Social Psychology Notes

Module 1: Doing Social Psychology
• What is social psychology?

• Theory vs. hypothesis

• Correlational research
◦ What information/explanations do these types of studies provide?

◦ What are their limitations?

• Experiments
◦ How do they compare to correlational studies?

◦ Independent vs. dependent variables

◦ Field vs. lab research

◦ Random Assignment

◦ Mundane vs. experimental realism

◦ APA ethical guidelines

Module 2: Did You Know It All Along?
• Hindsight bias

Module 3: Self-Concept: Who Am I?
• Self-concept

• Self-schema

• Cultural differences in sense of self (independent vs. interdependent)

• What is the best predictor of future behavior?

• Planning fallacy

• How good are we at predicting our own behaviors and feelings (e.g., affective forecasting, immune neglect)

• Dual attitudes

Module 4: Self-serving Bias
• Self-serving bias

• Self-esteem

• Better-than-average effect

• Unrealistic (illusory) optimism vs. defensive pessimism

• False consensus vs. false uniqueness

• What happens when self-esteem is threatened?

Module 5: The Power of Positive Thinking
• Self-efficacy

• Internal vs. external locus of control

• Learned helplessness (hint: know the research here)

• Cost of excess choice

• How is self-efficacy increased?

• When should children be praised?

• What is the dark side of self-esteem?

Module 6: The Fundamental Attribution Error
• What type of attributions can we make?

• The fundamental attribution error (hint: know the research here)

• How is the FAE seen in everyday life (hint: know theresearch here)

• Why do we make the attribution error?

• How can it be avoided?

Module 7: The Powers and Perils of Intuition
• Automatic vs. controlled thinking

• Priming

• Overconfidence

• Confirmation bias

• How can we overcome the