Chapter One:
What is Social Psychology? The study of how people’s thoughts, feelings, and actions are
influenced by the presence of others
How does social psych compare to other disciplines? Anthropology and sociology are
also interested in how people are influenced by their social environment but social psych is
especially concerned with how people are influenced by their CONSTRUAL of their social
environment
Social psych studies individuals while sociology examines broad societal factors.
So what are construals? A subjective interpretation of social phenomena- so basically
how an individual personally interprets the social environment around them. How a
person construes a situation determines their response and behavior toward it so we must
try to understand their construals.
How are construals formed? First, by the need to feel good about ourselves, and second,
by the need to be accurate about ourselves and our social world. Most people have the
desire to view themselves in a positive way, so much so that they will sacrifice the accuracy
of a situation o make themselves feel good.
People often underestimate the impact of their social environment on their
behavior.
What is the history of Social Psych? Part of social psych stems from the study of
behaviorism which is understanding the power of the situation by considering the effect of
reinforcing properties of the environment on human behavior. Eg. positive vs negative
reinforcement.
The emphasis on an individual’s subjective perception has its roots in a branch of
psychology called Gestalt Psychology.
Kurt Lewin is known as the founding father of social psych- he applied Gestalt principles to
social perception. He was greatly influenced by the World Wars because of themes such as
group conflict, aggression, obedience, leadership, and prejudice.
Why is studying social psych important? It helps us understand people better. Hopefully,
we can improve social situations this way. Eg. finding out why people can fall into cults or
how watching violent video games affects a kid’s perception of reality.
Chapter 2: Methodology
Social psych is an empirical science.
Studying it poses challenges… how does one measure aggression?
Theory: an organized set of principles to explain phenomena
Hypothesis: testable statement between two variables
What are the three types of research methods?
1. Observational
● Systematic and objective
● Descriptive data comes from observation
, ● Can be direct or unobtrusive eg. ethnography
● Hard to make predictions and explain behavior from just observing it
2. Correlational
● Researchers systematically measure two variables and assess the
relationship between them
● Measure predictions in variables
● Very common in social psych
● Difficult to use experimental designs to answer some research questions
● Does not show causality
● Correlation coefficient- a statistic that indicates the strength and
direction of the relationship between 2 variables.
- Ranges from -1 to +1
- Weak is 0.2, moderate is 0.4, strong is 0.6-1(very rare)
- Pos correlation- an increase in a variable means an increase in
the other
- Neg correlation- an increase in one variable means a decrease in
the other
● Self Selection: this happens when people choose their own level of TV
watching, how much they exercise etc. this means correlation may not equal
causation
3. Experimental
★ Independent variable- variable that the researcher changes or varies to see
its effect on the other variable
★ Dependant variable- the variable a researcher measures to see if the
independent variable influences it
★ Strengths- CAUSE and EFFECT, ability to control for the effect of variables
★ Weaknesses- may lack external validity
★ Validity: extent to which what is claimed to have been measured has actually
been measured
- Internal validity: extent to which the study is free from flaws and its
results can represent the true state of things
- External validity: extent to which the research is generalizable
★ Reliability: the consistency and repeatability of the measurement process
+ Ex. test-retest: consistency across measurements at different times
+ Ex. inter-rater: level of agreement between two or more people who
independently observe and code a set of data
★ Statistical significance: likelihood that research findings could have occurred
by chance alone
Canadians (Westerners) are W.E.I.R.D.:
What is Social Psychology? The study of how people’s thoughts, feelings, and actions are
influenced by the presence of others
How does social psych compare to other disciplines? Anthropology and sociology are
also interested in how people are influenced by their social environment but social psych is
especially concerned with how people are influenced by their CONSTRUAL of their social
environment
Social psych studies individuals while sociology examines broad societal factors.
So what are construals? A subjective interpretation of social phenomena- so basically
how an individual personally interprets the social environment around them. How a
person construes a situation determines their response and behavior toward it so we must
try to understand their construals.
How are construals formed? First, by the need to feel good about ourselves, and second,
by the need to be accurate about ourselves and our social world. Most people have the
desire to view themselves in a positive way, so much so that they will sacrifice the accuracy
of a situation o make themselves feel good.
People often underestimate the impact of their social environment on their
behavior.
What is the history of Social Psych? Part of social psych stems from the study of
behaviorism which is understanding the power of the situation by considering the effect of
reinforcing properties of the environment on human behavior. Eg. positive vs negative
reinforcement.
The emphasis on an individual’s subjective perception has its roots in a branch of
psychology called Gestalt Psychology.
Kurt Lewin is known as the founding father of social psych- he applied Gestalt principles to
social perception. He was greatly influenced by the World Wars because of themes such as
group conflict, aggression, obedience, leadership, and prejudice.
Why is studying social psych important? It helps us understand people better. Hopefully,
we can improve social situations this way. Eg. finding out why people can fall into cults or
how watching violent video games affects a kid’s perception of reality.
Chapter 2: Methodology
Social psych is an empirical science.
Studying it poses challenges… how does one measure aggression?
Theory: an organized set of principles to explain phenomena
Hypothesis: testable statement between two variables
What are the three types of research methods?
1. Observational
● Systematic and objective
● Descriptive data comes from observation
, ● Can be direct or unobtrusive eg. ethnography
● Hard to make predictions and explain behavior from just observing it
2. Correlational
● Researchers systematically measure two variables and assess the
relationship between them
● Measure predictions in variables
● Very common in social psych
● Difficult to use experimental designs to answer some research questions
● Does not show causality
● Correlation coefficient- a statistic that indicates the strength and
direction of the relationship between 2 variables.
- Ranges from -1 to +1
- Weak is 0.2, moderate is 0.4, strong is 0.6-1(very rare)
- Pos correlation- an increase in a variable means an increase in
the other
- Neg correlation- an increase in one variable means a decrease in
the other
● Self Selection: this happens when people choose their own level of TV
watching, how much they exercise etc. this means correlation may not equal
causation
3. Experimental
★ Independent variable- variable that the researcher changes or varies to see
its effect on the other variable
★ Dependant variable- the variable a researcher measures to see if the
independent variable influences it
★ Strengths- CAUSE and EFFECT, ability to control for the effect of variables
★ Weaknesses- may lack external validity
★ Validity: extent to which what is claimed to have been measured has actually
been measured
- Internal validity: extent to which the study is free from flaws and its
results can represent the true state of things
- External validity: extent to which the research is generalizable
★ Reliability: the consistency and repeatability of the measurement process
+ Ex. test-retest: consistency across measurements at different times
+ Ex. inter-rater: level of agreement between two or more people who
independently observe and code a set of data
★ Statistical significance: likelihood that research findings could have occurred
by chance alone
Canadians (Westerners) are W.E.I.R.D.:
