PSYCH 201 1st Edition Exam #1 Study GuideCHAPTER 1Social psychology- scientific study of feelings thoughts and behaviors of individuals on social situations- study of how people think about, influence, and relate to each other- book definition: study of how thoughts feelings and behaviors of individuals in social situations- individuals are influenced by the actual , imagined or implied presence of other peoplePersonality psychology- the study of how peoples’ traits influence their behaviors- stresses individual differencesConstrual- People’s interpretations and inference about the stimuli they confront- How we regard others influences our interpretations of their actions- Study: Wall Street/Community GameInterdependent culture- The nail that stands up is pounded down- You think about yourself as a relation to the groups- Your encouraged to find you place as part of a group- Asian cultureIndepedent culture- The squeaky wheel gets the grease- Independent self-construal- Uniqueness is valued- Western countries : USCHAPTER2Correlation research- Determining whether a relationship exists between two or more variable- Correlation is NOT causation because data is not gathered through experimentation- Data is gathered in observational studies- A larger correlation coefficient( maximum = 1 or -1) indicates stonger correlation- A negative value indicates a negative correlation- Example: partying more correlates to a lower GPA- A strong negative correlation would have a correlation coefficient of -1- Third variable: a variable that may be a link between two seemingly unrelated variables.- Example: ice cream sales and drownings; heat is the third variableExperimental research- Determining a whether one variable strongly influences the other or causes it- Attempts to test causation by manipulating and controlling specific variablesIndependent variable- The variable being tested- The variable that changes and is manipulatedDependent variable- the results of the independent variableControl group- ideally a test group where the independent variable = 0- a group that attempts to eliminates the influence of the independent variableInternal validity- Confidence that manipulated variable does produce the results seen- If changing the independent variable is definitely influencing the dependent variable the experiment has internal validityExternal validity- An experimental setup that closely resembles real-life situation so that results can safely be generalized to such situations- If an experiment replicates a real world situation well it has external validityValidity- Validity(accuracy): whether the manipulated variable is actually measuring what you are trying to measureReliability- Reliability(precision): how much a researches methods are likely to yield consistent results even when tested in another way. Statistical significance- Probability that the results occurred by chance- Defined by calculating the value of “t”- If “t” (the probability of it occurring by chance) are low, then the results are statistically significant - A t value of less than .05 is considered statistically significantRandom assignment- Best way to choose test groups and run an experiment- Participant should be randomly assigned to test groupsInformed consent- participant learn all relevant aspects of the experiment and decide if they are willing to participate- informed consent complies with research ethics- if participant can’t be informed of the experiment ahead of time they must be informed after the factSelf-selection- when participants are not assigned randomly to groups. - Correlational research cannot be used to determine causation because participants are self-selected- It is not fair to say that marriage causes happiness because married individuals were probably happy before marriage also- Happiness cannot be assigned, so these participants were self - selectedCausal relationship- Can sometimes be determined by experimental research- Can never be determined by correlational dataCHAPTER3Social comparison theory- The idea that people compare themselves to others when they have no standard way to evaluate themselves- We compare ourselves to people who are relatively similar to our skill levelDownward comparison- Comparing ourselves to people who are worse than us to make ourselves feel betterUpward comparison- Comparing ourselves to people above us to motivate ourselvesSelf-reference effect- Explains why we are more able to remember things and information that relate to us- Example: when given a list of adjectives, people will remember the ones that thye associate with themselvesSelf-complexity theory- Tendency to define the self in terms of multiple domains that are relatively distinct- High self complexity: define yourself in multiple ways; academics, music, greek affiliation, basketball fan- Low self complexity: good student, hardworking, organized in classes- If a person encounters a difficulty in a certain domain a high complexity can better adjust because it only affects one domain- A failure has a greater impact on a low complexity personSociometer hypothesis- Sociometer hypothesis: self-esteem is an index showing the extent to which people are included and looked upon favorably by other- Self-esteem is a gauge of relationships- Low self-esteem may indicate unhealthy relationshipsBetter than average effect- Comes from a desire to protect our self esteem- Self-serving construal: most people think they are above average on various trait- Better- then average affect: believing you are better than average- Lake wobegon effect: all the women are strong, all men are good looking, andall children are above average- How it happens?- We look at others on average and we judge ourselves by our best- We rate ourselves highly on things that we believe are importantSelf-evaluation maintenance model- Self-evaluation maintenance model: we evaluate ourselves through reflection or comparison- Reflection: we enhance ourselves by associating with other peoples’ accomplishments- Being a fan of a winning sports team- Comparison: we look at our own accomplishments and the accomplishments of othersSelf-verification theory- Individuals want to see themselves in the most accurate and consistent manner- Leads to more predictable social interaction- Strategies: - We Better recall information that supports our beliefs about ourselves- We use identity cues: facial expression, posture, clothes- We seek out relationship