powerpoint_ch2.pptx

Chapter 2 How Psychologists Study Prejudice and Discrimination The Research Process  Goals of Research: • Develop knowledge about factors that cause people to think and behave in the ways they do • Determine factors that constrain or limit behavior • Test theories to determine their validity • Us...

Chapter 2 How Psychologists Study Prejudice and Discrimination The Research Process  Goals of Research: • Develop knowledge about factors that cause people to think and behave in the ways they do • Determine factors that constrain or limit behavior • Test theories to determine their validity • Use validated theories to design interventions to reduce prejudice Formulating Hypotheses  Scientists can derive ideas for research from: • Their observations of everyday life • Testing the effectiveness of interventions designed to reduce prejudice • Theories of prejudice and discrimination:  A major source of research ideas Formulating Hypotheses  Theories organize knowledge by proposing links among variables: • Variable – a characteristic on which people differ • Postulates – links among variables proposed by theories Formulating Hypotheses • Hypotheses – derivations of theoretical postulates that can be tested in research:  Hypotheses state relationships between two variables in ways that can be tested in research Formulating Hypotheses  Hypothetical constructs: • Abstract concepts used in theories and studied in research • Cannot be directly observed  Operational definitions: • Concrete representations of hypothetical constructs • Are directly observable Formulating Hypotheses  Every hypothetical construct has more than one possible operational definition  Researchers must choose the operational definitions that best fit the purposes of their research Formulating Hypotheses  Predictions – restate hypotheses in terms of operational definitions Measurement  The measures used to assess variables are their operational definitions  Important issues in measurement include: • Reliability and validity of measures • The different types of measures researchers can use Reliability and Validity  Two basic criteria for assessing the quality of a measure  A measure must be reliable and valid in order to accurately assess a hypothetical construct Reliability  Reliability refers to a measure’s consistency: • A reliable measure provides essentially the same result each time it is used with the same person  Why do we want a measure to be consistent? • We assume that people’s characteristics are relatively stable across time Validity  Validity refers to a measure’s consistency: • Does it assess the characteristic it is intended to assess? • Does it assess all aspects of that characteristic? • Does it assess only that characteristic (and not something else)? Validity  Social Desirability Response Bias: • People’s tendency to give socially desirable responses • Reduces the validity of a measure Validity  Assessed by collecting a variety of research evidence, including: • (1) Convergent evidence – degree to which scores on a measure correlate with scores on measures of related characteristics and behaviors Validity  Assessed by collecting a variety of research evidence, including: • (2) Discriminant evidence – extent to which a measure does not assess characteristics that it is not supposed to assess:  For example, social desirability response bias Self-Report Measures  Most common method of assessing stereotypes and prejudice  Involves asking people about their attitudes, opinions, and behaviors and recording what they say Assessing Stereotypes  Two approaches: • (1) Checklists –lists of traits such as lazy or hardworking:  Respondents check off which traits they think describe a group Assessing Stereotypes  Two approaches: • (2) Probability ratings – respondents report how likely or unlikely is it that group members have various characteristics Assessing Prejudice  Attitude Questionnaires: • Respondents rate the extent to which they agree or disagree with statements about groups • Problem: can lead to socially desirable responding Assessing Prejudice  More subtle measures of prejudice try to avoid socially desirable responding  Examples: • Indicating resentment toward a group • Are members of other groups seen as violating important values? Assessing Behavior  Self-report measures can assess how people say they behave or would behave: • How often they have performed various behaviors • How they would respond in various situations Assessing Behavior  Example: Bogardus’s (1928) Social Distance Scale: • Respondents report how closely they would be willing to associate with members of a group • Ranges from marriage to exclusion from respondent’s country  Socially desirable responding can be a problem Advantages of Self-Report Measures (1)  Efficient: • Many people can complete them at the same time  Easy to administer  Can cover multiple topics and behaviors Advantages of Self-Report Measures (2)  Does not require special equipment  Most direct way to find out people’s opinions Limitations of Self-Report Measures  Easy for people to conceal their true attitudes and opinions  This socially desirable responding can be reduced by: • • • • Keeping responses anonymous Using unobtrusive measures Using physiological measures Using implicit cognition measures Unobtrusive Measures  Behavioral measures that appear to have nothing to do with prejudice and discrimination  Examples include: • Helping another person • Maintaining distance from another person Physiological Measures  Assess changes in body’s responses to a stimulus: • Can distinguish between positive and negative emotional reactions • Can indicate intensity of the reaction:  Examples: heart rate and blood pressure, voice pitch, small movements of the facial muscles, eye blink rate, brain imaging  Advantage: • Most physiological reactions are beyond voluntary control Physiological Measures  Emerging technology: brain imaging (e.g., fMRI): • Examines what areas of the brain are activated during tasks • Problem of naturalistic fallacy:  Belief that because something has a biological basis it is natural and unchangeable Implicit Cognition Measures  Assess the degree to which concepts are associated with one another in memory  Work without participants’ awareness of what is being measured Implicit Cognition Measures  Strong difference between strength of negative association and positive association indicates a strong prejudice: • E.g., association between:  Fat and pleasant or unpleasant versus  Slim and pleasant or unpleasant Implicit Cognition Measures  Three most frequent implicit measures: • Affective Priming Paradigm • Implicit Association Test • Affect Misattribution Procedure Affective Priming Paradigm  Exposure to a member of a category activates concepts associated with that category  Uses a prime – a stimulus (such as a picture of a person) associated with a stigmatized group versus a nonstigmatized group Affective Priming Paradigm  Dependent variable: • Speed people recognize positive and negative words associated with the primes • Faster response = stronger association Implicit Cognition Measures  Implicit Association Test (IAT): • Assesses extent to which unassociated concepts make responding more difficult Implicit Cognition Measures  Implicit Association Test (IAT): • Uses Response Competition:  Two responses compete against one another: a habitual response and an opposing response  The stronger the habitual response, the longer it takes to suppress it and make the opposing response Implicit Cognition Measures  Implicit Association Test (IAT): • Uses Response Competition:  In prejudiced people, negative responses to a stigmatized group are more likely to be habitual and so take longer to suppress Affect Misattribution Procedure  A priming procedure  Examines whether the affect (emotion) associated with a prime is transferred to a neutral stimulus Implicit Cognition Measures  Advantage: low likelihood of social desirability response bias Implicit Cognition Measures  Limitation: can only show that one concept is more positively evaluated than another: • Do not show absolute levels of prejudice • E.g., difference could indicate more liking for one stimulus than another:  Versus one stimulus is liked and the other is disliked Self-Report versus Physiological and Implicit Cognition Measures  There are relatively low correlations between scores on self-report measures and scores on physiological and implicit measures Self-Report versus Physiological and Implicit Cognition Measures  Why does the low correlation exist? • Each type of measure assesses somewhat different things:  People can control responses on self-report measures  Responses to physiological and implicit measures are automatic and so are more difficult to control • Difference in type of response assessed leads to low correlation even though all are measures of prejudice Using Multiple Measures  It is beneficial to use more than one type of measure in a study: • Strengths in one measure can compensate for limitations in others • More confidence in validity of results • Different types of measures assess different aspects of prejudice Using Multiple Measures  Best to use measures of both controllable and uncontrollable expression of prejudice: • Because they are related to different types of behaviors • Can look for similarities and differences in response to different types of measures Research Strategies  Research strategy: • General approach to doing research • Defined in terms of how data are collected Research Strategies  Strategies most commonly used in prejudice research: • • • • • Correlational studies Experiments Ethnographic studies Content analysis Meta-analysis Correlational Studies  Researchers measure two or more variables and look for relationships among them  Surveys are a common example Survey Research  Respondents answer questions designed to assess, including: • • • • Attitudes Beliefs and opinions Behaviors Personality traits Survey Research  Sampling: • How researchers find participants • Two most common types:  Probability  Convenience Survey Research  Probability sampling: • “Scale model” of population of interest • Sample has all characteristics of the population in the same proportion • Provides confidence that relationships found in the sample exist in the population Survey Research  Convenience sampling: • Sample consists of people from whom the researchers can easily collect data • No way to know how well the sample represents any given population • Must be cautious about drawing conclusions Correlation Coefficient  A statistic that describes the strength and direction of a relationship between two variables: • -1 ≤ r ≥ 1 • 0 = no relationship • -1 or 1 = perfect relationship Correlation Coefficient  Positive or negative sign indicates the direction of correlation: • Positive: as scores on one variable go, scores on the other variable also go up • Negative: as scores on one variable go up, scores on the other variable go down Correlation and Causality  Three criteria must be met to determine causality: 1. Covariation: the cause must be correlated with the effect 2. Time precedence of the cause: the cause must come before the effect 3. There are no reasonable alternative explanations for the effect Correlation and Causality  Correlational research can only show that two variables are related to each other  It cannot determine whether one of the variables is causing the other: • Time precedence cannot usually be determined • Alternative explanations are often possible Experiments  Researchers take steps to ensure that the three criteria for causality are met  Can then determine if one variable caused another variable to change Experiments  Independent variable = proposed cause: • Researchers manipulate the independent variable by creating two or more conditions  Dependent variable = proposed effect Experiments  Laboratory experiments: • Research carried out in a highly controlled environment • High control but also high artificiality Experiments  Field experiments: • Research carried out in a natural setting:  As much control as possible maintained • High naturalism (low artificiality) but low control Experiments  Individual difference variables: • Nonmanipulated variables (e.g., personality traits, attitudes) • Cannot draw causal conclusions for nonmanipulated variables:  Manipulated variables can also be part of these studies Ethnographic Studies  Uses qualitative data collection techniques to understand how people experience and interpret events in their daily lives  Examples include: • Observation of events • Interviews Ethnographic Studies  Ethnographic research emphasizes: • Studying behavior in context in which it occurs • Naturalism over control • Understanding events from the participants’ points of view Content Analysis  Researchers study products people create: • E.g., documents, photographs, and works of art  Themes are identified to understand the topics being studied Using Multiple Research Strategies  Each strategy has advantages and limitations  Therefore, if the results of studies that used different research strategies all point to the same conclusion, we can have high confidence in that conclusion Meta-Analysis  Method to statistically combine results of multiple studies  Determines average relationship between variables across studies Meta-Analysis  Based on two principles: 1. An average is a more accurate estimate of a relationship than the results from any one sample 2. Averaging results across studies offsets the limitations of individual studies Drawing Conclusions  Two important questions: • Were the hypotheses tested in the study supported? • What do the results mean? Drawing Conclusions  Were the hypotheses supported? • Quantitative data:  Statistical analysis provides information about how likely it is a certain outcome occurred by chance • Qualitative data:  Researchers look for patterns of responses or behavior that support or refute their hypotheses Drawing Conclusions  What do the results mean? • Research findings can often have more than one explanation • Researchers’ theoretical orientations and personal backgrounds influence their interpretations • A given phenomenon could have more than one cause and explanation Verifying Results  Ensure accuracy by verifying research results through: • Exact replication:  Redoing the study using the same procedures • Conceptual replication:  Redoing the study with changes in procedures Verifying Results  Generalizability: • Results of research on a hypothesis should be similar regardless of how a study is conducted Theory and Application  If findings confirm hypotheses, researchers can have confidence in the accuracy of the theory: • If results are inconsistent with theory, the theory must be revised Theory and Application  When confident in accuracy, researchers can apply theories to real-life situations: • E.g., interventions designed to reduce prejudice and discrimination Theory and Application  Research can be conducted to: • Evaluate the effectiveness of the application • Improve the theory