Week 1 Flashcards
Define Social psychology
- study of the feelings, thoughts and behaviors of individuals in social situations
- how people think about influence and relate to each other.
Describe Kurt Lewin’s hypothesis
- the behavior of people is always a function of the field of forces in which they find themselves.
Describe the results and methodology of the good samaritain by Darley and Batson
- seminary students asked to give a sermon and given a specific route.
- they either had plenty of time, or told they needed to hurry.
- on the route, pops were tested on wether they would help a man, or not.
Findings: a higher proportion of. Of people
Define the Fundamental attribution error
- the failure to recognize the importance of situational influences on behavior and the corresponding tendency to overemphasize the importance of dispositions or traits on behavior.
Define channel factor
- situational circumstances that can have great consequences on social influence, even though it may seem insignificant (eg: white coat in the Milgram experiment)
Define Gestalt psychology
People perceive objects by actively, usually unconsciously interpretation of what the object represents as a whole, not by automatic registering device.
Define construal
Perception of something, includes some interpretation by the mind.
Define Schema
Knowledge structure consisting of a framework/any organized body of stored information
Define a stereotypes
Are schemas applied to people/individuals
- usually beliefs that certain attributes are characteristic of members of a particular group.
Compare automatic and controlled processing
- usually consists of concious vs unconscious thought, along with speed, control, effort and ability. (More with controlled, and less with automatic)
Describe how psychology has been influenced by natural selection
- he idea that social norms/behaviours have been shaped by its advantage of survival, eg attachment, or age status.
Define theory of mind
The ability to understand others’ mental states, beliefs, desires and intentions to anticipate people’s responses
Define naturalistic fallacy
- the idea that the way things are is the way they should be.
Describe aspects of indépendant cultures
- conception of the self as distinct from others.
- need for individual distinctiveness
- preference for achieved status based on accomplishments
Describe aspects of indépendant cultures
- conception of the self as distinct from others.
- need for individual distinctiveness
- preference for achieved status based on accomplishments
Describe aspects of interdépendant cultures
- perception of self as intertwined with others
- preference for collective action
Desire for harmonious relations within a group
Acceptance of hierarchy based on age status or other
Define Hindsight bias
The tendency to be overconfident about whether a given outcome could’ve been predicted.
Describe how ideas in social psychology are tested
- researcher searches for a problem
- formulates a testable hypothesis
- a study is designed to test that hypothesis, helping to collect data
Describe how ideas are tested in social psychology (2)
- statistical methods are used to test wether data is consistent with the hypothesis
- the study is reported to the scientific community, submitting a manuscript describing what was done and what was found etc
Define a theory
Describe the characteristics of a theory
- a set statements/propositions to describe some phenomena of the world
- are supported by empirical evidence
Define a hypothesis
A prediction about what will happen under particular circumstances.
- often test broader theories about behavior.
Define basic research
- concerned with trying to understand some phenomena in its own right
Define applied research
- is concerned with solving real world problems
Describe archival research
- analyzing social behaviours documented in past behaviours, can be used to test theories about social behaviour.
Describe characteristics of a survey
- interviews/written questionnaires
- results may be limited if sample is biased
- relatively small sample may be representative of population if sample is unbiased.
Describe the differences between the population and sample
- population is a specified group of people you are interested in studying
- sample is a subset of your population
Describe characteristics of correlational research
- correlation doesn’t equal causation
- self selection: can introduce a confounding variable
- o inference of causation: X may cause Y, OR Y may cause X
Define. Spurious correlation
- when 2 variables appear strongly correlated, but are not (eg divorce rates vs margarine consumption)
Describe experimental research
- systematically controls and manipulates events - may determine causality
What are some basic ideas of experimental research
- conditions are controlled or manipulated
- behaviors systematically measured
- random assignment
- comparisons of different manipulations affect behavior allow to determine the causal influences of behavior.
What are the limitations of true experiments
- some variables can’t be randomly assigned
- some variables would be unethical to randomly assign
- often practical limitations
Define internal validity
- the confidence that only the manipulated variable could have produced results
Define external validity
The extent to which experimental results can be generalized to real life situations
Define reliability
- the degree to which measurements are consistent over time
Define measurement validity
- the degree to which you are measuring what you want to measure.
What is the difference between a theory and a hypothesis?
- a theory is a general set of shared assumptions that is backed up by empirical evidence
- A hypothesis though, is an educated prediction of the outcome of results made before an experiment.
Define internal validity
- the confidence with which we can say that manipulation of the IV caused the measured changes in the DV.
What is a limitation of experimental research?
- some variables can’t be randomly assigned.
