1. Week 3: Methodology Memory gems from Week 2: What is Social Psychology
The Power of Social Influence
Where Construals come from – self-esteem, need to be accurate, survival and coping
Social Psychology and Social Issues

2. Social Psychology: An Empirical Science
Social psychology is an empirical science, with a well-developed set of methods to answer questions about social behaviour.
There are three types of methods (see Table 2.1 in your text):
Observational method
Correlational method
Experimental method

3. Formulating Hypotheses & Theories
A theory is an organized set of principles that can be used to explain observed phenomena.
A hypothesis is a testable statement about the relationship between two or more variables.
Social psychologists, like other researchers, engage in a continual process of theory refinement—they develop a theory, test specific hypotheses derived from that theory and, based on the results, revise the theory and formulate new hypotheses.

4. The Observational Method
The observational method is a technique whereby a researcher observes people and systematically records measurements of their behaviour.
In observational research it is important for the researcher to clearly define the behaviours of interest, or to use operational definitions of variables.
One form of the observational method is ethnography whereby the observer interacts with the people being observed, but tries not to alter the situation in any way.

5. The Observational Method
The observational method has some significant drawbacks:
Certain kinds of behaviour that occur only rarely or in private are difficult to observe.
How can we be sure that the observers are presenting an accurate portrayal of social behaviour?
One way is to establish interjudge reliability.

6. The Observational Method
Interjudge reliability is the level of agreement between two or more people who independently observe and code a set of data.
By showing that two or more judges independently come up with the same observations, researchers ensure that the observations are not the subjective impressions of one individual.

7. The Observational Method Archival Analysis
Another form of the observational method is archival analysis, whereby the researcher examines the accumulated documents or archives of a culture (e.g. diaries, novels, magazines, and newspapers).

8. The Correlational Method
The correlational method is the technique whereby two variables are systematically measured and the relation between them--how much one can be predicted from the other--is assessed.
Researchers look at relationships by calculating the correlation coefficient, a statistical indicator that assesses how well you can predict one variable based on another —
e.g. how well you can predict people’s weight from their height.

9. Correlational Method
Searching for relationships and associations
Correlation coefficient: ≤ r ≤ +1.00
Perfect negative correlation: -1.00
Perfect positive correlation: +1.00
No relationship: 0.00
Looking for the strength of the relationship, not cause and effect

10. The Correlational Method
Positive correlations indicate that an increase in one variable is associated with an increase in the other.
Negative correlations indicate that an increase in one variable is associated with a decrease in the other.

11. The Correlational Method
The correlational method is often used in surveys, research in which a representative sample of people are asked questions about their attitudes or behaviour.
The advantage of surveys is that they enable the researchers to:
Judge the relationship between variables that are often difficult to observe; and to
Sample representative segments of the population (through the use of random selection of people from the population.)

12. The Correlational Method
A problem with surveys arises when the sample is not randomly selected.
As everyone in the population is not given an equal chance of being selected for the sample, it is not ensured that the sample is really representative of the population.
Another potential problem with survey data is the accuracy of responses to questions that are not straightforward.
People are not very good at predicting their behaviour in a hypothetical situation (see Nisbett & Wilson, 1977).

13. The Correlational Method
Limits of the method:
The goal of social psychologists is to identify the causes of social behaviour.
The correlational method has a major shortcoming: it does not tell the causal direction of the relationship; it tells only if two variables are related.

14. The Experimental Method
The experimental method is the only way to determine causal relations.
In the experimental method, 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).

15. The Experimental Method Independent & Dependent Variables
The independent variable is the variable the researcher changes or varies to see if it has an effect on some other variable.
The dependent variable is the variable a researcher measures to see if it is influenced by the independent variable (see Fig. 2.1 in your text)

16. The Experimental Method Internal Validity in Experiments
In order for the results of an experimental study to be valid, researchers must keep everything about the situation the same except the independent variable.
This is called internal validity.
It is accomplished by controlling all extraneous variables and by randomly assigning people to different experimental conditions.

17. The Experimental Method Internal Validity in Experiments
Random assignment to conditions is the process whereby all participants have an equal chance of taking part in any condition of an experiment.
However, even with random assignment, there is a small probability that different characteristics of people did not distribute themselves evenly across conditions.

18. The Experimental Method Internal Validity in Experiments
To guard against misinterpreting results, scientists calculate the probability level (p-value) that their results would occur by chance.
The probability level (p-value) is a number calculated with statistical techniques that tells researchers how likely it is that the results of their experiment occurred by chance and not because of the independent variable(s).

19. The Experimental Method External Validity in Experiments
External validity is the extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to other situations and other people.
There are two kinds of generalizability:
Generalizability across situations
Generalizability across people

20. The Experimental Method External Validity in Experiments
The extent to which an experiment is similar to real-life situations is called mundane realism.
The extent to which the experiment triggers the same perceptions, thoughts, and decision making as would occur in everyday life is called psychological realism.
In an experiment, psychological realism can be high, even if mundane realism is low.

21. The Experimental Method External Validity in Experiments
Cover Stories are used to maintain psychological realism by telling participants that the purpose of the study is different than it really is.

22. The Experimental Method External Validity in Experiments
The extent to which we can generalize from the people who participated in the experiment to people in general is called generalizability across people.
(Typically, lab studies use a random sample from the university population. Studies need to sample from the population as a whole for the results to truly apply to all persons.)

23. The Experimental Method External Validity in Experiments
Replication (i.e. repeating a study, often with different subject populations, or in different settings) is the ultimate test of an experiment’s external validity.
Meta-analysis, a statistical technique that averages the results of two or more studies to see if the effect of an independent variable is reliable.

24. The Experimental Method Cross-Cultural Research
Some basic psychological processes are universal, whereas others are shaped by the culture in which we live.
To find out how culturally dependent a psychological process is, social psychologists conduct cross-cultural research.

25. The Experimental Method The Basic Dilemma of the Experimental Psychologist
When conducting experiments in psychology, there is almost always a trade-off between internal and external validity
One of the best ways to increase external validity is through field experiments, experiments conducted in real-world settings.
Making a situation more controlled makes it less realistic; and if you make it realistic you make it less controlled. This trade-off has been referred to as the basic dilemma of the social psychologist (Aronson & Carlsmith, 1968). The resolution to this dilemma is the use of replication in both laboratory and field settings.

26. The Experimental Method The Basic Dilemma of the Experimental Psychologist
Generally, both internal and external validity are not captured in a single experiment.
Most social psychologists opt first for internal validity, conducting lab experiments in which people are randomly assigned and extraneous variables are controlled.
Others, however, prefer external validity to control, conducting most of their research in field experiments.

27. Basic vs. Applied Research
In general, there are two types of research, each with different purposes:
Basic research is designed to find the best answer as to why people behave the way they do. This type of research is conducted purely for reasons of intellectual curiosity.
Applied research involves studies designed specifically to solve a particular social problem. Building a theory of behaviour is usually secondary to solving the problem.

28. Ethical Issues in Social Psychology
Researchers are expected to take actions to ensure the health, welfare, and comfort of the research participants.
Researchers usually obtain informed consent, in which the nature of the experiment is explained to participants before it begins, and the participants’ consent to participate is obtained.
However, some studies require deception, in which participants are misled about the true purpose of a study or the events that will actually transpire.

29. Ethical Issues in Social Psychology Guidelines for Ethical Research
When deception is used, researchers must arrange a debriefing session, in which the purpose of the study and exactly what transpired is explained to the participants at the end of the experiment.
The Canadian Psychological Association has published a set of ethical principles to ensure the dignity and safety of participants (for a summary see Figure 2.2 in your text).

30. Social Psychological topics (concepts) -Describe the concept(s), Explain social psychology experiments related to the concept, How some event in your own life can be described/explained by this concept (Dental Hygiene). In other words, you have to relate the concept(s) you choose to yourself, in some meaningful manner.
Evolutionary Psychology
Conformity
Obedience
Central Route Persuasion
Peripheral Route Persuasion
Cult Indoctrination
Attitude Inoculation
Disclosure Reciprocity in Relationships
Reward Theory of Attraction
Physical Attractiveness Stereotype
Matching Phenomenon
Social Exchange Theory
Passionate Love
Self Esteem
Self Fulfilling Prophecy
Self Handicapping
Hindsight Bias
Memory Construction
Locus of Control
Self Serving Bias
Learned Helplessness
Impression Management
Fundamental Attribution Error
Cognitive Dissonance
Self Perception Theory
Attitude Formation
The link between opinion and actions
Foot in the Door Phenomenon
Gender Roles

31. Two Factor Theory of Emotion
Explanatory Style
Depression
Happiness
Cultural Differences
Gender Differences
Social Time
Social Distance (proxemics)
Social Facilitation
Evaluation Apprehension
Deindividuation
Discrimination
Anonymity and Behaviour
Prejudice
Racism
Sexism
Realistic Group Conflict Theory
Group Think
Group Behaviour
Social Loafing
Group Polarization Psychological Reactance
Learning of Aggression
Psychological Influences of Aggression
Observational Learning
Displacement and Aggression
Media Exposure and Aggression
Altruism
Bystander Effects in Helping
Social Responsibility Norm