UCSB PSY 102 Midterm

Describe the 3 types of experiments (pros and cons)

Observational - observe behavior (P: straightforward; C: observer's bias)

Correlational - measure variables (P: easy to collect info; C: correlation does not = causation)

Experimental - manipulate variables (P: establishes causality; C: not all experiments are ethical to do)

Describe the 4 types of validity

Statistical - is it statistically significant? (> 95%)

Internal - is results dependent on independent variable only?

Construct - does results accurately reflect concepts?

External - can generalize to real life?

ABCs of social psychology

Affect (feelings); Behavior (actions); cognition (thoughts)

Scientific method

H ypothesize

O perationalize

M ethod

E valuate

R evise/replicate

Hypothesis vs. Theory

Theory - abstract idea

Hypothesis - can be tested

Key components of ethical research

1. benefits > costs

2. full disclosure

3. fully-informed consent

4. debriefing

-deception may be necessary

Self-concept

all the beliefs people have about themselves

Hindsight bias

people tendency to be overconfident about whether they could have predicted an outcome

regression to the mean

tendency of extreme scores to be followed with less extreme scores

working self-concept

most accessible self schema in a particular context

independent vs. interdependent

individualism

most Western countries

vs.

collectivism

most east Asian countries

Confusion of Self and Other study

1. Rate traits with close other, familiar stranger, less familiar stranger, self.

2. Identify which of the four fits the traits

= more confusions between self and close other

Optimal Distinctiveness Theory

people balance individual (need for uniqueness) and group identities (need to belong)

~traits that are shared among your friend group &

traits that are unique to you

How do we learn about ourselves?

Introspection (biased)

Self perception (inferring out desires from our behavior)

Social Comparison

over justification effect

when perceived reward for a behavior becomes expected, less likely to do it

I like reading

(reward given each time they read)

I won't read anymore unless I get a reward

Two Factor Theory of Evolution

1. undifferentiated state of arousal (heat beating fast after roller coaster ride)

2. attribution of arousal (attribute fast heart rate to attraction for significant other)

Principle of Diversification

siblings develop different personality traits in order to peacefully co-exist

How does social class affect social self?

Higher class environment

=> more opportunity to develop US ideal of independence

Lower class environment

=> selves sensitive to social context aka. more interdependent

many US institutions work w/ ideal independence

Social Comparison Theory

people compare themselves to other people in order to obtain accurate assessment of self

- biased towards inferior people

Sources of self-knowledge (SK)

level social comparison

upward social comparison

downward social comparison

Level social comparison

Relatively accurate self-knowledge, compare to similar others

Upward social comparison

Want to improve self, compare to those better off than us

Downward social comparison

Want to feel better about self, compare to those worse off than us

Mr. Clean vs. Mr. Dirty

self esteem increase when paired with Mr. Dirty (downward social comparison)

self esteem decrease when paired with Mr. Clean

(upward social comparison)

Three goals in seeking self-knowledge

1. enhancement (makes us feel good even if it is untrue)

2. accuracy (true info)

3. consistency (find info that validates what we think about ourselves)

Describe types of self-esteem

Level (high/low)

Stability (how much it fluctuates)

Explicit (self report) /

Implicit (reaction time)

Contingencies of Self-Worth

self-esteem based on the successes and failures in domains which a person has based his/her self-worth

-multiple contingencies protect self-esteem

self-affirmation

affirm self worth in a different domain

"I failed my test..."

"... but at least I'm a good person" => :D

self handicapping

avoid effort in hopes of keeping potential failure from hurting self esteem

(failed test)

"I failed because I didn't study"

(passed test)

"Hell yeah didn't study and I passed"

Self-serving attributions

Attribute successes to disposition, blame failures on external factors to protect self-esteem and image

(failed test)

"Aish such a hard test"

(A+)

"Omo I'm so duh smart"

self-assessment

seek info that fulfills need for accuracy

-seek info to help improve self

self-esteem verification

fulfilling the need for consistency

-seek info that confirms self-concept

self-discrepancy

mismatch btwn. present self (actual self) and imagined self (ideal/ought self)

actual self "I am"

ideal self "I wish I were"

ought self "I should be"

-motivated to reduce discrepancies

self-awareness

conscious awareness of self in the present moment

trick or treat candy left out w/ or w/o mirror

self-monitoring

flexibility which you regulate your own behavior depending on the situation

high: behave differently per situation

"Quiet w/ strangers"

"Loud and weird with friends"

low: insensitive to social context

better than average effect

we rate ourselves above average

What determines how we maintain our self esteem

Bask or Suffer

1. performance to self to other

2. closeness of other to self

3. importance of performance domain to the self

Bask when close others do better than us in domains that are not important to us

Suffer when close others do better than us in domains that are relevant to us

How to maintain self-esteem when suffering if domain is important to us?

1. decrease closeness

2. decrease relative

3. do better than them

self-verification

motivated to maintain a consistent, coherent self-view

-selective atten./interpretation/memory

"pineapples do not belong on pizza"

ignores pro-pineapple articles, promote anti-pineapple articles

self-presentation

motivated to control the impression of us conveyed to others

-can be deliberate or automatic

(nice to strangers) B/C

1. "I want to be perceived well"

2. done it so many times before didn't even notice

functions of self-presentation

1. achieve goals

2. validate identity

self-control

capacity to change yourself to regulate your behavior to reach your goals

How to improve self-control?

1. set better goals

2. monitor

3. implement "if...then..."

Is self-control a limited resource?

Yes (fixed mindset), b/c ego depletion that can be increased with glucose

but actually

No (growth mindset), b/c glucose activates reward which fuels motivation

social cognition

how we perceive, remember, and interpret information about ourselves and others often biased

bottom up processing

stimulus -> cognition

-guided by present stimuli

top-down processing

cognition -> stimulus

-guided by prior knowledge

automatic vs. controlled

automatic: unaware, unintentional, involuntary, effortless, efficient

controlled: conscious, aware, intentional, voluntary, effortful, inefficient, need ability and motivation

schema

mental framework that bundle knowledge together in an organized way

pros and cons of schema

P: efficient processing

C: can distort what we remember and judgments

confirmation bias

seeking out info that confirms an idea

"Nam joo-hyuk is #1"

(shares good news about njh)

Example of fixed vs. growth mindset

Fixed: "You are so smart"

Growth: "You worked hard"

self-fulfilling prophecy

tendency for people to act in ways that bring about the thing that they expect to happen

Aptitude test experiment

Types of accessibility for determining what schema to use

chronically - things that are important to you

situational - priming

priming

to momentarily activate a concept and makes it accessible

fill in blanks after viewed specific group of pictures

Describe how effective are first impressions

-occur very quickly

-pretty accurate impressions based on little info.

-deliberation is less accurate on intuition tasks

belief perseverance

people hold onto their beliefs even after the basis of those beliefs are discredited

Even after debriefing, people thought being a firefighter was risky

counterfactual thinking

imagining how things could have been, either better or worse

upward/downward

silver medalist should try downward counterfactual thinking

representativeness heuristic

judge likelihood according to how well people match or represent a prototype

availability heuristic

judge likelihood of events in terms of how easily they come to mind

false consensus effect

we overestimate how others think like us

how to interrupt the self-fulfilling prophecy

-"perceiver" highly motivated to know the truth

-"perceiver" less power than "target"

-"target" is less informed of expectancy and motivated not to confirm it.

attributions

perceived causes or explanations for behavior

describe 4 different dimensions of attributions

1. locus (internal/external)

2. stability (changing/unchanging)

3. global/specific (influence many areas or just one domain)

4. controllability (under control)

prejudice

an evaluation of or an attitude about a group

can be measured by implicit association task

cognitive dissonance

when two cognition are inconsistent

How do you reduce cognitive dissonance?

1. change a cognition

"global warming is exaggerated"

2. change behavior

"I will start recycling"

3. add cognition

"but I

4. trivialize the conflict

pessimistic attribution style

-tendency to attribute negative events to internal, stable, global causes

-associated with depression

Covariation Theory

perceiver's goal is to decide whether a person's action was caused by the person or the stimulus

-consensus

-consistency

-distinctiveness

low/low/high=personal

high/high./high=situational

discounting principle

a given attribution for behavior is reduced when another cause is present

"He was only generous because he was trying to impress the girl"

augmenting principle

a given attribution for a behavior is enhanced when another inhibiting cause is present

"She was the only girl who made it to the final round of interviews"

Correspondent Inference Theory

goal of perceiver is to figure out whether actions are a result of internal dispositions

Castro speech

insufficient justification

we can have in ways that are not in line with our attitudes

$20 bribe vs. $1 bribe

effort justification

after we spend a lot of effort on something, we expect this effort to be worthwhile

hazing for a frat/sorority

post-decision dissonance

when we have to make tough decisions btwn. two attractive alternatives, dissonance can result

results in "spreading of alternatives"

system justification theory

predicts that those who are most disadvantaged by the system are more likely to system justify

fundamental attribution error

overestimate role of personal factors and underestimate impact of situational factors

actor-observer bias

Observers attribute Actor's behavior to the person (actor), whereas Actors are more likely to make situational attributions for their own behavior

emotional amplification

increase in emotional reaction to an event that was easily avoidable

decided to go to work 1 hr early, got to an aaccident

AWWWWW MANNN!!

self-perception theory

infer attitudes from behavior

1. I am not doing well in math

2. I must not like math

naturalistic fallacy

the claim that the way things are is the way they should be

types of framing

spin - highlight the way something is framed

positive

negative

temporal - time frame