Key Terms
| Term | Definition |
| Social Psychology | The scientific study of the feelings, thoughts & behaviours of individuals in social situations |
| Personality Psychology | The study of consistent patterns in how people think, feel, and act across situations. What traits make us unique and stay stable over time? |
| Individual Differences | Traits, behaviours & characteristics distinguishing one person from another |
| The Power of the Situation | The idea the social contexts & environments can strongly influence people’s actions, even to the point of overriding personal traits/ intentions |
| Replication | Using the same method to repeat a study to see if the original results can be reproduced |
| Replication Crisis | Many studies cannot be replicated, calling into question the reliability of published studies |
| Type 1 error (false positive) | Incorrectly concluding that an effect exists when it doesn’t |
| Type 2 error (false negative) | Failing to detect a real effect that exists |
| Preregistration | Publicly recording a study’s hypotheses & methods before data collection for transparency |
| Research transparency | Openly sharing data, materials and methods so other people can replicate your research |
Social vs Personality Psychology
Social psychology
Scientific study of how people’s thoughts, feelings & behaviours are shaped by the presence, actions & expectations of others
Areas of study:
- Decision making
- conformity
- Group dynamics
- Social perception
Personality Psychology
Scientific study of individual differences (traits, motivations, behavioural patterns).
Wants to understand why people’s actions stay consistent across different situations
Areas of study:
- Extroversion
- Conscientiousness
- Emotional stability
Differences
Social = emphasises influence of external situations
Personality = emphasises internal traits
Similarities
- Both study how people think & feel
- Most journals draw from both perspectives
- Research regularly integrates both to capture the complexity of human behaviour
Common Sense Vs Science
What is common sense?
- Built on personal experience, cultural beliefs, intuition for explanations
- Highly subject to bias
- Pushes stereotypes
- Hindsight bias = we believe we knew the outcome of an event all along after it’s been revealed to us
- Theories are non-falsifiable
What is scientific enquiry?
- Uses systematic observation, experimentation, critical analysis to test ideas and form explanations
- Psychologists design studies
- Variables are isolated
- Tests are verified through replication
- Theories can be tested & challenged (falsifiable)
Scientific self correcting process:
theory –> hypothesis –> observation –> create/ modify theory
Why is research important in psychology?
Research helps us to:
- Avoid bias & error
- Build reliable knowledge
- Develop professional skills
- Become more discerning in consuming scientific info
Replication Crisis & Critical Thinking
What is replication?
Repeating a study using the same procedures to see if you can get the original results.
Repetition increases confidence that the result isn’t due to random variation/ error.
It’s an important self-correcting feature of science. This protects the quality of findings and published results.
Why do replications fail?
| Reason | Explanation |
| Methodological differences | Small changes in procedures, samples, materials leading to different results |
| Statistical Flukes | Original findings were actually due to chance. Type 1 errors. |
| Researcher Misconduct | The original study was conducted using unethical methods and can’t be recreated |
| Publication Bias | Journals preferring to publish to exciting results, leading to an overrepresentation of unreliable studies. |
Consequences & Responses to Replication Crisis
- Declining trust in science
- Waste of resources & slowed progress
- Improved Research Practices
Critically Analysing Research
| Step | Description |
| Identifying Biases | Be on the lookout for bias and be aware of your own |
| Assessing Methodological Rigor | Examine the study design, sample size, procedures. Are they appropriate for the research question? |
| Interpreting Results | See if the conclusions drawn from the experiment are actually supported by the data. |
| Generalising Findings | Can the study’s results be applied to other contexts and populations? How representative was the sample used? |
The Psychological Research Process
Where do research questions come from?
| Theory- Driven | Questions come from established theories |
| Curiosity – Driven | Seeking to uncover surprising/ counterintuitive findings out of simple curiosity |
| Technique – Driven | Aiming to refine methods/ tools. |
Steps of the research process
- Formulate research question
- Generate hypotheses
- Operationalise variables
- Design the study
- Collect data
- Analyse data
- Draw conclusions
- Review process
Methods of data collection
| Quantitative methods | Structured techniques to produce numerical data which is analysed statistically. e.g surveys, physiological measurements |
| Qualitative methods | Techniques to capture detailed, context-rich information about experiences & perspectives. eg. interviews, focus groups |
| Mixed methods | A combination of quantitative & qualitative techniques eg. Surveys followed up b =y interviews |
