Social Psychology - Schemas, Research Methods, and Self-Knowledge

Flashcards covering social psychology concepts from Chapters 1 and 2, including research methods, schemas, evolutionary psychology, cultural self-construals, and self-theories.

What is a schema in social psychology?

A script or cognitive structure that provides prior expectations, experiences, and guidelines for how to act in social settings.

What are the benefits and potential errors associated with stereotypes?

Stereotypes can make social interactions more efficient by allowing people to anticipate expectations, but they may be applied incorrectly to individuals or given excessive influence, denying a person's individuality.

What is the concept of priming?

Preventively giving someone an idea or concept to influence their subsequent cognitive processing or behavior.

How do automatic and controlled processing differ in social psychology?

Automatic processing is involuntary and unconscious, generating implicit attitudes, whereas controlled processing is conscious, systematic, and deliberate, producing explicit attitudes that can override automatic responses.

What is natural selection?

An evolutionary process that molds animals and plants so that traits enhancing survival and reproduction probabilities are passed on to subsequent generations.

What evolutionary advantages does group living provide?

It provides protection from predators and the cooperation necessary to obtain essential resources.

What is Theory of Mind, and in which population is it known to be impaired?

Theory of Mind is the understanding that other people have distinct beliefs and desires; it may be impaired in autistic children.

What is the naturalistic fallacy?

The philosophical claim that the way things currently are in nature is the way they should be.

What role does the prefrontal cortex play, and how does the human neocortex compare to other animals?

The prefrontal cortex is involved in complex thoughts and emotions, and the neocortex is significantly larger in humans than in other animals.

How is an independent (individualistic) culture defined?

A culture where individuals think of themselves as distinct, autonomous social entities with traits existing independently of connections to others.

What is hindsight bias?

The tendency for people to believe, after an outcome has occurred, that they predicted or knew it was going to happen all along.

What is the distinction between a hypothesis and a theory?

A hypothesis is a specific prediction about what will happen under particular circumstances, while a theory is a broader body of related propositions intended to describe an aspect of the world.

What are two major biases that can affect observational research?

Interpreter bias (accidental misinterpretation of observed events) and reactivity (participants altering their behavior because they know they are being observed).

What is archival research and how has it been applied in social psychology?

Analyzing past public records such as newspapers, police reports, and hospital records; for example, showing that homicides triggered by insults are more common in the American South than in the North.

How do social desirability bias and malingering differ in survey responses?

Social desirability is when a participant answers in a way that makes themselves look better, whereas malingering is intentionally answering to make oneself look worse (e.g., feigning insanity during a trial).

How do random sampling and convenience sampling differ in terms of population representation?

Random sampling gives every individual in a population an equal chance of being chosen to yield an unbiased sample, whereas convenience sampling selects easily accessible participants and often produces severely skewed proportions.

Why can correlational research not prove causation?

Because of potential reverse causation (where Variable 2 causes Variable 1 instead of vice versa) and the presence of third variables (unmeasured variables influencing both variables).

What is self-selection in correlational studies?

A situation where participants, rather than researchers, select their own level on a variable, introducing unknown properties that hinder causal interpretations.

What range can the strength of an association take, and what does a positive correlation signify?

The strength ranges from $0$ (unrelated) to $1$ (perfect correlation); a positive correlation means both variables move in the same direction (both increase or both decrease).

How do independent variables and dependent variables differ in experimental design?

The independent variable is manipulated by the experimenter as the hypothesized cause, while the dependent variable is measured to observe the effect of that manipulation.

What is a natural experiment?

A study of a naturally occurring event with differing conditions that can be compared, where the researcher does not manipulate the variables and cannot make direct claims of causation.

How are internal validity and external validity typically related in an experiment?

They are often oppositely related; tighter laboratory controls maximize internal validity but can reduce external validity (generalizability to real-world contexts).

What is the difference between reliability and measurement validity?

Reliability is the consistency with which a measure yields identical results, whereas measurement validity is the degree to which a test correlates with and accurately predicts the intended outcome.

What is demonstrated by graphs comparing stimulus presentation frequency to rated 'goodness' of meaning?

Higher presentation frequency of novel stimuli (e.g., foreign words or characters) leads to higher ratings of 'goodness' of meaning, illustrating the mere exposure effect.

What is regression to the mean?

The statistical tendency for extreme scores on a variable to be followed by or associated with subsequent scores that are closer to the average.

What does statistical significance mean in research findings?

A measure indicating a very low probability (e.g., $5\%$ or less) that a given result occurred purely by chance, suggesting a real effect of the independent variable.

What is the purpose of an Institutional Review Board (IRB)?

A university committee that evaluates research proposals to ensure all ethical standards and guidelines are strictly met prior to study execution.

How do basic research and applied research differ?

Basic research aims to understand phenomena and build theoretical models for knowledge's sake, whereas applied research seeks to solve real-world problems through practical interventions.

What is the principle of open science?

The principle that scientific research, data, and materials should be made freely accessible to everyone rather than kept behind paywalls.

What is a self-schema?

A cognitive structure built from past experience that organizes a person's beliefs, feelings, and self-knowledge across general and specific domains.

How does birth order influence personality according to socialization diversification?

Older siblings are generally more supportive of the status quo, whereas younger siblings tend to be more rebellious and open to new experiences.

What is the looking-glass self and its relation to reflected self-appraisal?

The looking-glass self posits that others' reactions act as a mirror reflecting who we are; reflected self-appraisals are our beliefs about what others think of us.

What is a working self-concept?

The temporary subset of self-knowledge that is brought to mind and active within a specific social context.

How do independent and interdependent views of self differ in social context representations?

Independent views depict the self as distinct and self-contained relative to family and friends, whereas interdependent views depict the self with permeable boundaries overlapping closely with social relations.

What are the two forms of interdependent self-construal?

Relational self-construal (focused on self-connections to specific individuals) and collective self-construal (focused on the self in relation to broader social groups).

According to social comparison theory, how do upward and downward comparisons affect self-evaluations?

Downward social comparisons boost self-esteem by contrasting ourselves with those worse off, while upward social comparisons motivate self-improvement by contrasting ourselves with those better off.

What is the distinction between trait self-esteem and state self-esteem?

Trait self-esteem is an enduring, stable level of self-regard over time, whereas state self-esteem consists of dynamic, temporary self-evaluations influenced by momentary experiences.

What is the sociometer hypothesis?

The idea that self-esteem is an internal subjective index indicating the degree to which an individual is included or valued by others.

What is the better-than-average effect?

A self-enhancement tendency where most individuals rate themselves as above average on various positive traits and abilities.

How does self-affirmation theory explain self-esteem defense?

It states that people maintain overall self-worth after encountering threatening information by affirming a valued, unrelated aspect of themselves.

What is self-verification theory?

The theory that people strive for stable, subjectively accurate self-views and seek out feedback that confirms their existing self-conceptions.

According to self-discrepancy theory, what emotions arise from actual-ideal and actual-ought discrepancies?

Actual-ideal discrepancies produce dejection-related emotions (e.g., sadness), while actual-ought discrepancies produce agitation-related emotions (e.g., anxiety).

How do promotion focus and prevention focus differ in self-regulation?

Promotion focus centers on achieving the ideal self through positive outcomes, whereas prevention focus centers on fulfilling duties and obligations (ought self) by avoiding negative outcomes.

What are implementation intentions?

An automatic self-control strategy involving specific 'if-then' plans that specify how, when, and where goal-directed actions will be performed.

Who was James Ho according to the lecture notes?

An individual who created a fake ID to attend Harvard under the identity of Santana.

What are the definitions of impression management, face, self-monitoring, and self-handicapping?

Impression management is controlling how others view us; face is our public image; self-monitoring is adjusting behavior to social contexts; self-handicapping is using self-defeating behaviors to prepare an excuse for potential failure.