?
• hypothesis: if you increase the temperature, people will become more aggressive

Question 23

correlational design: heat and aggression

Answer 23

• participants: players in soccer league
• attend several games and simply measure 2 variables (no manipulation)
• measure 1st variable (X): temperature (operationalized: “average temperature during game in degrees Celsius:”)
• measure 2nd variable (Y): aggression (operationalized: “number of penalties called during soccer match”)
• results: is there a relationship between X and Y
• suppose: r=0.8 (high positive correlation)
• what can we conclude about aggression and temperature

Question 24

experimental design: heat and aggression

Answer 24

• similar to correlational design, but now we manipulate a variable (IV)
• participants: soccer players)
• IV: temperature manipulated (hold games indoors so temperature can be controlled)
• experimental group: high temperature (30 degrees)
• control group: room temperature (21 degrees)
• DV: aggression (number of penalties called during game)
• suppose we found that:
  1. experimental group (hot): average number of penalties/game = 21
  2. control group (room temp): average number of penalties/game = 9
• what can we conclude about the heat and aggression that we could not with correlational study

Question 25

what do experimental methods have to say

Answer 25

external validity
- do results generalize to a larger population
internal validity
- can cause and effect conclusions be relied upon
generally as one increases, the other decreases

Question 26

random assignment

Answer 26

• all participants have an equal chance of being in an experimental or control group
• is required to allow cause and effect conclusions
• research without random assignment cannot be considered experimental

Question 27

cofounds

Answer 27

• any difference between experimental and control groups, other than IV that affect DV (not controlled by researcher)
• rival explanations, makes IV effects uninterpretable

Question 28

participant bias

Answer 28

• do participants have assumptions about the research
• if these assumptions impact their behaviour, participants bias can skew results
• the placebo effect:
  1. when the belief that a treatment will be effective causes it to be effective
  2. improvement in health or behaviour not due to medication or treatment
• experimenter bias: researchers expectations can skew results - single blind or double blind
  1. the participant and/or researcher don’t know which participant is on which subject group
  2. helps eliminate participant and experimenter biases

Question 29

how do we conduct ethical research

Answer 29

deception
- giving participants false information about the study
debriefing
- telling participant the true nature if the study after their involvement is over

CPA code of ethics for psychologists 
- respect for dignity of persons 
(informed consent)
(privacy, confidentiality) 
- responsible caring 
(minimize harm)
(maximize benefits) 
- integrity of relationships 
( avoid deception when possible)
- responsibility to society 
(conduct research that benefits others) 
- research ethics board (REBs or IRBs)
(evaluates potential research to ensure ethical treatment of participants)
- informed consent 
(participants are given as much information about the research as possible)
(this allows them to participate without taking unnecessary risks)

Question 30

new technologies

Answer 30

• virtual technologies
• implicit tests
• internet
• brain imaging