SOP 3004 Final Exam questions well
answered
Define social psychology and explain how it combines elements of sociology and personality
psychology - correct answer ✔✔Sociology: Study of groups
Personality psychology: individual differences
Social Psychology: focuses on how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by
other people - real OR imagined (in between of two above points)
List the 3 main areas of study in social psychology and explain the big ideas that summarize
research in that area - correct answer ✔✔SOCIAL THINKING: we construct our own social
reality, social intuitions guide us but can deceive us, our attitudes shape our behaviors
SOCIAL INFLUENCE: Social influences & dispositions shape behavior
SOCIAL RELATIONS: Social behavior is a biological behavior; feelings & actions towards other
people can be positive or negative
Summarize some of the ways personal values may influence the study of social psychology -
correct answer ✔✔Obvious ways: when choosing research topics, research reflects social issues
of the time; types of people are attracted to certain topics
Less obvious ways: cultural influences on interpretation of behavior, social representations,
forming concepts and labeling
Explain why social psychological findings sometimes seem to be common sense - correct answer
✔✔Social psychological findings seem to be common sense because common sense is invoked
after we know the facts - events are far more "obvious" and predictable in hindsight than
beforehand (hindsight bias or "I knew it all along")
,Define what theories and hypotheses are and explain the relationship between the two -
correct answer ✔✔Hypotheses: testable predictions that describe a possible relationship
between events
Theory: Ideas that summarize and explain facts and guide future predictions - they help
generate hypotheses
Explain the differences between correlational and experimental research and explain why we
can't conclude cause/effect from correlational - correct answer ✔✔CORRELATIONAL:
determines whether 2 or more factors are naturally associated; variables are measured NOT
manipulated (-1 to +1)
EXPERIMENTAL: studies that seek clues to cause-effect relationships by manipulating one or
more factors (independent variable) while controlling others (constant); experimental studies;
required to be ethical
Determine whether 2 variables are strongly correlated and whether they are positively or
negatively correlated from their correlation coefficient - correct answer ✔✔We measure
correlations with coefficient r (-1 to +1)
Positive: both factors increase/decrease together
Negative: one factor increases, other decreases
Describe the components of an ethical psychological experiment - correct answer
✔✔Experimental realism: degree to which an experiment absorbs and involves its participants
Sometimes deception in a safe way, minimizing demand characteristics, informed consent,
debriefing
Explain how random sampling and assignment are different - correct answer ✔✔Random
sampling: survey procedure in which every person in population being studied has an equal
chance of inclusion
Random assignment: process of assigning participants to the conditions of an experiment such
that all persons have the same chance of being in a given condition
,Describe some of the problems that may be encountered when conducting survey research -
correct answer ✔✔Random sampling may not always be representative of the population;
question order can affect/create bias; response options can affect what participants choose for
a specific survey question; wording of questions can influence answers by creating a bias
Social neuroscience - correct answer ✔✔interdisciplinary field that explores the neural bases of
social and emotional processes and behaviors and how these processes and behaviors affect
our brain and biology
Culture - correct answer ✔✔enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a
large group of people and transmitted across generations
Social representation - correct answer ✔✔a society's widely held ideas and values, including
assumptions and cultural ideologies
Mundane realism - correct answer ✔✔degree to which an experiment is superficially similar to
everyday events
Experimental realism - correct answer ✔✔degree to which an experiment absorbs and involves
its participants
Explain the ways our sense of self may be influence by our social environment - correct answer
✔✔Our sense of self is dependent on our social world
- social surroundings affect self awareness
- self interest colors social judgement
- self concern motivates social behavior
- social relationships help define sense of self
, Define spotlight effect and illusion of transparency - correct answer ✔✔SPOTLIGHT EFFECT:
belief others are paying more attention to us than they really are - being self conscious, thinking
everyone in a classroom is watching us do something wrong
ILLUSION OF TRANSPARENCY: illusion that our concealed emotions can be easily read by others -
assuming everyone can tell that we are upset by something
4 components of the self - correct answer ✔✔1. Self concept
- Self-schema: belief about the self; helps process self-relevant info
-Possible selves: selves we want to become
2. Social-self
-Social environment can influence our sense of self; social comparison (upward & downward)
-Culture: individualism (based on individual traits, independent self); collectivism (identity
based on group membership attributes, interdependent self); implications of culture (cognition -
focus on focal object vs. background features, conformity vs. egoism)
3. Self knowledge
-We might not know ourselves as well as we think we do; explaining past behavior; predicting
future behavior (planning fallacy); affective forecasting: predicting future emotions
-impact bias: overestimating an impact
-Immune neglect: neglecting power of psychological immune system to overcome negative
events
4. Self esteem: sense of self-worth
-individualistic = individual achievement
- Collectivist = positive social engagement
-Why we have it = SOCIOMETER THEORY (self esteem works as a barometer of where we stand
in our environment
-Terror management theory: existential, mortality, based theory
-Narcissism: inflated sense of self, LACK EMPATHY
-Secure self-esteem: Secure (self evaluation rated in internal sources) vs. Insecure (self
evaluation rooted in external sources)
answered
Define social psychology and explain how it combines elements of sociology and personality
psychology - correct answer ✔✔Sociology: Study of groups
Personality psychology: individual differences
Social Psychology: focuses on how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by
other people - real OR imagined (in between of two above points)
List the 3 main areas of study in social psychology and explain the big ideas that summarize
research in that area - correct answer ✔✔SOCIAL THINKING: we construct our own social
reality, social intuitions guide us but can deceive us, our attitudes shape our behaviors
SOCIAL INFLUENCE: Social influences & dispositions shape behavior
SOCIAL RELATIONS: Social behavior is a biological behavior; feelings & actions towards other
people can be positive or negative
Summarize some of the ways personal values may influence the study of social psychology -
correct answer ✔✔Obvious ways: when choosing research topics, research reflects social issues
of the time; types of people are attracted to certain topics
Less obvious ways: cultural influences on interpretation of behavior, social representations,
forming concepts and labeling
Explain why social psychological findings sometimes seem to be common sense - correct answer
✔✔Social psychological findings seem to be common sense because common sense is invoked
after we know the facts - events are far more "obvious" and predictable in hindsight than
beforehand (hindsight bias or "I knew it all along")
,Define what theories and hypotheses are and explain the relationship between the two -
correct answer ✔✔Hypotheses: testable predictions that describe a possible relationship
between events
Theory: Ideas that summarize and explain facts and guide future predictions - they help
generate hypotheses
Explain the differences between correlational and experimental research and explain why we
can't conclude cause/effect from correlational - correct answer ✔✔CORRELATIONAL:
determines whether 2 or more factors are naturally associated; variables are measured NOT
manipulated (-1 to +1)
EXPERIMENTAL: studies that seek clues to cause-effect relationships by manipulating one or
more factors (independent variable) while controlling others (constant); experimental studies;
required to be ethical
Determine whether 2 variables are strongly correlated and whether they are positively or
negatively correlated from their correlation coefficient - correct answer ✔✔We measure
correlations with coefficient r (-1 to +1)
Positive: both factors increase/decrease together
Negative: one factor increases, other decreases
Describe the components of an ethical psychological experiment - correct answer
✔✔Experimental realism: degree to which an experiment absorbs and involves its participants
Sometimes deception in a safe way, minimizing demand characteristics, informed consent,
debriefing
Explain how random sampling and assignment are different - correct answer ✔✔Random
sampling: survey procedure in which every person in population being studied has an equal
chance of inclusion
Random assignment: process of assigning participants to the conditions of an experiment such
that all persons have the same chance of being in a given condition
,Describe some of the problems that may be encountered when conducting survey research -
correct answer ✔✔Random sampling may not always be representative of the population;
question order can affect/create bias; response options can affect what participants choose for
a specific survey question; wording of questions can influence answers by creating a bias
Social neuroscience - correct answer ✔✔interdisciplinary field that explores the neural bases of
social and emotional processes and behaviors and how these processes and behaviors affect
our brain and biology
Culture - correct answer ✔✔enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a
large group of people and transmitted across generations
Social representation - correct answer ✔✔a society's widely held ideas and values, including
assumptions and cultural ideologies
Mundane realism - correct answer ✔✔degree to which an experiment is superficially similar to
everyday events
Experimental realism - correct answer ✔✔degree to which an experiment absorbs and involves
its participants
Explain the ways our sense of self may be influence by our social environment - correct answer
✔✔Our sense of self is dependent on our social world
- social surroundings affect self awareness
- self interest colors social judgement
- self concern motivates social behavior
- social relationships help define sense of self
, Define spotlight effect and illusion of transparency - correct answer ✔✔SPOTLIGHT EFFECT:
belief others are paying more attention to us than they really are - being self conscious, thinking
everyone in a classroom is watching us do something wrong
ILLUSION OF TRANSPARENCY: illusion that our concealed emotions can be easily read by others -
assuming everyone can tell that we are upset by something
4 components of the self - correct answer ✔✔1. Self concept
- Self-schema: belief about the self; helps process self-relevant info
-Possible selves: selves we want to become
2. Social-self
-Social environment can influence our sense of self; social comparison (upward & downward)
-Culture: individualism (based on individual traits, independent self); collectivism (identity
based on group membership attributes, interdependent self); implications of culture (cognition -
focus on focal object vs. background features, conformity vs. egoism)
3. Self knowledge
-We might not know ourselves as well as we think we do; explaining past behavior; predicting
future behavior (planning fallacy); affective forecasting: predicting future emotions
-impact bias: overestimating an impact
-Immune neglect: neglecting power of psychological immune system to overcome negative
events
4. Self esteem: sense of self-worth
-individualistic = individual achievement
- Collectivist = positive social engagement
-Why we have it = SOCIOMETER THEORY (self esteem works as a barometer of where we stand
in our environment
-Terror management theory: existential, mortality, based theory
-Narcissism: inflated sense of self, LACK EMPATHY
-Secure self-esteem: Secure (self evaluation rated in internal sources) vs. Insecure (self
evaluation rooted in external sources)
