Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Social Psychology
Chapter 1
• Theories
• Testable theories can come from anywhere
• A theory is an integrated set of principles
that explain and predict observed events
• Ex. The theory of gravity predicts that your
keys will fall to the floor if you drop them
• Theories imply testable predictions called
hypotheses and use these predictions to
give direction to research
• A good theory is practical
Correlational Research
• Determines whether relationship exists between
two or more variables
• Ex. Taller grave markers were related to longer life
• Cannot determine causal relationship because:
• there may be a third factor
• The direction of the effect cannot be determined (which
variable is the cause and which is the effect?)
• Advantages:
• Gives ideas for experimental (causal) research
• Can study factors that cannot be manipulated
Experimental Research
• Purpose is to establish causal relationships
• Has a control group and an experimental
group
• Control group gets no treatment
• Experimental group gets treatment
• Participants are randomly assigned
Surveys and Questionnaires
• A random sample is one in which everyone
in the population being studied has an
equal chance of inclusion
• Must have a representative sample
• If a random sample of the population is
wanted, and participants are selected from
university class rosters, that sample is not
representative
Field Experiments
• Conducted in the real world
• Participants do not know they are involved
in an experiment
• Ex. Dropping a book in the elevator to see
who helps you pick it up with one person in
the elevator as opposed to with 6 people in
the elevator
Ethics of Experimentation
• Sometimes deception is used because
experimenters want their participants to
engage in real psychological processes
• Ex. They force people to choose whether to
give electric shock to someone else
• Debriefing is required
• Fully explain the experiment to the
participant afterward
Chapter 2