Exam One Studies to Know

Embarrassment Test Study

• students were invited to take part in group discussion of sex

• had to pass an embarrassment test with mild vs. severe sex-related words

• after completing a boring task, those who had read the more severe words reported greater enjoyment of study

• we enjoy the things we suffer for

Line Length Study

• participants were given sets of lines, either with or without labels

• the participants who had groups labeled remembered the lines differently (remembered lines in the group as being more similar in height than they were in reality)

• categories affect memory

Expectations about Newborns Study

• participants viewed babies who were equal in height, weight, and other aspects of physical appearances

• saw girls as: softer, smaller, with finer features underestimated crawling ability

• saw boys as: stronger, more alert, better coordinated, overestimated crawling ability

• confirmation bias

Face Drawing Study

• participants had a conversation with a racially ambiguous man

• were then asked to draw him—> those who were told he was white drew him with more stereotypically white features, those who were told he was Black drew him with more stereotypically Black features

• confirmation bias

Classroom Study

• students who teachers were told were gifted ultimately performed better (even though students not necessarily gifted)

• self-fulfilling prophecy

Essay Study

• participants read essays written about Fidel Castro (pro vs. anti) and were told the person either had freely chosen the side or position was assigned by professor

• when participants believed the writers had no choice, still somewhat believed that the essay reflected the writer’s beliefs

• correspondent interference theory

Quiz Show Study

• questioners developed 10 questions of their choice for a contestant to answer

• observers were asked to rate general knowledge of contestants and questioners

• observers gave contestants much lower general knowledge than the questioners (ignored the role of the situation and the power of the questioner)

• fundamental attribution error

Epinephrine Study

• participants were injected with epinephrine and either told the drug had effects or not told the drug had effects

• a confederate either acted happy or angry while filling out questionnaire with personal questions

• no warning group was hypothesized that would look around environment to try and figure out the cause of their arousal

• two-factor theory of emotion

Shopping Around Study

• show people identical pairs of products (color or similar characteristics may vary)

• people think there is a distinction

• when asked to choose which product is the best quality, pronounced right-to-left position effect

• participants are not aware of this positioning effect and will find other explanations for why they chose it

• limits of introspection

Narcissism and Aggression Study

• participants wrote an essay and then were given standard positive or negative feedback

• people high in narcissism were much more aggressive towards their partner (especially when given negative feedback), but people low in narcissism were not that aggressive regardless of feedback type

• effects of narcissism

Self-Esteem and Social Media

• correlational study

• increased Facebook use correlated with lower self-esteem (relationship impacted by more exposure to upward social comparisons (people tend to post only positive/good things))

• increased Facebook use correlated to more social comparisons (more upward social comparisons than downward social comparisons)

• effects of social comparison

Internalized Stereotype Study

• correlational study

• more people internalized racial stereotypes of their group, the more they participated in academic self-handicapping (positive correlation)

• more academic self-handicapping is correlated with a lower GPA (negative correlation)

• self-handicapping