Chapter 2 Textbook

Question 1

___ ___ is the tendency for people to exaggerate how much they could have predicted the outcome AFTER knowing what has happened

Answer 1

hindsight bias

Question 2

__ is an organized set of principles that can be used to explain observed phenomena

Answer 2

Theory

Question 3

___ is a testable statement or idea about the relationship between 2 or more variables.

Answer 3

hypothesis

Question 4

what is an operational definition

Answer 4

the precise specification of how variables are measured or manipulated

Question 5

3 primary types of research designs

Answer 5

1) observational
2) correlationsal
3) experimental method

Question 6

2 types of observational research designs. Describe

Answer 6

1) ethnographic design: method by which researchers attempt to understand a group or culture by observing it from the INSIDE without imposing any preconceived notions that they may have.
2) archival analysis: a form of the observational method whereby the researcher examines accumulated documents of a culture.

Question 7

what is interjudge reliability

Answer 7

the level of agreement between 2 or ore people who independently observe and code a set of data.

Question 8

Observational designs use __-____ _____ tests to ensure that the observations are NOT SUBJECTIVE

Answer 8

inter-judge reliability.

Question 9

according to interjudge reliability, if two raters come up with a similar score, it ensures that:

Answer 9

the observations are not subjective.

Question 10

T/F: An observational method is descriptive

Answer 10

true

Question 11

T/F: a correlational method is causal

Answer 11

false. it is descriptive

Question 12

describe the correlational method

Answer 12

measuring 2 or more variables and assessing the relationship between the 2 of them. Assess how much one can be predicted by the other, and determines the STRENGTH of the relationship

Question 13

what kind of statistic is used in a correlational study?

Answer 13

a correlational coeficient (from -1 to 1)

Question 14

Give an example of a type of correlational study

Answer 14

a SURVEY: research in which a representative sample of people are asked questions about their attitudes of behavior. Allows research to judge the relationship between variables that are often difficult to observe.

Question 15

benefit and drawbacks of a survey

Answer 15

pro: allows a large amount of responses to be gathered by a representative segment of the population

con: response accuracy
- correlation does not prove causatio.

Question 16

how do you ensure a sample is representative of a population?

Answer 16

random selection

Question 17

T/F: an experimental method is causal

Answer 17

true

Question 18

in the experimental method, a researcher _____ assigns participants to different conditions and ensures the conditions are ____ except for the ____ variable.

Answer 18

in the experimental method, a researcher RANDOMLY assigns participants to different conditions and ensures the conditions are IDENTICAL except for the INDEPENDENT variable.

Question 19

What is internal validity. How is this accomplished?

Answer 19

how well the independent variable causes the change in the dependent variable, or how well the operational definition actually measures what is being studied.

accomplished by controlling all extraneous variables + RANDOM ASSIGNMENT to ensure that the independent variable is causing the dependent variable.

Question 20

___ ____ allows experimenters to minimize differences among participants as the cause of the results

Answer 20

RANDOM ASSIGNMENT. Ensures that all participants have an EQUAL chance of being in either condition.

Question 21

What is the P value

Answer 21

a value that determines how likely it is that the results of their experiment ocurred by CHANCE and NOT because of the independent variable.

Question 22

When are results typically considered significant?

Answer 22

when p<0.05. you are 95% sure that the results are NOT due to chance.

Question 23

the higher the internal validity :

Answer 23

the more likely that the independent variable causes the dependent variable.

Question 24

What is external validity

Answer 24

the extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to other situations and to other people.

Question 25

high internal validity = ____ external validity

Answer 25

LOW

Question 26

The basic dilemma of a social psychologist

Answer 26

the need to trade off between external and internal validity.

Question 27

in attempt to increase generalizability, psychologists attempt to maximize ___ ___. (define)

Answer 27

they try to make their studies as realistic as possible in the lab setting by maximizing PSYCHOLOGICAL REALISM: extent to which the psychological processes triggered in an experiment are to psychological process that occur in every day life.

Question 28

how can you maximize psychological realism?

Answer 28

make people feel involved in a real event. experimenters often implement cover stories.

Question 29

how do you ensure that the results of an experiment are generalizeable across people?

Answer 29

RANDOM SELECTION is essential in order to be certain that reuslts of an experiment represent the behavior of a particular popularion.

Question 30

what is a field study?

Answer 30

an EXPERIMENT that is conducted in a NATURAL SETTING rather than a laboratory.

Question 31

T/F: in a field study, participants are unaware that the events they experience are part of an experiment

Answer 31

TRUE. the independent variable is still controlled by the researcher, but the participants are typically unsure what the researcher is looking for.

Question 32

a field study has HIGH ____ validity and LOW ____ validity

Answer 32

high external validity but low internal validity because it is less controlled than a normal experiment.

Question 33

Replication tests _____ validity. How?

Answer 33

Replication tests EXTERNAL validity by repeating the study over and over again, generally with different subject populations.

Question 34

what is a meta-analysis

Answer 34

averages the results of 2 or more studies to see if the effect of an independent variable is reliable. Sort of like a p value except that it averages the results of many different studies.

Question 35

Basic research. Why are they conducted?

Answer 35

studies that are designed to find the best answer as to why people behave the way they do.

• conducted purely for RESEARCH and CURIOSITY. They aren’t trying to SOLVE a specific problem

Question 36

Applied research.

Answer 36

studies that are designed to solve a particular social problem. Building a theory is SECONDARY to solving a specific problem.

Question 37

2 newer fields that are stemming from social psychology

Answer 37

1) cross cultural research: research conducted with members of different cultures to see whether psychological processes of interest are present across cultures or whether a process is culture dependent.
2) social neuroscience: uses brain imaging, hormone studies and more physiological methods to discover which social psychological process are biologically based.

Question 38

6 main ethical principles

Answer 38

1) respect for dignity
2) ability to withdraw
3) confidentiality
4) informed consent.
5) minimizing harm
6) deception only if there is no other viable option.

Question 39

____ is necessary if deception is used

Answer 39

debriefing. Must explain to participants the true purpose of the study