Design It!
A Little Biased
Guest Lecture!
Self-Centered
Surprise
100

This term is a statement that explains and predicts observed events.

Theory

100

These are the 2 reasons underlying Fundamental Attribution Error/Correspondence Bias. 

Role of perceptual salience & Belief in a just-world

100

How do female bonobos interact socially with other females and males?

Female bonobos form strong coalitions that enable them to maintain influence within the group and collectively suppress male aggression.

100

What are three major parts to self-concept?

Physical Self, Inner Self, Social Self

100

I accidentally drunk texted my parents one night. I was so embarrassed and thought the embarrassment would never end. What is this an example of, and how will I actually end up feeling in the near future?

Affective Misforcasting; I will likely get over this embarrassment quite quickly!

200

A study on self-referential processing found that information related to self-schema is better remembered than information that is unrelated to it. Identify the dependent variable in this study. 

Memory accuracy

200
When I get home from my ULA session, I realize I had something in my teeth the entire time! I am convinced every single student noticed, but, when I polled the class afterward, the reports show no one noticed at all. Identify the phenomenon. 

Spotlight Effect

200

How has the environment impacted the psychological development of bonobo and chimpanzee socialization habits?

Bonobos: resource-rich, more cooperative and tolerant

Chimpanzees: low resources, more aggression and territoriality 

200

Name, explain, and give an example of one of the self-enhancement processes.

BIRG, CORF, Self-serving bias, BTAE

200

Analyze the following equation: Behavior = f(Person, Environment)

Behavior is shaped by the interaction between a person and their environment.

300

The mean, median, and mode are all examples of what type of statistics?

Descriptive statistics

300

Dylan, who is completely new to sewing, says that she could do quite well on the sewing show Project Runway. Raul, who has been sewing his entire life, thinks he wouldn't do that well. What effect is this an example of?

Dunning-Kruger Effect

300

In one study from the guest lecture, researcher's found that apes looked reliably longer at former groupmates’ faces than at strangers’ faces. What did researchers conclude from this?

Apes can recognize social partners, and this memory lasts for a long period of time. In other words, researchers operationally defined recognition of another ape as the length of  spontaneous visual attention given to a certain ape's photo.

300

Illustrate the difference between an independent and interdependent self-construal. Explain a study that highlights these differences.

Independent self-construal highlights internal attributes—personal preferences, goals, rights, and feelings—as the core of identity. Autonomy and self-expression are key!

Interdependent self-construal centers identity in relationships: the self is understood through roles, obligations, and responsiveness to others’ needs and expectations. Coordination, duty, and situational appropriateness are key!


Studies: Professor Heejung Kim's pen study, Markus & Kitayama, 1991 (circle study)

300

Lily is a very outwardly feminine person. Describe something that may happen if she experiences stereotype threat. 

Answers vary; example: Lily will do worse on STEM tests due to anxiety around the stereotype that women are not good at STEM.

400

A study is investigating how emotional state influences persistence in a task. Identify the independent variable and give an example of how it can be operationalized. 

Emotional state is the independent variable ; the state can be "scared", "neutral", "happy" which can be brought about by having the subject watch a movie

400

Alex cuts Bella off in traffic and she gets angry at how negligent and rude Alex is as a person. However, Bella cuts someone off the very next day. But, she claims it's ok that she did it because she was running late. What is this an example of?

Actor-observer bias

(Bonus: What is the difference between actor-observer bias and self-serving bias?)

(Bonus 2: Are self-serving biases like FAE equally strong across cultures?)

400

They compared 4–6-year-old children and sanctuary-housed chimpanzees using a matched exploratory choice task. Participants encountered two adjacent wooden boxes with vertically sliding doors; inside each was a tablet playing silent videos. One “social” box showed dyadic social interactions (play, grooming/caregiving, or conflict; conspecifics for apes, children for human participants). The other “nonsocial” box showed single individuals performing the same actions without a partner. After brief familiarization, participants were free to open either door(s) and watch. What are the independent variables in this study? Bonus: what were the dependent variables?

IV: Children vs Chimps, "Social" vs "Nonsocial" box

DV: (a) likelihood of opening each box, (b) viewing time inside each box, and (c) door-lift height as an index of effort.

400

What is reflected self-appraisal? Give an example of its limitations.

Reflected self-appraisal: using our perceptions of how others see us to influence how we define ourselves

Limitations: these perceptions are often distorted!

400

Use an example to explain either upward or downward social comparison.

Upward comparisons occur when individuals compare themselves to someone who performs better on a valued trait.


Downward comparisons involve contrasting oneself with someone worse off. 

500

The Mills College Study was a longitudinal study that used data from old yearbook photos, reported marital satisfaction, and interactions between subjects and staff at different points in their life to draw conclusions. Identify the 3 variable measures in their study.

Archival (yearbook photos), Self-report (marital satisfaction), Behavioral (interactions with staff)

500

One day, Joey goes on a bunch of rollercoasters with a new friend. After, Joey looks back on the day suddenly thinks he might be romantically interested in his friend. What phenomenon might this be an example of?

Misattribution of arousal

500

They compared 4–6-year-old children and sanctuary-housed chimpanzees using a matched exploratory choice task. Participants encountered two adjacent wooden boxes with vertically sliding doors; inside each was a tablet playing silent videos. One “social” box showed dyadic social interactions (play, grooming/caregiving, or conflict; conspecifics for apes, children for human participants). The other “nonsocial” box showed single individuals performing the same actions without a partner. After brief familiarization, participants were free to open either door(s) and watch. How would you expect a Chimpanzee and 4-6 year-old child to interact with these boxes? How would their interactions differ?

Chimpanzees would not differ much on whether they chose the social or nonsocial box, but they would look at the social box for much longer. This indicates a preference for the social box. Children were more likely to open the social box, looked longer at social-interaction videos, and opened the social door wider than the nonsocial door.

500

This theory suggests that people infer information about themselves from observing their own behavior in context. Name what the theory is and give an example of how a person may use it.

Self-perception theory, EXAMPLE

** A person has more context about themselves; therefore, their observations can be better contextualized and they can come to more accurate conclusions. **

500

Regina George acts rude to Gretchen one night. Most people are not rude to Gretchen; Regina is just a mean girl to everyone. She is repeatedly mean to Gretchen. What level of consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency does this have, and what cause (situational or dispositional) does it have?

Consensus is low, distinctiveness is low, and consistency is high. This has a dispositional cause.