Social Psychology

Description:	Social Psychology
Category:	Psychology
Created by:	msciullo on 2009-02-02

Question	Answer
How do people affect us?	How we interpret events, How we feel about ourselves, How we behave
Hindsight Bias	tendency to believe that we had predicted an outcome ahead of time, after learning of the results
How does science work?	clearly define a problem or a question, collect data pertinent to said question, interpret data, implications of data
Operationalization	matching the question up with the idea being tested
Observation	watching in either a naturalistic or lab setting
Archival	Uses existing records as the data source
Survey	asking questions and evaluating the answers according to some coefficient
Experiments	Manipulation and control which infer causality
Correlational	things that occur together
Experimental Designs	Require causation, variables, and randomization
Variables	Independent, Dependent, Extraneous, Confounding
Standardized Procedures	Conditions are held constant during the conduct of an experiment
Experimental Reality	Experimental realism (feel reall to participants), Mundane realism (look and feel real to outside real)
Demand Characteristics	Cues that suggest how participants should act or respond
Validity	Internal validity, External validity
Ethical Guidelines	Informed consent and voluntary participation, risks and benefits, use of deception, confidentiality of records, information about the study and debriefing, IRB approval
Social Cognition	processes by which information about people is processed and stored. topics include schematic processing, reconstructive memory, reasoning, problem-solving, counterfactual thinking, and stereotyping
Memory	Retention of information over time
Basic process of Memory	Encoding, Storage, Retrieval (Attention and Schemas are also important for memory)
Schemas	Mental representations of of objects or categories
Social factors that might affect LTM	Accessibility, Stereotypes, Heuristics, In-groups/Out-groups
Cognitive factors that might affect LTM	Brain damage, Distractions, How much must be learned, Length of time given, How important it is at the time, How well you learned it, Time since you learned it
More cognitive factors that might affect LTM	Importance, Amount, Frequency of review, First or last thing learned, Similarity to other material, How it was presented, Competing tasks, Organizations, Effort versus auto-pilot
Accessibility	Ease with which a schema is activated. Priming increases accessibility. With chronic accessibility, some schema's are habitually activated
Availability Heuristic	Judgements based on how quickly or how easily examples come to mind. Events that are more available in memory are judged as more likely to occur
Representative Heuristic	Categorize based on how representative the object is of the larger category.
Illusory Correlation	Believing 2 categories are related when they are not.
Perseverance Effect	Hold onto self-evaluative beliefs even in the face of dis-confirming evidence.
Counterfactual Thinking	How past events might have turned out. Upward counterfactual is how things could have been better. Downward counterfactual is how things could have been worse.
Hot Cognition	Mixes feelings with thinking. Related to the self in a social context.
Self in social context	Self-serving judgements (self in a positive light). Self-serving perception of others (improve our evaluation of others). Self-serving activation of stereotypes (strategically make us look good).
Flashbulb Memories	Vivid detailed accounts or recollections of particularly important events. These can be idiosyncratic or history based.
Attribution Theory	Intuitive scientists and covariation.
Fundamental attribution error	Overestimate internal causes of behavior, underestimate external causes of behavior.
Non-verbal Behavior	eye contact, facial expressions, interpersonal distance, vocal cues, gestures, posture
Cultural differences in non-verbal behavior	Display rules (when, to whom, and how), hand gestures, interpersonal distance.
Self-perception	Looking glass self (integrate others judgments about us) Social comparison (Upward and downward) Use behavior to infer attitudes (especially when ambiguous).
Overjustification	Counter-intuitive: internal vs external rewards.
Self-serving judgments	Enhance our perceptions of self-worth. Have unrealistic optimism but have cultural differences.
Self-efficacy	Belief that you are capable
Illusions of control	Belief about the controllabilty of uncontrollable events.
Self-discrepancy theory	What happens when actual self, ideal self, and ought self conflict.
Actual self	How people believe they really are.
Ideal self	How people would like themselves to be.
Ought self	How people think they ought to be.
Impression management	The control of information we make available.
Self-presentation	Strategically present ourselves in different ways.
Actor/observer difference	The way we view a situation versus how outside observers view a situation (I drive fast because of special circumstances, other think I drive fast because I am a jerk)
Dispositions	Consistencies across time and settings. Enduring individual traits and differences
Self-esteem	a type of disposition. people's judgement of their own worthiness.
Self-concept	formed through social comparison and self-perception.
optimal distinctiveness theory	examines how we strike a balance between similarity (with an ingroup) and distinctiveness (as an individual)
Self-esteem	derives from personal experience, reflected appraisals by others, relationships, social comparison, and group comparisons
Narcissism	represents an exaggerated love of self.
Gender Stereotypes	expectations about how men and woman should behave.
Self-monitoring	individual differences in relying on external or internal cues to guide behavior
Need for cognition	individual differences in liking to think
Achievement motivation	individual differences in performance goals
Uncertainty orientation	individual differences in learning new things about oneself

Archival research	Refers to correlational investigation that are based on preexisting information obtained by the researcher
Correlational research	Refers to studies in which investigations measure two or more concepts and see whether the concepts are associated with one another
Debriefing	A full and complete description of the study’s design, purpose, and expected results are given to participants after the session is completed
Demand characteristics	Cues in a study that suggest to participants how they are supposed to respond
Dependent variable	Those concepts that are measured by the researcher and might be affected by the independent variable
Experimental realism	the extent to which the experimental setting feels realistic and involving to participants
Experimental research	empirical investigations in which researchers manipulate one concept (or more than one) and assess the impact of the manipulation(s) on one or more other concepts
External validity	refers to the extent to which research results can be generalized beyond the current sample
Extraneous variables	potential sources of error in the experiment and should be controlled
Factorial design	two or more independent variables
Field experiment	conducted in settings outside the laboratory, tend to increase both mundane realism and external validity
Hypothesis	specific predictions about what should occur if a theory is valid
Independent variable	manipulated factors in experiments
Informed consent	participants are told beforehand what to expect in the study
Institutional review board (IRB)	committee that ensures the procedures will not cause unacceptable harm to participants
Interaction	effect of one manipulation depends on the level of another manipulation
Internal validity	the extent to which the research yields clear causal information
Mundane realism	the extent to which the experimental setting looks and feels like the outside world.
Observational studies	correlational investigations in which the researcher watches participants and codes measures from the observed behavior
Operational definition	specific, observable responses that are used to measure a concept
Participant-observation research	special kind of observational study, in which the researcher actually joins an ongoing group to observe the members’ behavior
Psychometrics	a sub-discipline within psychology that is devoted to understanding and refining measures for psychological measurements
Random assignment	each participant in the experiment is equally likely to take part in any of the experimental conditions
Random sampling	every person in a particular population has the same probability of being in the study
Reliability	the consistency or stability of scores on a measure, both over time and across judges
Representative sample	a group of respondents that accurately reflects the larger population
Single-factor experiment	one independent variable
Socially desirable responding	respondents motivated to create a positive impression of themselves
Survey	correlational studies in which the researcher asks questions to respondents
Theory	explanations of why particular events or outcomes occur
Unobtrusive measures	the participants do not realize that the measures are being taken
Validity	refers to whether scores on a measure really represent the underlying concept they are supposed to represent
Behaviorism	Attempts to explain behavior purely in terms of stimulus-response connections established through experience and reinforcement.
Gestalt Theory	Assumes that people’s overall, subjective interpretations of objects are more important than the objects’ external, physical features.
Social contract	Idea that human societies have developed some basic rules of social and moral conduct, which members of the societies implicitly agree to follow
Social Psychology	Scientific study of how individuals’ thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by other people
Encoding	getting information into memory and includes attention, comprehension, and storage
Retrieval	refers to getting information out of memory
Automatic process	a judgment or thought that we cannot control - it occurs without intention, very efficiently and something beneath our awareness
controlled process	a judgment or thought that we command - it is intentional, requires significant cognitive resources, and occurs within our awareness.
Blank Lineup	group of individuals (a lineup) that does not include the suspect
Sequential Lineup	each person in the group (lineup)separately
Mood-congruent recall	tendency for positive or negative feelings to make similarly valenced information more accessible in memory
False Consensus effect	assumption that other peopel share their attitudes and behaviors to a greater extent than is actually the case
Discounting principle	the perceived role of a cause will be discounted (reduced) if other plausible causes are present
Augmentation principle	the perceived role of a cause will be augmented (increased) if other factors are present that would work against the behavior
Relative deprivation	feelings of anger or resentment about one's outcomes based on comparison with better-off others
False hope syndrome	individuals repeatedly try (unsuccessfully) to achieve a goal despite previous failures
Ingratiation	behavior that is designed to make someone like you
Dispositions	individuals' consistencies across time and setting in a specific type of feeling, thought, and/or action, which make individuals different from other people
Parental investment hypothesis	having children is more costly for women than for men