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hindsight bias

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the tendency for people to exaggerate how much they could have predicted an outcome after knowing that it occurred --, findings that appear obvious in retrospect may not have been predictable before the experiment was conducted

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An Empirical Science

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Social Psychology -research allows us to test the validity of personal observations -• Findings from social psychological research may appear obvious because they deal with familiar topics: social behavior and social influence --

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Formulating Hypotheses and Theories

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Inspiration from Earlier Theories and Research --• Studies often stem from researchers' dissatisfaction with existing explanations --• Social psychologists engage in a continual process of theory refinement: developing theories, testing hypotheses, revising theory and forming new hypotheses.

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Hypotheses Based on Personal Observations

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• Personal experience, current events, and literature can serve as sources of hypotheses to test (e.g., Kitty Genovese and Latane & Darley's work on the diffusion of responsibility). • Once researchers have a hypothesis, they must collect data using either the observational, correlational, or experimental methods to test this prediction.

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Research Designs

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• Social psychologists use three types of research designs: observational, correlational, and experimental.

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observational method

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the technique whereby a researcher observes people and systematically records measurements or impressions of their behavior • Ethnography is a type of observational method in which researchers attempt to understand a group or culture by observing it from the inside, without imposing any preconceived notions they might have. This often involves participant observation, a form of the observational method whereby the observer interacts with the people being observed, but tries not to change the situation in any way. • Other times researchers use observational methods to test a specific hypothesis. These studies use trained observers who code behavior according to a prearranged set ofcriteria to establish interjudge reliability.

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Limits of the Observational Method

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• Certain kinds of behavior are difficult to observe because they occur rarely or in private. • Archival analysis limited by the content of the original material whose authors may have had other aims in compiling the material. • Social psychologists typically want to do more than describe behavior but also predict and explain behavior.

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correlational method

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Predicting Social Behavior • A second goal of social science is to understand relationships between variables the technique whereby two or more variables are --systematically measured and the relationship between them (i.e. how much one can be predicted from the other) is assessed ---correlation coefficient is a statistical technique for calculating the degree of association between two variables ---. Positive correlations indicate that an increase in one variable is associated with an increase in the other, ---and negative correlations indicate that an increase in one variable is associated with a decrease in the other.

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surveys

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research in which a representative sample of people are asked (often anonymously) questions about their attitudes or behavior • Sampling errors can be a problem with surveys • Survey questions that ask people to predict or explain their own behavior may be inaccurate as people often do not know the answer but believe that they do. • The major problem with the survey method is that it identifies only whether two variables are associated, and not why they are. An association might mean that A causes B, that B causes A, or that some third variable C causes both A and B, which are not causally linked

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the Correlational Method

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Correlation Does Not Equal Causation • Confusion of correlation and causality may turn up in media reports (e.g., birth control method and incidence of STDs).

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experimental method

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the method in which the researcher randomly assigns participants to different conditions and ensures that these conditions are identical except for the independent variable (the one thought to have a causal effect on people's responses)

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Experimental Method

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Answering Causal Questions • Only the experimental method, in which the researcher randomly assigns participants to different conditions and ensures that these conditions are identical except for the independent variable, can determine causality. • Experimental method always involves a direct intervention from the researcher • Readers are asked to imagine how they might test the relationship between the number of people present and helping in an emergency and to consider the ethical problems involved. ---The greater the number of bystanders, the less likely participants were to help.

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correlation coefficient

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a statistical technique that assesses how well you can predict one variable from another - for example, how well you can predict someone's weight from their height

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independent variable

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the variable a researcher changes or varies to see if it has an effect on some other variable • Experiments can determine whether or not one variable is in fact a cause; however, this does not mean that such a variable is the only cause

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dependent variable

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the variable a researcher measures to see if it is influenced by the independent variable; the researcher hypothesizes that the dependent variable will depend on the level of the independent variable • Experiments can determine whether or not one variable is in fact a cause; however, this does not mean that such a variable is the only cause

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internal validity

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making sure that nothing besides the independent variable can affect the dependent variables; this is accomplished by controlling all extraneous variables and by randomly assigning people to different experimental conditions ---when everything is the same in the different levels of the independent variable, except for the independent variable: the one factor of concern. ---established by controlling all extraneous variables and by using random assignment to condition.

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external validity

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the extent to which the results of a study can generalized to other situations and other people • Generalizability across situations: There are different ways in which an experiment can be realistic. • External validity can be increased by conducting field experiments, experiments conducted in natural settings rather than in the laboratory.

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random selection or assignment

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a way of ensuring that a sample of people is representative of a population by giving everyone in the population equal chance of being selected for the sample ---. In random assignment to condition, each participant has an equal probability of being assigned to any of the experimental conditions ---Random assignment helps ensure that the participants in the two groups are unlikely to differ in any systematic way. • Even with random assignment, there is a small probability that different characteristics of people are distributed differently across conditions • Generalizability across people: The only way to be certain that the results of an experiment represent the behavior of a certain population is to randomly select from that population. ---However, this may be impractical and expensive. Social psychologists often assume that the psychological processes studied are basic components of human nature and thus similar across different populations. ---To be truly certain of this, however, studies should be replicated with different populations.

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probability level (p-value)

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a number calculated with statistical techniques that tells researchers how likely it is that the results of their experiment occurred by change and not because of the independent or dependent variables; the convention in science, including social psychology, is to consider results 'significant' or trustworthy if the probability level is less than 5 in 100 that the results might be due to chance factors and not the independent variables studied

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psychological realism

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the extent to which the psychological processes triggered in an experiment are similar to psychological processes that occur in everyday life ---can be high in an experiment even if mundane realism is low. Psychological realism often depends upon the creation of an effective

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cover story

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a description of the purpose of a study, given to participants, that is different from its true purpose and is used to maintain psychological realism

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field experiments

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experiments conducted in natural settings rather than in the laboratory • Field experiments typically involve broader samples of people in real situations who do not know that they are part of a psychological study. • There is often a trade-off between internal and external validity—being able to randomly assign people to conditions and ensuring that no extraneous variables are influencing the results versus making sure that the results can be generalized to everyday life. • This trade-off has been referred to as the basic dilemma of the social psychologist The resolution to this dilemma is the use of replication in both laboratory and field settings.

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meta-analysis

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a statistical technique that averages the results of two or more studies to see if the effect of an independent variable is reliable

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basic research

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studies that are designed to find the best answer to the question of why people behave as they do and that are conducted purely for reasons of intellectual curiosity

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applied research

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studies designed to solve a particular social problem • Most social psychologists agree that in order to solve a specific social problem, we must understand the psychological processes responsible for it.

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cross-cultural research

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research conducted with members of different cultures, to see whether the psychological processes of interest are present in both cultures or whether they are specific to the culture in which people were raised • Findings in cross-cultural research reveal that some social psychological findings are culture-dependent ---, researchers have to be sure they do not impose their own viewpoints and definitions on members of another culture, and they need to be sure that their independent and dependent variables are understood in the same way in different cultures.

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ethnography

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the method by which researchers attempt to understand a group or culture by observing it from the inside, without imposing any preconceived notions they might have

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evolutionary theory

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a concept developed by Charles Darwin to explain the ways in which animals adapt to their environments • Natural selection consists of the process via which certain adaptive traits become more prevalent in future generations because they offer a survival or reproductive advantage. • In biology, evolutionary explanations can explain physical features like long necks on giraffes. • Evolutionary psychologists argue that human cognition, affect, and behavior also evolved as adaptations to conditions in the distant past via natural selection. • Evolutionary psychology has been critiqued because the basic argument that behaviors evolved over time is not scientifically testable and because there are multiple possible evolutionary explanations for any given phenomenon

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natural selection

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the process why which heritable traits promote survival in a particular environment are passed along to future generations; organisms with those traits are more likely to produce offspring

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evolutionary psychology

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the attempt to explain social behavior in terms of genetic factors that have evolved over time according to the principles of natural selection

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ethics

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a discipline dealing with good and evil and moral duty • Social psychologists face the tension between wanting experiments to be realistic and wanting to avoid causing participants unnecessary stress and unpleasantness. • The dilemma is less problematic when researchers can obtain informed consent, specifying the nature of the experiment and getting permission from the participants before the experiment is conducted. In social psychology research, this fully informed consent is used whenever possible. ----. However, in some cases, full disclosure of the procedures would influence the nature of the results, and in this case, deception experiments are used, where only partial or misleading information about the procedures is given to participants in advance.

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. Guidelines for Ethical Research

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established by the American Psychological Association to guide psychologists in the conduct of research are summarized in ---institutions seeking federal funding for psychological research are required to have an institutional review board that reviews all research projects before they are conducted. ---• Studies examining the impact of deception experiments on participants have typically found that participants do not object to the mild discomfort that is typically produced, and in fact often find such experiments more interesting to participate in than non-deception experiments.

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interjudge reliability

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the level of agreement between two or more who independently observe and code a set of data; by showing that two or more judges independently come up with the same observations, researcher ensure that the observations are not the subjective, distorted impressions of one individual

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archival analysis

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a form of the observational method in which the researcher examines the accumulated documents, or archives, of a culture (e.g. diaries, novels, magazines, newspapers, etc.)

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random assignment to condition

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a process ensuring that all participants have an equal chance of taking part in any condition of an experiment; through random assignment, researchers can be relatively certain that differences in the participants' personalities or backgrounds are distributed evenly across conditions

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replications

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repeating a study, often with different subject populations or in different settings

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informed consent

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agreement to participate in an experiment, granted in full awareness of the nature of the experiment, which has been explain in advance

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deception

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misleading participants about the true purpose of a study or the events that will actually transpire

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Institutional Review Board (IRB)

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a group made up of at least one scientist, one nonscientist, and one member not affiliated with the institution that reviews all psychological research at that institution and decides whether it meets ethical guidelines; all research must be approved by the IRB before it is conducted

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debriefing

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explaining to participants, at the end of an experiment, the true purpose of the study and exactly what transpired

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six steps of a research project

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ask a question, develop a hypothesis, select a method and design a study, collect the data, analyze data and draw conclusions, report findings

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theory

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an attempt to understand precisely why certain events or processes occur as they do

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ask a question

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question should always stem from a broader theory

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hypothesis

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a specific and testable proposition that describes a relationship between two or more variables

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develop a hypothesis

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never involves questions marks; use a declarative sentence

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collect the data

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power comes from a large sample size; more power = more realistic results of study

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experimental variable

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a variable systematically varied by the researcher (the color of the exam paper) - considered independent variable

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subject variable/quasi-experimental variable

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a variable to which a research cannot randomly assign subjects to the various levels (tall or short, weight, gender, etc.) - considered independent variable

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Format for experimental hypothesis

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(One level of the IV) will be (higher, faster, longer, etc) on the (dependent variable) then (other level of the IV)

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operational definition

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specifies precisely how a variable is measure or manipulated by the researcher (ex: success in school = GPA. Class ranking.)

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necessary features of true experiment

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experimental variable and random assignment; allow us to talk about causality

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random assignment

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each subject has an equal chance of being assigned to any of the levels of the independent variable (helps prevent confounding - unsystematic addition of another variable; ex: early v late in attractiveness study)

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format for correlational hypothesis

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(one variable of interest) will be (positively or negatively) related to (other variable of interest)

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three criteria for causality

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must be a relationship between the variables, causal variable must precede the affected variable, there cannot be any chance of a 3rd variable affecting both of the first two

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types of correlational research

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naturalistic observation, surveys, archival research

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naturalistic observation

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participants are observed in their natural environment and the researcher does not try to interfere

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advantage of naturalistic observation

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observe people in non-artifical environment

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disadvantage of naturalistic observation

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cannot determine what causes the observed behavior

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advantages of surveys

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easy to collect information and can ask about behaviors that are difficult to observe

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disadvantages of surveys

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cannot determine causality and often low response rates

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archival research

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the examination of already existing records (newspaper, court records, etc.); no new data collected

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advantages of archival research

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easy, plentiful data, and cheap

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disadvantages

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cannot add new variables, don't know quality of original data collection and cannot determine causality

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experimental studies value

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internal validity

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correlational studies value

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external validity

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blind to condition

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experimenter not knowing which level of the IV participant is being exposed to

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blind to hypothesis

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experimenter not knowing the prediction for each level of the IV

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dissonance theory

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attitude and behavior that don't mach, but we will try to bring them in line with one another because it causes us discomfort if they do not match; the bigger the gap, the bigger the change in attitude because they cannot change their behavior

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"scouting" goal

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have the participant leave feeling better than when they arrived

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IRBs should consider

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importance of research vs. potential harm to participants, if temporary harm will be alleviated by end of study - would you let your mom participate

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ethics is...

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time and location specific

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scenarios to completely avoid

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make someone feel obligated to participate, collect data to slander a social group, lead participants to commit acts that diminish one's elf respect, fail to treat subjects fairly and with respect

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ethically questionable scenarios

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involve people without their consent, deception, withholding true nature of research, invade privacy of participants, expose subjects to physical or mental stress, withhold benefits from control group

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