Summary – Introduction to Social Psychology
Chapter 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9.
Chapter 1
Scapegoat theory: a theory which holds that prejudice is due to aggression that is displaced
towards members of an outgroup (scapegoats), because the group or set of circumstances
that was the source of frustration is not within reach.
Realistic conflict theory: a theory which holds that conflict and competition between groups
over valued resources can create intergroup hostility and prejudice.
Rebound effect: when people no longer try to suppress something (e.g., stereotypes), it
shows a higher level of, for example stereotypical thinking, than had they never suppressed
it.
Social facilitation: an improvement in the performance of well‐learned/easy tasks and a
worsening of performance of poorly learned/difficult tasks due to the presence of members of
the same species.
Social loafing: a motivation loss in groups that occurs when group members reduce their
effort because individual contributions to group performance are not identifiable.
Autokinetic effect: perceptual illusion, whereby, in the absence of reference points, a
stationary light appears to move.
Priming: a method for testing in the laboratory whether knowledge made accessible through
various means, such as presenting people with words or pictures (i.e., primes), subsequently
affects judgments or behavior.
,Chapter 2
Construct: an abstract theoretical concept (such as social influence).
Variable: the term used to refer to the measurable representation of a construct.
Quasi‐experiment: an experiment in which participants are not randomly allocated to the
different experimental conditions (typically because of factors beyond the control of the
researcher).
True randomized experiment: an experiment in which participants are allocated to the
different conditions of the experiment on a random basis.
Simple random sample: a sample in which each member of the population has an equal
chance of being selected and in which the selection of every possible combination of the
desired number of members is equally likely.
Quota sample: a sample that fills certain prespecified quotas and thereby reflects certain
attributes of the population (such as age and sex) that are thought to be important to the
issue being researched.
Discourse analysis: a family of methods for analyzing talk and texts, with the goal of
revealing how people make sense of their everyday worlds.
Triangulation: the use of multiple methods and measures to research a given issue.
Experimental scenario: the ‘package’ within which an experiment is presented to
participants.
Confederate: an accomplice or assistant of the experimenter who is ostensibly another
participant but who in fact plays a prescribed role in the experiment.
Operationalization: the way in which a theoretical construct is turned into a measurable
dependent variable or a manipulable independent variable in a particular study. Refers to the
way in which the variable is measured or manipulated in practice.
Manipulation check: a measure of the effectiveness of the independent variable. It has
become standard practice in social psychological experiments to include among the
measured variables one or more measures of the effectiveness of the manipulation.
One‐shot case study: a research design in which observations are made on a group after
some event has occurred or some manipulation has been introduced. May appear to be an
experiment but cannot properly be described as experimental.
Repeated‐measures design: a research design in which participants complete outcome
measures more than once.
Post‐test only control group design: an experimental design in which participants are
randomly allocated to one of two groups; one group is exposed to the independent variable,
another (the control group) is not.
Reactivity: a measurement procedure is reactive if it alters the nature of what is being
measured.
,Factorial experiment: an experiment in which two or more independent variables are
manipulated within the same design.
Main effect: a term used to refer to the separate effects of each independent variable in a
factorial experiment.
Interaction effect: a term used when the combination of two (or more) independent
variables in a factorial experiment yields an effect that differs from the sum of the main
effects.
Mediating variable: a variable that mediates the relation between two
other variables.
Validity: a measure is valid to the extent that it measures precisely
what it is supposed to measure.
Internal validity: refers to the validity of the inference that changes in
the independent variable result in changes in the dependent variable. It
refers to the validity of the conclusion that an observed relationship
between independent and dependent variables reflects a causal
relationship.
Experimental confound: when an independent variable incorporates two or more potentially
separable components, it is a confounded variable. When an independent variable is
confounded, the researcher’s ability to draw causal inferences is seriously compromised.
Construct validity: the validity of the assumption that independent and dependent variables
adequately captures the abstract variables (constructs) they are supposed to represent.
Convergent validity: established by showing that different measures of the same construct
(e.g., self‐report, implicit, observation) are significantly associated with each other.
Social desirability refers to the fact that research participants are likely to want to be seen
in a positive light and may therefore adjust their responses or behavior in order to avoid
being negatively evaluated.
Demand characteristics cues that are perceived as telling participants how they are expected
to behave or respond in a research setting; that is, cues that ‘demand’ a certain sort of
response.
Post‐experimental enquiry is the practice of investigating participants’ experience of a
study after they have taken part, including their perceptions of the purpose of the study.
Unobtrusive measures (also called non‐reactive measures): measures that the participant
is not aware of, and which therefore cannot influence his or her behavior.
Implicit measures are measures of constructs such as attitudes that are unobtrusively
assessed (e.g., by reaction time) so that participants are unaware of what is being assessed.
Experimenter expectancy effect: an effect produced unintentionally by the experimenter
that increases the likelihood that participants will confirm the experimenter’s hypothesis.
External validity refers to the generalizability of research findings to settings and
populations other than those involved in the research.
, Pre‐registration the process whereby a researcher openly reports the plans for a study,
including hypotheses, methods, and analyses, before the study has been conducted.
Reliability the degree to which a measure is free from measurement error; a measure is
reliable if it yields the same result on more than one occasion or when used by different
individuals.
Social neuroscience an interdisciplinary field devoted to understanding how biological
systems implement social processes and behavior.
Reliability in the sense of internal consistency refers to whether the individual items are
assessing the same psychological construct. Items that assess the same construct should be
positively correlated. Second, test-retest reliability refers to consistency in scores across
time. A sound attitude measure should produce similar scores across repeated testing
Chapter 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9.
Chapter 1
Scapegoat theory: a theory which holds that prejudice is due to aggression that is displaced
towards members of an outgroup (scapegoats), because the group or set of circumstances
that was the source of frustration is not within reach.
Realistic conflict theory: a theory which holds that conflict and competition between groups
over valued resources can create intergroup hostility and prejudice.
Rebound effect: when people no longer try to suppress something (e.g., stereotypes), it
shows a higher level of, for example stereotypical thinking, than had they never suppressed
it.
Social facilitation: an improvement in the performance of well‐learned/easy tasks and a
worsening of performance of poorly learned/difficult tasks due to the presence of members of
the same species.
Social loafing: a motivation loss in groups that occurs when group members reduce their
effort because individual contributions to group performance are not identifiable.
Autokinetic effect: perceptual illusion, whereby, in the absence of reference points, a
stationary light appears to move.
Priming: a method for testing in the laboratory whether knowledge made accessible through
various means, such as presenting people with words or pictures (i.e., primes), subsequently
affects judgments or behavior.
,Chapter 2
Construct: an abstract theoretical concept (such as social influence).
Variable: the term used to refer to the measurable representation of a construct.
Quasi‐experiment: an experiment in which participants are not randomly allocated to the
different experimental conditions (typically because of factors beyond the control of the
researcher).
True randomized experiment: an experiment in which participants are allocated to the
different conditions of the experiment on a random basis.
Simple random sample: a sample in which each member of the population has an equal
chance of being selected and in which the selection of every possible combination of the
desired number of members is equally likely.
Quota sample: a sample that fills certain prespecified quotas and thereby reflects certain
attributes of the population (such as age and sex) that are thought to be important to the
issue being researched.
Discourse analysis: a family of methods for analyzing talk and texts, with the goal of
revealing how people make sense of their everyday worlds.
Triangulation: the use of multiple methods and measures to research a given issue.
Experimental scenario: the ‘package’ within which an experiment is presented to
participants.
Confederate: an accomplice or assistant of the experimenter who is ostensibly another
participant but who in fact plays a prescribed role in the experiment.
Operationalization: the way in which a theoretical construct is turned into a measurable
dependent variable or a manipulable independent variable in a particular study. Refers to the
way in which the variable is measured or manipulated in practice.
Manipulation check: a measure of the effectiveness of the independent variable. It has
become standard practice in social psychological experiments to include among the
measured variables one or more measures of the effectiveness of the manipulation.
One‐shot case study: a research design in which observations are made on a group after
some event has occurred or some manipulation has been introduced. May appear to be an
experiment but cannot properly be described as experimental.
Repeated‐measures design: a research design in which participants complete outcome
measures more than once.
Post‐test only control group design: an experimental design in which participants are
randomly allocated to one of two groups; one group is exposed to the independent variable,
another (the control group) is not.
Reactivity: a measurement procedure is reactive if it alters the nature of what is being
measured.
,Factorial experiment: an experiment in which two or more independent variables are
manipulated within the same design.
Main effect: a term used to refer to the separate effects of each independent variable in a
factorial experiment.
Interaction effect: a term used when the combination of two (or more) independent
variables in a factorial experiment yields an effect that differs from the sum of the main
effects.
Mediating variable: a variable that mediates the relation between two
other variables.
Validity: a measure is valid to the extent that it measures precisely
what it is supposed to measure.
Internal validity: refers to the validity of the inference that changes in
the independent variable result in changes in the dependent variable. It
refers to the validity of the conclusion that an observed relationship
between independent and dependent variables reflects a causal
relationship.
Experimental confound: when an independent variable incorporates two or more potentially
separable components, it is a confounded variable. When an independent variable is
confounded, the researcher’s ability to draw causal inferences is seriously compromised.
Construct validity: the validity of the assumption that independent and dependent variables
adequately captures the abstract variables (constructs) they are supposed to represent.
Convergent validity: established by showing that different measures of the same construct
(e.g., self‐report, implicit, observation) are significantly associated with each other.
Social desirability refers to the fact that research participants are likely to want to be seen
in a positive light and may therefore adjust their responses or behavior in order to avoid
being negatively evaluated.
Demand characteristics cues that are perceived as telling participants how they are expected
to behave or respond in a research setting; that is, cues that ‘demand’ a certain sort of
response.
Post‐experimental enquiry is the practice of investigating participants’ experience of a
study after they have taken part, including their perceptions of the purpose of the study.
Unobtrusive measures (also called non‐reactive measures): measures that the participant
is not aware of, and which therefore cannot influence his or her behavior.
Implicit measures are measures of constructs such as attitudes that are unobtrusively
assessed (e.g., by reaction time) so that participants are unaware of what is being assessed.
Experimenter expectancy effect: an effect produced unintentionally by the experimenter
that increases the likelihood that participants will confirm the experimenter’s hypothesis.
External validity refers to the generalizability of research findings to settings and
populations other than those involved in the research.
, Pre‐registration the process whereby a researcher openly reports the plans for a study,
including hypotheses, methods, and analyses, before the study has been conducted.
Reliability the degree to which a measure is free from measurement error; a measure is
reliable if it yields the same result on more than one occasion or when used by different
individuals.
Social neuroscience an interdisciplinary field devoted to understanding how biological
systems implement social processes and behavior.
Reliability in the sense of internal consistency refers to whether the individual items are
assessing the same psychological construct. Items that assess the same construct should be
positively correlated. Second, test-retest reliability refers to consistency in scores across
time. A sound attitude measure should produce similar scores across repeated testing
