Studying Groups

Question 1

A measurement method that involves
watching and recording individual and group actions

Answer 1

Observation

Question 2

Openly watching and recording group behavior with no attempt to conceal one’s research purposes.

Answer 2

Overt observation

Question 3

Watching and recording group behavior without the participants’ knowledge

Answer 3

Covert observation

Question 4

Watching and recording group behavior while taking part in the social process.

Answer 4

Participant observation

Question 5

Change in behavior that occurs when
individuals know they are being studied by researchers.

Answer 5

Hawthorne effect

Question 6

A group, usually located at a university or other research institution, that is responsible for reviewing research procedures to make certain that they are consistent with ethical guidelines for protecting human participants

Answer 6

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

Question 7

A research procedure used to collect and analyze nonnumeric, unquantified types of data, such as text, images, or objects.

Answer 7

Qualitative study

Question 8

A research procedure that classifies (codes) group members’ actions into defined categories.

Answer 8

Structured observational method

Question 9

A research procedure used to collect
and analyze data in a numeric form, such as frequencies, proportions, or amounts.

Answer 9

Quantitative study

Question 10

A structured coding system developed by Robert Bales used to classify group
behavior into task-oriented and relationship-oriented categories.

Answer 10

Interaction Process Analysis (IPA)

Question 11

A theoretical and structured coding system
developed by Robert Bales which assumes that group activities can be classified along three dimensions: dominance versus submissiveness, friendliness versus unfriendliness, and acceptance of versus opposition to authority

Answer 11

Systematic Multiple Level Observation of Groups (SYMLOG)

Question 12

Degree to which a measurement technique consistently yields the same conclusion at different times.

Answer 12

Reliability

Question 13

Degree to which a measurement method
assesses what it was designed to measure.

Answer 13

Validity

Question 14

Assessment method, such as a
questionnaire, test, or interview, that ask respondents to describe their feelings, attitudes, or beliefs.

Answer 14

Self-report measure

Question 15

Research technique developed by Jacob
Moreno that graphically and mathematically summarizes patterns of intermember relations.

Answer 15

Sociometry

Question 16

Graphic representation of the patterns of
intermember relations created through sociometry

Answer 16

Sociogram

Question 17

Strong concurrence-seeking tendency
that interferes with effective group decision making, identified by Irving Janis

Answer 17

Groupthink

Question 18

Research technique that involves examining, in as much detail as possible, the dynamics of a single group or individual.

Answer 18

Case study

Question 19

Naturally occurring group (particularly when compared to an ad hoc group created by a
researcher in a laboratory study), such as an audience, board of directors, club, or team

Answer 19

Bona fide group

Question 20

Individual or group who is unfairly held
responsible for a negative event and outcome; the innocent target of interpersonal hostility

Answer 20

Scapegoat

Question 21

Research design in which the investigator
manipulates at least one variable by randomly assigning participants to two or more different conditions and measuring at least one other variable.

Answer 21

Experiment

Question 22

Aspects of the situation manipulated by the researcher in an experimental study; the causal variable in a cause–effect relationship

Answer 22

Independent variable

Question 23

Responses of the participant measured by the researcher; the effect variable in a cause–effect relationship.

Answer 23

Dependent variable

Question 24

Group or collective that individuals
use as a standard or frame of reference when selecting and appraising their abilities, attitudes, or beliefs; includes groups that individuals identify with and admire and categories of noninteracting individuals.

Answer 24

Reference group

Question 25

Research design in which the investigator measures (but does not manipulate) at least two variables and then uses statistical procedures to examine the strength and direction of the relationship between
these variables.

Answer 25

Correlational study

Question 26

Statistic that measures the strength and direction of a relationship between two
variables.

Answer 26

Correlation coefficient

Question 27

Focus of empirical and theoretical interest selected when individuals or objects under study are nested in a series of increasingly inclusive or graded clusters; the source of the data the researcher seeks.

Answer 27

Unit of analysis

Question 28

Wants, needs, and other psychological processes that energize behavior and thereby determine its form, intensity, and duration

Answer 28

Motivation

Question 29

Subjective state of positive or negative affect
often accompanied by a degree of arousal or activation.

Answer 29

Emotion

Question 30

Collective emotional mood of a group.

Answer 30

Group affective tone

Question 31

Theoretical explanation of the way organisms acquire new responses to environmental stimuli through such conditioning processes as stimulus–response associations and reinforcement.

Answer 31

Behaviorism

Question 32

Economic model of interpersonal relationships which argues that individuals seek out relationships that offer them many rewards while exacting few costs.

Answer 32

Social exchange theory

Question 33

General theoretical approach which assumes that groups are systems—collections of individual units that combine to form an integrated, complex whole

Answer 33

Systems theory

Question 34

Any one of a number of general conceptual analyses of groups that assumes group processes mediate the relationship between individual, group, and situational input variables and resulting group outcomes.

Answer 34

Input–process–output (I–P–O) model

Question 35

Mental processes that acquire, organize, and integrate information.

Answer 35

Cognitive process

Question 36

Conceptual approach developed by John Turner and his colleagues that explains a
range of group behavior, including the development of social identity and intergroup relations, in terms of the social cognitive categorization processes.

Answer 36

Self-categorization theory

Question 37

Biological approach to understanding behavior which assumes that recurring
patterns of behavior in animals ultimately stem from evolutionary pressures that increase the likelihood of adaptive social actions and extinguish nonadaptive practices.

Answer 37

Evolutionary psychology