Introduction to Social Psychology

Chapter 1

Social Psychology

 

Chapter Links

Social psychology

Major Themes

Roots of social psychology

Social psychology and common sense

How We Do Psychology

Correlational research

How we do Correlational research

Experimental Social Psychology

Experimental ethics

Social Psychology
lSocial Psychology - the scientific study of how people think, influence, and relate to each other across different social situations
  •     Applied Social Psychology - understanding what influences your life, beliefs, attitudes and relationships
    • –Social Thinking
    • –Social Influences
    • –Social Relations
    • –Social Applications

     

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lMajor Themes in Social Psychology

Social Thinking (Judgments and Perceptions)
–Reality is socially constructed (Is this a legal hit? NFL Hits)
–Intuitions (unconscious) are helpful and also dangerous
Social Influences (People and Environments)
–Social Environments powerfully influence us
–Personality and attitudes also shape behavior
Social Relations (Interpersonal Behaviors)
–Social behavior is biologically rooted
–Social Neuroscience – examines neural and psychological bases of behavior

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Roots of Social Psychology

Social Psychology & Sociology - sociologist study societies and trends, whereas social psychologists study average individuals using experiments

Social Psychology & Personality - Personality theorist focus on individual differences, social psychologist focus on our commonalities and external factors that influence behavior

 Social Psychology & Biology - social psychologist explain behaviors using a combination of biological and social factors

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Commonsense Psychology (I Knew it all along)

Is Social Psychology Simply Common Sense?
–“He is a descent (sic) prof but the stuff he teaches requires no education whatsoever. I mean, how do you get a PHD in teaching someone about the "foot in the door" phenomenon, or the "low ball effect", theyre (sic) self explanatory concepts that everybody knows about” (Comments about Dr. Campbell from a former student, illustrating Hindsight Bias)
–Hindsight (20/20) bias – tendency to think you could have predicted an outcome, after having learned the outcome (See common Hindsight Examples)

Which of the following is more accurate?  Both seem logical but only one is correct.

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder?” OR
“Out of sight out of mind?”

        - Bias leads to overconfidence and increased blame towards others

 

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How We Do Social Psychology

  • lForming and Testing Hypotheses
    • Theory – a set of principles or ideas that seek to explain or predict an observation
    • lGood theories summarize behaviors and make clear predictions
    • –Hypotheses – testable components of a theory that describes a relationship(s)

     

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Correlational Designs (Non-experimental Research)

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Positive Correlation - the two variables vary in the same direction (0 - + 1.0)

e.g. Golf courses and Divorce or Ice cream sales and Murder or Throat Cancer and Soda

Negative Correlation - the two variables vary in opposite directions (- 1.0 - 0)

e.g. Self-esteem and Depression

 

Correlation does NOT mean one variable CAUSES another to occur

- Spurious Correlations can occur by chance

 

 

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How We Do Correlational Research

  • lField Research – conducted in natural, real-life settings
  • –E.g. studying aggression at sporting events
  • lSurvey Research – self-report measures of attitudes and behaviors
    • –Random Sampling – every person in the population has an equal chance of being included in the study
    • lAllows you to accurately describe the views of a population and reduces sampling biases
    • Random sampling graphic

  • Problems with non-random Samples - Do U.S. citizens favor medical marijuana sales?  One survey of landline users suggests no, but a survey of cellphone users suggests yes.

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Potential Biasing Influences in Surveys

  • –Unrepresentative Samples – samples that don’t accurately reflect the population (e.g. an alcohol usage survey comprised of 90% undergraduate students)
  • –Order effects – order of questions my bias results (If the questions were reversed would your answer change?)
    • lHow much do you like vegetables? (Scale 1-10)
    • How much do you like asparagus? (Scale 1-10)
  • –Response options - choices can bias the outcomes of questions
    • open ended vs. forced choice questions
  • –Linguistic biases - wording and framing effects can affect judgments
    • l80% lean vs. 20% fat (Which sticker would you prefer on your beef?)
    • Gun control vs. Gun safety (Which type of law would you support?)

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Experimental Designs 

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  • lExperimental Research – manipulating 1 or more variables to see its impact on another variable
    • enables researchers to determine cause & effect relationships (Does TV cause Aggression?)
    • –Independent variable – the factor(s) that is manipulated/altered by the researcher (e.g Kids watch tv or read a book)
    • –Dependent variable – the variable(s) that is measured (Aggressive behavior during free play time.)
    • lExperimental control
  • –Random Assignment – eliminating confounding variables by placing participants randomly into conditions
    • lAssures that both groups are equal on all dimensions and eliminates confounding variables (Age, gender, SES, education, eye color, hormones, personality, weight, height, handedness, etc.)
  • Replication - repeating and experiment with different subject and settings - See the Social Science Replication Project

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  • What's Wrong with these studies?

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Experimental Ethics

lMundane vs. Experimental Realism – experiments the mimic real life vs. one’s that absorb the participant
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  • Deception – used to achieve experimental realism
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    • Demand characteristics – cues that tell a participant what is expected
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APA Ethical Guidelines

  • –Informed Consent
  • –Use Deception Sparingly
  • –Protect Participants
  • –Ensure Confidentiality
  • –Debrief Participants

Comparing Research Methods

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