PSYC 241 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Dependent And Independent Variables, Time, Arousal
12 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
PSYC 241
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
WEEK 1
September 12, 2017
What is social psychology?
- The discipline that seeks to understand how the thoughts, feelings, and behaviours of
individuals are influenced by the actual imagined or implied presence of others
- The scientific study of the way individuals think, feel, and behave in social settings
Characteristics of social psychology:
- The individual is the level of analysis (as opposed to groups of people)
- Takes into account the interaction between the person and the situation
- Examines internal psychological states as well as observable behaviours
- Uses scientific methods to investigate questions
Similarities and differences to other disciplines:
- Sociology:
o Some of the questions are similar
o Unit of analysis and methodology are different
▪ Sociologist—groups
▪ Social psychologists – individual
- Cognitive psychology
o Questions differ
o Unit of analysis and methodology are similar
▪ Both look at the person
- Personality psychology:
o Emphasis on person vs. situation.
- Clinical psychology:
o Social psych – focus on normative behaviour
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
September 14, 2017
RESEARCH METHODS IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Theory: an organized set of principles used to explain observed phenomena
- Elements of a good theory:
o Must be testable
o Must be replicable
o Should be parsimonious – should be as simple as possible
- Why is a theory useful?
o Organizes past research
o Explains why things happen
o Understanding a phenomenon enhances application
Hypotheses: an educated guess about the nature of the relationship among the variables being
tested
- Guided by the theory being tested
- Guides our research
- Leads to a research question
- Helps to make decisions
Operationalization and measurement:
- General classes of measurement
o Self-report measures
▪ Asking about topics and interpreting the answers
▪ The person answering could be biased—they may mislead their answers,
or could be trying to answer the questions in a way that they think will
follow the study. Or people could interpret the questions differently
between people answering the questionnaire. Finally, they may
intentionally mislead their answers (social desirability)—they do not want
to admit something that is true.
o Direct observations
▪ Measuring
o Indirect measures
▪ E.g. measuring response time when participants answer questions
o Physiological measures
▪ Measuring the physical indications – MRIs, seeing arousal
Non-experimental approaches
- Archival study:
o Examining existing records of past events
o E.g. seeing what the temperature was on a day and the level of violent crime that
day
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
The discipline that seeks to understand how the thoughts, feelings, and behaviours of individuals are influenced by the actual imagined or implied presence of others. The scientific study of the way individuals think, feel, and behave in social settings. The individual is the level of analysis (as opposed to groups of people) Takes into account the interaction between the person and the situation. Examines internal psychological states as well as observable behaviours. Sociology: some of the questions are similar, unit of analysis and methodology are different, sociologist groups, social psychologists individual. Cognitive psychology: questions differ, unit of analysis and methodology are similar, both look at the person. Personality psychology: emphasis on person vs. situation. Clinical psychology: social psych focus on normative behaviour. Theory: an organized set of principles used to explain observed phenomena. Elements of a good theory: must be testable, must be replicable, should be parsimonious should be as simple as possible.
