Chapter 1
Definition of Social Psychology
What is the scientific study of how people influence each other’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors?
Watching people in their natural environments and recording their behaviors with a preset coding system, based on your hypothesis
What is Naturalistic Observation?
The idea that we strategically present ourselves differently in different situations to create a certain image of who we are
What is Self Presentation?
The definition of Social Cognition
What is the study of how we process social information using both intuition and logic
Definition of Independent Variable
What is a variable that is manipulated at the beginning of an experiment to determine its effect; it’s how the groups are different from each other at the start of the study. (Chapter 2)
The grandfather of Social Psychology
Who is Kurt Lewin?
Explanation for why someone during a study would say that they have never taken drugs before when they have.
What is Social Desirability?
Comparing ourselves to someone worse off than we are to feel better about ourselves
What is Downward Social Comparison?
The system of thinking you use when you are brushing your teeth
What is System 1 Thinking?
What heuristic is occurring when Courtney is afraid of flying because of airplane crashes she sees on TV when airplane crashes are quite uncommon.
What is an Availability Heuristic? (Chapter 4)
Definition: Our tendency to overestimate the frequency of something based on how easily it comes to mind.
The ability for one to analyze, apply, and explore ideas in new and open-minded ways
What is Critical thinking?
Examples of Non-Experimental Research Methods
What are Archival Data, Naturalistic Observation, and Descriptive surveys?
The idea that our close relationships can help us grow and improve as people along with our self-concept
What is Self-Expansion theory?
The bias Sue has when she is convinced that she knew that the red team was going to win the football game the entire time.
What is Hindsight Bias?
Definiton: Our tendency to believe we could have predicted the outcome of a past event, but only after we already know what happened; the false belief that we “knew it all along.”
What a Institutional Review Board (IRB) is and does
What are committees of people who consider the ethical implications of any study before giving the researcher approval to begin formal research. (Chapter 2)
How multiple identity features (e.g., race, gender, SES) combine to form how people are perceived and treated by others
What is Intersectionality?
Definition of Applied research
What is research that translates theory into applied problem solving or social action/ aims to find problems in existing problems?
Definition of Self Discrepancy
The idea that there is a discrepancy between the 3 versions of ourselves, the Actual, Ideal, and Ought Selves
Being influenced by a starting point when making numerical guesses, even when the starting point is unreliable
What is Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic?
What is happening when a CSU student wears their CSU merch more often after a big win against a rival team?
What is Basking in Reflective Glory? (Chapter 3)
Definition: A method of self-enhancement that involves affiliating with an in-group when that group has been successful.
The idea of Nature vs. Nurture is an example of a...
What is a False Dichotomy?
Definition: A situation presented as two opposing and mutually exclusive options when there may really be additional options or a compromise.
A research design comparing two or more groups that have been created with random assignment.
What is a True Experiment?
Definition of the Optimal Margin Theory
What is slight to moderate distortions of reality can improve psychological well-being?
The fallacy Tim has when he believes the new building he’s building will work out will proceed as planned when a similar building before did not.
What is Planning fallacy?
Definition: The unjustified confidence that one’s own project, unlike similar projects, will proceed as planned.
The amount of information and thinking we can handle at one time.
What is Cognitive Load? (Chapter 4)