week 2 Doing Social Psychology

Question 1

Hypothesis

Answer 1

A well-defined, testable prediction.

Question 2

Theory

Answer 2

An organised set of principles used to explain observed phenomena.

Question 3

Basic research

Answer 3

has goal of increasing understanding, often by testing a hypothesis, which is based on a theory.

Question 4

Applied research

Answer 4

has the goal of increasing understanding AND to find practical solutions to problems

Question 5

Conceptual variable

Answer 5

when first trying to develop an hypothesis,the variables are vague and abstract, and “just concepts”.

Question 6

Operational definition

Answer 6

to be tested, a conceptual variable must be precisely defined in terms of how it shall be manipulated or measured, and how it is to be defined.

Question 7

Construct validity

Answer 7

degree to which the measures or manipulations utilised, do in fact measure or manipulate what they are supposed to.

Question 8

Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale

Answer 8

a particular self-report scale of self esteem. Considered to have good construct validity.

Question 9

Bogus Pipeline Technique

Answer 9

Where participants are told their lies will be infallibly detected by a machine (this is false) and it causes the participants to give answers they may have otherwise preferred not to

Question 10

self report questionaire

Answer 10

may be inaccurate due to inacuuracy of recall, bias of recall, trying to present as socially acceptable, may get different responses if wording or order of questions is altered, etc etc,

Question 11

interval-contingent self report

Answer 11

respondent reports on experience regularly, eg. daily. In an effort to reduce time lapsed since remembered event , so hopefully report is more accurate

Question 12

signal-contingent self report

Answer 12

respondent responds when signalled eg via sms

Question 13

event-contingent self report

Answer 13

respondent reports asap after a pre-determined event, has occurred.

Question 14

inter-rater reliability

Answer 14

degree to which multiple observers rate an event the same

Question 15

eye-tracking technology

Answer 15

allows tracking of where in a scene participant looks and for how long

Question 16

descriptive research

Answer 16

records how frequently or typically people think or behave. This may be achieved via observation, studying archives or conducting surveys.

Question 17

random sampling

Answer 17

method of selecting participants for a survey where everyone in population has equal chance of selection

Question 18

qualitative research

Answer 18

records data in non numerical form. more concerned with an individual’s experience. may use non structured interviews etc

Question 19

quantitative research

Answer 19

records data in numerical form. concerned with quantifying a problem.

Question 20

correlational research

Answer 20

measures the relationship between variables. Usually this type of research only measures variables, and does not manipulate them. an eg was a finding that regions where tweets used angrier language, tended to also have higher incidence of heart disease mortality.
Advantage of correlational research is that can explore many relationships of variables. disadvantage is that correlation DOES NOT equal causation.

Question 21

correlational coefficient

Answer 21

degree to which 2 variables are related. range from -1 to 1. Zero= no correlation. Positive= both variables increase together. negative = 1 variable goes up when other goes down.

Question 22

experimental research

Answer 22

can demonstrate causal relationship. experimenter has control of the experimental procedure such that only the variable is manipulated and all else is uniform. Participants are randomly assigned.

Question 23

Random assignment

Answer 23

assigning participants already selected for trial, to the various experimental conditions, such that each participant has equal chance of assignment to any group. Thus unlikely that conditions of groups vary due to participant differences.

Question 24

experiment on norm-deviation 2009 Ashton James and assoc’s

Answer 24

Shown group of pens, mainly black, some blue. Those from more individualistic culture more likely choose blue, and vice versa for collectivist culture. But hypothesised if in good mood, more likely to buck one’s culture trend
which was demonstrated after inducing “good” or “bad” mood with 2 diff classical music pieces.

Question 25

independent variable

Answer 25

controlled by experimenter

Question 26

dependent variable

Answer 26

experimenter measures to see if has been affected by the manipulations of the independent variable.

Question 27

subject variable

Answer 27

neither truly independent nor truly dependent. Variables which are of the individual. not able to be manipulated, nor are they influenced by the independent variable. In above experiment on norm deviation, a subject variable was whether from individualistic or collectivist culture.

Question 28

internal validity

Answer 28

how much reasonable certainty there is that changes in the independent variables of an experiment, caused the changes observed in the dependent variables.

Question 29

confound

Answer 29

a factor other that the independent variables, which differs between experimental conditions, such that it threatens internal validity

Question 30

experimenter expectancy effect

Answer 30

experimenter’s expectations affect how behaves towards participant (eg if experimenter knows if participant has placebo or treatment) and can affect experiment results.

Question 31

external validity

Answer 31

extent to which can reasonably expect results of an experiment to be replicated in other world situations. ie findings can be generalised to a population

Question 32

Mechanical Turk

Answer 32

an Amazon online research tool allows for wider ranges of sampling of individuals.

Question 33

Mundane realism

Answer 33

degree to which experiment reflects real life situation

Question 34

experimental realism

Answer 34

degree to which experiment’s design leads participants to react/behave naturally

Question 35

deception

Answer 35

false information given to participants involved in an experiment. Often done to ensure realism

Question 36

confederate

Answer 36

accomplice of an experimenter, seemingly a participant, but pre-trained how to behave/talk etc

Question 37

meta-analysis

Answer 37

reviews a set of many different experiments statistically, to evaluate most effective etc

Question 38

informed consent

Answer 38

should be obtained prior to research. Participant given enough info to be informed. Informed able to withdraw participation at any stage.

Question 39

debriefing

Answer 39

should occur after any experiment/study. Inform what happened and why. Inform re any deception. Make participant feel good about having participated.