Quiz1

Go from a specific example of human behavior to a much more general theory about it.

Go from a bunch of examples or facts to make a theory.

Science should prefer simpler theories

Looking one variable at a time to prove a specific thing/causation.

Measure many variables to try to predict an outcome variable.

Manipulating an independent variable to measure a dependent one. Involves control, random assignment, and standardization.

Measure the relation between variables. Only allows for measuring correlation, and follows the 1/-1 being correlated and 0 not being correlated rule.

Consider all of the paths that lead from point A to point B, and based on how they change, see what factors influence an outcome most.

Degree of certainty that the manipulation of the independent variable effected the dependent one.

The degree that a subject's behavior is naturally occuring.

Turning things that aren't directly measurable (such as anxiety) into things that are. How we choose to measure the variables in a study.

Someone signs up to a study, reports to the lab, and does the experiment. Is extremely controlled.

Test some sort of hypothesis by measuring variables out in the real world.

An experiment done in the real world, but instead of simply observing, you change things about the world.

Just survey people for data.

Participants self-report throughout the experiment at the researcher's request and/or once a condition is met.

Simulating an environment; getting subjects to pretend their in a given environment.

A researcher is given access to data that wasn't collected by them and wasn't for a psychological study.

An experiment where random assignment to groups does not take place for one reason or another (usually because it can't). Like a study on relationship status; you can't just randomly assign people to whether they're in a relationship or not.

A good theory should be tested using multiple research methods.

The subject is able to determine how they think they should act for the experiment based on the environment.

Experimenter may act differently to the experimental group versus the control group.

People may act differently if they think what they do during an experiment will be made known to other people.

This was the increase in voltage shocking study. Led to massive changes in research ethics.

How we think about the world around us, especially the social world.

Organized knowledge structures that influence perception, memory, and behavior.

Imitation. A baby repeating after a parent to say a word.

A schema generation where someone reinforces or punishes you based on how you organize information.

A form of schema generation where you look to other people around you for how to feel.

When we have little information on a topic, schemas tend to grow a lot based on information we receive.

Associations towards others based on unrelated characteristics ("You're awesome; you grew up in [PLACE], too!")

Hard to tell where one schema ends and another begins.

Cognitive load is reduced when learning about a person by assuming things about them based on what we already know. Can lead to sweeping judgements from small amounts of information.

Seeking meaning; once we have info, want to sort quickly

You look to match things a person says or does based on what you already know about them.

A schema about a person (like the associations one has with a negative person)

Schemas for things like language. Based on concepts.

Schemas about yourself. What traits you have, how much you value them, etc. Can depend on what role you're in (how you think of yourself as a college student versus something else).

Schemas for groups of people.

A schema based on what you're currently doing (you know what to do at a doctor's office even when not explicitly told)

Perception, memory and recall, priming, and decision making

Overt: Schema activation that does happen at a conscious way, even if you don't intend to activate it.
Covert: Schema activation that doesn't reach consciousness. You don't realize you're being primed.

The type of thinking where it's deliberate and you're focusing on it. Humans tend to bias away from controlled processing.

The type of thinking where you're on autopilot. Humans tend to bias towards automatic processing, and it's more likely to lead to social cognition biases.

We tend to make sweeping generalizations off of little data.

Using the incorrect statistical info because something stands out. Plane crash stands out even though they're safer than cars.

Making a decision based on how readily examples come to mind.

Bias from how much the description of something matches the schema you have about them. Bank Teller vs. Feminist Bank Teller.

People who are bad at something tend to think they are better than they actually are.

How we assign cause to people's behavior (including our own).

Internal (caused by the person) vs. external (caused by something else)
Unstable (temporary) vs. stable (more permanent).

Basically building a case to make an internal attribution
1. Association (who are my suspects?)
2. Causation (you did it!)
3. Foreseeability (did you think this would happen?)
4. Intentionality (did they mean to do it?)
5. Justifiability (how justified are they in doing it?)

If something uncommon happened surrounded by a bunch of common things, the uncommon thing is probably the reason why what happened happened.

Part of correspondence inference theory. Things other people do to you you're more likely to make an internal attribution about in comparison to if they were to happen to someone else. Speeding ticket.

Part of correspondence inference theory. More likely to make an internal attribution if something caused pleasure or pain.

Consensus: Is someone's behavior different than those around them? Is it undesirable?
Consistency: Is the behavior consistent? (chronically late versus late one time)
Distinctiveness: How does the person behave in similar situations?

(FAE). People tend to attribute someone else's actions to their character or personality instead of the situation.

People explain their own behavior with situational causes but others' with internal ones. FAE for thee but not for me.

The tendency to make internal attributions for one's success and external ones for one's failure. Tends to be reversed in those with depression.

The murder that was witnessed by a lot of people but no one did anything because everyone else thought they would help. Bystander effect

The idea that self-control is a limited resource. If you use a lot of it, it can get used up and you'll have less to use in the future

Lingering effects of first impressions- social class + intelligence

First impressions affect our interpretations of subsequent info we encounter about others

Person goes into school and takes quiz. Only difference is whether she comes out of a high class or low class house. Depending on which determines how she was judged by those watching.

People tend to prefer automatic processing

People under automatic processing tend to need less reason to allow someone to do something if it's minor. In this case, someone would let someone cut in front of them to use a copying machine, even if the reason they wanted to cut was "to make copies of something".

Hey, this happened! Unpreferred by psychologists in comparison to doing an actual study.

The happier you are, the more committed you'll be, the more alternatives, the less committed, and the more you have invested, the more committed you'll be (in a relationship).

Some people read about architecture that's describe as "old", while others have it described in a neutral way. People who read about "old" walked more like old people.

Researchers measured people based on how flirty they are. Very "Observational" study.

People would choose wines based on the music playing, but wouldn't justify it based on the music.

Professor had their graduates hold up headshots to study participants and ask them to judge how smart they are. The graduates were told which ones people would find smart, but half were told one set and half the other. This bias bled through to the experiment.