social psych chapter 1

systematic intervention

-variables systmaticlly changed -effect of the change is than measured -independent vs dependent variables

social psych focuses on the behavior of

individuals. it aims to understand how social situations shape the actions of individuals.

environmental variables

influence the physical environment -effect of feelings, thoghts and behavior

early social psych

interested in social thought and behavior

experimental method

involves systematically altering one or more variables in order to determine whether changes in this variable affect some aspect of behavior

social psych core values

is scientific in nature with 4 core values: accuracy, onjectivity, skeptiscism and openminedness.

variation

organisms vary in many ways

social psych places an emphasis on

- influence of social factors - effects of nonsocial factors

the role of implicit processes

-automatic reactions to people and stimuli -requiring no concious thought or intention -

modern social psych

-behavior and cognition are intimately and continuously linked -interplay between social thought and social behavior

advances in research

-gender and creativity -accuracy of immediate impressions - inability to intuit impression accuracy

social psychbiological factors

-genetics biology and social experience -evolutionary psychology -evolved psychological mechanisms -evolutionary perspective

ethical issues

-harm of deception resentment the institutional review board.

belinging to groups have

-psychological well-being -higher life expectancy -understanding ones identity -social support -coping with adversity

relations ships with others are

-the building blocks of social life -positive and negative influences

culture and beauty

10 different country study on ideal female body types.

theory

A hypothesis that has been tested with a significant amount of data

deception

A technique whereby researchers withhold information about the purposes or procedures of a study from people participating in it.

factors held constant

All factors which remain the same for each repeated trial and level of IV

misleading information

Supplying information that may lead a witness' memory for a crime to be altered

skeptiscism

a commitment to accetings findings as accurate only to the extent they have been verified over and over again

open-mindedness

a commitment to changing one's views-even views that are strongly held-if existing evidence suggests that these views are inaccurate

accuracy

a commitment to gathering and evaluating infromation about the world (including social behavior) in as careful, precise and error free manner as possible

multicultural perspective

a focus on understanding the cultural and ethnic factors that influence social behavior

correlational method

a method of research in which a scientist systematically observes two or more variables to determine whether changes in one are accompanied by changes in the other

meta analysis

a procedure for statistically combining the results of many different research studies

survey method

a research method that involves gathering information from people through the use of surveys or questionnaires

correlation: searching for relations

associations between/among variables. focus on variables. making strong predicitons from correlations. stronger correlation=more accurate prediction

guidelines and best practices

avoid persuading participation's for involvement. informed consent. debriefing

systematic observation

careful observation as behavior occurs. nor informal "people watching"

social psych: advances

cognition and behavior are two sides of the same coin.

role of emotions in social life:

emotions and moods. research goes into: the influence of mood on social life. impressions of others. range of social behaviors

the correlational method

determining the relation between different variables and statistical tests

cultures

differ greatly -world changes constantly -complicates establishing basic principles

external validity

extent to which we can generalize findings to real-world settings

moderators

extraneous variables that affect the relationship among the independent and dependent variables

mediating variables

factors that are positioned between the independent and dependent variables but do not affect the relationship between them

moderators

factors that are treated as independent variables and can change size or direction of the relation between 2 variables

social neuroscience

focusing on atitudes and values. influence on behavior and emotional responses. mirror neurons and empathy

social psych areas of study

how groups influence behavior, culture, internalization, and individual preferences.

the basic principles in a changing social psych world

key goal of science principles that govern social life true across time and cultures

social psych researchers

look at ethnicity and social class -relation to our "selves" -social context, self identities and social behavior

cognitive processes

memory and reactions, social cognition- thinking about other people

naturalistic observation

observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation

social and cultural transformation

occuring in the US and other countries. racial/ethnic demographic changes.

multicututral perspective

recognizes social group dimensions -effect on category membership -effect on social thought

survey methods

research methods that rely on questionnaires to collect research data

social contexts/experiences lead to

self identities which then leads to social behavior

inheritence

some of these variations are heritable

randon assignment

technique ensuring that each participant is an experiment has an equal chance of being assigned to any of the conditions in the experiment

social relationships focus on

the importance for well-being

key points about theories:

theories are never proven. research is not undertaken to prove a theory

evolutionary psychology

three components of evolution: variation, inheritance and selection.

social psych methods

to study topics

objectivity

treating facts without influence from personal feelings or prejudices

social sych seeks to

understand the causes of social behavior. this inscludes actions and characteristics of other people.

social psych advences

use of technology ike FMRI and PET scans.

selection

variations that are adaptive become increasingly common in the population

passive deception

withholding information from the research participants by not giving them all the details of the experiment

deception

witholding, concealing information from participants. reasons for experient. needed for temporary deception