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Social Psychology
11th Edition Learning Objectives
2.1 Describe how researchers develop hypotheses and
theories.
2.2 Compare the strengths and weaknesses of various
Chapter 2 research designs that social psychologists use.
Methodology: How Social 2.3 Explain the impact cross-cultural studies and social
Psychologists Do Research neuroscience research have on the way in which
scientists investigate social behavior.
2.4 Summarize how social psychologists ensure the
safety and welfare of their research participants, while
at the same time testing hypotheses about the causes
of social behavior.

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Learning Objective: 2.1 Formulating Hypotheses and Theories

Describe how researchers develop hypotheses and • Inspiration from previous theories and research
theories.
–Develop theories
–Derive hypotheses from theories
–Test hypotheses
▪Based on the results, revise theory
▪Formulate and test new hypotheses
• Observations of everyday life
–Construct a theory about why a phenomenon
occurred and design a study to test hypotheses

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Learning Objective: 2.2 Research Designs

Compare the strengths and weaknesses of various • Three types of methods:

research designs that social psychologists use.
–The observational method
–The correlational method
–The experimental method

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Table 2.1: A Summary of Research Methods The Observational Method

• The observational method

Method Focus Question Answered
–The technique whereby a researcher observes
Observational Description What is the nature of people and systematically records measurements
the phenomenon? or impressions of their behavior
Correlational Prediction From knowing X, can
–Answers the question, “What is the nature of the
we predict Y?
phenomenon?”
Experimental Causality Is variable X a cause
of variable Y?

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The Observational Method: The Observational Method:

Ethnography Archival Analysis
• Ethnography • Archival analysis
–Researchers attempt to understand a group or –Researchers examine the accumulated documents
culture by observing it from the inside, without (archives) of a culture (e.g., diaries, novels,
imposing any preconceived notions movies, magazines, newspapers, and social
–To test a specific hypothesis: media)

▪Behaviors are concretely defined before the

observation begins.
▪Observer systematically looks for and records
behaviors.
▪Accuracy of observer is assessed.

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Researching Moods Through Twitter Limits of the Observational Method

• Researchers use archival analyses to test
psychological hypotheses. One study, for example, • Certain behaviors difficult to observe
analyzed millions of tweets to see how people’s
–May occur only rarely
moods varied over the course of a day.
–May occur only in private
• Limited to description
–Does not allow prediction or explanation
Kaspars Grinvalds/Shutterstock

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The Correlational Method The Correlation Coefficient

• The correlational method • The correlation coefficient

–The technique whereby two variables are –A statistic that assesses how well you can predict
systematically measured and the relationship one variable from another
between them (i.e., how much one can be
–Ranges from –1 to +1
predicted from the other) is assessed
▪If +1, perfectly correlated in a positive direction
–Answers the question, “From knowing X, can we
predict Y?” ▪If 0, not correlated
▪If –1, perfectly correlated in a negative direction

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Positive Correlation Negative Correlation

• Increases in the value of one variable are associated • Increases in the value of one variable are associated
with increases in the value of the other variable. with decreases in the value of the other.
–Example: positive correlation between people’s –Example: negative correlation between vaccination
height and weight rate and disease rate
▪Taller people tend to weigh more ▪More vaccinations, less disease

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Figure 2.1: Types of Correlations Surveys

• Surveys
–Research in which a representative sample of
people are asked questions about their attitudes or
behavior
–Most often used by social psychologists who
conduct correlational research
The diagrams show three possible correlations in a hypothetical study of watching
violence on television and aggressive behavior in children.
• The diagram at the left shows a strong positive correlation: The more television
children watched, the more aggressive they were.
• The diagram in the middle shows no correlation: The amount of television children
watched is not related to how aggressive they were.
• The diagram at the right shows a strong negative correlation: The more television
children watched, the less aggressive they were.

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Surveys: Advantages Surveys: Disadvantages

• Advantages • Disadvantages
–Can investigate variables that are difficult to –Sampling errors
observe
▪People less likely to answer calls from pollsters
–Can sample representative segments of the –Inaccuracy of responses
population
▪When asking people to predict how they might
▪Random selection is a way of ensuring that a
behave in some hypothetical situation or to
sample of people is representative of a
explain why they behaved as they did in the
population by giving everyone in the population past
an equal chance of being selected for the
sample.

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Limits of the Correlational Method Correlation and Causation

• Correlation does not equal causation! • There are three possible causal relationships when a
correlation is found (e.g., the amount of violent television
–Tells us only that two variables are related
children watch and how aggressive they are):
• Social psychology’s goal
–Watching TV violence causes children to become
–To identify the causes of social behavior more violent themselves.
–To be able to say that A causes B, not just that A is –Children who are violent to begin with are more likely
correlated with B to watch violent TV.
–Both TV watching and violent behavior could be
caused by a third variable, such as having neglectful
parents who do not pay much attention to their kids.

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Correlation Doesn’t Equal Causation The Experimental Method

• The experimental method

–The method in which the researcher randomly
assigns participants to different conditions and
ensures that these conditions are identical except
for the independent variable (the one thought to
have a causal effect on people’s responses)
–Answers the question, “Is variable X a cause of
variable Y?”
–The only way to determine causal relationships

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Independent Variable Dependent Variable

• Independent variable • Dependent variable

–The variable a researcher changes or varies to see –The variable a researcher measures to see if it is
if it has a causal effect on some other variable influenced by the independent variable
▪Example: the number of people who witnessed ▪Example: whether people help in an emergency
an emergency

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Figure 2.2: Latané and Darley (1968) Using the Experimental Method

Researchers vary the independent variable (e.g., the number of bystanders

people think are present) and observe what effect that has on the dependent
variable (e.g., whether people help).

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Internal Validity in Experiments Maintaining High Internal Validity

• Internal validity • To maintain high internal validity:

–Keeping everything except for the independent –Control all extraneous variables
variable the same in an experiment
–Randomly assign people to different experimental
–Helps assure that nothing besides the independent conditions
variable can affect the dependent variable

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Random Assignment to Condition Limits of the Experimental Method

• Random assignment to condition • Controlled situations can be:

–The technique that allows experimenters to –Artificial
minimize differences among participants as the
–Distant from real life
cause of a study’s results
▪Ensures that all participants have an equal
chance of taking part in any condition of an
experiment
▪Ensures that differences in the participants’
personalities or backgrounds are distributed
evenly across conditions

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External Validity in Experiments Two Kinds of Generalizability

• External validity • Generalizability across situations

–The extent to which the results of a study can be –The extent to which we can generalize from the
generalized to other situations and other people experimental situation to real-life situations
• Generalizability across people
–The extent to which we can generalize from the
people who participated in the experiment to
people in general

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Generalizing Outside the Laboratory Generalizability Across Situations

• A good deal of social psychological research takes
place in laboratory settings. How do social • Psychological realism
psychologists generalize from the findings of these
studies to life outside the laboratory? –The extent to which the psychological processes
triggered in an experiment are similar to those that
occur in real life
• Cover story
–A description of the purpose of a study, given to
Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock

participants, that is different from its true purpose

–Used to maintain psychological realism

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Generalizability Across People Increasing External Validity

• Random selection of participants from population • Field experiments

–Impractical and expensive for most social –Experiments conducted in natural settings rather
psychology experiments than in the laboratory
–Address by studying basic psychological • Advantages
processes that make people susceptible to social
–Participants unaware that they are in an
influence, assuming that these processes are so experiment
fundamental that they are universally shared
–Participants more diverse than a typical college-
student sample

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Laboratory vs. Real-Life Settings Trade-Off Between Internal and

External Validity
• Some experiments are done in a psychology
laboratory, whereas others are done in real-life • The trade-off between internal and external validity
settings. What are the advantages and disadvantages
of each approach? –The basic dilemma of the social psychologist
(Aronson & Carlsmith, 1968)
–Difficult to do one experiment that is both high in
internal validity and generalizable to other
Justin Kase zninez/Alamy Stock Photo

situations and people

–Address by not trying to do it all in a single
experiment

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Tests of Validity Learning Objective: 2.3

• Replications Explain the impact cross-cultural studies and social

neuroscience research have on the way in which
–Repeating a study, often with different subject
populations or in different settings scientists investigate social behavior.

–Test of external validity

• Meta-analysis
–A statistical technique that averages the results of
two or more studies to see if the effect of an
independent variable is reliable
–Test of internal validity

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Cross-Cultural Research Issues in Cross-Cultural Research

• Cross-cultural research is conducted to see: • Researchers have to:

–Whether the psychological processes of interest –Guard against imposing their own viewpoints and
are present in both cultures or definitions onto an unfamiliar culture
–Whether they are specific to the culture in which –Ensure that independent and dependent variables
people were raised are understood in the same way in different
cultures

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Social Neuroscience Studying the Brain

• Social psychologists use technologies such as EEG
• To study the brain and its relation to behavior, and fMRI to take measurements while participants
psychologists use sophisticated technologies such as: think about and process social information, allowing
them to correlate different kinds of brain activity with
–Electroencephalography (EEG), in which
social-information processing.
electrodes are placed on the scalp to measure
electrical activity in the brain
–Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), in
which people are placed in scanners that measure

Mark Harmel/Science
changes in blood flow in their brains

Source
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Learning Objective: 2.4 Ethical Dilemma: Goals in Conflict

Summarize how social psychologists ensure the safety • Two goals sometimes in conflict:
and welfare of their research participants, while at the
–Create experiments that resemble the real world as
same time testing hypotheses about the causes of much as possible and are well controlled
social behavior.
–Avoid causing participants stress, discomfort, or
unpleasantness

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Informed Consent Deception and Debriefing

• Informed consent • Deception

–Agreement to participate in an experiment, granted –Misleading participants about the true purpose of a
in full awareness of the nature of the experiment, study or the events that will actually transpire
which has been explained in advance
–Used only if it is the only way to test a hypothesis
–Not always feasible
–People don’t object to mild discomfort and
deception
• Debriefing
–Explaining to participants, at the end of an
experiment, the true purpose of the study and
exactly what transpired

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