SOC 223 1nd EditionExam # 1 Study Guide Lectures: 1 - 7Lecture 1 (08/18)Social psychology: Attempts to understand/explain how thoughts, feelings, behaviors of individuals are influence by actual, imagined, or implied presences of others (Allport)- Scientific method- includes systematic observation, description & measurement-Hallmark of social psychology is the experimental study- Social context- Central phenomenon of social psychology. Social psychologists study how people are influenced by situations & how they influence each otherLab Studies-- To illustrate social context- (Walton & Cohen) Students told it’s typical to have social stress during freshman year. Control group of white students not told. Black students had significant effect on GPA in later years, but not white kids- To illustrate power of social situation- RA’s @ Stanford chose group of students that are cooperative and group of competitive. Game names: Wall Street game/Community Game. More went for Wall Street game.- To illustrate social situation & influence- “good Samaritan study” (Darley & Batson) Social Psychology differs from common sense- “absence makes the heart grow fonder” vs “out of sight, out of mind”- Unlike common sense, social psychology uses scientific method.- Social psychology reveals answers that depend on different factors (in research)- Social psychology is related, but different from personality psychology, cognitive psychology, clinical psychology & sociology.Lecture 2 (08/20)Birth & Infancy of Soc Psy: 1880’s-1920’s- 1st social psychology experiment- 1st textbooks1. Triplett 1887- Social facilitation: Men bike faster when in competition.2. Ringelmann 1880s- Published 1913. Social loafing: People perform worse on simple tasks with others than when aloneTextbooks1. Social Psychology- William McDougall 19082. Edward Ross 19083. Floyd Allport 19241930’s-1950’s- Adolf HitlerGreatest influence on social psychology- Social psychologists fled from Europe to US- Society for psychological study of social issues in 1936 (Gordon Allport)Kurt Lewin- Founder of modern social psychology- Came from Germany- Research/theoretical contributions1.) Field theory- B=f(P,E). Behavior is a function of person & environment. Interaction 1st perspective2.) Applications of soc psy- “no research w/o action, no action w/o research”3.) Leadership & group studies4.) Produced many productive students (Festinger, Kelley, Schachter, Thibaut)Muzafer Sherif- Examined influences of groups on members- Demonstrated it’s possible to study complex social processes (conformity) in scientific way1950’s- Theory Development- War related research generated applied research- College growth provided jobs for research- Gov’t & businesses needed social psychologists input (advertising)Contributions- G. Adorno- authoritarian personality- Allport: Nature of prejudice- S. Asch: Studied conformity- F. Heider: Introduced attribution theoryLecture 3 (08/25)Confidence & 1960’s+1970’s- Time of expansion, productivity & enthusiasm. New topics: self-perceptions, helping behavior, aggression, attraction- Time of crisis & debate- Lab experiments questioned- Golden Fleece Award- Given to soc psy research on heartStudies questioned by ethics- Miligram studyShocks- Zimbardo’s prison study @ Stanfordprisoners/guardsTime of Pluralism: 1970’s-1990’s- Methods- “Hot” & “cold” perspectives. Hot=emotion/motivation. Cold=cognition- International/cultural perspectives- Social cognitionNew & Trendy- Integration of hot & cold perspectives- Growing interest in distinguishing between automatic vs. controllable processes- Biological & evolutionary perspectives- Cultural perspectives/multicultural research- Interdisciplinary approachesbehavioral economics, embodied cognitionBehavioral Economics- Loss aversion- tendency for loss given magnitude to have more psychological impact than equivalent gain- Sunk cost fallacy- reluctance to “waste” $ leads people to continue w/ endeavor whether it benefits or not- Mental accounting- tendency to treat $ differently depending on how it’s acquired & what mental category- Decision paralysis- too many options can lead to decision paralysis unable to decide what option to buyEmbodied cognition- interdisciplinary field that examines close links between mind and positioning & actions of our bodies- People that wash hands w/ soap feel less guilty- People like strangers more when they see picture when holding arms toward themNew methods- Brain imaging technology- Use of internet- Virtual reality technologyLecture 4 (08/27)Research Methods in Soc Psy- All research begins w/ a questionSources: Experiences & observations of life, reading about research already done, theory- Research questions shaped to hypothesisHypothesis: Testable proposition describing relationship that may exist between events/variables2 Types of research1.) Basic research- test theories, understand human behavior2.) Applied research- Goal: Find solutions for practical problemsDefining & Measuring Variables- Conceptual variables: Variables in abstract, general form- Operational definition: specific way a variable is measured/manipulated. Validity & reliability are important*Stages of Research Process- Generating research question/hypothesis- Finding relevant past research & theory- Selecting research method- Collecting data- Analyzing data- Reporting resultsResearch Designs- Self reports- Observations Goals can be description, correlational, or causation- Experiments- Archival researchSelf-Reports- Interviews qualitative/quantitative- Self-report questionnaire (paper/on-line)- Telephone interviews2 General types of samples- Convenient- Representative (random)Advantages: Easy to do, gives access to people’s beliefs, feelings & pastDisadvantages: People may not tell the truth, responses may be affected by format/wording,memory is prone to error, correlations do not tell us about causationLecture 5 (09/03)Memory Issues-Solution: Reduce time that elapses between experience & reporting of it- Interval-contingent self-reports: Called every night- Signal-contingent self-reports: Random calls- Event-contingent self-reports: Every time event happensObservational Studies- Direct: Involves systematic observations about behavior; conducted in lab or natural setting-