Year 11 Psych - Unit 2 AOS 1 2025

Schema

A concept or idea that helps us to organise information and interpret information used to take shortcuts in interpreting information.

Person perception

The mental processes we use to form our impressions and opinions of other people

Physical cues

The physical characteristics and behaviours of people that influence our impressions of them

Body language

Non-verbal communication in which physical behaviour and movement rather than words are used to express or deliver a certain message

Saliency detection

When we first meet someone, certain personal characteristics that initially attract our attention - such as those that are bright, novel, negative or important to us - are more salient (noticeable) to us than other characteristics

Social categorisation

A mental shortcut used in person perception to categorise people into groups based on their shared characteristics

Attributions

The process by which people explain the causes of their own and other people's behaviour

Personal attributions

Explanations of a person's behaviour based on their characteristics

Situational attributions

Explanations of a person's behaviour based on factors outside the person involved

Fundamental attribution error

The tendency to overemphasise personal characteristics and ignore situational factors when judging the behaviour of other people

Actor observer bias

The tendency to attribute our own behaviour to situational (external) causes, but to attribute the behaviour of others to their internal factors

Self serving bias

The tendency to attribute our internal factors to our successes and our external factors to our failures

Attitude

An evaluation a person makes about an object, person, group, event or issue

Tri-component model of attitudes

Proposes that our attitudes are made of affective, behavioural and cognitive components.

Stereotypes

A collection of fixed ideas about members of a certain group in which their individual differences are ignored.

Cognitive dissonance

The discomfort that people experience when they have conflicting beliefs or when their behaviours contradict their beliefs

Anchoring bias

The tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information people learn when they make decisions.

Attentional bias

Our tendency to pay attention to some things while simultaneously ignoring others

Confirmation bias

The tendency to search for, interpret, favour and recall information in a way that confirms or supports your existing beliefs or values

False-consensus bias

The tendency to overestimate how much others share our opinions, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours

Functional fixedness

A cognitive bias involving the tendency to regard objects as only having one function or as only working in a specific way

Halo effect

A cognitive bias in which the impression we form about one quality of a person influences our beliefs and expectations about that person's other qualities

Misinformation effect

A cognitive bias in which information that is received after an event interferes with a person's original memory of the event

Optimism bias

Our tendency to overestimate our chances of experiencing positive events and underestimate our chances of experiencing negative events

Dunning-Kruger effect

A cognitive bias in which people with low competency in a certain area overestimate their skills, while people with high competency underestimate their skills

Prejudice

The negative attitude people possess towards individuals based only on their membership to a group

Discrimination

A negative behaviour directed towards a specific group or individual of the group based only on their membership to the group

Racism

Involves prejudice or discrimination that is based on a person's race or ethnicity

Ageism

A type of prejudice or discrimination based on a person's age.

Homophobia

A type of prejudice or discrimination based on a person's sexual orientation

Sexism

Involves prejudice or discrimination that is based on an individual's sex or gender

Inter-group contact

A concept proposing that for prejudice between groups to be reduced, there must be more direct contact between the groups' members

Sustained contact

Prolonged and cooperative interaction between two groups that are prejudiced against each othe

Mutual interdependence

The two groups must depend somehow on one another to meet a goal

Equality of status

Refers to being on the same level as one another, with neither group having more or less status or power than the other

Superordinate goals

Are the top-level, ultimate goals that are shared between groups or individuals that can not be achieved alone or without the other person or group

Social norms

Views that the majority in a society share regarding what is and isn't acceptable to say and do in social interactions

Group

Two or more people who interact with and influence one another and work towards a common goal

Collective

A collection of people who exert minimal influence on each other and don't interact with one another.

Reward power

Ability to give positive consequences or remove negative consequences in response to specific behaviour

Coercive power

Ability to give negative consequences or remove positive consequences in response to specific behaviour

Legitimate power

An individual's status or position in a group, institution or society in general gives them the right (authority) to exercise power over those with a lower status or with less authority

Referent power

Individuals identify with or want to be like or liked by this person

Expert power

Having special knowledge and skills that are desirable or needed

Informational power

Having resources or information that are useful and are not available elsewhere

Obedience

Occurs when we follow the commands of someone with authority, or the rules or laws of our society

Social proximity

Refers to the physical distance between people. In Milgram's experiments, the closer the learner was to the teacher, the more likely they were to refuse administering the shock.

Legitimacy of the authority figure

Refers to an authority figure who has a higher position or status in a social hierarchy. In Milgram's experiments, the participants were more likely to be obedient when an authority figure was perceived as being legitimate and having power.

Group pressure

Refers group members revealing whether they are obedient to the authority figure or not. In Milgram's experiments, when the teachers were exposed to confederates who consistently obeyed the authority figure's commands, the participants were more likely to be obedient.

Conformity

The tendency to adjust one's thoughts, feelings or behaviours in ways that are in agreement with those of a particular individual or group, or with social norms

Group size

In the field of psychology, group size refers to the number of people in a group. The larger the majority group, the more people conformed. When the majority group reaches four or five people, conformity levels tend to remain the same.

Unanimity

Unanimity refers to a complete agreement that group members experience in terms of knowing the answer. If the majority is unanimous in their beliefs, then people experience great pressure to conform.

Normative influence

Refers to how we conform with others because we want to be liked by them - and how we assume that our conformity with them will make them like us more.

Informational influence

Refers to when a person conforms because they want to be right, so they look to others they believe might have more information.

Culture

Individualist cultures focus on individuality, personal achievement and independence, while collectivist cultures work towards group goals and encourage uniformity and values that promote group aims.

Social loafing

Refers to a person's tendency to reduce their effort when working in a group.

Deindividuation

Refers to how people act in a certain way because they can hide in the safety of numbers that a group provides.

Social Influence

How people change their behaviour or attitudes due to the direct or indirect influence that they encounter

Extended-Contact Hypothesis

When members of an ingroup see that one of their own has a close relationship with an outgroup member, it can lead to more positive attitudes towards that outgroup