What Are The Pros And Cons Of Social Psychology

Social psychology is all about influence. It’s the scientific study of how people’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior are influenced by other people. Social psychologists study social influence by different means of research methods - the observational method, correlational method, and experimental method. These methods are crucial for researchers because they each serve a different purpose, and differ in validity. Each method holds strengths and weakness and is used to explore different areas of behaviors. The observational method is when researchers use their senses to observe, examine, and record behaviors in a natural setting. This means there is no interruption or manipulation by the researcher. In order to enhance this type of research,

A researcher uses an experiment to scientifically test out a hypothesis. In an experiment there are many different factors that are involved. There is the independent variable, which is the cause, it is the one that is being manipulated, and the dependent variable, which is the effect, is the response. When conducting a experiment it is important to make sure that the only thing than can affect the dependent variable is the independent variable. This is known as internal validity. Using random assignment to separate the participants into groups helps eliminate any outside factors, and creates an equal chance for all participants to be apart of the experimental conditions. There are many pros and cons to this type of method. The experimental method creates a strong control of the variables involved in the experiment, which allows an easier determination on cause and effect. If needed, it is fairly easy to replicate an experiment and is less time consuming than other research methods. However there are many downfalls as well. When conducting an experiment the setting of where the experiment is taking place is more artificial which may cause certain behaviors that wouldn’t occur in real life. This is known as external validity, which is the measure of how much the results of a study can be generalized and used in different situations, and people. To improve external validity cover stories are created when conducting experiments so the participants are not aware of what is really going on, or experiments are done in a natural setting as opposed to in a laboratory. However, this creates less control over confounding variables that can affect the experiment, which can create bias results (Aronson,