Personality, Development, and Social Psychology Concepts

These flashcards cover essential vocabulary and concepts from the lecture notes on personality, development, and social psychology.

Id, Ego, Superego

Three parts of Freud's personality structure where Id seeks pleasure, Ego deals with reality, and Superego embodies morality.

Defense mechanisms

Unconsciously protect the ego from anxiety and conflict.

Repression

A defense mechanism where unpleasant thoughts are pushed into the unconscious.

Big Five personality traits

Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism (OCEAN).

Humanistic approach

Focuses on positive growth, self-concept, and self-actualization.

Ideal self vs. real self

Ideal self is who you want to be; real self is who you are, according to Rogers.

Reciprocal determinism

The interaction of behavior, environment, and personality.

Internal locus of control

Belief that you control your own outcomes.

External locus of control

Belief that outside forces or luck determine outcomes.

Sensorimotor stage

Known for developing object permanence.

Egocentrism

Inability to take another's perspective; occurs in the preoperational stage (2–7 years).

Conservation

Understanding that quantity stays the same despite changes in shape; develops in the concrete operational stage (7–11 years).

Schemas

Mental categories used to organize information.

Assimilation

Fitting new info into existing schemas.

Accommodation

Modifying schemas to fit new info.

Piaget’s stages of cognitive development

Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete Operational, Formal Operational.

Theory of mind

Understanding that others have different thoughts and emotions; develops around age 4–5.

Infant temperament types

Easy, Difficult, Slow to warm up.

Parenting styles

Authoritarian, Permissive, Authoritative, Uninvolved.

Teratogens

Harmful substances that affect fetal development.

Sign language learning age

Infants can begin to learn sign language as early as 6 months.

Gender typing

Learning gender roles based on culture.

Object permanence

Knowing objects still exist even when unseen.

Prejudice vs. discrimination

Prejudice is an attitude; discrimination is behavior.

Stereotype threat

Fear of confirming a negative stereotype, impacting performance.

Components of attitudes

Cognitive, Affective (Emotional), Behavioral.

Bystander effect

People are less likely to help when others are present.

Fundamental attribution error

Overemphasizing personal traits and underestimating the situation when explaining others’ behavior.

Milgram experiment

Known for studying obedience to authority using fake shock experiments.

Social categorization

Sorting people into groups (in-group vs. out-group).

Explicit vs. implicit attitudes

Explicit attitudes are conscious and reportable; implicit attitudes are unconscious and automatic.

Routes to persuasion

Central (logic and facts) and Peripheral (emotions and superficial cues).

fundemental attribution error

The tendency to overemphasize personal characteristics and underestimate situational factors in explaining others' behaviors.