why. Social psychologists conduct research to understand why people thought, felt, or behaved as they did, including what characteristics of the person and the situation produced what we have observed. Good explanations are the crux of good science. Finally, social psychologists try to predict what will happen in the future, both in subsequent studies and, perhaps more importantly, in the real world. This chapter’s Doing Research section introduces you to how social psychologists perform these.
Doing Research: An Introduction To Research Methods
Research Matters: Beyond Lay Theories
As noted in the main text, all individuals create what may be called lay theories about why people do what they do. Like scientists, laypersons often informally “test” their theories while acting on and in the world (Kelly, 1963). For instance, a college male may believe that pointing out how beautiful his potential boss’s legs are beneath her short skirt is a good strategy for securing an offer during a job interview and may act on this. Once he recognizes the indignant facial expression and her finger pointing toward the door, he will likely reconsider his strategy and revise his lay theory of interpersonal influence. Scientists too test our theories about human behavior, but we do so in a much more systematic fashion (and with more tact!). We don’t rely on one or even a handful of cases but instead gather large amounts of data from many people in carefully selected circumstances before drawing conclusions (Sansone, Morf, & Panter, 2004).
Okay, social psychologists like to observe, explain, and predict human social behavior, and we do so by moving past lay theories and into the realm of rigorous research. How do we do it? What methods do we use? Throughout this text I will describe the most commonly used research methods, from the tried-and-true paper-and-pencil laboratory experiments to cutting edge, high tech procedures like functional magnetic resonance imagery (fMRI; see Chapter 2). Rather than trying to cover the huge range of research terms, methods, and challenges in one chapter (which may seem a bit arduous or tedious), I will instead spread them across chapters, introducing these in the context of actual social psychological research. For now, let us look at the importance of well-crafted questions, the need for testable hypotheses, and the role of theory in science.
Questions Matter: Good Questions and Good Hypotheses
What makes for a good social psychological question? The primary criterion is the extent to which the question is answerable using social psychological methods. In other words, a good question is an empirical question—one that can be tackled by systematically collecting and analyzing data. Take a question commonly asked in philosophy classes: “Are humans inherently evil or good?” While a profound and intriguing question, it is not one that can be answered by studying people and gathering data about their thoughts, feelings, or behavior. However, by narrowing it down we can transform it into a question worthy of social psychology. First, pick a behavior that you would say that, when people enact it, they are doing “good” (go ahead and choose one). Perhaps you consider recycling to be a good behavior and want to know why more people don’t recycle. Next you need to identify something about the recycling process that may be a factor in whether or not people recycle. For instance, you could ask what kinds of message appeals are effective in increasing recycling.
The next step is to turn your question into a scientific hypothesis or a prediction about the nature of social phenomena. Oftentimes hypotheses take the form of propositions about how two factors are related to one another. In this case, you might hypothesize that messages that tell people what they should do (which is to recycle) will work better than messages that tell people what they shouldn’t do (which is to stop throwing recyclable materials into trash cans). Once a testable hypothesis has been formed, the study can be designed and conducted. In the next section, we move to the important role of theories in social psychology.
Hypothesis: Prediction about the nature of social phenomena, oftentimes in the form of a proposition about how two factors are related to one another
Theory Matters: What Are Theories For?
Specific, testable, hypotheses are crucial to the collection of meaningful data. However, their very applicability to a small set of related experiments limits our ability to understand patterns of data that extend to other experiments and observations. Social psychologists seek broader explanations that allow us to connect and make sense of a number of isolated experiments and observations. A theory is a set of interrelated statements that explains and predicts patterns of observable events (Crano & Brewer, 1973) (see Figure 1.6). For instance, evolutionary theory does not explain why a particular woman is attracted to a particular man but rather why women in general tend to prefer certain characteristics in male partners. In our recycling example, a hypothesis would be used to predict the outcome of an experiment using a specific set of messages, but a theory would link this experiment with other experiments that used different yet related sets of messages, thereby facilitating a more general understanding of the kinds of messages that are likely to be effective. By providing a general framework for understanding and integrating known facts, a theory helps guide future research.
Social psychologists utilize many different research methods to test our hypotheses (yet another advantage to working in our field!). Which one we choose depends on the phenomena we want to study and what hypotheses we wish to test. For instance, Bargh et al. (1996) hypothesized that exposure to certain words would lead people to walk slowly. Another example is a researcher who hypothesized that the amount of time teens spend playing violent video games is associated with aggressive behavior (Anderson & Dill, 2000; Anderson et al., 2010). These two variables—game playing and aggression—are postulated to be related to each other in some way.
Figure 1.6 The Role of Theory in Social Psychology
Two kinds of relationships between variables are possible. The first type of relationship exists when the variables change at the same time but may not cause each other to change. For instance, as the average temperature decreases in North America during fall, it increases in South America. This relationship is called a correlation. Two variables are correlated when a change in one variable is associated with a change in the other variable. Simply because two variables change at the same time does not mean that they are causally related. Without further evidence, we cannot assume that one causes the other. Since there is no meteorological theory that would predict that seasonal changes in one hemisphere cause the seasonal changes in the other, the most we can say is that the two are correlated.
Similarly, if all that we know is that teens who play more violent video games also tend to be more aggressive (but we can’t say which causes the other), then we call the relationship correlational. It is possible that excessive playing of violent video games causes teens to become aggressive, or it may be that aggressive teens are more likely to play violent video games. As with the weather example, merely knowing that they covary—or change together—does not tell us whether one causes the other. All we can say is that the relationship is correlational. This is an illustration of a scientific mantra that you will often hear as you learn more about psychological science: correlation does not mean causation. Simply because two variables are correlated does not imply that one causes the other (see Figure 1.7).
Figure 1.7 Aggression and Violent Video Games: Correlation Is Not Causation
The second type of relationship between two variables is called a causal relationship, and it exists when a change in one of the variables can be
