Social Cognition & Emotion

Nuisance Variable

A variable associated with the DV that is outside of the influence of the IV; adds noise

Noise

Main Effect

Definition: Comparing the effect of different levels of one IV on the DV

There is a main effect of (IV of interest), such that with/in (participants in level 1) had lower/higher (DV) than (participants in level 2)

Interaction effect

Definition: The effect of one IV on the DV depends on the level of the other IV

There is an interaction such that those who were in (IV1, level 1) (IV2, level 1) were less/more/equally (DV) than those (IV1, level 2)(IV2, level 1), whereas people (IV1, level 1)(IV2, level 2) were more/less/equally (DV) in (IV1, level 2)(IV2, level2)

Mediation

A third variable that explains the relationship between two other variables. If you can hold the third variable constant, and the relationship disappears, that’s a good indication this is occuring

Ex) X—> M —> Y

People with a higher family income have better SAT scores because of the amount of tutoring received.

Spuriousness

A third variable that separately causes both X and Y. X and Y are correlated but not because they’re actually linked.

Ex) X —> Y (buying ice cream —> wearing a bathing suit)

Spurious variable (It’s hot outside)

T-test

Determines significance of a hypothesis being tested using the means (average value in the data) and variances (spread of the data) of the 2 groups