Social Psychology Research Methods

Correlation Coefficient

• The correlation coefficient (r) measures the relationship between variables, ranging from -1 (inverse relationship) to 1 (perfect relationship)
• A value of 0 indicates no relationship between variables
• Positive correlation (+1) means that as X increases, Y increases, or as X decreases, Y decreases
• Negative correlation (-1) means that as X increases, Y decreases, or as X decreases, Y increases
• The significance of r can be tested by checking the critical r value, which depends on the sample size

Advantages and Disadvantages of Correlation

• An advantage of correlation is that it focuses on naturally occurring variables in real-world settings
• A disadvantage is that correlation does not necessarily imply causation

Carroll and Colleagues' Study

• Carroll and colleagues (1994) studied the relationship between socioeconomic status and health in Glasgow, Scotland's old graveyards
• They measured the height of grave pillars as an indication of status, reasoning that height reflected cost and therefore affluence
• Their results showed that status (taller grave markers) predicted longer lives

Survey Method

• Survey research is an invaluable tool for social psychologists to study individual and group differences in people's feelings, attitudes, or behaviors
• Methods include written questionnaires, personal interviews, or focus groups
• Considerations include the instrument and sampling, as erroneous conclusions may be made if the sample is not representative of the population being studied
• A major disadvantage is the issue of accuracy

Archival Method

• This method involves systematically studying written records (public and private documents), statistical archives, and physical traces of human beings
• Records are analyzed for a new purpose, allowing hypothesis testing over a wider range of time and societies
• An advantage is that it allows hypothesis testing over a wider range of time and societies

Social Perception

• Social perception is how we think about people, events, and things around us
• It simplifies life and contributes significantly to a better understanding of others
• We engage in object perception, attaching meanings to stimulus objects, and person perception, understanding other people's intentions, attitudes, emotions, and possible behavior

Person Perception

• Person perception helps us interact with others more seamlessly
• Our perceptions determine our behavior
• We form impressions by integrating and organizing various sources of information and inferences about someone into a consistent meaningful whole

Strategies for Initial Processing

• Schemas: mental representations of objects or categories that contain central features and assumptions about how the object works
• Selective attention: focusing on salient aspects
• Categorization: forming impressions based on gender, race, or ethnicity

Faulty Assumptions

• Temporal extension: a momentary characteristic is regarded as an enduring attribute
• Resemblance to familiar person: assuming someone has certain characteristics based on their resemblance to someone else
• Categorization/classification: forming impressions based on category membership
• Inference by analogy: assuming someone has certain characteristics based on their physical appearance or behavior

Forming Impressions

• We form impressions by integrating and organizing various sources of information and inferences about someone into a consistent meaningful whole
• Factors that contribute to impression formation include cues in impression formation, such as the other person's behavior or characteristics, characteristics of the perceiver, and situational context

Cues in Impression Formation

• Verbal cues: statements made by the person
• Nonverbal cues: non-verbal behaviors such as facial expressions, paralanguage, gestures, length of gaze, posture, and tone of voice
• Physical appearance: physical characteristics such as height, physique, weight, and facial features
• Facial expressions: universally understood facial expressions that convey emotions and intentions
• Paralanguage: pitch, loudness, rhythm, inflections, and hesitations that convey information
• Eye contact: looking away, looking up, or lack of eye contact can convey different meanings
• Gestures: the meaning of gestures varies according to context, person, and culture### Social Psychology as a Science
• Social psychology is the scientific study of how individuals' thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by other people.
  • Influenced by other people: the study of how others affect us, including their imagined presence.
  • Thoughts, feelings, and behaviors: social psychologists study how others affect every aspect of individual lives, including cognition, affect, and behavior.
  • Individual's perspective: social psychologists take the perspective of individuals in a social setting.
  • Scientific study: social psychologists rely on direct tests of their ideas, requiring scientific evidence to support proposals.

The Power of Social Psychology

• The Power of the Situation: we are creatures of our cultures and contexts, and evil situations can overwhelm good intentions.
• The Power of the Person: we are also creators of our social worlds, and different people may react differently to the same situation.
• The Importance of Cognition: people react differently partly because they think differently, and social reality is something we construct subjectively.
• The Applicability of Social Psychological Principles: social psychologists apply their concepts and methods to current social concerns, such as emotional well-being, health, and courtroom decision making.

Relationships with Other Disciplines

• Sociology: provides general laws and theories about societies, not individuals.
• Personality Psychology: studies the characteristics that make individuals unique and different from one another.

Historical Background of Social Psychology

• Ancient Greeks: Plato and Aristotle's contributions to social psychology.
  • Plato: suggested people experience the world in three distinct ways: thought, emotion, and action.
  • Aristotle: argued that living a good life and achieving personal happiness are dependent on providing benefits to others.
• Middle 19th Century: field of psychology separated from philosophy.
• 1898: Norman Triplett conducted the first American empirical study classified as social psychological.
• 1908: publication of the first two textbooks on social psychology.
• Early decades of the 20th century: behaviorism strengthened.
• 1930s to 1940s: two critical events that impacted social psychology's development: the Great Depression and World War II.
• 1950s to 1960s: social psychology flourished.
• 1970s: scientific maturity, recognition of gender and racial bias, and culture specificity.

Major Theoretical Perspectives of Social Psychology

• Socio-Cultural Perspective: social behavior resides in the social group, with social norms, culture, and "crazes" influencing behavior.
• Evolutionary Perspective: human social behaviors are rooted in physical and psychological predispositions that helped our ancestors survive and reproduce.
• Social Learning Perspective: social behavior is driven by each individual's past learning experiences with reward and punishment.
• Social Cognitive Perspective: social behavior is driven by each person's subjective interpretations of events in the social world.

Research Methods in Social Psychology

• Laboratory Research: uses complex experimental designs, with multiple independent and/or dependent variables, to study social processes.
• Field Research: studies social behavior in real-world situations, using a variation of the laboratory experiment.
• Experimental Realism: the degree to which an experiment absorbs and involves its participants.
• Demand Characteristics: clues that seem to "demand" certain behavior from participants.
• Ethics of Experimentation: ethical principles developed by the American Psychological Association, the Canadian Psychological Association, and the British Psychological Society mandate research experimenters to ensure informed consent, truthfulness, protection from harm, confidentiality, and debriefing.

Research Methods Examples

• Milgram's Experiment: a series of experiments on obedience to authority, demonstrating the extent to which people would obey orders even when they knew them to be painful and immoral.
• Correlational Method: establishes whether two or more variables are associated or related to each other, by measuring variables and performing a correlational analysis.

This quiz assesses knowledge of research methods in social psychology, including correlational research, survey research, and archival methods. It also covers the scientific study of human behavior and its influences.