First computer build- matching processor with mother board?

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The mother board is a micro-ATX. It says the socket is an LGA 1155.

Can it take, for example, an 1150 as well, or does it have to have an 1155 processor? (I don't know enough about this to know how exacting the specs are.)

Did you google it yet?

You did not provide enough information about the parts. You can simply check the compatibility list on the (motherboard's) manufacturer website.

Generally speaking, sockets are not cross-compatible, although there are exceptions. In my experience, those exceptions are more likely found in the AMD lines than Intel. In your case, 1155 and 1150 are not compatible with each other; a CPU made for one will not work in the other.

Find the model number of your motherboard & find the current CPU list on the manufacturer's website or in the owner's manual. Occasionally you may get lucky and a few faster models of CPU in the same family may be released after the CPU list was finalized, but even then you have to be careful as they may draw more current than your specific mobo can supply or the BIOS may not be set up to correctly initialize anything outside the list. Dell especially likes to use that last trick to limit the compatible CPU's to a very limited set.

In most cases, as long as you haven't opened the box, you can send the motherboard back for a refund if it doesn't fit your needs. You need to take a bit of time to think about what you want the computer for and the specs you need. The worst thing you can do (even if you can't get a refund) is spend a lot more money on compatible parts for a board you're unsure about.

If you're not even sure if 2 parts are compatible, odds are that you didn't have the know-how to properly select those parts from the get-go. Best to post your budget and goals with the system and have a nerd design you a computer.

Ah, but what better way to learn? The first time I built up a 32-bit system (IBM/Cyrix 586), I budgeted and bought the biggest RAM stick I could afford. Then I sat looking at all those parts for a month after I learned that the sticks had to be installed in sets of four (those were the early days of DIMMs). And a month or two after that I had a fast machine with as much memory as a server - a whopping 16MB!