PSY 124 Exam #1 -
LECTURE CONTENT
WITH CORRECT
ANSWERS 2025/2026
What is the definition of Social Psychology? - correct answers The scientific study of how
individuals think, feel, and behave in a social context
What are the ABC's of social psychology? - correct answers Affect (feelings)
Behavior (actions)
Cognition (thoughts)
What are some things social psychologists care about? - correct answers understanding
relationships, stereotypes, persuasion and attitudes, goals, science itself
What is the hindsight bias? - correct answers the tendency to believe, after learning an
outcome, that one would have foreseen it ("I knew it all along phenomenon")
Describe the theme that intuitions may be powerful or perilous - correct answers We are often
unaware of the things that are influencing our behaviour (ex - right side bias)
,Aristotle's contributions to social psych - correct answers he asked "to what extent is beauty in
the eye of the beholder" which is a social psych question (but he's not the origin of the actual
scientific field of social psych)
Norman Tripplett's contribution to social psychology - correct answers - published the first social
psych experiment
- "are cyclists faster in the presence of others?"
- he showed that the social context affects our behaviour even without our knowledge
What happened in the early 1900s with regards to the field of social psych? - correct answers
the first social psych textbooks were published
Who was the person most important to social psych, and why was he crucial to the
development of the field? - correct answers - Hitler (with the rise of WWII & the Holocaust)
- was influential because it prompted people to answer questions about genocide, warfare,
prejudice, conformity, obedience, etc
- "why do people to bad things to others??"
How did North America become the hub of social psychological research? - correct answers
Because of WWII & the Holocaust, many researchers left Europe (ex - Asch who studied
conformity)
In the post-war era, many influential social psych figures started to emerge & conducted
experiments... who were they? - correct answers Milgram (obedience/conformity), Lewin
(interactions between person and environment), Asch (conformity)
Why isn't research in psychology progressing normally right now? - correct answers the
replication crisis
, What is the replication crisis? - correct answers Replication crisis: ongoing crisis in the social and
life sciences in which scholars have found that the results of many scientific studies cannot be
replicated
(only 36% of the 100 studies the Open Science Collaboration were able to be replicated)
What are the reasons why findings may not be replicated? - correct answers 1. the science may
not be true
2. people change & things that used to be true may not be true NOW
What are the 4 major steps for studying social psychological phenomenon? - correct answers 1.
develop or adapt a theory
2. create a hypothesis based on that theory
3. test the hypothesis
4 . refine the theory based on our findings
Define: Theory - correct answers an organized set of principles that explain and predict
observed events
What do we use theories for? - correct answers we use them to help explain our findings and
make connections between them with the goal of predicting and understanding the social world
Who is Kurt Lewin? - correct answers The Father of Social Psychology who believed that social
psych needed to be practical & solve real-world problems
What makes something a good theory? - correct answers 1. posits cause & effect relationships
(explains observations - the WHY not just the WHAT)
2. is coherent (organizes observations)
3. aims for parsimony
4. is testable & can be falsified
LECTURE CONTENT
WITH CORRECT
ANSWERS 2025/2026
What is the definition of Social Psychology? - correct answers The scientific study of how
individuals think, feel, and behave in a social context
What are the ABC's of social psychology? - correct answers Affect (feelings)
Behavior (actions)
Cognition (thoughts)
What are some things social psychologists care about? - correct answers understanding
relationships, stereotypes, persuasion and attitudes, goals, science itself
What is the hindsight bias? - correct answers the tendency to believe, after learning an
outcome, that one would have foreseen it ("I knew it all along phenomenon")
Describe the theme that intuitions may be powerful or perilous - correct answers We are often
unaware of the things that are influencing our behaviour (ex - right side bias)
,Aristotle's contributions to social psych - correct answers he asked "to what extent is beauty in
the eye of the beholder" which is a social psych question (but he's not the origin of the actual
scientific field of social psych)
Norman Tripplett's contribution to social psychology - correct answers - published the first social
psych experiment
- "are cyclists faster in the presence of others?"
- he showed that the social context affects our behaviour even without our knowledge
What happened in the early 1900s with regards to the field of social psych? - correct answers
the first social psych textbooks were published
Who was the person most important to social psych, and why was he crucial to the
development of the field? - correct answers - Hitler (with the rise of WWII & the Holocaust)
- was influential because it prompted people to answer questions about genocide, warfare,
prejudice, conformity, obedience, etc
- "why do people to bad things to others??"
How did North America become the hub of social psychological research? - correct answers
Because of WWII & the Holocaust, many researchers left Europe (ex - Asch who studied
conformity)
In the post-war era, many influential social psych figures started to emerge & conducted
experiments... who were they? - correct answers Milgram (obedience/conformity), Lewin
(interactions between person and environment), Asch (conformity)
Why isn't research in psychology progressing normally right now? - correct answers the
replication crisis
, What is the replication crisis? - correct answers Replication crisis: ongoing crisis in the social and
life sciences in which scholars have found that the results of many scientific studies cannot be
replicated
(only 36% of the 100 studies the Open Science Collaboration were able to be replicated)
What are the reasons why findings may not be replicated? - correct answers 1. the science may
not be true
2. people change & things that used to be true may not be true NOW
What are the 4 major steps for studying social psychological phenomenon? - correct answers 1.
develop or adapt a theory
2. create a hypothesis based on that theory
3. test the hypothesis
4 . refine the theory based on our findings
Define: Theory - correct answers an organized set of principles that explain and predict
observed events
What do we use theories for? - correct answers we use them to help explain our findings and
make connections between them with the goal of predicting and understanding the social world
Who is Kurt Lewin? - correct answers The Father of Social Psychology who believed that social
psych needed to be practical & solve real-world problems
What makes something a good theory? - correct answers 1. posits cause & effect relationships
(explains observations - the WHY not just the WHAT)
2. is coherent (organizes observations)
3. aims for parsimony
4. is testable & can be falsified
