Exam 1 Review – Spring 2015
Tips for studying: Use your class notes, textbook, and this outline to determine important
topics to focus on while studying. Your class notes indicate the material I view as most
important and will likely emphasize on the exam. Read the chapters too!
Ch 1: Intro to Social Psych
– Definition of Soc Psy?
– Importance of context
– Example from 1984 Pres. Debate – what were results of the study
on perceptions of Reagan based on reactions of the audience?
– Pearls before breakfast – violin in the Metro experiment – what
was found? How was context important?
– Heroin abuse in Vietnam War – what was found in terms of relapse
rates for those treated in Vietnam vs. U.S.? How was context
important?
– How does social psych overlap and differ from other, related fields?
– Clinical, personality psych? Sociology?
– Use of the scientific method in social psych research – what are hypotheses and
theories?
– Values can influence our research – Our theories developed in the US may not always apply (example from
Ethan Watters’ ‘Crazy Like Us’ video shown in class – PTSD in other
cultures)
– Research Methods:
– Research varies based on Method:
– Correlational – examines whether 2 variables are naturally
associated w/each other
– Cannot make cause-effect conclusions
– Experimental – manipulate 1 variable to see effect on 2nd variable
– 2 distinguishing factors of experiments:
– 1) researcher controls & manipulates
– 2) random assignment to groups is used
– Sampling issues in research
– Goal: sample should be similar to larger population
– Random sampling – everyone in population has equal chance of
being selected into the sample
– How is this done?
– Random assignment to groups – each person has equal chance of
being in any condition/group
– Allows us to eliminate other explanations for group
differences besides what was manipulated
– Experiment example – Schneider et al. (harassment & heart rate)
– Distinguish between Independent Variables (IV) and Dependent
Variables (DV)
– IV = what is manipulated (examples?)
–
– DV = observed to determine impact of IV (examples?)
Concerns about External Validity – will the results of the study generalize
to the larger population?
– Depends on mundane realism and experimental realism (know
definitions, how they differ)
Chapter 2: The Self in the Social World
 What are self-concepts and self-schemas?
o Mirror test and self-recognition – when do humans/apes develop
recognition of themselves as separate beings?
• Sources of self-concept development:
o Roles – what is self-perception theory?
o Social Comparisons – when do we use these? Who do we choose to
compare ourselves to?
o Culture and Self-concept:
 Individualism (I) vs. Collectivism (C) – how do people define
themselves? Examples of different cultures/regions?
 Markus’ research on effects on groups –
o I vs. C use of downward comparisons
o C - interactions within teams / taking credit
• Self-Knowledge
o We aren’t very good at predicting our feelings/behavior
 Affective forecasting (what is it?) Examples of harassment studies,
relationship survival/satisfaction…
 Leads to impact bias (what is it?) – more likely for positive or
negative events?
 Dan Gilbert’s research on affective forecasting and the
psychological immune system
 Lottery winners & paraplegics
 Differences between synthetic happiness and natural
happiness?
 What is the ‘psychological immune system’?
• Self-Esteem – overall positive and negative self-evaluations
o What purposes does it serve?
o Too much self-esteem?
 2 dimensions of high SE – valuing individual achievement +
relationships w/others
 How do narcissists differ from those with high self-esteem?
• Self-Efficacy – specific to a task or skill
o How does it differ from self-esteem?
o Links with persistence and anxiety?
o Can be manipulated – research on memory loss among the elderly?
• Self-regulation and self-control
o Baumeister’s research – self-control as a limited resource that can be
depleted and requires strength
 How can we re-energize our self-control?
•
•
Self-Serving Bias – tendency to perceive oneself favorably
o Success vs. Failures (what are each attributed to?)
o What is the false consensus effect?
Self-presentation
 Impression management
 Self-handicapping – what is it? What are strategies?
Chapter 3 – Social Beliefs and Judgments (note: some material may change slightly
depending on how much time we have to cover these topics in class in the upcoming
days…check your class notes for correspondence…)
 Social Perception – respond based on our perceptions
o 1st impressions of people – baby-faced trait inferences
 Belief Perseverance – beliefs persist in spite of disconfirming evidence
o Why? Confirmation Bias (what is it?)
o Example: “On Being Sane in Insane Places” Rosenhan experiment
 What was done in the psychiatric hospitals?
 What did Rosenhan find? Links to confirmation bias?
 Remedy for belief perseverance?
 Intuition –
o Facial recognition example of intuition
 Evolutionary benefit to recognizing angry faces (attentional blink
& faces)
 Detecting Deception – what cues are used?
o How good are we at detecting lies? How good are experts?
o What are microexpressions and how can they be used?
o Application of using microexpressions?
 Heuristics – mental shortcuts
o Representativeness heuristic – what is it? Example?
o Availability heuristic – what is it? Example?
o Counterfactual thinking – what is it? Example? (Olympic medalists)
 Attributions
o Personal (internal) vs. situational (external) explanations for behaviors
o Attribution theories –
 Kelly’s Covariation theory – attribute behavior to person/situation
 Consensus – what is the information we seek here?
 Distinctiveness – what is the information we seek here?
 Consistency – what is the information we seek here?
 How do consensus, distinctiveness, consistency combine to
determine personal or situational attributions?
o Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE) – what is it?
 2-step model – quick attribution then adjust initial impression
 Sources of the FAE?
 Self-fulfilling prophecies – how do these work?
o …and student performance – links w/teacher expectations.