Learning Objectives Chapter 1 The Mission and the Method Be able to define social psychology The scientific study of how people Person X Situation Interaction think about social cognition influence conformity and persuasion and relate to each other affect emotion relationships as groups cultural differences prejudices and stereotypes and as individuals the self Social psychologists study diverse topics These topics constitute the essence of the human experience Identify the other academic areas related to social psychology Anthropology study of human culture Provides a cultural context Helped us know whether behaviors are causes by nature or culture Economics study of how people exchange goods and services Calls attention to larger social systems and how these systems shape behavior Supply and Demand i e Dating compliments high supply less demand Sociology study of societies and the groups that form societies Similar to social psychologists Both focus on behavior Different from social psychologists SOC Focus on the group as a single unit SP Focus on the individuals that make up the group Understand how social psychology is different from the other fields within psychology Biological psychology Focus on what happens in the brain nervous system and other aspects of the body BP Focus on identifying which parts of the brain contribute to specific behaviors SP Look at behaviors and see social motives Clinical psychology Focus on abnormal behavior Most popular field of Psychology CP Interested in abnormal human functioning SP Interested in NORMAL human functioning Cognitive psychology study though processes like memory CP Interested in how people think SP Interested in how people think about other people and social situations Personality look at differences between individuals and traits that are stable PP Focus on how stable traits about a person predict their behavior SP Focus on how situations predict behavior Know which other field of psychology is considered the sister field to social psychology Personality Psychology the sister discipline of SP Individual differences in people cause people to behave differently Know the 2 forces that work together to predict behavior Social Factors SP Personality PP Behavior Define the reification error and how it relates to psychology Social Psych uses the tools of science to determine what actually the case in a given situation is We use the scientific method to uncover trends and to try and determine how an individual might act in a given situation THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND Reification error treating abstract concepts as if they were concrete objects self esteem depression bipolar personal identity Discovery vs Invention not discovered Usefulness still useful although not concrete Empiricism Knowledge is derived from observations Values and biases affect conclusions researchers study things they have opinions about researchers often design studies that support their point of view and people sometimes lie especially when their job is at stake Define and identify examples of the hindsight bias I knew it all along If your friend paid you 100 to do something you already wanted to do would you be more likely to do it again less likely to do it again equally likely to do it again Not common sense or what you d expect Cullen Murphy Hindsight bias the tendency to exaggerate one s ability to have foreseen an outcome after learning about it Proverbial and anecdotal knowledge can support almost any claim Describe the 5 steps of the scientific method The scientific method 1 State problem 2 Formulate hypothesis An idea about the possible nature of reality a prediction tested in an experiment Ex What causes aggression 3 Design experiment 4 Test hypothesis with data from experiment 5 Communicate results Replication Hypothesis An idea about the possible nature of reality a prediction tested experiment Ex What causes aggression Heat and stress Theory Unobservable constructs that are linked together in some logical way principles that explain predicted and observed results Ex Discomfort leads to aggression Know the 2 things that make a good theory A theory explains existing patterns and predict new ones A good theory is economical Occam s razor simplest explanation is usually the best one A good theory is falsifiable Know whether science aims to prove or disprove hypotheses and why We don t prove hypotheses we disprove them All swans are white Define theory and hypothesis Hypothesis generated from theory theories built from confirmed hypotheses and other empirical evidence Identify and describe the different methods used in research Correlational Research Goal Test how one variable is associated with another variable Is there a relationship Hypothesis there is a pos relationship btwn and happiness positive correlation inc graph pos slope Could be negative neg slope or no correlation flat straight line Experimental Research Two key features random condition assignment of participants to verify the donated is based on mood controlled manipulation of independent variable just the mood the people giving charity are in Two types of variables independent and dependent variable Be able to explain the direction and strength of a correlation when given the correlation coefficient Correlation coefficient r Ranges from 1 to 1 Abs value the digit not the sign indicates magnitude closer to 1 stronger closer to 0 weaker Sign indicates direction pos or neg correlation Ex r 0 1 weak positive correlation Ex r 0 9 stronger negative correlation Ex r 0 curve relationship Know the advantages and disadvantages of correlational research Doesn t mean that the variables cause each other ice cream and murder IRON LAW OF CORRELATION Correlation does not equal causation A B B A C A B Identify the independent and dependent variables in a research design Independent changed Subject variables can t change race or gender or religion donated more b c female Dependent variable that is unchanged same environment Ex A researcher wonders if having candy in class will help students do better on tests Dep tests Independent candy Know what is meant by the operational definition of a variable Operational definitions how people define their variables make sure they re testable Find what s best for your research Define random assignment Hypothesis Social rejection decreases sensitivity to pain RANDOM People have equal chance of being assigned to rejection condition or accepted condition Heads you are
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