Preface to the Second Edition xi
Acknowledgments xiv
About the Author xv
1 Studying Social Psychology 1
Introducing and Defining Social Psychology 1
Establishing Causality: The Importance of Experimentation in Social Psychology 3
Levels of Explanation: Social Psychology's Relation to Other Fields of Inquiry 5
Personality Psychology's Relation to Social Psychology 7
The Scientific Method: Doing Social Psychology 8
Why? Social Psychology is Social 11
Social Thought 12
Social Influence 12
Social Connections 12
Where? The Lab and the Field 13
The Lab 13
The Field 13
One More Distinction: Basic and Applied Research 15
Social Psychologists Today 16
Active Learning Exercise 1A: Learning About Active Social Psychologists 16
Learning Research Methods for Social Psychology 18
Active Learning Exercise 1B: Planning a Research Project in Social Psychology 18
Exercises 19
2 Developing Research Topics in Social Psychology 20
The Scope of Social Psychology 22
Traditional Topics and New Avenues for Research 23
Extending Earlier Research 26
Finding a Research Question 26
Self-Reflection 26
Explore but Verify Hindsight 27
Your Campus 27
Your Community 28
Look to the Media 29
The Wider World 29
Ask an Expert 30
The World Wide Web 30
Watch Other People 31
Other Sources for Research Ideas 31
Active Learning Exercise 2A: Developing Topic Ideas by Brainstorming 32
Active Learning Exercise 2B: Keeping a Social Psychology Log 33
Searching the Social Psychological Literature 34
Searching Databases 36
Searching the Library Catalog 39
Seeking Help: Speak to Reference Professionals 39
Active Learning Exercise 2C: Maintaining a Bibliography and Organizing Sources 40
Reading Social Psychology Research 41
Borrowing Ideas from Published Social Psychology Experiments 43
Exercises 44
3 Ethical Issues in Social Psychological Research 45
Milgram's Obedience Research 47
Other Ethically Challenging Examples 50
The Problem of Deception in Social Psychology Experiments: Balancing Benefits and Costs 51
Arguments for Using Deception: Some Benefits 53
Arguments Against Using Deception: The Costs 55
The Special Role of Confederates 56
Labels Do Matter: Participants, Not Subjects 57
Institutional Review Boards 59
Active Learning Exercise 3A: Forming an In-Class IRB 61
Active Learning Exercise 3B: Completing an IRB Form 62
Informed Consent is Essential 63
Confidentiality 64
Obtaining Informed Consent 65
Active Learning Exercise 3C: Creating an Informed Consent Form for Your Project 66
Ethical Issues and Field Research 68
Shared Virtues: Ethical Treatment, Education, and Science 69
A Last Word on Ethics? 70
Exercises 71
4 Basic Experimental Design 72
The Logic of Experimentation 73
The Advantages of Experiments 76
Why Experiments Matter in Social Psychology 77
Turning a Research Question into a Hypothesis 77
Operational Definitions in Social Psychological Research 78
Active Learning Exercise 4A: Writing an Operational Definition 80
Independent and Dependent Variables 81
Active Learning Exercise 4B: Identifying Independent and Dependent Variables in Social Psychology Experiments 82
Doing Randomization in Social Psychology Experiments 83
Issues of Error 83
Sampling and Randomization 87
Active Learning Exercise 4C: Performing Random Assignment and Random Selection 89
Common Experimental Designs in Social Psychology 92
Between-Subjects Research Designs 92
Within-Subjects Research Designs 98
Active Learning Exercise 4D: Recognizing Main Effects and Interactions 99
Joining Between- and Within-Subject Variables: Mixed Designs 104
Design Matters 104
Exercises 105
Active Learning Exercise 4B Answers 105
Table 4.6 Answers 105
5 Alternatives to Experimental Research in Social Psychology 106
Leaving the Comfort of the Lab: Problems and Prospects 109
Observational Research 110
Active Learning Exercise 5A: Designing and Conducting an Observational Study 111
Correlational Approaches 112
Active Learning Exercise 5B: Conducting a Correlational Study on Personality 115
Quasi-Experimental Research Designs 117
Nonequivalent Group Designs 118
Time Series Designs 120
Survey Research 123
Approaches to Surveying Opinion 123
Experience Sampling Methods and Diary Approaches 124
Active Learning Exercise 5C: Conducting an ESM Study 125
Dear Diary: An Example 126
Internet-Based Research 127
Internet Ethics 128
Time, Participant Loss, and Sampling Issues 129
An Internet-Based Example: Online Character Pre- and Post-September 11, 2001 131
Archival Research and Meta-Analysis 133
Summarizing Studies of Social Behavior: Meta-Analysis 138
Conclusions 140
Exercises 140
6 Developing Questionnaires and Surveys 142
Caveat Emptor: Let the (Jam) Buyer Beware 143
The Obvious Advantage of Asking Questions 145
Sampling Issues 146
Probability and Nonprobability Samples 147
Scales of Measurement 149
Nominal Scales 150
Ordinal Scales 151
Interval Scales 151
Ratio Scales 151
Types of Questions: Open-Ended and Close-Ended 152
Open-Ended Questions 152
Close-Ended Questions 154
The Most Common and Useful Numerical Scale: The Likert Scale 155
Writing Clear Questions 157
Phrasing 158
Sequencing Questions 163
Being Sensitive 165
Last Words on Wording for Questionnaires and Surveys 165
Active Learning Exercise 6A: Writing and Revising Questions 166
Active Learning Exercise 6B: Pilot Testing Questions 167
Social Desirability Concerns, Halo Effects, and Yea-Saying 167
We Like to be Liked 167
Likes or Dislikes Can Matter 169
Yes, Yes, A Thousand Times, Yes 170
Anonymity or Identity? 171
A Brief Word on Survey Data Collection 171
Questionnaires and Surveys as Precursors to Experiments 172
Exercises 173
7 Introducing a Difference: Independent Variables 174
Conceiving Independent Variables 176
Types of Independent Variables 178
Can One Operationalization of an Independent Variable Represent All Possibilities? 180
Providing Context for the Independent Variable: Instructions 181
Plan for Piloting 182
Delivering the Independent Variable 182
Delivery via Authority: The Experimenter 183
Personal Delivery: Confederates and Peers 184
Written Delivery 185
Other Forms of Delivery 185
One More Time: Instruct, Repeat, and Probe 186
Active Learning Exercise 7A: Developing Independent Variables 187
How Many Independent Variables? A Reprise 188
Individual Differences as Independent Variables: Prospects and Problems 188
Verifying Cause and Effect: Manipulation Checks 189
Active Learning Exercise 7B: Developing a Manipulation Check 191
The Best Laid Plans (and Independent Variables) 192
Perform an Internal Analysis 193
Ask Participants But be Wary 194
Impact: Increase Obviousness 194
Reconsider the Hypothesis 195
Keep a Causal Focus 196
Exercises 196
8 Measuring What Happens: Dependent Variables 198
Behavioral Dependent Measures 199
Measuring What People Do 202
Measuring Intentions and Future Commitments 205
Behavioral Measures in Disguise: Unobtrusive Measures 206
Active Learning Exercise 8A: Creating Creative Dependent Measures 208
Verbal Measures 209
Varieties of Verbal Measures Revisited 210
Some Additional Verbal Dependent Measures 214
Other Types of Dependent Measures 216
Nonverbal Measures 216
Implicit Measures 216
Physiological Measures 217
False Physiological Feedback: The Bogus Pipeline 219
Narrative Approaches 219
Some Practical Issues for Administering Dependent Variables 219
Active Learning Exercise 8B: Developing Dependent Variables by Looking to the Literature 221
Reliability and Dependent Variables 222
Exercises 223
9 Validity and Realism in Research 224
Trusting Research Evidence: Demonstrating Internal Validity 226
General Threats to Internal Validity 228
Reprise: Ways to Enhance a Study's Internal Validity 231
Generalizing to Other Settings: External Validity 231
External Validity via Replication 232
College Sophomores as Threats to External Validity 233
Context Matters 234
Enhancing External Validity 235
In Praise of External Invalidity 236
The Social Psychologist's Challenge: Trade-Offs Between Internal and External Validity 237
Active Learning Exercise 9A: Evaluating Your Project's Internal and External Validity 238
Making It Real: Mundane, Experimental, and Psychological Realism 239
Active Learning Exercise 9B: Enhancing Mundane and Experimental Realism 242
(Re)Considering Construct Validity 243
Beyond Construct Validity 244
Validity and Realism via Replication 244
Exercises 245
10 Conducting Social Psychology Experiments: Practical Matters 246
Setting the Stage 248
Deception Revisited: Think Carefully Before You Decide to Deceive Participants 249
Recruiting Participants 250
Active Learning Exercise 10A: Participant Pools, Sign-up Sheets, and Giving Credit 250
Demand Characteristics 253
Reducing Experimenter Biases 254
Active Learning Exercise 10B: Writing a Script for Your Study 257
Record Keeping 259
Active Learning Exercise 10C: Creating a Data Record Sheet 260
Conducting a Postexperimental Interview 262
On The Rare Occasion When Deception Is Necessary 263
Active Learning Exercise 10D: Crafting a Debriefing Protocol 263
Active Learning Exercise 10E: Writing a Debriefing Sheet 265
Closing Thoughts: Pilot Testing and Long-Term Change 266
Exercises 267
11 Data Analysis 268
Basic Statistics 270
Mean, Mode, and Median 271
Variance and Standard Deviation 273
Correlation: A Reprise 274
Some Brief Comments on Statistical Power and Effect Size-and a Caveat 274
The Role of Data Analysis in Social Psychological Research 276
Plan Analyses In Advance 277
Active Learning Exercise 11A: Planning Data Analyses and Selecting the Proper Statistical Test(s) 278
Interpreting and Reporting Results 281
Stereotype Threat Revisited 282
Active Learning Exercise 11B: Putting Results into Words 284
Learning from Success, Learning from Failure 287
Exercises 287
12 Presenting Social Psychological Research 288
Persuasive Communication 289
Who 289
What 290
Whom 290
Writing Like a Social Psychologist: A Matter of (APA) Style 291
Sections Found in APA-Style Papers 292
Title 295
Author Note 296
Abstract 296
Introduction 297
Method 300
Results 302
Discussion 303
References 305
Tables and Figures 307
Appendix 308
Additional Formatting Guidelines 308
Active Learning Exercise 12A: Drafting an APA-Style Lab Report of Your Social Psychology Project 309
Seeking Feedback on Your Writing 311
Preparing a Poster Summary 312
Active Learning Exercise 12B: Making a Poster 314
Enter Talking: Preparing and Delivering Oral Research Presentations 314
Preparing a Talk 315
Evaluating a Talk 317
Active Learning Exercise 12C: Giving Social Psychology Away via Audience Handouts 318
Active Learning Exercise 12D: Host a Paper or Poster Session 318
Parting Thoughts 319
Exercises 320
Appendix A Major Journals in Social Psychology 321
Appendix B Reading Journal Articles in Social Psychology 322
Appendix C Student Research Paper 325
References 338
Author Index 361
Subject Index 371
