Social Psychology 2

Front 1

hindsight bias

Back 1

The tendency for people to exaggerate how much they could have predicted the outcome after knowing it had occurred.

Front 2

theory

Back 2

An organized set of principles that can be used to explain observed phenomena.

Front 3

hypothesis

Back 3

A testable statement or idea about the relationship between two or more variables.

Front 4

operational definition

Back 4

The precise specification of how variables are measured or manipulated.

Front 5

observational method

Back 5

The technique whereby a researcher observes people and systematically records measurements of their behaviour.

Front 6

ethnography

Back 6

The method by which researchers attempt to understand a group or culture by observing it from the inside without imposing any preconceived notions that they might have.

Front 7

interjudge reliability

Back 7

The level of agreement between two or more people who independently observe and code a set of data; by showing that two or more judges independently come up with the same observations, researchers ensure that the observations are not subjective impressions of one individual.

Front 8

archival analysis

Back 8

A form of the observational method whereby the researcher examines the accumulated documents, or archives, of a culture (ex. diaries, novels, magazines).

Front 9

correlational method

Back 9

The technique whereby researchers systematically measure two or more variables and assess the relation between them (ex. how much one can predict the other one).

Front 10

correlation coefficient

Back 10

A statistic that asses how well you can predict one variable based on another.

Front 11

surveys

Back 11

Research in which a representative sample of people are asked questions about their attitudes or behaviour.

Front 12

random selection

Back 12

A way of ensuring that a sample of people is representative of a population, by giving everyone in the population an equal chance of being selected for the sample.

Front 13

experimental method

Back 13

The method in which the researcher randomly assigns the participants to different conditions and ensures that these conditions are identical except for the independant variable (the one thought to have a causal effect on people's behaviour).

Front 14

independant variable

Back 14

The variable a researcher changes or varies to see if it had an effect on some other variable.

Front 15

dependent variable

Back 15

The variable a researcher measures to see if it is influenced by the independent variable.

Front 16

random assignment to condition

Back 16

The process whereby all participants have an equal chance of taking part in any condition of an experiment; through random assignment, researchers can be relatively certain that differences in the participants' personalities or backgrounds are distributed evenly across conditions.

Front 17

probability level (p-value)

Back 17

A number, calculated with statistical techniques, that tells researchers how likely it is that the results of their experiment occurred by chance and not because of the independent variable (s). Usually set at 5 in 100.

Front 18

internal validity

Back 18

Ensuring that nothing other than the independant variable can affect the dependent variable; this is accomplished by controlling all extraneous variables and assigning people to different experimental conditions.

Front 19

external validity

Back 19

The extent to which the results of a study can be generalized to other situations and other people.

Front 20

mundane realism

Back 20

The extent to which an experiment is similar to real-life situations.

Front 21

psychological realism

Back 21

The extent to which the psychological processes triggered in an experiment are similar to psychological processes that occur in everyday life; psychological realism can be high in an experiment, even when mundane realism is low.

Front 22

cover story

Back 22

A description of the purpose of a study given to participants that is different from its true purpose; cover stories are used to maintain psychological realism.

Front 23

replication

Back 23

Repeating a study, generally with different subject populations, in different settings or by using different methods.

Front 24

meta analysis

Back 24

A statistical technique that averages the results of two or more studies to see if the effect of an independent variable is reliable.

Front 25

field experiments

Back 25

Experiments conducted in natural settings, rather than in the laboratory.

Front 26

cross-cultural research

Back 26

Research conducted with members of different cultures to see whether the psychological processes of interest are present across cultures or whether they are specific to a single culture.

Front 27

basic research

Back 27

Studies that are designed to find the best answer as to why people behave the way they do and that are conducted purely for reasons of intellectual curiosity.

Front 28

applied research

Back 28

Studies designed specifically to solve a particular social problem; building a theory of behaviour is usually secondary to solving the specific problem.

Front 29

informed consent

Back 29

Agreement to participate in an experiment, granted in full awareness of the nature of the experiment which had been explained in advance.

Front 30

deception

Back 30

The procedure whereby participants are mislead about the true purpose of a study or the events that will actually transpire.

Front 31

debriefing

Back 31

Explaining to the participants, at the end of an experiment, the true purpose of the study and exactly what transpired.