What is social psychology?
The scientific study of how individuals think, feel and behave in a social context
What did Triplett find in his observatins
Participants performed better on a task when they worked side by side vs. alone
What did Ringelmann find in his observations
Participants performed worse on a task when they were working together vs.
alone
What were the main themes of social psychology in the 1930s-1950s
Need to understand the causes of violence, prejudice, genocide,
conformity, obedience
* European scientists fled to the US, established critical mass of
social psychologists
What were the main studies/psychologists in 1930s-1950s
Sherif: social influence
* Lewin: person & environment, apply theory to solve problems
* Asch: conformity
* Allport: prejudice
* Festinger: social comparison theory and cognitive dissonance theory
What were the meain themes/studies of 1960s – mid 1970s
Milgram: obedience
Expansion of topics
- perceptions of self & others
- groups
- helping
- aggression
- physical attractiveness
- stress
Some questioning of the experimental approach
* ethics, bias
Main themes of social psychology in 1970s - 1990s
Better ethics
* Continued emphasis on experiments
* Although other methods used as well
* Social cognition
* How individuals perceive, remember, and interpret information about the self and
others
* Cultural differences
Main themes of Social Psychology Today
*Field continues to grow
* Integration of emotion, motivation, and cognition
* Genetic and evolutionary perspectives
* Cultural perspectives
* Interdisciplinary approaches
* Brain and body
* New technologies and the online world
* Replicability of findings and open science practices
What is the Scientific Method in psychology
Systematic observation, description, and measurement
What are the two aims of research
- Basic: understand human behaviour
- Applied: understand naturally occurring events and find solutions to practical problems
What are self reports
Participants disclose their thoughts, feelings, desires and actions
What is a observation
- Observe and record the behaviour of interest
- If there is room for interpretation, be sure to establish a high level of interrater
reliabilit
What is technology (as an option for measuring variables)
- Record physiological variables or reaction times
- e.g., heart rate, hormones, eye tracking, brain imaging, reaction time
What are the different research designs
- descriptive
- correlational
- experimental
What is descriptive research?
- Goal is to describe people and their thoughts, feelings and behaviours
- e.g., how often do people feel ostracised?
What is correlational research
- Goal is to learn about the relationship between variables
- e.g., is ostracism related to depression?
What is experimental research
Goal is to establish cause and effect
* e.g., does ostracism have a negative impact on need satisfaction?
Different research designs
What are the key aspects of descriptive Research
- Measure the variable of interest
- Could use self-report, observation, archival data
- Can take a quantitative or qualitative approach
- Evaluate the results
- When generalizing back to the population of interest, think about how well your
sample represents the population - Random sampling: everyone in the population of interest has an equal chance of
being in the study
What are the key aspects of correlation research
PYB202 Social Psychology Lecture
Semester 1, 2023
* Measure the two variables of interest
* e.g., frequency of ostracism and levels of depression
* Evaluate the results
* display the association with a scatterplot
* quantify the association with a correlation coefficient
* ranges from -1 to +1
* tells us the direction and strength of the association between the two variables
* can’t draw causal conclusions – why not?
What are the key aspects of experimental research
- You have a hypothesis that the IV (eye gaze) causes a change in the DV (need satisfaction)
- To test this hypothesis, you need to manipulate the IV and see if the DV changes in the
predicted direction - Manipulate independent variable (IV)
- An IV has two or more levels (conditions)
- Use random assignment to conditions
- Each participant in the experiment has an equal chance of being assigned to any of the
conditions - Helps to ensure that any differences in the DV between conditions are due to the IV
and not some other variable - After exposure to the IV, measure the dependent variable (DV)
Experimental research
What is internal validity
degree to which there can be reasonable certainty that the IVs in an experiment
caused the effects obtained on the DVs
What are Threats to internal validity
- Confound: factor other than the IV that varies systematically between conditions
- Experimenter expectancy effects: experimenter’s behaviour is creating the effect,
not the IV
what is External validity
degree to which there can be reasonable confidence that the results of the study would be
obtained for other people and in other situations.
what is Informed Consent
Participant’s voluntary decision to participate in a study, based on an adequate
understanding of what will be involved
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WEEK 125
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WEEK 2 - The self26
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WEEK 3 - perceiving others39
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WEEK 4 - attitudes and persuasion30
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WEEK 5: Conformity Compliance and Obedience29
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WEEK 6 - group processes33
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WEEK 7 - Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination27
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WEEK 8 - Helping others36
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Week 9 - Aggression37
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Week 10 - Attraction and Close Relationships43
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Week 11 - Community Psychology19
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Week 12 - Environmental Psychology29
