SOP 3004 Final Exam With Accurate Answers
Define social psychology and explain how it combines elements of sociology and personality psychology - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - ANSWER-enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted across generations
Social representation - ANSWER-a society's widely held ideas and values, including assumptions and cultural ideologies
Mundane realism - ANSWER-degree to which an experiment is superficially similar to everyday events
Experimental realism - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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)
Describe the self concept, self schemas, & possible selves and how they are related - ANSWER-SELF CONCEPT: answers the questions "who am I?"
SELF SCHEMA: belief about the self - helps process self relevant info
POSSIBLE SELVES: selves we want to become
-Related: self-schemas go hand in hand with self-concepts, and these influence our possible selves
Describe the ways in which we develop our social selves - ANSWER--Influences our social selves: roles we play, social identities we form, comparisons we make with others
-Social comparison: evaluating one's abilities and opinions by comparing oneself with others
-How people judge us
-Surrounding culture (individualism vs. collectivism)
Explain differences between individualistic and collectivistic cultures - ANSWER-
Individualism: concept of giving priority to one's own goals over group goals and defining one's identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identification
Collectivism: giving priority to the goal's of one's group and defining one's identity accordingly
Describe ways in which our self knowledge is limited - ANSWER-Explaining our behavior: we are bad predictors at what makes us happy
Define social psychology and explain how it combines elements of sociology and personality psychology - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - ANSWER-enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted across generations
Social representation - ANSWER-a society's widely held ideas and values, including assumptions and cultural ideologies
Mundane realism - ANSWER-degree to which an experiment is superficially similar to everyday events
Experimental realism - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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)
Describe the self concept, self schemas, & possible selves and how they are related - ANSWER-SELF CONCEPT: answers the questions "who am I?"
SELF SCHEMA: belief about the self - helps process self relevant info
POSSIBLE SELVES: selves we want to become
-Related: self-schemas go hand in hand with self-concepts, and these influence our possible selves
Describe the ways in which we develop our social selves - ANSWER--Influences our social selves: roles we play, social identities we form, comparisons we make with others
-Social comparison: evaluating one's abilities and opinions by comparing oneself with others
-How people judge us
-Surrounding culture (individualism vs. collectivism)
Explain differences between individualistic and collectivistic cultures - ANSWER-
Individualism: concept of giving priority to one's own goals over group goals and defining one's identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identification
Collectivism: giving priority to the goal's of one's group and defining one's identity accordingly
Describe ways in which our self knowledge is limited - ANSWER-Explaining our behavior: we are bad predictors at what makes us happy
