Term
| Definition of Social Psychology |
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Definition
| The systematic study of the nature and causes of human behavior |
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Term
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Definition
| A supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something, esp. one based on general principles independent of the thing to be |
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Term
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Definition
Logical
-Statements in a theory should follow clearly from one another
Causal
-We want theories to explain the reasons for behavior, not just describing behaviors
General
•Predict tendencies in behavior
•Should apply to a broad range of people and situations
•Theories do not claim to predict specific cases
Testable
-Theories should result in a hypothesis which can be tested using experiments or observations |
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Term
| Causation vs. Correlation |
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Definition
Causation talks about the reason 2 things are related, not simply the fact the 2 things are related
- Correlation occurs when 2 aspects often accompany one another
- Causation occurs when one aspect causes another thing to happen
- One thing may be causing both to happen, but causality must occur when one thing actually causes another |
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Term
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Definition
| • A supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation |
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Term
| Methods to test a hypothesis |
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Definition
- Laboratory experiments
- Field experiments
- Observation
- Surveys |
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Term
| The concept of the person vs. the situation |
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Definition
Behavior is made up of 2 aspects
1. The Person
- Pre-existing beliefs
- Values
- Preferences
- Individual variation: can’t predict exactly what you will do
2. The environment
- Social roles
- Influence from others
- Situation factors
- General trends: Can predict what the average person is likely to do |
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Term
| Diffusion of Responsibility |
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Definition
The concept that states the more people that are around a person in need, the less likely people will be to help
- The smaller group tended to create an atmosphere to help more often
-- Correlation relationship |
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Term
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Definition
- Participants are randomly assigned to conditions
- Conditions are identical…
- …except for experimentally manipulated independent variables
- Trying to create an environment in which all else is equal |
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Term
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Definition
| - Any characteristic or attribute that varies throughout an experiment |
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Definition
Independent
Dependent
Extraneous |
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Term
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Definition
| - The hypothesized cause of variation in a dependent variable |
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Definition
The outcome variable
- The hypothesized effect of variation in an independent variable |
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Term
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Definition
- Creating an equal chance for people in an experiment to be in each condition
- Randomly assign people to groups
- Meant to cancel out the extraneous variables in an experiment so they do not affect our results |
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Term
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Definition
- A variable that is not included in a hypothesis but has a causal impact on the DV
- Medical studies: a person’s health going into the experiment- can’t test someone is who already healthy
- Social Psychology: Personality variables, e.g., how generally helpful a person is |
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Term
| Experimental Manipulation |
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Definition
- In experiments you must manipulate an Independent Variable (IV)
- This creates 2 (or more) levels of the IV
- Experimental conditions: only one thing changes
- Used to observed how different conditions affect people's behavior |
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Term
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Definition
| Repeating the general structure of an experiment while changing one more condition to see if it has an effect |
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Term
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Definition
| Repeating an experiment and its conditions exactly to check to make sure the results repeat or are similar |
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Term
| Disadvantages of experiments |
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Definition
- Laboratory is best for testing abstract concepts
- Not measurements of “real world”
Some settings are difficult to reproduce experimentally |
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Term
| Three basic principles of experimental ethics |
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Definition
- Respect: for the autonomy of persons (they have the choice to be there and act how they want)
- Beneficence: maximize benefit, minimize harm
- Justice: fair distribution of costs and benefits |
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Term
| Taking the role of the other: Who created it and what does it mean? |
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Definition
George Herbert Mead
- We can see ourselves reflected in how others respond to us
- As a result, the self develops through social interaction
- By taking the role of the other, we also understand what others expect from us |
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Term
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Definition
Ones perception of social norms with only 1 other person
- Knowing what that 1 other person expects |
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Term
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Definition
- Have to take into account expectations of many others
- Expectations and appropriate behavior may differ depending on role or situation
- Learning the rules for a specific situation |
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Term
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Definition
- “Taking the role” (perspective) of society
- Understand what is generally expected in a group (society)
- The organized set of attitudes that are common to a group, and are taken on by the individual as a context for his/her own behavior
- Having some idea of how to behave in a brand new situation by society's standardsTh |
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Term
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Definition
- Developing the generalized other does not mean that life is always predictable
- The “me”; things we do by habit, because others expect us to do them
- The I; the impulsive side of our behavior |
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Term
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Definition
1. People act toward things based on the meaning those things have for them
2. Meanings are derived from social interaction
3. These meanings are subjectively interpreted |
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