Falsifiability, Eye Phylogeny & Reasoning

• Falsifiability is the principle that a theory can be tested and potentially disproven.
• Freud’s Dream Theory is considered scientifically weak because it lacks falsifiability.

Eye Phylogeny

• Human eyes feature more visible sclera compared to other primates.
• The increased visibility of the sclera in humans aids social communication.
• Primates rely more on head movement for communication, unlike humans.

Theory vs. Hypothesis

• A theory provides a broad explanation supported by evidence.
• A hypothesis is a specific, testable prediction.

Eye Contact

• Eye contact has the potential to increase physiological arousal.
• Heightened arousal from eye contact can be interpreted as either attraction or intimidation.

Reasoning

• Deductive reasoning begins with a general principle and tests specific instances.
• Inductive reasoning constructs general principles from specific observations.

Surveillance Effects

• Behavior changes when people know they are being watched.
• Surveillance often leads to increased conformity or more ethical actions.

Errors in Inductive Reasoning

• Flawed conclusions can arise from biases, small sample sizes, and incorrect generalizations.
• Haley & Fessler (2005): Images of eyes increased cooperation in economic games, suggesting implicit social monitoring.

Variables

• The independent variable is manipulated by researchers.
• The dependent variable is measured to see if it changes in response to the manipulation of the independent variable.

Primacy Effects

• Asch (1946) and Kelley (1950) demonstrated that early information has a greater impact on impressions.

Operational Definitions

• Variables are defined in measurable terms for research purposes.

Thin Slices

• Short observations of behavior can predict long-term outcomes.
• Short observations can predict divorce or teaching effectiveness.
• Thin slice judgments are often surprisingly predictive, but not 100% accurate.

Designs

• Random assignment is used to control for confounds.
• Within-subjects designs compare the same participants under different conditions.
• Within-subjects designs involve the same participants in all conditions.
• Between-subjects designs use different groups of participants for each condition.

Deception

• Deception is intentionally misleading others.
• Methods for deception detection include analyzing verbal and nonverbal cues, physiological measures, and behavior.
• People are generally poor at detecting deception from strangers, with accuracy only slightly above chance.
• Common beliefs about liars include avoiding eye contact, nervousness, and excessive details, which are frequently unreliable indicators.
• A factorial design tests multiple variables and their interactions.
• Main effects show the influence of individual variables.
• Interactions reveal how the combination of variables affects outcomes.
• The Global Deception Team (2006) identified cultural differences in deception cues and detection accuracy.

Naive Realism

• Naïve realism is the belief that we see the world objectively and others are biased.

Construals of Behavior

• Concrete construals describe specific actions.
• Abstract construals describe broader meanings.

Processing

• Bottom-up processing relies on sensory input.
• Top-down processing is guided by expectations and prior knowledge
• Action Identification Theory posits that people identify actions at varying abstraction levels, influencing motivation and interpretation.

Face Perception

• Face perception is crucial for recognizing identity, emotions, and social cues.
• The Linguistic Category Model describes how language reflects and shapes social perceptions.
• Segall et al. (1963) showed that cultural differences affect susceptibility to visual illusions.
• Linguistic intergroup bias describes the tendency to describe positive in-group and negative out-group actions more abstractly.
• Perceptual history and expectations shape how we interpret stimuli.
• Face space refers to the mental representation of facial features that influences recognition and perception.

Attribution

• Heider's attribution theory (lay psychology) suggests people explain behavior through internal (personality) or external (situation) factors.
• Rhodes et al. (2002) found that facial attractiveness judgments align across cultures, supporting evolutionary preferences.
• Internal attribution attributes behavior to personality.
• External attribution attributes behavior to the situation.

Impressions

• Babyface characteristics are associated with warmth, honesty, and incompetence.
• Babyfaced individuals are trusted more but perceived as less competent.
• Correspondence bias (FAE) involves overemphasizing personality and underestimating situational influences.
• Collectivist cultures attribute behavior more to context, while individualist cultures favor dispositional explanations.
• Hindsight bias is the belief that past events were predictable after they happened.
• People rapidly categorize faces based on identity, race, gender, and emotion, often automatically.
• Confirmation bias (Lord et al.) is the tendency to interpret evidence to confirm existing beliefs.
• Cultural norms shape emotion recognition accuracy and interpretation.
• Inattentional blindness is the failure to notice unexpected stimuli when focused elsewhere.

Emotions

• Basic emotions include happiness, anger, sadness, surprise, fear, and disgust.
• Ekman’s cross-cultural study demonstrated that basic emotions are recognized across cultures, supporting universality.
• Elfenbein & Ambady's meta-analysis found cross-cultural emotion recognition is generally accurate but better within cultures.
• Aviezer et al. (2008) showed body context influences emotional perception more than facial expression alone.

Memory

• The DRM paradigm demonstrates a false memory effect where related words create memory illusions.
• Certain scents influence perception, mood, and behavior.
• Spreading activation is the process where the activation of one concept triggers related concepts.
• Accessibility refers to how easily information is retrieved from memory.
• Related concepts are more easily recalled when activated due to spreading activation and accessibility.

Priming

• Priming is when exposure to one stimulus influences the response to another.
• Social cognitive transference is when past relationships influence perceptions of new people.

Social Cognition

• Self-concept is the beliefs and knowledge a person has about themselves.
• Social comparison is evaluating oneself by comparing to others.
• Working self-concept is the active self-perception that changes with context.
• The Big Fish in a Little Pond Effect is feeling superior in a small, less competitive group.
• Students in elite schools had lower self-esteem than those in less competitive environments.
• Reflected appraisals shape self-concept based on how we think others perceive us.

Self Perception

• Reflected appraisals are often inaccurate due to biases in perception.
• The Above Average Effect is the tendency to rate oneself as better than average in various traits.
• The Endowment Effect is valuing owned items more than identical unowned ones.
• The Name Letter Effect is the preference for letters in one's own name.
• Self-esteem scales, such as Rosenberg's scale, measure self-worth.
• Early bonds influence later relationships, resulting in attachment styles like secure, anxious, and avoidant.
• Terror Management Theory (TMT) posits that self-esteem protects against the fear of death.
• Self-esteem buffers against existential anxiety, according to TMT.
• Mortality salience effects show that reminders of death increase adherence to cultural beliefs.
• Sociometer theory proposes that self-esteem is a gauge of social belonging.
• Leary et al. (1995) found that self-esteem tracks perceived social inclusion.
• Lamer et al. (2015) showed that self-esteem fluctuations correspond to social acceptance.
• Attachment, TMT, and sociometer theories each explain aspects of self-esteem, but none fully encompass it.

Self Regulation

• Self-regulation is controlling thoughts, emotions, and behaviors to achieve goals.
• Delay of gratification involves resisting immediate rewards for greater future rewards.
• Ego depletion is when self-control weakens after prolonged effort.
• Richeson & Shelton found that interracial interactions deplete cognitive resources, affecting performance on later tasks.

Covers falsifiability in scientific theories, contrasting Freud’s Dream Theory. Explores human eye phylogeny and social communication. Describes deductive and inductive reasoning. Examines physiological and behavioral effects of surveillance.