Social Psychology focuses on the Person X Situation Interaction 1 10 13 CHAPTER 1 Research Methods in Social Psychology Is psychology a science I knew it all along Hindsight bias the tendency to exaggerate one s ability to have foreseen an outcome after learning about it o Proverbial and anecdotal knowledge can support almost any claim Birds of a feather flock together vs Opposites attract Absence makes the heart grow fonder vs Our of sight out of mind Answering WHY with Social Psychology Social psychology uses the scientific method to answer questions about human nature Through carefully designed experiments social psychologists are able to distinguish between common sense and truth How do social psychologists study what they study Theories vs Hypotheses Theories are integrated principles that explain and predict observed events Hypotheses are testable predictions o allow theories to be tested Testing Theories Theory clothing color influences people s aggressive tendencies Hypothesis people who wear black are more aggressive than people who don t wear black Correlational approach o Tests for relationship between variables o Strength of relationship between two variables o Positively correlated Negatively correlated No correlation o Correlation does not equal causation Experimental Research o 2 key features kept constant 1 Control manipulation of independent variable and all other variables 2 Random assignment of representative sample of participants o Independent variables are often controlled or manipulated Color of T shirt participants wore o Dependent variables are measured Aggression o Operational Definition What do we mean by aggression Must specify key terms used in the study happiness better love etc o Interpreting Results when the effect of one independent variable on the Interaction dependent variable depends on the value or level of the other independent variable magnitude and direction across levels of the other independent variable when an independent variable has an effect of similar Main Effect Terms IV is something manipulated DV is something measured Correlational studies can determine variables that are related but cannot determine that one variable causes another o Experimental lab studies can determine causation 1 15 13 The Traid Social psychologists are interested in three main aspects of human experience o Affect feelings emotions mood in the head o Behavior observable actions o Cognition thoughts or mental processes The Self Concept cognition part Constructing the self concept Four methods Introspection 1 2 The looking glass self 3 Self perception 4 Vicarious self perception Priming Stimuli encountered in the world activated related concepts in the mind o Seeing snow activates information about snow in the mind Activation spreads to all related concepts o Seeing snow ALSO activates concepts like ice Christmas hockey winter etc o This phenomenon is referred to as spreading activation 1 Introspection Duplex mind o We usually know what we feel or think o But not often why we feel or think that way 2 The looking glass self Learn about ourselves from others feedback Or by imagining how others see us Discrepancies o Peoples opinions of themselves do not perfectly match those of others o People don t always accept the opinions of others o Others don t always have complete insight 3 Self perception actions Observing our behavior and actions as we would observe others Then interpret Particularly when we re unsure or in a new situation Study o Participants performed a boring know turning task o Asked to lie and were either paid 1 to lie or 20 to lie o Then filled out a questionnaire evaluating the task and surprisingly people who got 1 said they enjoyed the task more o In novel situations we look to our behavior to make up our minds P s remember they convinced someone to do the task One dollar is insignificant amount for justification Need some justification for convincing other person It must have been fun 4 Vicarious Self Perception People have a merged identity with similar others o Sense of connection with others based on important self relevant trait or feature o Once you establish you have a similarity or merged identity and you learn something new about them you agree and think similarly Four Ways of constructing self concept Introspection learn from inner voice The looking glass self learn from the opinions feedback of friends or family Self Perception observe yourself from perception of a stranger Vicarious Self Perception change self to mirror merged other Review 1 22 12 Self Esteem Self concept knowledge of one s self Self esteem evaluation of one s self o Trait how good you feel generally stable o State how good you feel in the moment changes Measuring Self Esteem Explicit measure Self reports conscious you can control it Problems o self presenting best behavior trying to cultivate the best of you to fit something Job interview first date meeting boyfriends parents o self deception want to see self as a positive thing Implicit measure Measuring self esteem via priming o Prime nurse activate doctor o Does priming me activate good The Name Letter Test NLT high self esteem people with love the first letter of their last name low self esteem will not Signature size high self esteem people will sign their name larger Smell esteem lick hand and smell it a few minutes later rating the smell of their saliva Someone with high esteem will like their smell better than someone with lower self esteem Explicit vs Implicit Explicit measures provide more content specific index of self esteem o How great of a basketball player am I o Specific but susceptible to self presentation Implicit measures provide a less biased measure of general positivity o How positive do I see myself overall o Avoids self presentation but not content specific o Self esteem movement Correlation does not imply causation No difference in o Intelligence success social relationships attractiveness Good grades more likely a cause of high self esteem or some other third variable like involved parents High vs Low self esteem Self protection vs self enhancement o Low self esteem people are more worried about protecting from failure avoiding failure o High self esteem people are more concerned with achievement enhancement approach success Self concept clarity vs self concept confusion o When asked does this trait describe you people with low self esteem Are less confident Are less extreme Take longer
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