Social psychology is the scientific study of how we think and feel about, interact with, and influence each other. It is the branch of psychology that focuses on social behavior, specifically how we relate to other people in our social world. Social psychology can help us to understand everyday things that happen to us, as well as past and present cultural and historical events.
2. How do social psychologists explain social behavior?
An early model of social behavior proposed by Kurt Lewin suggested that social behavior is caused by two factors: individual characteristics and the social situation. This simple model has since been expanded to better explain the forces that shape social behavior. According to modern views of social behavior, input from the social situation works in conjunction with individual characteristics to influence social behavior through the operation of social cognition (the general process of thinking about social events) and social perception (how we perceive other people). Based on our processing of social information, we evaluate the social situation and form an intention to behave in a certain way. This behavioral intention may or may not be translated into social behavior. We engage in social behavior based on our constantly changing evaluation of the situation. Once we behave in a certain way, it may have an effect on the social situation, which in turn will affect future social behavior.
3. How does social psychology relate to other disciplines that study social behavior?
There are many scientific disciplines that study social behavior. Biologists, developmental psychologists, anthropologists, personality psychologists, historians, and sociologists all have an interest in social behavior. Although social psychology has common interests with these disciplines, unlike biology and personality psychology, social psychology focuses on the social situation as the principal cause of social behavior. Whereas sociology and history focus on the situation, social psychology takes a narrower view, looking at the individual in the social situation rather than the larger group or society. In other words, history and sociology take a top-down approach to explaining social behavior, making a group or institution the focus of analysis. Social psychology takes a bottom-up approach, focusing on how individual behavior is influenced by the situation.
4. How do social psychologists approach the problem of explaining social behavior?
Unlike the layperson who forms commonsense explanations for social behavior based on limited information, social psychologists rely on the scientific method to formulate scientific explanations — tentative explanations based on observation and logic that are open to empirical testing. The scientific method involves identifying a phenomenon to study, developing a testable research hypothesis, designing a research study, and carrying out the research study. Only after applying this method to a problem and conducting careful research will a social psychologist be satisfied with an explanation.
5. What is experimental research, and how is it used?
Experimental research is used to uncover causal relationships between variables. Its main features are (1) the manipulation of an independent variable and the observation of the effects of this manipulation on a dependent variable, (2) the use of two or more initially comparable groups, and (3) exercising control over extraneous and confounding variables. Every experiment includes at least one independent variable with at least two levels. In the simplest experiment, one group of participants (the experimental group) is exposed to an experimental treatment and a second group (the control group) is not. Researchers then compare the behavior of participants in the experimental group with the behavior of participants in the control group. Independent variables can be manipulated by varying their quantity or quality. Researchers use random assignment to ensure that the groups in an experiment are comparable before applying any treatment to them. The basic experiment can be expanded by adding additional levels of an independent variable or by adding a second or third independent variable. Experiments that include more than one independent variable are known as factorial experiments.
6. What is correlational research?
In correlational research, researchers measure two or more variables and look for a relationship between them. When two variables both change in the same direction, increasing or decreasing in value, they are positively correlated. When they change in opposite directions, one increasing and the other decreasing, they are negatively correlated. When one variable does not change systematically with the other, they are uncorrelated. Even if a correlation is found, a causal relationship cannot be inferred.
7. What is the correlation coefficient, and what does it tell you? Researchers evaluate correlational relationships between variables with a statistic called the correlation coefficient (symbolized as r). The sign of r (positive or negative) indicates the direction of the relationship between variables; the size of r (ranging from 1 through 0 to 1) indicates the strength of the relationship between variables.
8. Where is social psychological research conducted?
Social psychologists conduct research either in the laboratory or in the field. In laboratory research, researchers create an artificial environment in which they can control extraneous variables. This tight control allows the researchers to be reasonably confident that any variation observed in the dependent variable was caused by manipulation of the independent variable. However, results obtained this way sometimes cannot be legitimately generalized beyond the laboratory setting. There are several kinds of field research. In the field study, the researcher observes participants but does not interact with them. In the field survey, the researcher has direct contact with participants and interacts with them. Both of these techniques allow the researcher to describe behavior, but causes cannot be uncovered. In the field experiment, the researcher manipulates an independent variable in the participant’s natural environment. The field experiment increases the generality of the research findings. However, extraneous variables may cloud the causal relationship between the independent and dependent variables.
9. What is the role of theory in social psychology?
A theory is a set of interrelated statements of propositions about the causes of a phenomenon that help organize research results, make predictions about how certain variables influence social behavior, and give direction to future research. A theory is not the final word on the causes of a social behavior. Theories are developed, revised, and sometimes abandoned according to how well they fit with research results. Theories do not tell us how things are in an absolute sense. Instead, they help us understand social behavior by providing a particular perspective. Often, more than one theory can apply to a particular social behavior. Sometimes one theory provides a better explanation of one aspect of a particular social behavior and another theory provides a better explanation of another aspect of that same behavior. Some research, called basic repredictions made by theories. Applied research is conducted to study a real-wold phenomenon (e.g., jury decisions). Basic and applied research are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Some basic research has applied implications, and some applied research has theoretical implications.
10. What can we learn from social psychological research?
Two common criticisms of social psychological research are that social psychologists study things that are intuitively obvious and that because exceptions to research results can nearly always be found, many results must be wrong. However, these two criticisms are not valid. The findings of social psychological research may appear to be intuitively obvious in hindsight (the hindsight bias), but individuals cannot predict how an experiment will come out if they don’t already know the results. Furthermore, exceptions to a research finding do not invalidate that finding. Social psychologists study groups of individuals. Within a group, variation in behavior will occur. Social psychologists look at average differences between groups.
11. What ethical standards must social psychologists follow when conducting research?
Social psychologists are concerned with the ethics of research — how participants are treated within a study and how they are affected in the long term by participating. Social psychologists adhere to the code of research ethics established by the American Psychological Association. Ethical treatment of participants involves several key aspects, including informed consent (informing participants about the nature of a study and requirements for participation prior to participation), protecting participants from short-term and long-term harm, and ensuring anonymity
0 Comments