Flashcards in Week 1 Deck (101):
1
What is social psychology?
Social psychology is the scientific investigation of how’s people’s thoughts, feelings and behavior are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others.
2
What kind of behaviour are social psychologists interested in?
Human behaviour.
3
Do social psychologists study animals?
Not usually.
4
Why do social psychologists study behaviour?
It can be:
1) Observed
2) Measured
5
What do social psychologists study?
• Thoughts
• Feelings
• Attitudes
• Intentions
• Goals
6
Why is social psychology social?
Social psychology is social because it deals with how people are affected by other people are physically present and who are imagined to be present.
7
Is social psychology a science?
Yes.
8
What is a science?
Science is a method for studying nature that involves the collecting of data to test hypotheses.
9
What does the scientific method dictate?
The scientific method dictates that no theory is true simply because it is logical and seems to make sense.
10
How do social psychologists construct theories?
From data and/or previous theories and the conduct empirical research to test the theory.
11
How social psychologists test theories?
Through empirical research.
12
What is social psychology a sub discipline of?
Psychology.
13
Why is social psychology a subdisclipine of psychology?
It explains human behaviour in terms of processes in the human mind.
14
How does social psychology differ from regular psychology?
Differs because it explains social behaviour.
15
What is social psychology influenced by?
• Cognitive psychology (methods and concepts)
• Economics
• Individual Psychology
16
How is social psychology similar to social anthropology?
It deals with the same phenomena.
17
How is social psychology different from social anthropology?
Seeks to explain how individual human interaction/cognition are constructed by culture/influence culture.
18
How can we define social psychology?
In terms of what is studied.
19
What is one issue with defining social psychology in terms of what it studies?
One issue with this is that it does not properly differentiate it from other disciplines.
20
What method is used in social psychology?
The scientific method.
21
What is science?
Science is a method for studying nature and it’s the method that separates it from other ways of collecting information.
22
What does science involve?
Science involves the formulation of hypotheses.
23
What are hypotheses?
Hypotheses are empirically tested prediction about what co-occurs with what or what causes what.
24
What are alternatives to science based on?
Authority.
25
What are two examples of alternative to science?
• Dogma
• Rationalism
26
What are two broad types of scientific method?
1) Experimental
2) Non-experimental
27
What is the type of experimental method?
• Type of hypothesis
• Resources available
• Ethics of the methods
28
What is confirmation bias?
Confirmation bias is the tendency is to seek, interpret and create information that verifies existing explanations for the cause of an event.
29
What is a theory?
Set of interrelated concepts and principles.
30
What is a variable?
Any phenomenon that can differ or vary from one situation to another or one person to another.
31
What is a hypothesis?
Statement or prediction of what is expected to be found.
32
What do we need to make sure an experiment has in order to make cause and effect?
Sound and valid research design.
33
Is social psychology largely experimental?
Yes
34
What does the experimental method involve?
A population and a sample drawn from the population.
35
How does a sample need to be selected in the experimental method?
Random selected to increase internal validity.
36
Why does the sample need to be randomly selected in the experimental method?
To increase internal validity.
37
Does the experimental method need to have a control group?
Yes
38
How many experimental groups does an experimental method need to have?
One or more.
39
How do participants need to be allocated of participants to group?
Random allocation
40
Why do participants have to random allocated to different groups?
To make it a sound research design.
41
What does the experimental design allow us to do?
Cause and effect conclusions.
42
How is the experimental method carried out?
It involves intervention in the form of manipulation of one or more independent variables and measurement of the effect of manipulation on one or more focal dependent variables.
Potential bias:
43
What is an independent variable?
Features of situation that change on own accord or manipulated by research to effect dependent variable
44
What is a dependent variable?
Variables that change as a consequence of changes in the independent variable
45
What is confounding?
two or more independent variables covary in such a way that it is impossible to know which one caused effect.
46
What are two types of the experimental method?
One factor design and two factor designs.
47
What are two ways to reduce bias with an experimental procedure?
Sound experimental bias and double blind procedure.
48
What is potential bias from the experimental method?
• Subject effects
• Demand characteristics
• Subject effects
49
What is a laboratory experiment?
Experiment conducted in a laboratory.
50
What is the aim of a laboratory experiment?
Isolate and manipulate one aspect of a variable that may not occur in isolation outside a laboratory.
51
Has social psychology research using fMRI become more popular?
Yes
52
What are the advantages of laboratory experiment?
• Establishes causation
• Controls potential confounding variables.
53
What are the disadvantages of laboratory experiment?
Cannot be generalized to less pure conditions in real world
54
What do laboratory experiments often do?
They often address theories about behaviour and these can generalize to conditions outside the laboratory.
55
Is a laboratory experiment low or high on external validity?
Low on external validity.
56
Is a laboratory experiment low or high on internal validity?
High internal validity.
57
What biases are laboratory experiments prone to?
• Subjective effects
• Demand characteristics
• Experimenter effects
58
How are experimenter effects minimised in a laboratory experiments?
Minimised by double blind procedure.
59
How does a field experiment differ from a laboratory experiment?
Field experiment is in more natural settings outside the laboratory.
60
What are the advantages of a field experiment?
• High external validity
• Usually not reactive (participants not aware they are taking place)
• No demand characteristics
61
What are the disadvantages of a field experiment?
• Less control over extraneous variables
• Random assignment is sometimes difficult
• Difficult to obtain accurate measurements or measurements of subjective feelings
62
When do we use non experimental methods?
When experimental not appropriate.
63
Can causation be concluded from non experimental methods?
No.
64
Can correlation be concluded from experimental methods?
Yes.
65
What type of variables do non experimental methods involve?
Naturally observed variables.
66
What is archival research?
The assembly of data or reports of data collected by others.
67
Is archival research experimental or non experimental?
Non experimental.
68
What is archival research useful for?
Useful for investigating large scale, widely occurring phenomena that may be remote in time.
69
What are the advantages of archival research?
Make comparisons between different cultures or nations.
70
What are the disadvantage of archival research?
• Not reactive
• Unreliable because no control over primary data collection
71
What is a case study?
In depth analysis of a single case (or individual).
72
What type of data collection can a case study use?
A range of data collection
73
What are the advantages of a case study?
• Well suited to unusual or rare phenomenon that could not be replicated
• Useful source of hypothesis
74
What are the disadvantages of a case study?
• Findings may suffer from researcher or subject bias
75
What is discourse analysis?
set of methods use to analyse text in order to understand its meaning and significance. (Language and communication based methodology).
76
What can survey research involve?
Structured interviews and questionnaire.
77
What is a structured interview?
Researcher asks paricipants carefully chose questions and records answer.
78
What is a questionnaire?
Participants write own responses to written questions
79
What can questions be in a survey?
• Open-ended
• Close-ended
80
What are the advantages of a survey?
Advantages:
• Large amount of data from large sample
• Generalisation often not a problem
81
What are the disadvantages of a survey?
• Subject to experimenter bias
• Subject to subject bias
• Subject to evaluation apprension
• Demand characteristics
• Response set:
82
What is response set for survey research?
Tendency for respondents to agree with statements or choose midrange/extreme responses
83
What is a field study?
Observation, recording & coding of behaviour as it occurs.
84
How does a field study compare to a field experiment?
The same as a field experiment without intervention or manipulation.
85
What are the advantages of a field experiment?
• Spontaneous
• Investigate as it occurs in natural context
86
What are the disadvantages of a field experiment?
• Experimenter bias
• Lack of objectivity
• Poor generalizability
• Distortions
87
What does the type of analysis undertaken depend on?
• Type of data obtained
• Method used to obtain data
• Purpose of the research
88
What do we use to analyse data?
We use statistics. One example of a statistical procedure is a t test.
89
What is a t- test?
Test the statistical significance of an effect in which the mean for one condition is greater than the mean for another.
90
What is statistical significance?
Statistical significance is that it unlikely to occur by chance more often than 1 in 20 times.
91
What does correlation assess?
Correlation assesses whether the co-occurrence of two or more variables is significant.
92
What is social psychology like in Australia and NZ?
Origins are British but increasingly international in outlook through collaboration in research programs.
93
What is positivism?
Non critical acceptance of science as the only way to arrive at true knowledge.
94
What is reductionism?
Explanation of phenomenon in terms of the language and concepts of lower levels of analysis.
95
Why was social psychology in crisis?
1) It was overly reductionist
2) It was overly positivistic
96
How are ethics often met in social psychology?
Usually satisfied by ensuring data obtained from individuals is entirely confidential.
97
How do you ensure data in psychology is confidential?
Personal identification removed.
98
Is a degree of deception often necessary?
Yes.
99
What is informed consent?
People should give their consent freely to participate on the basis of full information about what they are consenting to take part in. They must be entirely free to withdraw without penalty whenever they wish.
100
When should participants be debriefed?
People should be deberied after participating in a study.
101