PSY 124 EXAM #1 - LECTURE CONTENT QUESTIONS AND
CORRECT ANSWERS
What is the definition of Social Psychology? - ANSWER The scientific study of how individuals
think, feel, and behave in a social context
What are the ABC's of social psychology? - ANSWER Affect (feelings)
Behavior (actions)
Cognition (thoughts)
What are some things social psychologists care about? - ANSWER understanding
relationships, stereotypes, persuasion and attitudes, goals, science itself
What is the hindsight bias? - ANSWER 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 - ANSWER We are often
unaware of the things that are influencing our behaviour (ex - right side bias)
Aristotle's contributions to social psych - ANSWER 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 - ANSWER - 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? - ANSWER 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? - ANSWER - 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? - ANSWER 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? - ANSWER Milgram (obedience/conformity), Lewin
(interactions between person and environment), Asch (conformity)
Why isn't research in psychology progressing normally right now? - ANSWER the replication
crisis
, What is the replication crisis? - ANSWER 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? - ANSWER 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? - ANSWER 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 - ANSWER an organized set of principles that explain and predict observed
events
What do we use theories for? - ANSWER 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? - ANSWER The Father of Social Psychology who believed that social psych
CORRECT ANSWERS
What is the definition of Social Psychology? - ANSWER The scientific study of how individuals
think, feel, and behave in a social context
What are the ABC's of social psychology? - ANSWER Affect (feelings)
Behavior (actions)
Cognition (thoughts)
What are some things social psychologists care about? - ANSWER understanding
relationships, stereotypes, persuasion and attitudes, goals, science itself
What is the hindsight bias? - ANSWER 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 - ANSWER We are often
unaware of the things that are influencing our behaviour (ex - right side bias)
Aristotle's contributions to social psych - ANSWER 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 - ANSWER - 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? - ANSWER 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? - ANSWER - 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? - ANSWER 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? - ANSWER Milgram (obedience/conformity), Lewin
(interactions between person and environment), Asch (conformity)
Why isn't research in psychology progressing normally right now? - ANSWER the replication
crisis
, What is the replication crisis? - ANSWER 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? - ANSWER 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? - ANSWER 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 - ANSWER an organized set of principles that explain and predict observed
events
What do we use theories for? - ANSWER 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? - ANSWER The Father of Social Psychology who believed that social psych
