Social Psych Lecture Notes PDF

What is social psychology: The scientific study of the way in which people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people (Allport, 1985) Also includes study of how people: Think about each other Feel about e...

What is social psychology: The scientific study of the way in which people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people (Allport, 1985) Also includes study of how people: Think about each other Feel about each other Relate to each other Construal - the way in which people Why study social psych? perceive, comphend and interpret the social world Curiosity *All construals are chemas, not all People are fascinating! schemas are construals Desire to understand the self and others Some of the most important problems are social problems, and we can help solve them: Environmental issues Political issues Health issues Relationship issues Folk wisdom - founded in anecdotal experience and reasoning A few problems with relying entirely on folk wisdom or philosophy when trying to explain social behavior: Problem #1: Explanations are speculative; how do you determine if they are correct Problem #2: Explanations for the same process can contradict each other Social psych addresses limits of folk wisdom and philsophy using empiricism & real world observations Social psychologists believe it is most important to understand individuals’ construals of the social environment People often fail to recognize that others interpret situations differently than they do Popularity of decisions is often biased towards their own beliefs and choices When dealing with stressful events, people are more likely to cope well if they perceive: Setbacks as challenges rather than threats Their surrounding social relationships as supportive and positive Social Psychology vs. Sociology: Both are interested in how bheaviour is influenced by the social environment Difference 1: Level of analysis Sociology - how groups behave within society Social Psych - how individuals behave within society Difference #2: What they try to explain Sociology: General principals concerning how societies operate Social Psych: Who individuals tend to operate, regardless of social class, culture etc. Social Psychology vs. Personality Psychology: Difference 1: General variables of interest Difference #2: What matters for predicting behavior Personality Psych: What aspects of the person Personality psychology: Stable, internal personality makes people unique and different traits Social Psych: Psychological processes people Social psychology: Social situations (internal or have in common that can be influenced by the social world external)  Explaining Social Behaviour People often explain behaviour of others in terms of dispositional/personality factor Fails to account for situational factors that may be guiding the behaviour Fundamental Attributuon Error and/or Correspondence Bias Basic Human Motives What basic motives underlie our thoughts, feelings, and behaviour? Teh need to be accurate The need to feel good about ourselves The need to belong Other motives and needs Baumeister & Leary (1995) argue that motives and needs are considered fundamental when they: Have affective qualities and direct cognitive processing Yield bad outcomes when thwarted (e.g., poor health/adjustment) Influence a broad variety of behaviors Apply to all people (though it does not need to apply to all people equally!) The need to be accurate - one of the hallmarks of hemanity is the ability to reason. People are generally motivated to see the world as it is, but some limits: Limit 1 - We lack information or lack misinformation Limit 2 - We lack the time and energy The need to feel good about ourselves - people are motivated to maintain high feelings of self-esteem People often bend their perceceptions of reality to maintain their self-esteem e.g. justifying past behaviour The need to maintain selfesteem can sometimes explain why people do seemingly odd or surprising things The need to belong - the social world exists because people need to feel connected to others Frequent, non-aversive interactions with others Explains why we form enduring, close relationships Influences our construal and memory of social events Other motives and needs Biological needs (e.g. hunger, thrist, sleep) can be very motivating, esspecially when people are in a state of deprivation Fundamentally, people are motivaed by the need to survive and reproduce Conflicting motives - when fundemental motives pull us in different directions, things get especially interesting Summary Social psychology is the study of how other people influence our thoughts, feelings, and behavior Implications for important aspects of life and relevant social issues Social psychologists believe subjective situational factors are often key determinants of behavior Several basic human motives can help explain how people construe their social world Not all theories come from pre- existing theories. Theories are often developed inductively by recognizing patterns of association within observations and then speculation about why those patterns occur  Sometimes in observational studies, researchers ask two or more people to code the same data Interrater (interjudge) reliability is the level of agreement between the different coders Increases the trustworthiness and validity of the observational data Goal: To systematically measure and assess the association (connection, relationship, etc.) between one variable and another variable. E.g. People who are high in anxious attachment tend to be low in self-esteem Goes beyond simply documenting thoughts, feelings, and behavior Allows you to test hypotheses You can understand the relation between Variables A and B by calculating a correlation coefficient (e.g., Pearson r) Correlation coefficients indicate the strength and direction of the association between two variables This allows you to mathematically “predict” the value of Variable A given the value of Variable B ' UNDERSTANDING CORRELATIONS: STRENGTH The strength of a correlation indicates the degree to which values on Variable A can be predicted from values on Variable B Strength ranges from 0 to 1 r =.00 r =.30-.50 r >.50 r = 1.00 UNDERSTANDING CORRELATIONS: DIRECTION The direction of a correlation indicates whether the association between values on Variables A and B trend in the same direction or in opposite directions Positive: A and B move in the same direction Negative: A and B move in opposite directions Combining strength and direction, correlations can range from -1 to 1 SURVEYS/QUESTIONNAIRES Researchers often use surveys/questionnaires when interested in correlations Advantage #1: Easy to design, administer, and score Advantage #2: Allow researchers to assess associations between variables that may be difficult to observe Disadvantage: Accuracy of participant responses Note...correlations can be calculated from any data (including observations), and questionnaires are often used in experiments too EXPERIMENTAL METHOD Goal: To determine causal relationship between two or more variables Experiments are the only method that allow researchers to conclude that changes in Variable A cause (influence, impact, affect, etc.) changes in Variable B To conduct an experiment, you must: Manipulate the independent variable(s) (IVs) Control extraneous variables (i.e., hold constant any variables that might yield a spurious association) Keep all individual and environmental conditions the same across conditions except the manipulated variable Randomly assigning participants to condition is often used for this purpose Observe the effect of the independent variable(s) on the dependent variable(s) (DVs) STUDY VALIDITY Internal validity reflects the extent to which conclusions about causal relationships are warranted Achieved by varying only the IV(s) and keeping everything else in the study the same Internal validity can be improved by random assignment such that all participants have an equal chance of ending up in any of the different experimental conditions Helps to evenly distribute different participants’ personalities, backgrounds, etc. External validity reflects the extent to which a study’s results can be generalized to other situations and other people Vital in order to figure out if results hold in “real life” A cover story can sometimes help by misdirecting participants from a study’s true purpose to increase the external validity of a study. Researchers try to make the often artificial setting of studies as realistic as possible Mundane realism: How similar a study is to a real-life situation? Psychological realism: How similar the psychological processes triggered in a study are to psychological processes triggered by a real-life situation?