Social Psychology as Social Psychology as ScienceScience

A couple of concepts…

…that make research especially important

Hindsight biasHindsight bias This is the tendency to overestimate our This is the tendency to overestimate our

ability to predict events, once we know ability to predict events, once we know the outcomethe outcome

Everyone is susceptible to this biasEveryone is susceptible to this bias

““I just KNEW the Mariners would lose a I just KNEW the Mariners would lose a hundred games!” hundred games!”

Confirmation BiasConfirmation Bias A tendency to search for, and A tendency to search for, and

see, information that confirms see, information that confirms one’s preconceptions.one’s preconceptions.

““I’ve been noticing that students I’ve been noticing that students seem a lot more stressed out seem a lot more stressed out these days because of the these days because of the economy.”economy.”

The Scientific MethodThe Scientific Method

Wonder whyWonder why Formulate hypothesisFormulate hypothesis Test hypothesisTest hypothesis Draw conclusionsDraw conclusions Report resultsReport results

Primary Concerns with ResearchPrimary Concerns with Research

Are the data reliable?Are the data reliable?Are the data valid?Are the data valid?

Aronson uses “experimental Aronson uses “experimental realism” and “mundane realism”realism” and “mundane realism”

Ethics of the experiment Ethics of the experiment • Effects on subjectEffects on subject• Use of resultsUse of results

Experimental Design:What is involved?

Independent Variable Dependent Variable Control Group Experimental Group Random Selection Random Assignment

Experimental DesignExperimental Design StrengthsStrengths

Only way to determine cause and effect.Only way to determine cause and effect. WeaknessesWeaknesses

Validity – Validity – Ethical considerationsEthical considerations PracticalityPracticality

Why the only way to determine causation? Why the only way to determine causation? Random assignmentRandom assignment Control of variablesControl of variables

Most famous Social Psych Most famous Social Psych ExperimentsExperiments

MilgramMilgramZimbardoZimbardo

An Example

Your observation: that human service professionals care very

much about client well being, but tend not to be very politically active on issues that affect their clients.

Hypothesize Hmmmm....

they're so busy, they don't have time to learn about the issues or call/email legislators

they don't know who to contact or how to contact them they don't think their input matters etc. "When people are given a concise and easy to

understand explanation of the issue and what they can do, they will take action to influence politics."

Test your hypothesis

Two groups:  Experimental group gets an email with concise talking points, specific request and contact info.  The control group gets an email with just the request.

How are subjects selected and assigned to groups?  What if people volunteer to participate and then are randomly assigned?  What if Sound Mental Health provides the researchers with email of all staff and then fifty of those are randomly selected and then randomly assigned to one of the groups?  What if all the staff at the Tukwila clinic are assigned to the experimental group while the Capitol Hill staff are assigned to the control group?

Draw conclusions

Statistical analysis Probability of results due to chance

.01 .05

In other words, how likely is it that the results are due to chance.

Report Results

Scholarly/peer reviewed journals

Design an experiment! Design an experiment!

Wonder why – what do you want to Wonder why – what do you want to know?know?

Formulate hypothesis – specific Formulate hypothesis – specific question?question?

Test hypothesisTest hypothesis Draw conclusionsDraw conclusions Ethical considerationsEthical considerations

Report Back

What did you wonder about?What did you wonder about? What is your hypothesis?What is your hypothesis? How would you test it?How would you test it? What difficulties did you encounter in What difficulties did you encounter in

planning the research?planning the research?