PSYCH 2C03 Midterm 1 Lecture Notes PDF

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Lectures 1-3 for PSYCH 2C03 (midterm 1 review)...

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Psych 2C03 Pre-recorded Lecture 1 ➔ Social Psychology: scientific study of how individuals think, feel, and behave in a social context ◆ How we’re affected by the things we see ◆ How media portrayals affect us (thoughts, feelings, behaviors) ➔ Test common sense ideas from common sense myths ◆ Basis of intro psych and research methods ➔ Infancy of social psychology: 1880s-1920s ➔ Founders of social psychology: ◆ McDougall (1908) ◆ Ross (1908) ◆ Allport (1924) ● “Grandfathers” of social psych ● Frank Allport emphasized idea of experimentation the use of the scientific method ➔ Social psychological principles: 1930s-1950s ◆ Adolf Hitler big influence on social psych ● Social psychologists interested in how evil worked and how people could conform to morally wrong things ◆ Created Society for Psychological Study of social issues in 1936 ◆ Lot’s of studies on conformity with Sharif and Sharif ◆ How elements outside of you can influence how you act ➔ Behaviour is a function of interactions between a person and the environment ◆ Depending on interpretation, big factor in how we’re going to react ● Ex. seeing a friend, waving, they don’t wave back ○ Depending on interpretation, can cause variety of reactions ○ Think they don’t like you when they really just didn’t see you ◆ Introspection: reflecting - “why did I do the things that I did” ● On average people do this 8% of the time ● Doing this may change behaviour ○ Usually people think about what just happened and assume that caused what they did

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○ Ex. saying you’re angry b/c Starbucks got your order wrong when really you didn’t get enough sleep ◆ What we do depends to a large extent on how we perceive and interpret the world around us Social psychological theories should be applied to important, practical issues Confidence and crisis: 1960s-mid 1970s ◆ Milgram (1960s): ● Looked at experiments into compliance and obedience to authority ◆ Crisis and debate: ● Laboratory experiments ○ How applicable is this to real-life ● Unethical practices ○ Is it ethical to use deception (shocking actor instead of participant) ● Limited generalizability ○ How would that be translated to real-life An era of pluralism: mid 1970s-1990s “Crisis” was good ◆ Lead to stronger discipline in psychology ◆ More rigorous testing using multiple methods of investigation ● Ex. using lab and field studies rather than just lab Adoption of pluralism: ◆ Multiple methods of investigation ◆ “Hot” and “cold” perspectives ● Context is important ◆ Multicultural perspectives ● Early to mid 1900s very ethnocentric Doing social psychology research ◆ Why should we learn about research methods? ● Testing is important to determine if we’re correct - find evidence ● Have to look for evidence for where we were wrong as well ○ Just searching for evidence for your correctness: confirmation bias ○ Do both but ignore evidence for being wrong: belief preference

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● Improves reasoning in your own life ◆ Want to ensure the theories we follow are backed up by rigorous research and evidence ● So theory can be applied to real-life without causing any harm Beginning the research process ◆ Ask questions ◆ Search the literature ◆ Formulate hypothesis Theory: organized set of principles used to explain observed phenomena ◆ Always based on observations ● Not something you just make up Hypothesis: explicit, testable prediction about the conditions under which an event will occur ◆ Usually testing dependent variable, can change independent variable Basic research: looking to understand or increase understanding of human behaviour ◆ Often not designed to test specific hypothesis from a specific theory Applied research ◆ Trying to figure out how something works in the real world ◆ Ex. contributing solutions for social problems Conceptual variables: abstract ◆ Operationalize: make abstract or specific ideas if we’re going to measure something in a study Construct validity: is what we’re using to measure actually measuring properly ◆ Used to evaluate manipulation and measurement of variables Self-reports ◆ May be elements of measurement that are problematic in social psychology ● Element of self-deception, trying to look good to the person asking the question or to society ○ Wording can change answer Reliability: gets same score over and over again

➔ Interrater reliability: get multiple people to score what’s being measured ◆ Train them to be accurate within at least 80% or higher ➔ Descriptive research: describing what you see and how variables interact with each other ◆ Observational studies ◆ Archival studies ◆ Surveys ● No experimental manipulation with these ○ Can only see if variables are linked with one another ○ No causation b/c no manipulation of variables ➔ Correlational research: variables moving in tandem together ◆ How similar or distinct are two different variables ◆ How well does one variable predict another variable ◆ Correlation coefficient ● -1 up to +1

➔ Research shows that people who watch violent content or play violent video games are no more aggressive than others ◆ Although aggressive people tend to enjoy violent video games/content ● Potentially linked but not causing each other

➔ Experiments are cause-and-effect relationships ◆ Have two essential characteristics: ● Control ○ Manipulating independent variable and seeing if it affects the dependent variable ◆ Control is group with no manipulation ● Random assignment ○ Hope that by chance the two groups show similar results ➔ Advantage of correlational research: see links between variables ◆ No experimental research without correlational research ➔ Random sampling: test to see if this works in the population ◆ Want to represent whole population ● Randomly pick people from population to create representative group of the population ➔ Random assignment: taking sample group created and putting them randomly into all the conditions we have ➔ Laboratory experiments ◆ Able to closely control ◆ Have identical environments ➔ Field experiments ◆ More naturalistic ◆ Less control ● Don’t know how people will react ● May have other variables at play as well ➔ Independent variable: manipulated ➔ Dependent variable: measured ➔ Subject variables: pre-existing things we want to randomly assign to groups ◆ Want to make sure all different conditions have same natural levels of pre-existing subject variables ➔ Statistical significance: how likely is it that the results could have occurred by chance ◆ If 5 or fewer times in 100 possible outcomes (0.05) then “statistically significant” ➔ Internal validity: how reasonable is it to conclude that the independent variable caused this outcome ➔ Control groups: baseline

➔ External validity: do the results generalize to other people and other situations ◆ Is the sample representative ◆ What's the research setting ◆ Want to reasonably say is this how it would still work in real life ➔ Mundane realism: does the research setting match the real world setting of interest ➔ Experimental realism: do the settings and procedures feel “real” and involving to the participant ◆ Allows generalizability ➔ Meta-analysis: uses statistical techniques to integrate quantitative results of different studies ➔ Research ethics boards ◆ Welfare of participants is a priority ◆ All research involving human participants must be reviewed and approved by research ethics boards ➔ Informed consent: individuals deliberate and voluntary decision to participate in research ➔ Debriefing: disclosure to participants after research procedures are completed ➔ Ethical principles are based on moral values ➔ Steps in the scientific process ◆ Identify questions ◆ Formulate hypotheses ◆ Define variables ◆ Design research ◆ Analyze data ◆ Comply with ethical standards

Chapter 1 ➔ Social psychology: scientific study of the influence of real, imagined, or implied presence of others upon our thoughts, emotions, beliefs, and behaviours ◆ Also how we influence others ➔ It’s in human nature to question why we do what we do ➔ Hindsight bias: tendency to overestimate our powers of prediction once we know the outcome of a given event

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◆ E.x. predicting an election outcome after results are out, predicting how an experiment will turn out ● Social psych findings seem more obvious to college students who’ve been told what happened in the study vs predicting what will happen Social psychologists conduct research because many of the things we think to be true turn out to be false Aronson’s first law: people who do crazy things are not necessarily crazy People are prone to explain unpleasant behaviour by assigning personality traits to the perpetrator ◆ Traits like “psychotic”, “sadistic”, or “evil ● Most people, typically from Western cultures do this spontaneously without intention or conscious awareness ○ Need to feel in control of events ◆ Dispositional view of human actions ● People who do crazy things have a personality disposition to be crazy, people who do stupid things must be stupid, etc. ○ Helps mentally separate “bad people” from “nice people” ○ Often a mistake or oversimplification Some situations can cause a large proportion of “nice people” to act in abnormal ways Situational view of human behaviour ◆ Social context influences what we do

Chapter 9 ➔ Scientific method ◆ Observation ● Simply observing what’s happening ◆ Make a guess as to why that happens ● Uncover “lawful relationship” ◆ Frame guess as a testable hypothesis ◆ Design an experiment or series of experiments ● To confirm or disconfirm the hypothesis ➔ Good experiments require both science and art ◆ Especially in social psych ● Dealing with socially sophisticated human participants

➔ People are often unaware of why they act certain ways or change their beliefs in one direction or another ◆ Asking people about their behaviour doesn’t yield reliable results ➔ “Nearly perfect” people become more attractive after committing a blunder ◆ “Ordinary” people became less attractive ➔ Common criticism of lab experiments: unrealistic ➔ Experiment: group discussion about sex ◆ Severe initiation ◆ Mild initiation ◆ No initiation ● 3 conditions are the independent variables ○ Would the severity of the initiations cause systematic differences in participants’ behaviour ◆ Mild and no initiations received discussion as boring ◆ Severe initiation thought discussion was interesting ◆ Response is dependent variable ● Dependent on experimental conditions ➔ Independent variable is the cause, dependent is the effect ➔ Experiments give advantage of controlling the environment and variables ◆ Able to give all participants the same independent variables ● Random assignment ○ Any variables not controlled are distributed randomly across the conditions ◆ Very unlikely for variables to affect results in a systematic way ● Neutralizes third variable by distributing characteristics randomly across experimental conditions ○ If difference is found, unlikely to be from characteristics ➔ Cannot determine causation, only association ➔ Impossible to exercise complete control over environment of human participants ➔ Control is limited

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◆ Individuals vary from each other in countless subtle ways ● Same situation may not affect each person in the same way ○ Differences in attitude, values, abilities, personalities, and recent experiences By controlling experiment, run the risk of making situation sterile, participants don’t take it seriously ◆ If events are not found to be interesting, reactions won’t be spontaneous ● Results will have little meaning Experiment must have an impact on the participants ◆ Must take it seriously and be involved Impact and control usually work in opposite ways ◆ As one increases, other tends to decrease Experimental realism: ◆ Has an impact ◆ Forces participants to take experiment seriously ◆ Involves participants in procedure Mundane realism: ◆ Lab experiment is similar to events that frequently happen to people in the outside world Experimenters try to conceal true nature of experiments from participants ◆ Dealing with intelligent adults ◆ Requirement to achieve valid, reliable data ● Use a cover story ○ If participants know, don’t behave naturally or try to perform in a good light ◆ Try to “help out” the experimenter ◆ Try to make themselves look good Replication: original study is replicated by other investigators in other labs ◆ Helps clarify research ◆ Determine who it’s applicable for ◆ Determine if phenomenon is robust and lasting ● If not able to replicate original results: ○ Didn’t do replications accurately or appropriately ○ Original investigators conclusions were limited or wrong

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◆ Science part easier to replicate than the art part ● Failure of technique, not hypothesis ◆ Helps catch a mistake in original procedure, analysis, or biases ◆ Sometimes a failed replication can reveal a previously unknown ingredient crucial to the original Social media: “hot” findings get instant attention ◆ TED Talks ● Cool off when other researchers try to replicate Using deception presents experimenter’s with ethical problems ◆ Unethical to lie to people ◆ Leads to invasion of privacy ● Not knowing the real study - no position to give consent ◆ Procedures often entail unpleasant experiences ● Pain, boredom, anxiety, or embarrassment Ethical problems can arise without deception as well ◆ When experimental procedures are not extreme ◆ No code of ethics can anticipate all problems Ethical dilemma ◆ Value of free scientific inquiry ◆ Dignity of humans and their right to privacy Subtle ethical problems occur when participants confront an unpleasant part of themselves Cost-benefit analysis of an experiment ◆ Procedures that cause intense pain or discomfort should be avoided ● Some discomfort may be unavoidable ◆ Experimenters should provide participants with real option of quitting if discomfort becomes too intense ◆ Experimenters should be alert to alternative procedures to deception ● If another procedure can be found, it should be used ◆ Spend time with participant after to carefully explain experiment ● Make them feel good about it ◆ Be certain that the experiment is sound and worthwhile ● Not undertaking an experiment that relies on deception or discomfort “just for the hell of it”

Psych 2C03 Lecture 2: Social Cognition I People think about other people more than any other topic Inner processes serve interpersonal functions ◆ Social acceptance ◆ Relationship formation ◆ Maintenance of relationships ◆ Competing against others for our goals Social cognition: study of how people come to believe what they do ◆ Focuses on development of understanding, storage, and  application of info about oneself, others, and social situations Social cognition considers why these processes produce errors often  Attention ◆ Pay attention to what’s coming in Perception or interpretation  ◆ Put things into context  Introspection ◆ Correcting biases created ◆ Why did I do the things I did  ◆ Processes where one examines own thoughts, feelings, and  motives ● Usually done around 8% of the time Use temporal information, learning, and conditioning from culture and  upbringing to help us “know” why things happen ◆ Heuristics: shortcuts used to help us decide on now ● What worked in the past should work for right now Bem: learn about others by observing their behaviour When internal cues can’t be interpreted, gain insight by observing own behaviour ◆ Have built in biases and motivations ● Can be an issue   Heuristics can lead to cognitive biases Brains built in biases ◆ Brain is designed to work in a specific way to help us out ● Be efficient, solve problems ● Ignore instances that make us feel bad

○ Short term pain to self esteem results in long term gain ◆ Changing behaviours to do better Bias blind spot  ◆ Blind spot to own biases ◆ Bias that we are more objective and less biased than most other people ● Biased about not being biased  ○ When looking at own behaviour, we know the context ◆ Can make excuses ○ When looking at others behaviours ◆ May miss full context  Naive realism ◆ Belief that we see the world precisely as it is ● Think we see the world objectively ○ Actually seen subjectively ● Stimulus is less important than perception of stimulus ● Believe that people who disagree must be uninformed, irrational, or biased  Confirmation bias ◆ Tendency to seek evidence that supports our hypothesis ● Neglecting or distorting contradicting evidence Ego-centric bias ◆ We tend to place ourselves in the center of our own universes ◆ We know the most about ourselves ● Self-referential effect ○ Anything involving you is remembered better ◆ Spotlight effect ● Perception that people are paying more attention to you then they are ◆ Cloak of invisibility ● Belief that we observe and notice others more than they do us ◆ Barnum effect ● Giving a general description that could be applied to anyone

○ Imagine that it’s specifically related to you because of your focus on yourself  Negativity bias ◆ Bad isn’t stronger than good  ● Winning the lottery is considered a 10 but so is a serial killer coming at you ◆ Bad is more attention grabbing than good  Central social motives ◆ Need for belonging ● Most important ● Desire for stable meaningful connections with others ○ Family and friends ◆ Having someone to fall back on in times of need  ● Research shows long periods of involuntary isolation are psychologically damaging  ○ Super unpleasant  ○ Can develop anxiety or depression without this interaction ◆ Accurately predicting/understanding others ● We want to optimize our relationships ● We like when we can predict what's going to happen ○ What will happen to us ○ What will others do  ◆ Need for control ● Want to feel we have control over our destinies ○ Having accurate information ● Want to feel like we are competent and can make things happen  ○ Makes us happy ◆ Need to matter ● Esteem motivations ○ Want to feel worthy ○ Want to know where we are with social status ○ Want to have a positive reputation ◆ Results in self-enhancement motivation  ● How much we admire ourselves is directly related to our perception of how we are valued by others

◆ Trust ● Motivated to trust the world is safe, benevolent, and fair ● We want to trust that others won’t harm us ○ Especially those like ourselves Attribution theories ◆ Attribution: process by which we explain people’s behaviour from ● Personal attributions (disposition) ● Situational attributions ◆ Dispositions: stable characteristics such as personality traits, attitudes, abilities ● Perception from inferring indirectly Correspondent inference theory ◆ People make assumptions about others’ disposition from 3 factors related to targets behaviour  ● Targets degree of choice ○ If they had a choice to do it or not to do it ○ Did the target choose to take on that position  ◆ If they did choose, we think it must be related  to personality ● Expectedness of behaviour ○ Is it expected or not very expected ○ Is it close to social norms? Or does it deviate? ◆ If it deviates, we think it must be related to personality ● Effects or consequences ○ Fewer the non-common effects, the more certain the attribution of intent ◆ If there's a lot in common but only one  difference, it must be because of that difference Kelley attribution theory ◆ Covariation principle ● Attributing behaviour to factors present when a behaviour occurs and absent when it does not ◆ 3 different kinds of information are important ● Consensus information  ○ Do all or only a few people respond to stimulus the same way as the target person? ● Distinctiveness information 

○ Does the target person respond the same way to other stimuli as well? ● Consistency information ○ Does the targe...