The Self and Self-Knowledge
A researcher finds that students who sleep more tend to have higher GPAs. Why can't she say that sleep causes better grades?
What is because correlation does not imply causation?
A study finds that ice cream sales and drowning deaths are positively correlated. What's the likely explanation?
What is a third variable problem (ex. hot weather causes both)?
This process ensures that every member of a population has an equal chance of being included in a study.
What is random selection?
This type of study involves manipulating one variable to determine if it causes a change in another variable.
What is an experimental study?
This is a concrete statement about what will happen in a particular study, usually specifying the direction of results.
This paradox describes how we feel we know ourselves intimately but can also find our own thoughts and emotions elusive.
What is the paradox of self-knowledge?
This term describes people linking themselves to others’ successes to boost their own self-esteem.
What is basking in reflected glory (BIRGing)?
According to cognitive dissonance theory, we experience discomfort when our actions and beliefs are in this kind of relationship.
What is inconsistent or conflicting?
Humans and chimpanzees share this type of evolutionary relationship—not direct descent, but a shared lineage.
What is a last common ancestor?
This theory describes how we infer whether behavior is due to internal dispositions or external situations based on consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency.
What is Kelley's Covariation Model?
According to Self-Perception Theory, we infer our attitudes and traits by observing this.
What is our own behavior?
This opposite process occurs when people distance themselves from failure to protect self-esteem.
What is cutting off reflected failure (CORFing)?
In the classic study where students were paid either $0.50 or $10 to write a counter-attitudinal essay, which group showed a bigger change in attitude?
Those paid $0.50 (the small reward group).
In Dr. Lewis’s study, apes looked longer at photos of former groupmates with whom they had positive past interactions. What does this finding suggest?
That great apes have long-term social memory, especially for friends.
In the classic Castro essay study, participants assumed the writer’s opinion matched their true beliefs even when told it was assigned. This demonstrates what bias?
What is the fundamental attribution error (or correspondence bias)?
When people use introspection to explain their feelings but get the causes wrong, such as mistaking fear for attraction, this is called what?
What is misattribution of arousal?
This illusion describes people’s tendency to see themselves as better than the average person across traits like intelligence, driving, and morality.
What is the better-than-average effect?
If Jordan spends all day in bed and feels lazy, he could reduce dissonance by telling himself, “Resting is productive.” What dissonance reduction strategy is this?
What is changing his attitude to align with his behavior?
This term refers to the motivation to gain information about others, which helps reduce uncertainty in the social world.
What is social curiosity?
The belief that people get what they deserve and that the system is fair reflects what type of justification belief?
What is system-justifying belief or belief in meritocracy?
When predicting how we’ll feel in the future, people tend to focus too much on one detail (like a dorm room’s quality) and ignore other factors that affect happiness.
What is focalism?
When people with the least skill overestimate their competence, they are demonstrating this specific bias.
What is the Dunning–Kruger effect?
In the “Social vs. Non-Social Box” study, both chimpanzees and children looked longer at social interaction videos than solo agents. What does this tell us?
That both species are more curious about social information, suggesting evolutionary roots for social learning.