1. Introduction to Social Psychology

2. Social psychology and related disciplines
Social psychology and sociology
Social psychology and personality psychology

3. Is social psychology simply common sense?
Hindsight bias
The tendency to exaggerate, after learning an outcome, one’s ability to have foreseen it
Also known as the I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon

4. How do we do Social Psychology
How do we do Social Psychology? Correlational Research (Correlation Versus Causation)
A. Correlation
Natural associations b/t two or more variables
B. Experiment -
Manipulation of one variable to see affect on another

5. Survey Research Random sampling Potential biases
Unrepresentative samples
Order of questions
Response options
Question wording

6. Experimental Research: Searching for Cause and Effect
Control: Manipulating Variables
Independent variables
Often done in laboratory
Condition
Treatment
Measure
Participant
pool
experimental
Violent tv
aggression
control
Nonviolent tv
aggression

7. Random assignment
Assigning participants to conditions so that each person has an equal chance of being in any given condition.
Random assignment & random sampling

8. Correlation vs. Experiment (or: How to tell the difference)
Can participants be randomly assigned?
Is there an independent variable and a dependent variable?

9. Demand characteristics
Cues in an experiment which reveal expected behavior

10. Ethics in Experimentation
Institutional Review Board
Suggestions by APA
Tell potential Pp enough about the experiment to enable informed consent
Be truthful & avoid deception
Protect people from harm and significant discomfort
Keep participant information confidential
Fully explain the experiment afterward, including any deception, unless it would be distressing