Exam 1: Theories and Methods in Social Psychology

In the last 20 years, social psychologists have improved the representativeness of their research samples in which of the following ways?

Travis conducts a study in which half the participants listen to a speech about immigration policy from a credible communicator and the other half hears the same speech from a less credible source. The participants then indicate their attitudes about immigration. The audience's attitudes are the

Describe the three major theoretical perspectives that are the historical roots of social psychology. Name at least one proponent of each theory.

________ research allows researchers to study problems when intervention is impossible.

Studies of the effects of television violence on aggressive behavior have been conducted both in the laboratory and in the field. Describe both types of research settings and identify the advantages of each. Be sure to include a discussion of both internal and external validity.

Demand characteristics are

The decisions we make always follow procedures suggested by the rational decision-making theories.

The belief that adult behavior can be traced to unresolved psychological conflicts from one's childhood is a hallmark of

Which name is most associated with the theory of behaviorism?

Association and reinforcement are basic principles of motivational theories in social psychology.

Rebecca and her boyfriend disagree about how to spend their free time, how to spend money, who their friends are, and many other issues. As a result, Rebecca decides to end the relationship. How would a learning theorist, a decision-making theorist, and an interdependence theorist analyze this situation? What factors would each attend to, and what explanations might they offer for Rebecca's behavior?

Explain the basic principles of expectancy-value theory and discuss its accuracy in describing people's actual decision making.

Which factor would a social psychologist emphasize in explaining why a person commits a violent crime?

A random sample means that

In a(n) ________ study, the researcher randomly assigns participants to one of two or more conditions that differ from one another in well-specified ways.

The frustration-aggression hypothesis is a good example of a middle-range theory.

Briefly describe meta-analysis and explain its usefulness to social psychologists.

Alana is thrown out of a basketball game because of her aggressive behavior. Which type of theorist would explain her behavior as a result of powerful inborn impulses or drives?

A researcher decides to measure racial prejudice in his study by the ratings that research participants provide of a minority job candidate's qualifications. These ratings are the ________ definition of prejudice.

An operational definition is the specific procedure that is used to manipulate or measure a variable in an experiment.