Social Psych Ch. 1 Terms

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social neuroscience

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An integration of biological and social perspectives that explores the neural and psychological bases of social and emotional behaviors.

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culture

Back 2

the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next.

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social representations

Back 3

socially shared beliefs-widely held ideas and values, including our assumptions and cultural ideologies. Our social representations help us make sense of our world.

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Hindsight Bias

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The tendency to exaggerate, after learning an outcome, one's ability to have foreseen how something turned out. Also known as the I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon.

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theory

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an integrated set of principles that explain and predict observed events.

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Hypotheses

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Serve several purposes:
1.allow us to test a theory by suggesting how we might try to falsify it
2.Predictions give direction to research and sometimes send investigators looking for things they might never have thought of
3. Predictive feature of good theories can also make them practical.

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field research

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research done in natural, real-life settings outside the labratory.

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Correlational Research

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The study of the naturally occurring relationships among variables

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Experimental Research

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Studies that seek clues to cause-effect relationships by manipulating one or more factors (IV's) while controlling others (holding them constant).

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Random Sample

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Survey procedure in which every person in the population has an equal chance of inclusion

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Framing

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The way a question or an issue is posed; framing can influence people's decisions and expressed opinions

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Independent Variable

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The experimental factor that a researcher manipulates

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Dependent Varaible

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The variable being measured,so called because it may depend on manipulations of the independent variable

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Random Assignment

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The process of assigning participants to the conditions of an experiment such that all persons have the same chance of being in a given condition. (Note the distinction between random assignment in experiments and random sampling in surveys. Random assignment helps us infer cause and effect. Random sampling helps us to generalize to a population.

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Mundane Realism

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Degree to which an experiment is superficially similar to everyday situations

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Experimental Realism

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Degree to which an experiment absorbs and involves its participants

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Deception

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In research, an effect by which participants are misinformed or misled about the study's methods and purposes.

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Demand Characteristics

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Cues in an experiment that tell the participant what behavior is expected

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Informed Consent

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An ethical principle requiring that research participants be told enough to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate

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Debriefing

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In social psychology, the postexperimental explanation of a study to its participants. Debriefing usually discloses any deception and often queries participants regarding their understandings and feelings