Most people we study are people that are and what is it called? *
- White
- Sophomores
- 19 years old
- Middle-class
Called “The Study of the College Sophomore
Define Social Psych
the scientific study of the nature and causes of individual behaviors and cognition in social situations
What is the difference between Social Psych and Sociology?
Sociology: focus on society and social institutions
Social Psych: study of individual and group dynamics
Social Psych and Personality
Early Personality Psych: internal dynamics and individual differences
Social Psych: focus on social situations that affect common humanity
What is the difference between the philosophical issues in social psych of Nature vs. Nurture?
Nature: heredity and genetic traits determine a persons behavior
Nurture: environment determines behavior
What is the difference between the philosophical issues in social psych of Free Will vs. Determinism?
Free Will: individual alone has control over personal behavior
Determinism: belief that all events are shaped and governed by forces beyond control of individual
What is the experimental method?
the objective and systematic method of research in any scientific analysis
- Hypothesis
- Sample size (n)
- Replication
What are the goals of research in the experimental method and how do they do this?
determine if a variable influences some form of behavior
Two Basic Steps:
- vary the quantity and quality of the variable
- see if the variables had an impact on behavior
What is the independent variable (IV)?
factor or variable being studied
What is the dependent variable (DV)?
behavior being studied; involves some measure
What is the goal of the correlational method?
to see if two (or more) variables are related by careful observation of both
correlation does not imply causation
What are the advantages of a laboratory experiment?
- control of IV
- random assignment of participants
- simplify world (control behavior)
What are the disadvantages of a laboratory experiment?
- low mundane realism
- low external validity
- demand characteristics
- experimenter expectations
- evaluation apprehension
What is mundane realism?
degree to which the experiment resembles real-world events
What is external validity?
degree of “generalizability” of the findings to other people
What are demand characteristics?
cues that reveal the hypothesis under study
What is evaluation apprehension?
participants concern about being observed during study
What are the two types of field experiments?
- overt
2. covert
What is an overt field experiment?
participants know they are being observed
What is a covert field experiment?
participants are unaware of being observed
What are the advantages of a field experiments?
- high external validity
- high mundane realism
- covert studies avoid evaluation apprehension and demand characteristics
What are the disadvantages of field experiments?
- IV must be salient (noticeable)
- DV is often simple (behavior is either present of absent)
- practical problems = little control over the real world and unexpected events may destroy study
What was the study done by Milgram (1963) and why is it controversial?
studied obedience to authority
soldiers and prisoners
violence and psychological damage
started the conversation on ethics in psychology
What was the study done by Middlemist, Knowles & Matter (1976)?
invasion of personal space
What was the study done by Croyle & Hunt (1991)?
anxiety study: reactions to medical test results
research participants were told they tested (+) for a (fictitious) enzyme deficiency
What is the risk-benefit ratio?
ratio of risk to participants vs. benefit to society
What was the old view on the risk-benefit ratio?
benefits will outweigh any costs
What is the new view (1960’s) on the risk-benefit ratio?
humane concern for participants overrides any benefit to science
What was done to ensure humane experiments?
guidelines established by American Psychology Association (APA) & National Institutes of Health (NIH)
How does deception play a role in the problem of demand characteristics?
deception: research methods that conceal or mislead participants about “true” aspects of the study
- want to avoid demand characteristics
- may produce low self-esteem in participants
- safeguards against deception
What are the safeguards against deception?
- informed consent
- debriefing
- human and animal research committees
What is informed consent? *
get participants approval before the experiment (may produce demand characteristics)
What is debriefing? *
full explanation of experiment (after the study is over)
What is social perception?
process through which we seek to know and understand other persons
- verbal communication
- nonverbal communication
What is nonverbal communication?
exchange of information based on facial expressions, eye contact, gestures and body movements
What are the six basic facial emotions?
- happiness
- sadness
- surprise
- fear
- anger
- disgust
What did Charles Darwin (1872) say about facial expressions? *
- facial expressions are universal and innate *
- human facial expressions evolved from animal emotions and expressions
- facial expressions have survival value
- insanity = primitive stage of emotional development
What was the study done by Paul Eckman on facial expressions? *
- Hypothesis: facial expressions carry same meaning regardless of cultural context or language
- Eckman & Friesen (1975): emotional expressions in tribal people
- Mapping facial muscles
- Micro-Momentary Expressions (MME)
- “Telling Lies” (1985)
- Eckman & O’Sullivan (1991): lie detection with law enforcement personnel *
- MME analysis and clinical intervention
How many muscles does the human face have?
a total of 44 muscles
How many anatomical combinations in facial muscles did Eckman find?
10,000 anatomical combinations in facial muscles
How long does the average expression last?
1 to 1.5 seconds
What are Micro-Momentary Expressions (MME)?
brief, contradictory facial expression of emotion
What is masking?
substitute one facial expression with another one (hiding true emotion with another expression)
What is the percentage of the population that are natural liars?
about 5%
What is facial deception?
- blinking and false smiles
- masking
- display rules: cultural rules that dictate the appropriate conditions for displaying emotions
What was the study does by Eckmand & O’Sullivan (1991) on facial expressions? *
- lie detection with law enforcement personnel
- brought in agents from CIA, FBI, police, forensic psychiatrists, secret service, and students
- the one group that was better in catching lies: U.S. Secret Service (only group that could accurately detect liars)
What is the development of facial expressions?
- Newborns: born with all but one facial muscle in operation (develops within first 3 years)
- Most infants smile shortly after birth
- Babies only 36 hours old can imitate happy, sad and surprised emotions
What is body language (cue in non-verbal communication)?
- gestures, movements and postures
- different cultures have different gestures that mean different things
- emblems: body movements with a highly specific meaning in a given culture
What is gazing and what does it mean?
high level of eye contact = sign of liking, friendliness and attention
How does gazing play a role in job interviews?
people with high levels of eye contact received more positive ratings
How to people react to prolonged gazing (starring)?
- common reaction = hostility or escape
2. starring may induce guilt - effective in persuasion
What is the Affective Communication Test (ACT)?
- measures your level of expressiveness
- successful professionals score high on ACT especially if jobs involve interactions
- doctors score low
How does gender play a role in the differences in non-verbal cues?
- females are superior to males in the social use of cues
- females are more effective at both reading and transmitting unspoken messages
- socialization: we talk more to girls, encourage boys to be more active
What is social cognition?
the cognitive processes people use to interpret, analyze and remember social information (what we think about people at a later date)
What is the attribution theory?
our need to attribute cause to things that happen in our lives
What is the causal attribution theory?
process of explaining the causal nature of events
- personal attribution
- situational attribution
What is personal attribution?
attribution based on internal characteristics (personality, talent, moods, effort)
What is situational attribution?
attribution based on external factors (luck, government, religion)
What idea did Julian Rotter create?
Locus Control
What is Locus Control?
we have a need to know where our sense of control begins
What is Locus of Control?
generalized beliefs about the control of one’s personal and situational behavior (and behavior of others)
- Internal LOC
- External LOC
What is Internal Locus of Control (ILOC)?
individual assumes personal responsibility for life events
What is External Locus of Control (ELOC)?
person accepts uncontrollable forces that determine life events
What is the development of Locus of Control expectancies?
- people who have an ILOC report more happiness than ELOC
- ILOC related to high parental expectations and autonomy in childhood
- ELOC related to restricted, hostile upbringings
What is the relationship between LOC and achievement?
- ILOC –> higher levels of education and GPA
2. ELOC –> higher dropout rates
As we age, are we more likely to drift towards ILOC or ELOC? *
- aging is associated with an increase in ILOC (exception: terminal illness)
- trauma may produce shift to ELOC
What is Fundamental Attribution Error/Bias (FAE)? *
- tendency to overestimate personality/dispositional factors & ignore situational factors
- tendency to assume that someone’s behavior is due to their personality (when it might just be the situation)
- they are who they are because of their behaviors
What is the Actor-Observer Difference?
tendency to attribute our behavior to situational causes &/but the behavior of others to personality/dispositional causes
What is the False-Consensus Effect?
- tendency to overestimate commonality of one’s opinions, beliefs, attributions & behaviors (tend to think everyone agrees with us)
- people ignore consensus info in favor of self-generated attributions –> believe their behavior is “typical”