Week 1 Flashcards
Social psychology
The scientific study of how individuals think, feel and behave in a social context.
Interactionist perspective
An emphasis on how both an individual’s personality and environmental characteristics influence behaviour.
Study of Social cognition
The study of how people perceive, interpret and remember information about themselves and others.
Behavioural genetics
A subfield of psychology that examines the role of genetic factors in behaviour.
Evolutionary psychology
A subfield of psychology that uses the principles of evolution to understand human social behaviour.
Culture
A system of enduring meanings, beliefs, values, assumptions, institutions and practices shared by a large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next.
Cross-cultural research
Research designed to compare and contrast people of different cultures.
Multicultural research
Research designed to examine racial and ethnic groups within cultures.
Behavioural economics
An interdisciplinary subfield that focuses on how psychology – particularly social and cognitive psychology – relates to economic decision-making.
Social Neuroscience
The study of the relationship between neural and social processes.
Embodied cognition
An interdisciplinary subfield that examines the close links between our minds and the positioning, experiences and actions of our bodies.
Theory
An organised set of principles used to explain observed phenomena.
Applied research
Research in which the goals are to enlarge the understanding of naturally occurring events and to find solutions to practical problems.
General psychological research
Research in which the goal is to increase the understanding of human behaviour, often by testing a hypothesis based on a theory.
Operational definition
The specific procedures for manipulating or measuring a conceptual variable.
Construct validity
The extent to which the measures used in a study measure the variables they were designed to measure and to which the manipulations in an experiment manipulate the variables they were designed to manipulate
Bogus pipeline technique
A procedure in which research participants are (falsely) led to believe that their responses will be verified by an infallible lie detector.
Interrater reliability
The degree to which different observers agree on their observations.
Subject variable
A variable that characterises pre-existing differences among the participants in a study.
Confound
A factor other than the independent variable that varies between the conditions of an experiment, thereby calling into question what caused any effects on the dependent variable.
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.
Experimenter expectancy effects
The effects produced when an experimenter’s expectations about the results of an experiment affect his or her behaviour towards a participant and thereby influence the participant’s responses.
External validity
The degree to which there can be reasonable confidence that the results of a study would be obtained for other people and in other situations.
Experimental realism
The degree to which experimental procedures are involving to participants and lead them to behave naturally and spontaneously.
Mundane realism
The degree to which the experimental situation resembles places and events in the real world.
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory (6 steps)
Chronosystem - Historical context
Macrosystem - Cultural beliefs and values
Exosystem - Societal institutions (schools, religious institutions, media etc.)
Mesosystem - Network of interconnections between microsystems
Microsystem - Immediate environment (family, classmates, co-workers etc.)
The individual - Sex, age, health etc.
