Psych Midterm 1

What is the Self-Knowledge Asymmetry Model (SOKA)?

-Self and others accurate: observable, non-evaluative traits (ex. extroversion) -Only others accurate: evaluative traits (ex. intelligence) -Only self accurate: unobservable, non-evaluative traits (ex. neuroticism)

What does it mean to be a social actor?

Being a social actor means self-identifying a distinct individual within a social group → awareness of being separate from others → our own feelings and thoughts are driven by the social connections around us

What is the Self?

an individual consciousness of one's own identity; feelings, thoughts and observations about one's own identity

Schema

A mental model or representation that organizes the important information about a thing, person, or event.

Which type of brain imaging technique measures changes in the oxygenation of blood flowing in the brain?

functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

What kind of research is traditionally considered to be the "gold standard" in psychology research?

Laboratory experiment

p-hacking

The use of data mining to uncover patterns in data that can be presented as statistically significant, without first devising a specific hypothesis as to the underlying causality.

What is the dual process theory?

Two ways of thought: gut instinct, automatic process and a slow, reason-driven process

What are associative networks?

Various concepts semantically connected and stored -When a concept that's in an associative network gets activated, other concepts close to the network get activated

cold cognition

focus on conceptual or symbolic meanings

self-handicapping

• Strategy to buffer the self from an anticipated failure or embarrassment by undermining one's own performance

What is the sociometer theory?

• The need to belong is evolutionarily adaptive and self-esteem monitors the likelihood of social exclusion • Sociometer: and internal monitor of social acceptance/rejection

What is thin-slicing?

Making quick decisions with small amounts of information; people can make higher than expected snap judgments about a person after only a few seconds of observation

What happened during the DeWall, et al. (2010) study, and from that, what are the consequences of being rejected?

PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL PAIN SAME Cyber Ball: people told that there are other participants in the study to whom they're connected virtually but never get to meet. They see other players ask for full body figures → you'd click their hand and you'd throw the ball to them → after a certain amount of tosses, they'll stop throwing the ball to you → social rejection Cyber ball can elicit feelings of rejection: -Lower body temperature -More aggression (to pay rejectors back) -Physiological stress response (cortisol) -More affiliative behavior -Painful even when rejected by a computer

What is the hypothetico-deductive method?

Past knowledge --> form theory --> hypothesis --> test hypothesis --> revise theory

What are the two types of attribution?

personal and situational

motivated skepticism

A form of bias that can result from having a directional goal in which one is skeptical of evidence despite its strength because it goes against what one wants to believe.

What are the ABCs and P of social psychology?

ABC + P of social psychology (Affect: emotions/feelings/mood, Behavior: verbal/nonverbal, Cognition: thought, sensation, perception, processing, memory + Physiology: heart rate, hormones, brain activity)

self-serving bias

the tendency for people to take personal credit for success but blame failure on external factors

What is self-monitoring?

being attuned to the way one presents oneself in social situations and adjusting one's performance to create the desired impression

What is social psychology?

branch of psychology that is concerned with understanding how the thoughts/feelings/behaviors of individuals are influenced by the presence of others (both real and imagined) by using scientific methods

Heuristiscs

mental shortcuts that reduce complex problem-solving to more simple, rule-based decisions (ex. book rankings)

Which of the following is true for the research conducted by Pollock at al. on prejudice reduction in Rwanda? A. The study found that the intervention lead to changes of perceived norms while interventions tested in US laboratory studies usually target changes in personal beliefs (prejudice) B. The study found that the intervention lead to changes in personal beliefs (prejudice) which closely matches what is usually found in US laboratory studies. C. The study found that the intervention lead to changes in personal beliefs (prejudice) while interventions tested in US laboratory studies usually target changes in perceived norms. D. The study found that the intervention lead to changes in perceived norms which closely matches what is usually found in US laboratory studies.

A. The study found that the intervention lead to changes of perceived norms while interventions tested in US laboratory studies usually target changes in personal beliefs (prejudice) Right! The reconciliation radio program did not change listeners personal beliefs (prejudice) but did substantially influence listener's perceptions of social norms. Traditional laboratory studies have so far mainly focussed on individual prejudice, highlighting that laboratory research sometimes is not easily generalizable to specific real-world contexts.

Which of the following is NOT a difficulty in studying social categorization? A. People may not be aware that they are engaging in social categorization B. People may be unwilling to honestly discuss their habit of engaging in social categorization. C. People must be in negative moods in order to engage in social categorization. D. People may be worried about "looking bad" to researchers when they socially categorize others.

C. People must be in negative moods in order to engage in social categorization. Mood hasn't been shown to influence how much people categorize. All other answer options are true about social categorization and thus cannot be the correct response.

How do individualistic and collectivistic cultures differ from one another in terms of how they behave? In the Chiao study, American and Japanese students were asked to think about simple statements about themselves and whether they agree in a questionairre (ex. General: I am humble, I am generous; Contextual: I am quiet when I'm around my mother) and they had a control group where they just had questions about fonts and stuff.

Collectivistic: how they behave more likely to change with whom they're with Medial prefrontal cortex activated more in individualistic cultures when making individual general statements, and vice versa with collectivist cultures (higher activity with contextual) → people view themselves differently based on what social environment they're in.

Dr. Sharma wants to study the extent to which stress is related to suicidal ideation in people who suffer from depression. She gathers information about the level of stress, depressive symptoms, and suicidal thoughts a set of participants experience the day after they attend the funeral of a loved one. Because this study is assessing people under conditions that are not typical of everyday life, it is lacking in __________ validity.

Ecological Ecological validity is the degree to which an effect has been obtained under conditions that are typical for what happens in everyday life.

Dr. Tylka is conducting research about the risk of developing eating disorders in adolescent boys. She concludes that her findings apply not only to the sample of high school boys she studied but to other males in other settings and contexts. In this regard, Dr. Tylka is stating that her findings have high __________ validity.

External external validity is the extent to which the results of a study are generalizable or transferable. Dr. Tylka thinks that her findings are generalizable to other males in other settings.

In the Vazire study, they tested the SOKA model. Participants: 165 undergraduate students (100 female, 65 male) - signed up in friend groups of 5 1. Different friend groups in individual rooms provide self- and other ratings. 2. Friend groups are combined into stranger groups for self- and other ratings. 3. Stranger groups re-combined to criterion groups for tests of abilities and traits. What was the conclusion of the study? Who knows better?

Friends know you better on low observable and evaluative traits, equally well on highly observable and non-evaluative traits, and worse when it comes to low observable and non-evaluative traits.

Dr. Hart is interested in the role of relationships in preventing heart disease. As her patients come into her office in Bluebell, Alabama, she asks them two questions: Are you a in a relationship? Have you experienced any heart problems in the last 8 years? Based on her findings, she concludes that relationships cause cardiovascular (heart) problems. One issue with her methodology is that the results are not generalizable. What does this mean?

Her results may not be true for the entire population. If a finding is generalizable, researchers can make inferences from the sample to the general population, but Dr. Hart's findings might be limited to her own patient group.

internal validity vs external validity

INTERNAL VALIDITY - The degree to which a researcher controls for and reduces the effects of extraneous variables than can affect study outcomes so that they represent true outcomes. EXTERNAL VALIDITY - The degree to which results from an experiment can be generalized to other individuals beyond the study.

What is self-evaluation maintenance theory?

If domain is central to the Self-Concept: • Distance self from relationship • Distance self from task domain If domain is not central to Self-Concept: • Vicarious self-esteem boost = Basking in the glory of others (BIRGing) ----Looking at Close Others Problems: • We try to distance ourselves from people who will make us look bad

In the Kassin, Godstein, & Savitsky (2003) study about attribution bias (hint: presidential candidates), what was their method and what was the overall result?

Method: Participants read contradicting statements of both presidential candidates. They judged how contradicting the statements really were. Results: Confirmation bias let them to see the contradictions in the statements of the opposing candidate, but not their own.

In the Kassin, Godstein, & Savitsky (2003) study about self-fulfilling prophecy, what was their method and what was the overall result?

Method: Suspect is guilty vs. innocent • Interrogator expects guilt vs. innocence • Interrogator chooses interrogation methods (weak vs. powerful) Results: Interrogators' expectation and resulting behavior influenced suspects behavior and ultimately judgments of guilt When interrogators expected the suspect to be guilty, they used more powerful interrogation methods They exerted the most pressure on innocent suspects who they suspected to be guilty Independent raters rated suspects in the guilty expectation condition as behaving more defensive, and these suspects reported to feel more anxious.

What is the correspondent inference theory?

People learn about others from behavior that is freely chosen, unexpected (deviated from the norm), and results in a small number of desirable outcomes

What is the covariation theory?

People make causal inferences to explain why other people and ourselves behave in a certain way.

What is priming?

Process by which a recent experience increases the accessibility of certain thoughts, emotions and action tendencies → can bias your thoughts, behavior and emotions

What is attribution?

Process of inferring the causes of events or behaviors. People make inferences about a person's character based on their observed behavior.

________, which involves imitation of other peoples' behaviors or feelings, might help us understand other people better.

Simulation

What is automatic processing?

Solution: only important stimuli are attended, we use mental shortcuts, many processes run outside of consciousness. Unconscious encoding of incidental information, such as space, time, and frequency, and of well-learned information, such as word meanings

hot cognition

The mental processes that are influenced by desires and feelings.