W1

Question 1

What is the “social”, “social content”, “social processes” in social psychology?

Answer 1

social: pertaining to other people;
content: other people;
processes: other people as sources of influence.

Question 2

What is “social psychology”?

Answer 2

The scientific study of the effects of social and cognitive processes on the way people perceive, influence and relate to others.

Question 3

When and how did social psychology become an empirical science?

Answer 3

In the late 19th century

Triplett and Ringelmann’s study of group effect

Question 4

History: the first two textbooks appeared in 1908

Answer 4

McDougall: all social behavior stems from innate tendencies or instincts.
Ross: people are heavily influenced by others, weather those others are physically present or not.

Question 5

History: rejection of behaviorism

Answer 5

Behaviorists were right that external stimuli can influence behavior.
Social psychology: the effect of any stimulus depends on how individuals and groups interpret it.

Question 6

History: the rise of Nazism shapes the development of social psychology

Answer 6

Brought a new group of skilled researched to North America.
Nazi led to ask questions about the roots of prejudice.
WWII drew social psychologists to the search for solutions to immediate practical problems (e.g., changing eating habits)
people’s subjective interpretation of reality is the key determinant of their beliefs and behaviors; social influences structure those interpretations and behaviors

Question 7

History: growth and integration

Answer 7

since 50s and 60s.
Integration of cognitive and social processes;
with other research trends (cultures, evolutionary, embodiment and neuroscience and so on).
Integration of basic science and social problems (health, education, law, environment, business)

Question 8

What is “construction of reality”?

Answer 8

People construct their own reality, shaped both by cognitive (the ways our minds work) social (input from others) processes

Question 9

Explain “pervasiveness of social influence”?

Answer 9

Other people influence virtually all of our thoughts, feelings and behavior, whether others are physically present or not

Question 10

What are the three core motivations

Answer 10

Striving for mastery (to understand and predict events in order to obtain rewards);
Seeking connectedness (support, liking, and acceptance from the people they care about);
Valuing “me and mine” (desire to see themselves, and other people connected to themselves in a positive way)

Question 11

Core processing principles: conservatism

Answer 11

Beliefs and opinions are slow to change

Question 12

Core processing principles: accessibility

Answer 12

Accessible information has the most impact on us

mind is associative network, some elements are more active than others

Question 13

Core processing principles:

processing depth

Answer 13

Information can be processed with various levels of depth. superficiality versus depth

Question 14

What is “scientific method”?

Answer 14

Systematic observation combined with inductive reasoning

Question 15

What is a “scientific theory”?

Answer 15

A statement about the causal relationships among abstract constructs. general in scope.

Question 16

What is “interventions” in constructing scientific theory?

Answer 16

practical steps taken to change people’s behavior or to solve social problems

Question 17

What is “construct validity”

Answer 17

the extent to which the independent and dependent variables used in research correspond to the theoretical constructs under investigation.
construct validity has two parts: first, independent and dependent variables must correspond to the intended cause and effect constructs; second, they must not correspond to other constructs.

Question 18

What is “independent variable”?

Answer 18

a concrete manipulation or measurement of a construct that is thought be cause other constructs

Question 19

What is “dependent variable”?

Answer 19

a concrete measurement of a construct that is thought to be an effect of other construct

Question 20

What is “social desirability response bias”?

Answer 20

people’s tendency to act in ways that they believe others find acceptable and approve of

Question 21

What is ‘self-report measures”?

Answer 21

those based on asking the individual about his or her thoughts, feelings or behaviors

Question 22

What is “observational measures”?

Answer 22

those based on directly watching and recording people’s behavior, including online behavior

Question 23

What is “archival measures”?

Answer 23

those based on examining traces of past behavior such as Google database of word usage.

Question 24

What is “performance measures”?

Answer 24

those that ask participants to perform some task as well as they can

Question 25

What is “physiological measures”?

Answer 25

those based on measurement of some physiological processes such as heart rate or muscle movements

Question 26

What is EEG (electro-encephalographic)?

Answer 26

measures use electrical signals on the scalp to very accurately detect the times at which specific neural events occur

Question 27

What is fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging)?

Answer 27

indirectly measures the activation levels of specific brain regions

Question 28

What is “internal validity”?

Answer 28

the extent to which it can be concluded that changes in the independent variable actually caused changes in the dependent variable in a research study.

Question 29

What is “non-experimental research design”?

Answer 29

sometimes called “correlational design”

a research design in which both the independent and dependent variables are measured. (vulnerable to many threats)

Question 30

What is “experimental research design”?

Answer 30

researchers randomly assign participants to different groups and manipulate one or more independent variables

Question 31

What is “confederate” in a research design?

Answer 31

a research assistant playing a specific role in the study, such as pretending to be just another participant

Question 32

What is “external validity”?

Answer 32

the extent to which research results can be generalized to other appropriate people, times, and settings.

Question 33

What is “individualist culture”?

Answer 33

those in which people are particularly likely to think of themselves as separate from other people and to define themselves in terms of their uniqueness

Question 34

What is “collectivist culture”?

Answer 34

those in which people tend to think of themselves in terms of their relationships to others

Question 35

What is “demand characteristics”?

Answer 35

cues in a research setting that lead participants to make inferences about what researches expect or desire and that therefore bias how the participants act

Question 36

What is “field research”?

Answer 36

research that takes place outside the laboratory.
can study the long-term effects
can measure concrete, powerful variables.
often has good construct validity, and sometimes good internal validity
diverse field settings, such as hospitals, airport and so on.