Lecture 1 Flashcards
Social psych vs. sociology
Sociology- the scientific study of large-group behavior and institutional society
Similarities- interested in how people interact
Differences- sociologist study group; social psyc study individuals in group
Definition of Social Psychology
The scientific study of the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors of individuals in social situations.
Is science
About affects (feelings), cognition (thoughts), and behaviors
Social refers to actual, imagined, and implied others
Social vs. personality psyc
Personality- how individuals differ on stable traits
Similarities- both focus on the individual
Differences- personality focuses on the individual; social focuses on the situational context
Person, situation, construal, behavior
Graph
Problems with common sense
Bad at introspection
Fall victim to hindsight bias
Have confirmation bias
Hindsight bias
Knew it all along
Confirmation bias
Seek out information to confirm our beliefs
Observational research
Involves observing participants in social situations
Attempts to systematically observe behavior (may be recorded and categorized)
May involve additional measures like interviews and questionnaires
Archival research
Involves analyzing social behaviors documented in past records
Can be used to test theories about social behavior
Surveys
Involve asking participants questions, usually through an interview or questionnaire Important to consider sampling (number and type of people surveyed) Results maybe limited is sample is bias Random sampling (randomly choosing people from a population will create an unbiased sample)
Population
Group you want to know about
Random sample
Taken at random from the population
Convenience sample
Taken from available subgroup in the population
Correlational research
Examines the relationship between variables without assigning participants to different situations or conditions.
NO random assignment
No manipulation of variables
Limits of correlational research
Correlation does NOT equal causation
Third variable problem
-another viable may explain correlation
Experimental research
Involves unbiased assignment of participants to different situations or conditions (random assignment) of IV
Experiments allow for causal inference about how different conditions influence behavior
IV
Manipulated by researcher
Hypothesized to cause change in DV
DV
Measured
Often a change in behavior, feelings, attitudes
Internal validity
Confidence that the experimental results were being caused by the manipulated variable
Confounds create problems here!
External validity
Degree to which exp. results can be generalized to other contexts
Depends on similarity between experimental context and “real world” context
Researchers often face trade offs between
internal and external validity
Reliability
How consistently a test will measure the variable of interest
Measurement validity
Degree that a test accurately measures the variable of interest
Basic research
Don’t help, just study (INTERNAL VALIDITY)
Concerned with: trying to gain knowledge in its own right
Aim is to gain: greater understanding of a phenomenon
