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Psicothema was founded in Asturias (northern Spain) in 1989, and is published jointly by the Psychology Faculty of the University of Oviedo and the Psychological Association of the Principality of Asturias (Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos del Principado de Asturias).
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Psicothema, 2008. Vol. Vol. 20 (nº 4). 951-957




An overall statistic for testing symmetry in social interactions

David Leiva, Antonio Solanas and Lluís Salafranca

Universidad de Barcelona

The present work focuses on the skew-symmetry index as a measure of social reciprocity. This index is based on the correspondence between the amount of behaviour that individuals address toward their partners and what they receive in return. Although the skew-symmetry index enables researchers to describe social groups, statistical inferential tests are required. This study proposes an overall statistical technique for testing symmetry in experimental conditions, calculating the skew-symmetry statistic (F) at group level. Sampling distributions for the skew- symmetry statistic were estimated by means of a Monte Carlo simulation to allow researchers to make statistical decisions. Furthermore, this study will allow researchers to choose the optimal experimental conditions for carrying out their research, as the power of the statistical test was estimated. This statistical test could be used in experimental social psychology studies in which researchers may control the group size and the number of interactions within dyads.

Una prueba estadística global para contrastar la simetría en las interacciones sociales. Este trabajo se centra en el índice de antisimetría como medida de la reciprocidad social. Dicho índice se basa en la correspondencia entre las conductas que cada individuo dirige al resto de sus compañeros y las conductas que recibe de éstos. Aunque el índice de antisimetría permite a los investigadores describir los grupos, se requieren técnicas estadísticas de tipo inferencial. El principal objetivo del presente estudio es proponer una prueba estadística para contrastar la simetría, utilizando el índice de antisimetría global (F). Con el fin de permitir a los investigadores sociales la toma de decisiones, se ha estimado la distribución muestral del estadístico de antisimetría a través de simulación Montecarlo. Además, este estudio permite a los investigadores elegir las condiciones experimentales óptimas para llevar a cabo su investigación, puesto que se ha estimado la potencia del contraste estadístico. Esta prueba estadística puede ser utilizada en experimentos de psicología social en los que los investigadores controlen el tamaño del grupo y el número de interacciones diádicas.

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Impact factor 2022:  JCR WOS 2022:  FI = 3.6 (Q2);  JCI = 1.21 (Q1) / SCOPUS 2022:  SJR = 1.097;  CiteScore = 6.4 (Q1)