H.1
Social psychology The scientific study of the effects of social and cognitive processes on the way
individuals perceive, influence and relate to others
Social processes The ways in which input from the people and groups around us affect our
thoughts, feelings and actions
Cognitive The ways in which our memories, perceptions, thoughts, emotions, and
processes motives influence our understanding of the world and guide our actions
Construction of The axiom that each person’s view of reality is a construction, shaped both by
reality cognitive processes (the ways our mind work) and social processes (input from
others either actually present or imagined)
Pervasiveness of The axiom that other people influence virtually all of our thoughts, feelings,
social influence and behaviour, whether those other are physically present or not
Striving for The motivational principle that people seek to understand and predict events
mastery in the social world in order to obtain rewards
Seeking The motivational principle that people seek support, liking, and acceptance
connectedness from the people and groups they care about and value
Valuing “me and The motivational principle that people desire to see themselves, and other
mine” people and groups connected to themselves, in a positive light
Conservatism The processing principle that individuals ‘and groups’ views of the world are
principle slow to change and prone to perpetuate themselves
Accessibility The processing principle that the information that is most readily available
principle generally has the most impact on thoughts, feelings, and behaviour
Superficially The processing principle that people ordinarily put little effort into dealing
versus depth with information, but at times are motivated to consider information in more
depth
H2
Scientific theory A statement that satisfies three requirements: 1. it is about constructs 2. it
describes causal relations 3. it is general in scope although the generality
differs for different theories
Constructs Abstract and general concepts that are used in theories and that are not
directly observable
Interventions Practical steps taken to change people’s behaviour or to solve social
problems
Construct validity The extent to which the independent and dependent variables used in
research correspond to the theoretical constructs under investigation
Independent A concrete manipulation or measurement of a construct that is thought to
variable cause other constructs
Dependent A concrete measurement of a construct that is thought to be in effect of
variable other constructs
Social desirability People's tendency to act in ways that they believe others find acceptable and
response bias approve of
Self-report Those based on asking the individual about his or her thoughts, feelings, or
measures behaviours
Observational Those based on directly watching and recording people’s behaviour,
measures including online behaviour
Archival measures Those based on examining traces of past behaviour
Performance Those ask participants to perform some task as well as they can
measures
, Archival measures Those based on examining traces of past behaviour
Physiological Those based on measurement of some physiological process such as heart
measures rate or muscle movements
EEG- Electro- Measures use electrical signals on the scalp to very accurately detect the
encephalographic times at which specific neural events occur
FMRI- Functional Indirectly measures the activation levels of specific brain regions
Magnetic
Resonance
Imaging
Internal validity The extent to which it can be concluded that changes in the independent
variable actually caused changes in the dependent variable
Research design A plan that specifies how research participants will be selected and treated
Nonexperimental A research design in which both the independent and dependent variables
research design are measured
Experimental A research design in which researchers randomly assign participants to
research design different groups and manipulate one or more independent variables
Random The procedure of assigning participants to different experimental groups so
assignment that every participant has exactly the same chance as every other participant
of being in any given group
Manipulate Intentionally varying some factor as the independent variable in an
experimental research design
Confederate A research assistant playing a specific role in the study, such as pretending to
be just another participant
External validity The extent to which research results can be generalized to other appropriate
people, times and settings
Individualistic Those in which people are particularly likely to think of themselves as
cultures separate from other people and to define themselves in terms of their
uniqueness
Collectivist Those in which people tend to think of themselves as linked to others and to
cultures define themselves in terms of their relationships to others
Demand Cues in a research setting that lead participants to make inferences about
characteristics what researchers expect or desire and that therefore bias how the
participant acts
Field research Research that takes place outside the laboratory
Replication Conducting new studies in an effort to provide evidence for the same
theoretically predicted relations found in prior research
Meta-analysis A systematic technique for locating studies on a particular topic and
summarizing their results
Informed consent Consent voluntarily given by an individual who decided to participate in a
study after being told what will be involved in participation
Deception Keeping participants uninformed or actively misleading them about
particular aspects of a study
Debriefing Informing research participants as soon as possible after the completion of
their participation in research- about the purposes, procedures, and scientific
value of the study, and discussing any questions participants may have
H3
Mental A body of knowledge that an individual has stored in memory
representations
Social psychology The scientific study of the effects of social and cognitive processes on the way
individuals perceive, influence and relate to others
Social processes The ways in which input from the people and groups around us affect our
thoughts, feelings and actions
Cognitive The ways in which our memories, perceptions, thoughts, emotions, and
processes motives influence our understanding of the world and guide our actions
Construction of The axiom that each person’s view of reality is a construction, shaped both by
reality cognitive processes (the ways our mind work) and social processes (input from
others either actually present or imagined)
Pervasiveness of The axiom that other people influence virtually all of our thoughts, feelings,
social influence and behaviour, whether those other are physically present or not
Striving for The motivational principle that people seek to understand and predict events
mastery in the social world in order to obtain rewards
Seeking The motivational principle that people seek support, liking, and acceptance
connectedness from the people and groups they care about and value
Valuing “me and The motivational principle that people desire to see themselves, and other
mine” people and groups connected to themselves, in a positive light
Conservatism The processing principle that individuals ‘and groups’ views of the world are
principle slow to change and prone to perpetuate themselves
Accessibility The processing principle that the information that is most readily available
principle generally has the most impact on thoughts, feelings, and behaviour
Superficially The processing principle that people ordinarily put little effort into dealing
versus depth with information, but at times are motivated to consider information in more
depth
H2
Scientific theory A statement that satisfies three requirements: 1. it is about constructs 2. it
describes causal relations 3. it is general in scope although the generality
differs for different theories
Constructs Abstract and general concepts that are used in theories and that are not
directly observable
Interventions Practical steps taken to change people’s behaviour or to solve social
problems
Construct validity The extent to which the independent and dependent variables used in
research correspond to the theoretical constructs under investigation
Independent A concrete manipulation or measurement of a construct that is thought to
variable cause other constructs
Dependent A concrete measurement of a construct that is thought to be in effect of
variable other constructs
Social desirability People's tendency to act in ways that they believe others find acceptable and
response bias approve of
Self-report Those based on asking the individual about his or her thoughts, feelings, or
measures behaviours
Observational Those based on directly watching and recording people’s behaviour,
measures including online behaviour
Archival measures Those based on examining traces of past behaviour
Performance Those ask participants to perform some task as well as they can
measures
, Archival measures Those based on examining traces of past behaviour
Physiological Those based on measurement of some physiological process such as heart
measures rate or muscle movements
EEG- Electro- Measures use electrical signals on the scalp to very accurately detect the
encephalographic times at which specific neural events occur
FMRI- Functional Indirectly measures the activation levels of specific brain regions
Magnetic
Resonance
Imaging
Internal validity The extent to which it can be concluded that changes in the independent
variable actually caused changes in the dependent variable
Research design A plan that specifies how research participants will be selected and treated
Nonexperimental A research design in which both the independent and dependent variables
research design are measured
Experimental A research design in which researchers randomly assign participants to
research design different groups and manipulate one or more independent variables
Random The procedure of assigning participants to different experimental groups so
assignment that every participant has exactly the same chance as every other participant
of being in any given group
Manipulate Intentionally varying some factor as the independent variable in an
experimental research design
Confederate A research assistant playing a specific role in the study, such as pretending to
be just another participant
External validity The extent to which research results can be generalized to other appropriate
people, times and settings
Individualistic Those in which people are particularly likely to think of themselves as
cultures separate from other people and to define themselves in terms of their
uniqueness
Collectivist Those in which people tend to think of themselves as linked to others and to
cultures define themselves in terms of their relationships to others
Demand Cues in a research setting that lead participants to make inferences about
characteristics what researchers expect or desire and that therefore bias how the
participant acts
Field research Research that takes place outside the laboratory
Replication Conducting new studies in an effort to provide evidence for the same
theoretically predicted relations found in prior research
Meta-analysis A systematic technique for locating studies on a particular topic and
summarizing their results
Informed consent Consent voluntarily given by an individual who decided to participate in a
study after being told what will be involved in participation
Deception Keeping participants uninformed or actively misleading them about
particular aspects of a study
Debriefing Informing research participants as soon as possible after the completion of
their participation in research- about the purposes, procedures, and scientific
value of the study, and discussing any questions participants may have
H3
Mental A body of knowledge that an individual has stored in memory
representations
