Social Psychology Chapter 1

individual

according to the textbook, social psychology in the early years of the 20th century was heavily influenced by B.F. Skinner's behaviorism and Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis. During this period, psychologists focused mostly on the _______ level of explanation for social behavior

conservatism

according to the textbook, the key characteristics of science do not include:

description

careful observation is the essence of psychology's goal of:

collectivistic

cultures in which individuals are defined with respect to their relationships to others rather than separately from other people are called _____ cultures.

random assignment (38)

each participant in a study has an equal chance of being assigned to any condition

sociology (7)

examines group-level phenomena-- such as societal trends, cultural norms, the effects of race or social class, and so forth

biological/physiological psychology (8)

examines the influence of genes, hormones, brain functioning and structure, and other elements of the nervous system, on all kinds of human behavior

clinical psychology (8)

examines the nature, causes, and consequences of mental disorders and dysfunction of individuals who deviate from the norm and seeks ways to treat them

lay theory (29)

explanation for social behavior that is possessed by an ordinary (lay) person without advanced training in psychology and without using scientific methods

classical conditioning (23)

for of learning in which a previously neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus after being paired with an unconditioned stimulus

instrumental conditioning (23)

form of learning in which reinforcement is given or punishment is administered in order to increase or decrease a specific behavior

natural selection (20)

genes that tend to increase the chances of survival of their carrier are more likely to be passed on to a new generation

treatment group (37)

group of participants assigned to receive the treatment

control group (37)

group of participants that did not receive the treatment as a comparison to assess the effects of the treatment

independent

in a social psychology experiment, one group of participants is reminded of a social stereotype they are likely to hold; another is not reminded. all participants then interact with a member of the stereotyped group, and the nature of their interactions is recorded. whether the participants are reminded of the stereotype is the ______ variable in this experiment.

confound (37)

in an experiment, a factor that changes along with the independent variable and can prevent a clear assessment of the effects of the IV on the Dv

hindsight bias (30)

incorrect belief that, after a person has already learned the outcome of a particular event, he or she would have accurately predicted the outcome before it occurred

hypothesis (34)

prediction about the nature of social phenomena, oftentimes in the form of a proposition about how two factors are related to one another

causal relationship (36)

relationship that exists when a change in one variable can be shown to produce a change in another one

social psychology (5)

scientific study of social experiences and behaviors of individuals

anthropology (7)

seeks culture-level explanations for human behavior by exploring a specific culture in depth, utilizing primarily observational research

cognitive psychology (8)

seeks to explain mental processes such as memory, problem solving, decision-making, language, and the nature of consciousness

individual; culture

social psychology is to anthropology as ____ is to _____

experiment (36)

study in which one or more variables are systematically varied in order to examine the effects one one or more other variables

culture (22)

system of enduring meanings, perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and practices shared by a large group of people

a theory is broader than a hypothesis

which of the following statements best expresses the relationship between a theory and a hypothesis

social

Dr. Scholz is reading an article describing research in which investigators examined how the presence of other people influenced participants performance on a variety of tasks. Dr. Scholz is most likely reading the journal of research in ______ psyhcology.

personality psychology (8)

investigates the development and nature of personality traits over the lifespan

social learning (23)

learning by observing or hearing that someone else was reinforces or punished for engaging in a particular behavior

independent variable (36)

manipulated variable that is expected to change the dependent variable

dependent variable (36)

measured variable that is expected to be affected by manipulation of the independent variable

social cognition (24)

mental processes involved in perceiving, attending to, remembering, thinking about, and making sense of oneself and others

theory (34)

set in interrelated statements that explain and predict patterns of observable events

Kurt Lewin

the textbook traces social psychologists recognition that social behavior reflects the mutual influences of the person and the situation to:

correlation (35)

two variables are correlated when a change in one variable is associated with a change in the other variable

collectivistic culture (12)

type of society in which people's self-concepts tend to be intimately tied to and defined by their group memberships, people subordinate personal preferences and goals to the group's and where individual choice is not highly valued

individualistic culture (12)

type of society in which people's self-concepts tend to be stable, not tied to particular groups, and people place their personal preferences and goals above those of the group and value individual choice

motivated by goals

when social psychologists say that social behavior is purposive, they mean that is is: