The Self in the Social World - Handouts - Social Psychology, Summaries of Social Psychology

Download The Self in the Social World - Handouts - Social Psychology and more Summaries Social Psychology in PDF only on Docsity! Ch 1: Intro to Social Psych – Definition of Soc Psy? – Importance of context – Example from 1984 Pres. Debate – what were results of the study on perceptions of Reagan based on reactions of the audience? – How does social psych overlap and differ from other, related fields? – Clinical, personality psych? Sociology? – Use of the scientific method in social psych research – what are hypotheses and theories? – Values can influence our research - – Our theories developed in the US may not always apply (example from Ethan Watters’ ‘Crazy Like Us’ video shown in class – PTSD in other cultures) – Research Methods: – Research varies based on Method: – Correlational – examines whether 2 variables are naturally associated w/each other – Cannot make cause-effect conclusions – Experimental – manipulate 1 variable to see effect on 2nd variable – 2 distinguishing factors of experiments: – 1) researcher controls & manipulates – 2) random assignment to groups is used – Sampling issues in research – Goal: sample should be similar to larger population – Random sampling – everyone in population has equal chance of being selected into the sample – How is this done? – Random assignment to groups – each person has equal chance of being in any condition/group – Allows us to eliminate other explanations for group differences besides what was manipulated – Experiment example – Schneider et al. (harassment & heart rate) – Distinguish between Independent Variables (IV) and Dependent Variables (DV) – IV = what is manipulated (examples?) – DV = observed to determine impact of IV (examples?) – Concerns about External Validity – will the results of the study generalize to the larger population? – Depends on mundane realism and experimental realism (know definitions) docsity.com – Ethics in research – Types of deception used in experiments (false purpose, false feedback, confederate/actor) – Use of Institutional Review Board (IRB) to protect participants Chapter 2: The Self in the Social World  What are self-concepts and self-schemas? o Mirror test and self-recognition – when do humans/apes develop recognition of themselves as separate beings? • Sources of self-concept development: o Roles – what is self-perception theory? o Social Comparisons – when do we use these? Who do we choose to compare ourselves to? o Culture and Self-concept:  Individualism (I) vs. Collectivism (C) – how do people define themselves? Examples of different cultures/regions?  Markus’ research on effects on groups – o I vs. C use of downward comparisons o C interactions within teams / taking credit • Self-Knowledge o We aren’t very good at predicting our feelings/behavior  Affective forecasting (what is it?) Examples of harassment studies, relationship survival/satisfaction…  Leads to impact bias (what is it?) – more likely for positive or negative events?  Dan Gilbert’s research on affective forecasting and the psychological immune system  Lottery winners & paraplegics  Differences between synthetic happiness and natural happiness? • Self-Esteem – overall positive and negative self-evaluations o What purposes does it serve? Social connection, reduces anxiety (terror management theory) o Too much self-esteem?  2 dimensions of high SE – valuing individual achievement + relationships w/others  How do narcissists differ? o Contributors to self-esteem? Self-discrepancy theory (actual vs. ideal)  Self monitoring may influence this – adapting to others’ perceptions of us • Self-regulation and self-control o Baumeister’s research – self-control as a limited resource that can be depleted and requires strength  How can we re-energize our self-control? • Self-Serving Bias – tendency to perceive oneself favorably o Success vs. Failures (what are each attributed to?) docsity.com