Social Psychology as a Science

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Social Psychology as a Science
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What is Social Psychology?

• The study of how individuals thoughts, feelings,
  and behaviors are influenced by other people.
• interaction of the person and the situation
• Lewins formula b f (p,e)

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What Makes Social Psychology Unique?

• issues are addressed in numerous fields
• philosophy
• theology
• literature
• anthropology
• sociology
• economics

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What Makes Social Psychology Unique?

• level of cause and effect
• groups and/or individuals affect the individual

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What Makes Social Psychology Unique?

• level of cause and effect
• recall Allports (1954) definition
• Social psychology involves the use of scientific
  methods to explore the ways in which a persons
  thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced
  by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of
  others.

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Ways of Knowing

• epistemology the basis of knowledge -- concerned
  with the nature, origins, and limits of knowledge

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Ways of Knowing

• two general epistemologies
• 1. rationalism assumes that source of knowledge
  is logical thinking and reasoning ability
• does not ignore the importance of experience
• truth is logical, plausible, and believable

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Ways of Knowing

• two general epistemologies
• 1. rationalism
• 2. empiricism assumes that the source of
  knowledge is our experiences and observations of
  the events of the world
• does not ignore the need for logic and reason
• truth is found in that which is observable and
  measurable

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Ways of Knowing

• two general epistemologies
• 1. rationalism
• 2. empiricism
• science seeks empirical knowledge
• psychology relies almost exclusively on empirical
  methods (e.g., observation, experimentation)

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What is Science?

• science is both a goal and a method

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What is Science?

• science is both a goal and a method
• an attempt to find governing principles that
  underlie phenomena
• What do things work the way they do?
• Why do people do the things they do?

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What is Science?

• science is both a goal and a method
• an attempt to find governing principles that
  underlie phenomena
• pursue knowledge of the governing principles via
  observation

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What is Science?

• Is science value free?
• methods (e.g., experiment vs. survey)
• choice of topics
• questions asked
• application of knowledge
• interpretation of data
• not value free

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What is Science?

• some characteristics of science
• precision and reliability
• skepticism
• thinking critically
• creative and imaginative
• TENSION creative and imaginative, yet skeptical

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Process of Science

• scientific methods attempt to deal with the
  inherent tension between creativity and
  skepticism
• science is a process of conjecture and
  refutation
• Sir Karl Popper, philosopher of science

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Process of Science

• conjecture develop potential explanations for
  phenomena
• e.g., hypotheses

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Process of Science

• conjecture develop potential explanations for
  phenomena
• refutation process of falsifying the conjectures

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Forming Hypotheses

• application as a source of hypotheses
• Stanford prison study
• Lewins organ-meat study

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Forming Hypotheses

• theory as a source of hypotheses
• a set of general propositions describing the
  causal relationships amongst different constructs

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Theory

• a set of general propositions describing the
  causal relationships amongst different constructs
• statement about constructs (i.e., abstract
  concepts)
• e.g., self-esteem, stereotypes, intelligence

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Theory

• a set of general propositions describing the
  causal relationships amongst different constructs
• describes causal relationships
• insight into why events occur
• explains what causes/leads to what

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Theory

• a set of general propositions describing the
  causal relationships amongst different constructs
• statement of general propositions
• applies to many people in many circumstances
• degree of generality differs for different
  theories

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Theory

• statement about constructs
• describes causal relationships
• statement about general propositions
• precise
• make specific, clear predictions

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Theory

• statement about constructs
• describes causal relationships
• statement about general propositions
• precise
• coherent
• tells a clear story and is not self-contradictory

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Theory

• statement about constructs
• describes causal relationships
• statement about general propositions
• precise
• coherent
• parsimonious
• uses as few concepts as necessary

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Theory

• statement about constructs
• describes causal relationships
• statement about general propositions
• precise
• coherent
• parsimonious
• falsifiable
• can only be proven incorrect

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Falsifying A Theory

• disconfirming the propositions
• theoretical propositions are typically based on
  if-then statements
• If the theory is correct (antecedent), then the
  data will come out as predicted (consequent).

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Falsifying A Theory

• disconfirming the propositions
• we can only know the consequent
• the data came out as predicted
• does not mean that the antecedent is true
• If Austin is a man, then he is a mortal.
• Austin is a mortal. (affirming the consequent)
• Therefore he is a man. (concluding the antecedent
  is true)

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Falsifying A Theory

• disconfirming the propositions
• we can only disconfirm, or negate, the consequent
• The data did not come out as predicted. Thus the
  theory must not be correct.
• however
• There may be numerous reasons why the data did
  not come out as predicted.

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Falsifying A Theory

• disconfirming the propositions
• What can be done?
• science is a process
• discover limiting conditions of the theory
• all alternative explanations are not created
  equal
• but, other theories might be able to account for
  contrary evidence

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What Do Theories Do For Us?

• help us understand observations
• provide a framework to understand isolated
  facts/observations
• identify patterns, draw connections

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What Do Theories Do For Us?

• help us understand observations
• help us make predictions
• use propositions of a theory to predict the
  relations among different variables in certain
  situations

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Help Us Understand Observations
adapted from Nisbett (1993)
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Help Us Understand Observations
adapted from Nisbett (1993)
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Help Us Understand Observations
adapted from Nisbett (1993)
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What Do Theories Do For Us?

• help us understand observations
• different homicide rates for white male offenders
  across different regions of the country
• more argument-related murders in the South and
  Southwest than other regions
• no clear differences in approval of punching
  adult male, but regional differences if a drunk
  bumped into a man and his wife
• Any explanations?

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Theory Development

• Southern culture is historically linked to a
  frontier tradition of property and honor. A
  perceived threat to ones property or honor will
  likely result in an aggressive response. (Cohen
  et al., 1996 Nisbett, 1993)

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Theory Development

• Southern culture of honor as a theory
• about constructs
• honor, culture
• causal relationships
• threats to honor cause aggression
• general propositions
• not about specific honor or aggression, but
  specific to Southern white males

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Formulating Hypotheses

• hypothesis statement of the relationship that is
  expected to exist between two or more variables
• Variable 1 affects/increases/decreases Variable 2
• an explicit causal structure

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Formulating Hypotheses

• variable a characteristic that varies or changes
  across people or in the same person across time
  and place
• person variables gender, cultural upbringing
• situation variables under perceived threat

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Testing Hypotheses

• process of testing two different versions of a
  given variable
• conceptual variable abstraction used in the
  hypothesis
• aggression, love, attractiveness

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Testing Hypotheses

• process of testing two different versions of a
  given variable
• conceptual variable
• operational variable concrete, precise empirical
  definition used in testing the hypothesis
• measured or manipulated
• critical for replication
• e.g., attractiveness smiling or not smiling

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Testing Hypotheses

• operationalizing a variable
• levels of a variable (values, qualities,
  quantities)
• gender two levels (female, male)
• income too many levels
• physical aggression shoving, hitting, killing
• often dictated by the question being considered

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Testing Hypotheses

• Hypothesis Attraction increases persuasion.
• How will we measure attractiveness?
• attractive or unattractive photo
• How will we measure persuasion?
• scale items of persuasiveness, agreeing to buy
  product

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Testing Hypotheses

• In groups of 3-4 people,
• identify two social psychological variables that
  you think might be related
• formulate a hypothesis about the relationship
  (conceptual variables)
• devise a strategy to operationalize the variables
  (operational variables)
• remember to use appropriate levels of the
  variables

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Summary

• psychology relies on empirical methods
• science is a process of conjecture and
  refutation
• theories are general propositions about causal
  relationships amongst constructs
• hypotheses are conceptual statements that require
  operationalization

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Next Time

• Hypothesis Southern white males are more prone
  to aggression than are Northern white males.
• different strategies to examine hypotheses