1. The Science of Social Psychology2
The Science of Social Psychology

2. How Can Research Methods Impact You Every Day?
Research assists with critical evaluation of information
Accurate evaluation assists with making choices
People often misjudge the outcomes of their actions.
Research allows subjective, rather than objective, analysis

3. Advertisements for Temporary Price Cuts

4. How Can Research Methods Impact You Every Day?
People often make mistakes when estimating odds or value
Such estimates are based on past experiences
Advertisements can influence assessments
We underestimate current gains and overestimate future value
These mistakes are due to subjective biases

5. Common Sense Does Not Hold True
Not all research affirms widely known facts
Intuition is valuable, but also risky in research

6. Using Research in Your Own Life
Hindsight Bias – "I knew that was going to happen!"
False Consensus Effect – "Everyone thinks the way that I do!"

7. How do Social Psychologists Find the Truth?
Research is a process of gathering evidence in specific ways

8. Steps in the Research Process
Theory – a general framework that allows us to make and test predictions
Step 1 – craft a research question
Step 2 – examine existing literature for answers

9. Steps in the Research Process (continued)
Step 3 – form a testable hypothesis
An hypothesis is an educated guess about the answer to your question
An operational definition identifies the specific variable to be examined
Take care of validity and reliability in your study

10. Steps in the Research Process (continued)
Step 4 – select the best method to explore your research question
Step 5 – conduct the research and analyze data
Step 6 – Draw Conclusion

11. Steps in the Research Process (continued)
Step 7 – Publish findings
This allows for peer review
This allows for replication

12. Steps in the Research Process (continued)
These are the primary steps in the scientific method
If these steps are followed, then the findings can be useful
If these steps are ignored, the findings may be of little or no value

13. Why Publish?
Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons in 1989 that they had produced cold fusion in a 1989 research
The reported results received wide media attention and raised hopes of a cheap and abundant source of energy
Many scientists immediately tried to replicate the experiment without success
Eventually error in the original experiment was established

14. What can Descriptive Methods Show Us?
What is the current status of a population?
What is the current status of a phenomenon?
Who, what, when, where, and how?

15. Observation Can occur in a natural setting or controlled environment
Albert Bandura (1977) Social Learning
Laboratory based observational research was employed

16. Observation (continued)
Naturalistic observation
Watching behavior in a real-world setting
It is sometimes best to observe people in their natural environment
Focuses on both people and environments

17. Correlations
Exploring the relationship between two variables without inferring cause-and-effect

18. Limitations and Advantages of Correlation
Demonstrates a relationship between two variables
Cannot be used to demonstrate causation
Third variable – an outside factor can create the illusion of a relationship between two factors

19. Limitations and Advantages of Correlation (continued)
Matched samples design – helps reduce third variable problem
Some variables that are correlated do have a causal relationship, but correlation alone cannot demonstrate this

20. Positive Correlation
As one variable goes up, so does the other

21. Negative Correlation
As one variable goes up, the other goes down

22. No Correlation
No discernable relationship between two variables

23. Types of Correlations

24. Self-Report and Survey Measures
Asking participants to describe their behaviors or mental statuses

25. Archival Studies
Gathering information from existing records

26. What do Experimental Methods Have to Say?
Experiments attempt to control factors that can affect results
Allows for cause-and-effect conclusions
Experiments always include three components:
Independent variable(s)
Dependent variable(s)
Random assignment to groups

27. What do Experimental Methods Have to Say? (continued)
External validity
Do results generalize to a larger population?
Internal validity
Can cause-and-effect conclusions be relied upon?
Generally as one increases, the other decreases

28. Independent and Dependent Variables
Independent variable (IV)
That condition that is controlled/altered by the researcher
Dependent variable (DV)
That condition that is measured by the researcher
Experiments ask if the IV has an impact on the DV, and if so what is that impact?

29. Independent and Dependent Variables (continued)
Experimental group
The participants who receive the main treatment or manipulation
Control group
The group that does not receive the main treatment and can be used for comparison
Without both groups, there is no way to be certain of the relationship between an IV and a DV

30. Random Assignment
All participants have an equal chance of being in an experimental or control group
Is required to allow cause-and-effect conclusions
Research without random assignment cannot be considered experimental

31. Experiment Examples Scientific Cause to Effect
Non-scientific Cause to Effect
Non-scientific Effect to Cause

32. Confounds Anything other than the IV that affects the DV is a confound
Impairs the ability to determine a relationship between an IV and a DV

33. Participant Bias Do participants have assumptions about the research?
If these assumptions impact their behavior, participant bias can skew results
The placebo effect
when the belief that a treatment will be effective causes it to be effective

34. Participant Bias (continued)
Experimenter bias – researchers’ expectations can skew results
Single-blind or double-blind studies
The participant and/or researcher don’t know which participant is in which subject group
Helps eliminate participant and experimenter biases

35. A Placebo Effect

36. Ethics
Deception – giving participants false information about the study
Debriefing – telling participants the true nature of the study after their involvement is over
APA Ethical Guidelines
Beneficence
Autonomy
Justice

37. Ethics Institutional Review Board (IRB) Informed consent
Evaluates potential research to ensure ethical treatment of participants
Informed consent
Participants are given as much information about the research as possible
This allows them to participate without taking unnecessary risks

38. Emile Durkheim and Suicide
Egoistic Suicide
Low social integration
Low social integration means that an individual is not influenced by a collective conscience
Altruistic Suicide
Extremely high social intigration
The Individual is literally forced to commit suicide by virtue of the collective conscience

39. Emile Durkheim and Suicide
Anomic Suicide
Low social regulation
This occurs when the regulative powers of society are disrupted resulting in normlessness
Fatalistic Suicide
Extremely high social regulation
This occurs when social regulation is so repressive all hope is lost