MODULE 1

Introduction to Social Psychology

Barron and Byrne (2007) defined social psychology as ―the scientific field that seeks to
understand the nature and cause of individual behaviour and thought in social situations‖.

Social psychology studies how people act, think and feel in the context of society. That is,
how people's behaviors, thoughts, and feelings change because of other people.

Social Psychology investigates the ways in which our thoughts, feelings, and actions are
influenced by the social environments in which we live-by other people or thoughts about
them.

Social psychology is a science that studies the influences of our situations, with special
attention to how we view and affect one another. Myers and Spencer (2006) define social
psychology as the ―scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one
another‖.

According to Gordon Allport (1954) social psychology is best defined as the discipline that
uses scientific methods in ―an attempt to understand and explain how the thought, feeling and
behavior of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of other
human beings‖.

Nature of social psychology

1. Social Psychology is scientific in nature.

Social psychology is a science because it evaluates and provides explanations of human

behaviour. Scientific method involves systematic and detailed attempts to which includes as
follows.
i) The careful collection of observations or data (methodology),
ii) The ordered integration of these observations into hypothesis and scientific laws (theory
building),
iii) Tests of adequacy of these laws in terms of whether they can be successfully predict
future observations (Scientific experiment and observation).
Social psychologists almost exclusively rely on two types of research- basic and applied. The
aim of basic research is to simply increase knowledge about social behaviour; however,
applied research is designed to increase the understanding of and finding solutions to real
world problems by using current social-psychological knowledge. In their quest for insight,
social psychologists propose theories that organize their observations and imply testable
hypotheses and practical predictions.

To test a hypothesis, social psychologists may do research that predicts behaviour using
correlational studies, often conducted in natural settings. Or they may seek to explain
behaviour by conducting experiments that manipulate one or more factors under controlled
conditions. Once they have conducted a research study, they explore ways to apply their
findings to improve people’s everyday lives.
There are certain core values that all fields must adopt to be considered scientific in nature.
Four of these are most important:

Accuracy: A commitment to gathering and evaluating information about the world (including
social behavior and thought) in as careful, precise and error-free manner as possible.

Objectivity: A commitment to obtaining and evaluating such information in a manner that is

as free from bias as humanly possible.

Scepticism: A commitment to accepting findings as accurate only to the extent that they have
been verified over and over again.

Open-mindedness: A commitment to changing one's views- even views that are strongly
held-if existing evidence suggests that these views are inaccurate.

Social psychology, as a field, is deeply committed to these values and applies them in its
efforts to understand the nature of social behavior and social thought. For this reason, It
makes sense to describe the field as scientific in orientation. Because we are prone to many
errors in our informal thinking about the social world, we cannot rely on it-or on common
sense-to solve the mysteries of social behavior. Rather, we need scientific evidence; and
providing such evidence is, in essence, what social psychology is all about.

2. Social psychology focuses on the behavior of individuals.

The focus in social psychology is strongly on individuals. The field's major interest lies in
understanding the factors that shape the actions and thoughts of individual human beings in
social settings. Social psychology seeks to understand the causes of social behavior and
thoughts.
Social psychologists are primarily interested in understanding the many factors and
conditions that shape the social behavior and thought of individuals, their actions, feelings,
beliefs, memories, and inferences-concerning other persons. Obviously, a huge number of
variables play a role in this regard.

The social psychology has a very strong focus on individuals, and tries to understand the
behaviour of individuals. It also tries to understand various environmental influences on
social thought and actions, viz., Culture, social norms, etc. Still the focus of the social
psychology enquiry is individual.

3. Social Psychology tries to understand causes of social behaviour and thought :

Human social behaviour and thoughts are caused by many things. Social psychology would
try to understand them. Let’s see some of the important ones:

1. Social interactions (The actions and characteristics of other persons):

We are often strongly affected by the actions of other people even when we are not aware of
this fact. We are also often affected by the physical appearance of others. We do often react
to other's visible characteristics, such as their appearance. In fact we cannot ignore other's
appearance, even when we consciously try to do so. Our reactions to others are indeed
strongly affected by their outward appearance- even if we are unaware of such effects and
might deny their existence.
Examples:

Don't you behave differently: Toward highly attractive people than toward less attractive
ones?, Toward very old people compared to young ones?, Toward people who belong to
racial and ethnic groups different from your own! - Consider the following events: (1) You
are standing on line outside a movie theater, suddenly, another person walks up and cuts in
line in front of you. (2) You are playing a computer game; when two attractive strangers walk
up and begin to watch your performance with great interest.

2. Cognitive processes:

Cognitive processes play a crucial role in social behavior and social thoughts. Social
psychologists are well aware of the importance of such processes and realize that in order to
understand people's behavior in social situations, we must understand their thinking about
such situations- construal, as they are often termed by social psychologists.

3. Environmental variables (impact of the physical world):

Research findings indicate that the physical environment does indeed influence our feelings,
thoughts, and behavior, so ecological variables certainly fall within the realm of modern
social psychology.

4. Cultural context: Social behavior is often strongly affected by cultural norms (special rules
concerning how people should behave in specific situations) (eg membership in various
groups and changing societal values). The term culture refers to the system of shared
meanings, perceptions and beliefs held by the persons belonging to some groups (Smith &
Bond; 1993). The effects of cultural factors is an increasingly important trend in social
psychology as our field attempts to take account of the growing cultural diversity in many
different countries.

5. Biological factors: Social behavior is influenced by biological processes and genetic

factors. However, many have come to believe that our preferences, behaviors, emotional
reactions and even attitudes are affected, to some extent, for at biological heritance (1999,
Niabett, 1990).

The biological factors influence our social behaviour. They can be understood as
physiological factors and neurological factors, genetic factors, and evolutionary factors. The
physiological factors contain hormones, functions of various glands, immune system, motor
system, etc. The neurological factors include the brain structures, the neural cells (neurons),
the neurotransmitters, etc. The genetic factor would contain the study of influence of genes
on human behaviour. The evolutionary psychology focuses on explaining the social
behaviour as a function of process of evolution. Psychologists like Buss (1990), Nisbett
(1990) believe that genetic factors strongly influence our social behaviour like our
preferences, behaviours, emotional reactions and even attitudes and values.

 Physiological and Neurological Factors :

These factors focus on the physiological and neural substrates of social psychological
processes of mind. Typically, it studies the impact of brain and biology on social
behaviour. Brain waves (electroencephalography, EEG), fMRI (functional magnetic
resonance imaging), measures of skin conductance (galvanic skin response, GSR),
 cardiovascular measures (heart rate, HR; BPM; HRV; vasomotor activity), muscle
activity (electomyography, EMG), changes in pupil diameter with thought and
emotion (pupillometry) and eye movements, etc., are commonly used methods of
measurement in this area.
 Behaviour Genetics : Behaviour genetics approach is used in social psychology to
understand variation in social behaviour of human beings as a function of two
components: genetic and environmental. The research methods used are family
studies, twin studies, and adoption studies. Family studies are based on the idea that
children share 50 percent of their genes with each parent. If genes have to influence
social behaviour, the trait in question must run in families. Twin Studies :
Monozygotic twins share 100% genetic information, whereas dizygotic share 50%
(similar to non-twin siblings). Similarities and differences between them indicate the
genetic and environmental influence. Adoption Studies : The sibling reared in the
same family should show similar social behaviour similar to the behaviour of siblings
reared apart (because of adoptions most of the times), such a behaviour indicates the
influence of environment.

 Evolutionary Social Psychology : When we think of evolution, we tend to think of

biological evolution. The same process would hold true for psychological processes.
In last one decade, the evolutionary psychology has grown up as a discipline. David
Buss is one of the pioneer psychologists in this field. Evolutionary psychology tries to
explain the traits and social behaviours as a function of evolutionary process. The
evolutionary process is based on key process known as natural selection (sexual
selection). In addition to natural selection, kin selection and parental involvement are
important components of evolutionary social psychology. If certain trait has
evolutionary benefits, then that social trait will become part of human psyche. Buss
has stated three important conditions of evolution of social behaviour. They are
variation, inheritance and selection. Variation refers to the fact that members of
specific species vary (are different) on various traits. For example, Intelligence,
everybody has different intelligence. At least, part of this variation in the specific trait
is inherited i.e., inheritance. For example, some part of intelligence is contributed by
genes. If this trait gives an advantage in reproductive success, then this trait is selected
and it develops as a process of evolution. For example, intelligent people are more
likely to be resourceful; hence the reproductive success would be high for intelligent
people.

SCOPE OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

1. Individual v/s Group behaviour
It studies human behavior in groups and that how human behavior is influenced by others. It
attempts to understand the socio-psychological causes and motives of human behavior in
groups. Social psychology attempts to understand the relationship between minds, groups,
and behaviors in three general ways:

o It tries to see how the thoughts, feelings and behaviours of individuals are
influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of other(s). This
includes social perception, social interaction, and the many kinds of social
influence (like trust, power, and persuasion). It deals with questions like:
 How do social groups control or contribute to behaviour, emotion, or attitudes of the
individual members?
  How do small group dynamics impact cognition and emotional states?
 How does the group impact the individual?
 How does the individual operate within the social group?

o Second, it tries to understand the influence that individual perceptions and

behaviours have upon the behaviour of groups. This includes looking at things
like group productivity in the workplace and group decision making. It looks
at questions like:
 What are the reasons behind consistency, diversity, and deviance?

o Third, and finally, social psychology tries to understand groups themselves as

behavioural entities, and the relationships and influences that one group has
upon another group. It asks questions like:
 What makes some groups hostile to one another, and others neutral or civil?
 Do groups behave in a different way than an individual outside the group?

2.Cognition and Behaviour: Two Sides of the Same Coin

In modern social psychology, behavior and cognition are seen an intimately, and
continuously linked. All social psychologists agree that there is a continuing and complex
interplay between social thought and social behavior. What we think about others influences
our actions towards them and the consequences of these actions then affect our social
thought. So the loop is continues and in trying to understand the social side of life, modern
social psychology integrates both.

3.The Role of Emotion in the Social Side of Life

Social psychologists have always been interested in emotions and moods, and with good
reason they play a key role in many aspects of social life. For instance imagine you need a
favour from your friend or acquaintance- when would you ask for it? When the person is in a
good mood or bad mood? Research findings indicate you would do much better when the
person is in a good mood because positive moods do increase our tendency to help others.
Social psychologists have been investigating the role of moods in a wider range of social
behavior and social thought. Overall, interest in this topic including the impact of specific
emotions has increased.

4. Relationships: How They Develop, Change, Strengthen or End

Social psychologists have long sought to understand the nature of social relationships how
they begin and change over time and why gradually some strengthen and deepen while others
weaken and die often after causing tremendous pain to the people involved. In recent years
however interest in these topics has increased greatly and relationships are receiving more
research attention than ever before. The results of these results have been and continue to be
remarkably revealing. Findings indicate that it is indeed good to hold favourable perceptions
of our romantic partners but that these must be moderated by a dash of accuracy too.
Research on relationships has provided many important insights to this crucial part of our
social lives and offer helpful suggestions on how they can be strengthened and developed so
that their beneficial effects are maximized and potential costs reduced.
5.Social Neuroscience: Where Social Psychology And Brain Research Meet
Social psychologists have begun to find out what portion of our brain and what complex
systems within it are involved in key aspects of our social life. As noted by several experts in
this field social neuroscience cannot provide the answer to every question we have about
social thought or behavior. There are many aspects of social thought that cannot easily be
related to activity in specific areas of the brain- aspects such as attitudes, attributions, group
identities and reciprocity. In principle all these components of social thought reflects activity
in the brain, but this does not necessarily mean that it is best to try to study them this way.
(The neural basis of empathy: Individuals high or moderate in a measure of empathy showed
more activity in a portion of their brains frontal operculum) than persons low in empathy,
when watching videos of other persons showing social facial expressions. In contrast, the
groups did not differ in brain activity while watching videos showing non social facial
movements (i.e, ones unrelated to emotions). Participants moderate or high in empathy show
greater brain activity in response to social than non social facial expressions.

6. The Role of implicit (Non conscious) Processes

Our thoughts and actions are shaped by factors and processes of which we are only dimly
aware, at best, and which often take place in an automatic manner, without any conscious
thought or intention on our part. Research on the role of implicit (non conscious) processes in
our social behavior and thought has examined many other topics, such as the impact of our
moods on what we tend to remember about other people or complex issues, how negative
attitudes toward members of social groups other than our own that we deny having can still
influence our reactions toward them, and how we automatically evaluate people belonging to
various social groups once we have concluded that they belong to that group. In short, non
conscious factors and processing seem to play an important role in many aspects of social
thought and social behavior.

7. Taking Full Account of Social Diversity

Social psychology now adopts a multicultural perspective—one that carefully and clearly
recognizes the potential importance of gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability,
socioeconomic status, religious orientation, and many other social and cultural dimensions.
This perspective has led to important changes in focus of social psychological research
(Multicultural perspective: a focus on understanding the cultural and ethnic factors that
influence social behavior. Increased recognition in diversity and cultural differences is a
hallmark of modern social psychology).

8. Increasing Attention To The Potential Role of Biological Factors and The Evolutionary
Perspective

Another important trend in modern social psychology is the increasing influence of a

biological or evolutionary perspective. Growing evidence suggest that biological and genetic
factors play at least some role in many forms of social behaviour.
THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

1. Dawn of Social Psychology (1864-1934)

2. Early-stage of Social Psychology (1935-1945)
3. Expansion stage of Social Psychology (1946-1984)
4. The modern stage of Social Psychology (1985- onwards)

DAWN OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY (1864-1934)

The German Psychologist, Wilhelm Wundt (1832 – 1921) is viewed as the founder of
Psychology. He was the first Psychologist to propose social psychology as a branch of
general psychology in 1868. He published many articles under the title of 'Social Psychology'
to explain that apart from mental processes and psychological factors, there are also social
factors that shape human behavior. In spite of his widely accepted efforts for establishing the
discipline of Social Psychology, his ideas had little influence on American Social thinkers
because his literary works were not translated into English.

The year-wise contributions of renowned social scientists towards the establishment of social
psychology are as follows:

1898: Norman Triplet conducted the first laboratory experiment to understand the mutual
impact of actions of individuals and published the results which were later on known as
social facilitation.

1900: Wilhelm Wundt published the first volume to explain social behavior which later on
emerged as a significant theory of Social Psychology (Volkerpsychologie).

1908: The textbooks of Social Psychology were published by William McDougal, a

Psychologist and Edward Ross, a Sociologist.

1920: The first Institute of Social Psychology was founded by Willy Hellpach in Germany in
1920.

1924: The third volume of Social Psychology was published by Floyd Allport which covers
the important areas of modern Social Psychology.

1925: The Social-Distance Scale was developed by Edward Bogardus to measure an

individual's or group's attitude towards (individuals of) another ethnic group. This scale was
further advanced by Louis Thurstone in 1928 and Rensis Likert in 1932.

1934: The known book 'Mind, Self & Society' was published by G.H Mead which focused on
the interaction of self and others..

EARLY STAGE OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY (1935 - 1945)

This early stage of Social Psychology is explained as follows:

1936: Conducted studies on conformity and the Psychology of Social Norms was published
by Muzaffar Sherif.
1938: The frustration-aggression hypothesis was introduced by John Dollard to understand
the nature of frustration leading to aggression in social interactions.

1941 to 1945: U.S government recruited many Social Psychologists to help the victims of
world war and to understand the socio-psychological factors leading to and controlling wars.

EXPANSION STAGE OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY (1946-1984)

This expansion stage of Social Psychology is explained as follows:

1949: An experiment on attitude change and persuasion, the important area of Social
Psychology, was conducted and findings were published by Car Hovland.

1952: Study on conformity by Solomon Asch

1954: Prejudice is an important topic of Social Psychology that was explored and published
by Gordon Allport.

1954: Social psychologists gave their opinions in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education U.S.
Supreme Court case that helped end racial segregation in American public schools, and social
psychologists still frequently serve as expert witnesses on these and other topics (Fiske,
Bersoff, Borgida, Deaux, & Heilman, 1991). In recent years insights from social psychology
have even been used to design anti-violence programs in societies that have experienced
genocide (Staub, Pearlman, & Bilali, 2010).

1954: Festinger edited an influential book called Research Methods in the Behavioral
Sciences, in which he and other social psychologists stressed the need to measure variables
and to use laboratory experiments to systematically test research hypotheses about social
behavior. He also noted that it might be necessary in these experiments to deceive the
participants about the true nature of the research.

1957: The theory of Cognitive Dissonance was published by Leon Festinger. The theory of
Cognitive Dissonance is an important area of the subject matter of Social Psychology.

1958: 'The Psychology of Interpersonal Relationships' as a base for attribution theory was
published by Fritz Heider.

1963: The research findings to explore 'the phenomena of obedience towards authoritative
individuals' were published by Stanley Milgram.

1965: 'The Society of Experimental Social Psychology' was founded.

1966: 'The European Association of Experimental Social Psychology' was founded.

1968: Bibb Latane & John Darley presented the 'Bystander Intervention Model' to explain
why an individual may not help in an emergency.

1968: The Society for Personality & Social Psychology (SPSP) was founded.
1972: Irving Janis (1972), focused on group behavior, studying why intelligent people
sometimes made decisions that led to disastrous results when they worked together.

1973: Philip Zimbardo, in his well-known ―prison study‖ (Haney, Banks, & Zimbardo,
1973), found that the interactions of male college students who were recruited to play the
roles of guards and prisoners in a simulated prison became so violent that the study had to be
terminated early.

1974: Leonard Berkowitz (1974) pioneered the study of human aggression.

1974: Studies on obedience by Stanley Milgram.

1981: A study with the title 'The meta-analysis of gender disparities in behavior' was
conducted by Alice Eagly along with her collaborators.

1985: Shelly Taylor & Susan Fiske published 'Social Cognition Theory' to elaborate
cognitive perspectives of Social Psychology.

MODERN STAGE OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY (1985- onwards)

This modern stage of Social Psychology is explained as follows:

1986: The theory of 'Communication & Persuasion - Central & Peripheral Routes' was
published by John Cacioppo and Richard Petty. It explains the two dimensions of Persuasion
for an attitude change in Social Psychology.

1989: An article with the title of 'Social Stigma & Self Esteem' was published by Brenda and
Jennifer Crocker. It focuses on how an individual responds to being a target of stigmatization
and discrimination.

1991: An article on the important area of Social Psychology 'How culture shapes the self' was
published by Shinobu Kitayama and Hazel Markus.

1995: An article with the title of 'Stereotype Threat & Intellectual-Test Performance' was
published by Joshua Aronson & Claude Steele. It explains how a negative stereotype shapes
intellectual performance and identity.

METHODS OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

In their quest for insight, social psychologists propose theories that organize their
observations and imply testable hypotheses and practical predictions. To test a hypothesis,
social psychologists may do research that predicts behavior using correlational studies, often
conducted in natural settings. Or they may seek to explain behavior by conducting
experiments that manipulate one or more factors under controlled conditions. Once they have
conducted a research study, they explore ways to apply their findings to improve people’s
everyday lives.
Forming and Testing Hypotheses
We social psychologists have a hard time thinking of anything more fascinating than human
existence. As we wrestle with human nature to pin down its secrets, we organize our ideas
and findings into theories. A theory is an integrated set of principles that explain and predict
observed events. Theories are a scientific shorthand.
In everyday conversation, ―theory‖ often means ―less than fact‖—a middle rung on a
confidence ladder from guess to theory to fact. Thus, people may, for example, dismiss
Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution as ―just a theory.‖
Indeed, notes Alan Leshner (2005), chief officer of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, ―Evolution is only a theory, but so is gravity.‖ People often
respond that gravity is a fact—but the fact is that your keys fall to the ground when dropped.
Gravity is the theoretical explanation that accounts for such observed facts.
To a scientist, facts and theories are apples and oranges. Facts are agreed-upon statements
about what we observe. Theories are ideas that summarize and explain facts. ―Science is built
up with facts, as a house is with stones,‖ wrote the French scientist Jules Henri Poincaré, ―but
a collection of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house.‖

Theories not only summarize but also imply testable predictions, called hypotheses.
Hypotheses serve several purposes. First, they allow us to test a theory by suggesting how we
might try to falsify it. Second, predictions give direction to research and sometimes send
investigators looking for things they might never have thought of. Third, the predictive
feature of good theories can also make them practical. A complete theory of aggression, for
example, would predict when to expect aggression and how to control it. As the pioneering
social psychologist Kurt Lewin declared, ―There is nothing so practical as a good theory.‖

In social psychology, as in all branches of science, explanation involves the construction of

theories - frameworks for explaining various events or processes. Theories both organize
existing knowledge and make predictions about how various events or processes will occur.
Once a theory is formulated, hypothesis derived logically from it are tested through careful
research. If results agree with the predictions, confidence in the theory is increased. If results
disagree with such predictions, the theory may be modified se ultimately rejected as false.

Observation: Describing the World Around Us

One basic technique for studying social behavior involves observation-carefully observing
behavior as it occurs. Such observation is not the kind of informal observation we all practice
from childhood on, such as people watching in an airport, rather, in a scientific field such as
social psychology it is observation accompanied by careful, accurate measurement of a
particular behavior across people.
Systematic Observation - A method of research in which behavior is systematically observed
and recorded.
Naturalistic observation-observation of people's behavior in natural settings In such
observation, the researcher would simply record what is happening in each context; she or he
would make no attempt to change the behavior of the people being observed.

Survey Method : Collecting Information from a Large Group

A method of research in which a large number of people answer questions about their
attitudes or behavior.
Surveys are used for many purposes to measure attitudes toward specific issues such as
smoking, to find out how voters feel about various political candidates, to determine how
people feel about members of different social groups, and even to assess student reactions to
professors. Social psychologists often use this method to assess attitudes toward a variety of
social issues- for instance, national health care reform or affirmative action programs.
Surveys offer several advantages. Information can be gathered about thousands or even
hundreds of thousands of people with relative ease. In fact, surveys are now often conducted
online, through the internet. In order to be useful as a research tool, though, surveys must
meet certain requirements. First, the people who participate must be representative of the
larger population about which conclusions are to be drawn which raises the issue of
sampling. If this condition is not met, serious errors can result. Yet another issue that must be
carefully addressed with respect to surveys is this: The way in which the items are worded,
the response options, order of questions can exert strong effects on the outcomes obtained. In
sum, the survey method can be a useful approach for studying some aspects of social
behavior, but the results obtained are accurate only to the extent that issues relating to
sampling and wording are carefully addressed.

Correlation: The Search for Relationships, Detecting Natural Associations

A method of research in which a scientist systematically observes two or more variables to

determine whether changes in one are accompanied by changes in the other.

The term correlation refers to a tendency for one event to be associated with changes in the
other. Social psychologists refer to such changeable aspects of the natural world as variables,
since they can take different values.

The stronger the correlation between the variables in question, the more accurate the
predictions. Correlations can range from 0 to -1.00 or +1.00; the greater the departure from 0,
the stronger the correlation. Positive numbers mean that as one variable increases, the other
increases too. Negative numbers indicate that as one variable increases, the other decreases.
For instance, there is a negative correlation between age and the amount of hair on the heads
of males: the older they are, the less hair they have.

In this approach, social psychologists attempt to determine whether, and to what extent,
different variables are related to each other. This involves carefully measuring each variable,
and then performing appropriate statistical tests to determine whether and to what degree the
variables are correlated.

The fact that two variables are correlated in no way guarantees that they are causally related-
that changes in one cause changes in the other. On the contrary, the relationship between
them may be due to the fact that both variables are related to a third variable, and not really to
each other.

The correlational method of research is sometimes very useful to social psychologists. It can
be used in natural settings where experiments might be very difficult to conduct, and it is
often highly efficient: a large amount of information can be obtained in a relatively short
period of time. However, the fact that it is generally not conclusive with respect to cause and
effect relationships is a serious one that leads social psychologists to prefer another method in
many instances.
The Experimental Method: Knowledge through Systematic intervention, Searching for
Cause and Effect

In order to attain the goal of explanation, social psychologists employ method of research
known as experimentation or the experimental method. Experimentation involves the
following strategy: One variable is changed systematically, and the effects of these changes
on one or more other variables are carefully measured. If systematic changes in one variable
produce changes in another variable (and if two additional conditions we describe below are
also met), it is possible to conclude with reasonable certainty that there is indeed a causal
relationship between these variables that changes in one do indeed cause changes in the other.

Experimentation (experimental method): a method of research in which one or more factors

(the independent variables) are systematically changed to determine whether such variations
affect one or more other factors (dependent variables).

Experimentation: Its basic nature

In its most basic form, the experimental method involves two key steps: (1) the presence or
strength of some variable believed to affect any aspect of social behavior or thought is
systematically varied by researcher is termed the independent variable, while the aspect of
behavior studied is termed as dependent variable-(Variable that depend upon the independent
variable)

Experimentation: Two Key Requirements For Its Success

1) The first involves what is termed random assignment of participants to experimental

conditions. This means that all participants in an experiment must have an equal chance of
being exposed to each level of independent variable. The reason for this rule is simple: if
participants are not randomly assigned to each condition, it may later be impossible to
determine if difference in their behaviour stem from difference they brought with them to the
study, from the impact of the independent variable, or both. (Random assignment of
participants to experimental conditions a basic requirement for conducting valid experiments.
According to this principle, research participants must have an equal chance of being exposed
to each level of the independent variable).
2) The second condition essential for successful experimentation is as follows: insofar as
possible, all factors other than the independent variable that might also affect participants
behaviour must be held constant.

In sum, experimentation in several respects is, the most powerful of social psychology's
methods. It certainly isn't perfect- for example, since it is often conducted in laboratory
settings that are quite different from the locations in which social behavior actually occurs.
The question of external validity often arises: to what extent can the findings of experiments
be generalized to real life situations and perhaps people different from those who participated
in the research. And there are situations where, because of ethical or legal consideration, it
can't be used.
The role of mediating variables

Mediating variable: is a variable that is affected by an independent variable and then

influences a dependent variable. Mediating variables help explain why or how specific
variables influence social behavior or thought in certain ways.

Confounding of Variables: A Fatal Flow in Experimentation

In a hypothetical experiment designed to investigate the effects of playing violent video

games on aggression, the independent variable is confounded with another variable, the
behavior of the assistants conducting the study. One assistant is kind and polite and the other
is rude and surly. The friendly assistant collects most of the data in the non violent video
game condition, while the rude assistant collects most of the data in the violent video
condition. Findings indicate that people who play violent video games are more aggressive.
But because of confounding of variables, we can't tell whether this is a result of playing these
games or the assistant's rude treatment. The two variables are confounded, and the
experiment doesn't provide useful information on the issue it is designed to study.