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TRANSCRIPT
Research Methods in Social Psychology
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Quiz
1. People in a sad mood are less likely to help others than are people in a neutral mood.
Quiz
2. If 10 people are all telling you the same thing you are more likely to conform publicly to their opinion than if just 5 people are telling you the same thing.
Quiz
3. The greater the cohesiveness or solidarity of a group, the better its decisions will be.
Quiz
4. Physically attractive people are usually seen as less intelligent than physically unattractive people.
Quiz
5. Promising and delivering rewards to people for doing an enjoyable activity should, in the long run, make them enjoy the activity even more.
Is Common Sense Enough?
“Day after day, social scientists go out into the world. Day after day, they discover that people’s behavior is pretty much what you’d expect.” Cullen Murphy (editor, Atlantic
Monthly)
Why bother with “Science”?
Hindsight Bias “I knew it all along!”
It’s all just common sense…
Opposites attract
The pen is mightier than the swordYou can’t teach an old dog new tricksForewarned is forearmedAbsence makes the heart grow fonder
Birds of a feather flock togetherActions speak louder than wordsYou’re never too old to learnLook before you leapOut of sight, out of mind
Bias in Research
As scientists, we aim to be objective seekers of knowledge.Even scientists are human.Important to understand research methods to be able to evaluate research
So How do we Study Social Psychology?
1. Correlational Research
2. Experimental Research
Testing Theories and Hypotheses
Theory: Color of clothing can influence aggression levels
Correlational Research
Goal: Understand how variables are associated with one another
Hypothesis: There will be a positive correlation between the
number of times people wear black clothes and their
aggression level
Correlational Research
Ask participants how often they have worn black and ask how aggressive they feel
Positive Correlation
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10
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50 60 70 80
Number of times wear black in 1 year
Aggre
ssio
n
Correlational Research
Ask participants how often they wear black and ask how kind they feel
Negative Correlation
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50 60 70 80
Number of times worn black in 1 year
Kin
d
Correlational Research
Ask participants how often they wear black and how much they like Pina Coladas
No Correlation
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50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85
Number of times worn black in 1 year
Pin
a C
ola
das
Correlation: A Tasty Example
Ice cream sales are positively correlated with murder rates.
Correlational Research
IRON LAW of CORRELATION:
CORRELATION DOES NOT EQUAL CAUSATION!!!
A -> B B -> A C -> A and B
Activity
Heat
Experimental Research
2 key features: Control
Manipulation of independent variable
All other variables kept constant Random assignment of
representative sample of participants
Experimental Research
Hypothesis: People wearing black will be more aggressive than people wearing white
Experiment: Randomly assign
participants to wear Black or White Shirts
Measure aggression by measuring how hard they hit a punching bag
Experimental Research
Independent Variable: shirt condition
Experimental Research
Random Assignment: people have equal chance of being assigned to either shirt condition
Heads you wear Black; Tails you wear White
Experimental Research
Dependent Variable: how hard they hit punching bag
Experimental Research
Example: How might we make an experiment that assesses the effect of temperature on hunger? IV? DV?
Operational Definitions are Important!
Some constructs are easier to define than othersWhat does it mean “to wear black clothes”?What do we mean by “aggression”?
Validity
Construct
Number of hits
Aggression
Measure of construct
How much does our measure… measure our construct?
Validity
nu
mb
er
of h
its
Aggression
What we are measuringError What we aren’t measuring
Reliability
Consistency in resultsAcross items
“How aggressive are you?” “How violent are you?” “How much do you want to hurt me?”
Across time Answer today the same as answer tomorrow?
Evaluating Research
Validity – how close to the bullseye?
Evaluating Research
Validity – how close to the bullseye?
Evaluating Research
Reliability – hitting the same spot
Evaluating Research
Reliability – hitting the same spot
Experimental Research – Interpreting Results
Dating Study
Smoking Hot! Average
Kind
Rude
Date? Date?
Date? Date?
Experimental Research – Interpreting Results
05
101520253035404550
Hot Average
KindRude
Likelihood to Date(Higher Scores = Greater Likelihood)
Interaction: when the effect of one IV on the DV, dependson the value (or level) of the other IV
Experimental Research – Interpreting Results
0
5
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Hot Average
KindRude
Likelihood to Date(Higher Scores = Greater Likelihood)
Main Effect: when an IV has an effect of similar magnitudeand direction across levels of the other IV
Experimental Research – Interpreting Results
05
101520253035404550
Hot Average
KindRude
Likelihood to Date(Higher Scores = Greater Likelihood)
Experimental Research – Interpreting Results
0
5
10
15
20
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Hot Average
KindRude
Likelihood to Date(Higher Scores = Greater Likelihood)