Social Psychology and Individual Differences Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering core terms, models, and definitions from social psychology and individual differences lectures.

Social Psychology

The study of human behaviour in a social context, defined by Allport (1954) as how the thoughts, feelings, and behaviours of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others.

Individual Differences

Enduring characteristics that distinguish one organism from another and that are mostly stable over time and across situations, traditionally including cognitive, affective, and/or genetic traits.

Gender

A social construct relating to identification with behaviours and attributes based on roles and labels assumed of men, women, boys, girls, and gender diverse people.

Sex

A biological difference assigned at birth, determined by anatomy, chromosomes, and hormones, with official labels of male and female.

Cisgender

A gender identity label applied when an individual's gender identity matches their gender assignment or biological sex.

Transgender

A gender identity label applied when an individual's gender identity differs from their gender assignment.

Non-binary

A gender identity label describing an individual who does not identify as a man or woman, or solely as one of these.

Gender Fluid

A gender identity label describing fluctuation between genders over time or the expression of multiple genders simultaneously, which can be random or depend on context.

Psychoticism

One of Eysenck's (1970) three personality dimensions, characterized by solitary, troublesome, cruel, and inhumane traits.

Extraversion

A Big Five personality dimension (Costa & McCrae, 1992) defined as the tendency to be sociable and able to experience positive emotions.

Agreeableness

A Big Five personality dimension (Costa & McCrae, 1992) defined as the tendency to be trusting, sympathetic, and cooperative.

Conscientiousness

A Big Five personality dimension (Costa & McCrae, 1992) reflecting the degree to which an individual is organised, diligent, and scrupulous.

Neuroticism

A Big Five personality dimension (Costa & McCrae, 1992) defined as the tendency to experience psychological distress, with high levels associated with sensitivity to threat.

Openness to Experience

A Big Five personality dimension (Costa & McCrae, 1992) characterized by a willingness to consider alternative approaches, intellectual curiosity, and enjoyment of artistic pursuits.

Honesty-Humility

A broad personality factor added in the HEXACO model (Ashton & Lee, 2007) reflecting a tendency not to manipulate others, low temptation to break rules for personal gain, disinterest in lavish wealth, and low feelings of entitlement.

Social Dominance Orientation

A personality trait specific to intergroup relations (Pratto et al., 1994) defined as a preference for inequality among social groups, positively correlating with prejudice.

Right-Wing Authoritarianism

A personality trait (Altemeyer, 1981) defined as the degree to which people submit to established authorities, show aggression toward outgroups, and support traditional values endorsed by authorities.

Machiavellianism

A component of the Dark Triad identified by Christie and Geis (1970) referring to the manipulative personality.

Psychopathy

A Dark Triad personality trait characterized by high impulsivity and thrill-seeking alongside low empathy and anxiety.

Self-Construal

A person's self-definition in relation to others, categorized broadly into independent views (more likely in Western cultures) or interdependent views (more likely in non-Western cultures).

Self-Esteem

A person's overall self-evaluation of self-worth as intrinsically positive (high) or negative (low) (Sedikides & Gregg, 2003).

Grandiose Narcissism

An overt dimension of narcissism (Wink, 1991) characterized by the desire to maintain a pretentious self-image and a strong need for admiration from others.

Vulnerable Narcissism

A covert dimension of narcissism (Wink, 1991) characterized by preoccupation with grandiose fantasies, switching between feelings of superiority and inferiority, and fragile self-confidence.

Personality Trait (Burger, 1997)

A dimension of personality used to categorise people according to the degree to which they manifest a particular characteristic.

Personality Trait (Mischel, 1999)

The conditional probability of a category of behaviours in a category of contexts.

Somatotypes

William Sheldon's model of personality based on physique and temperament, which identifies three physical types: endomorphy, mesomorphy, and ectomorphy.

Self-Awareness

A psychological state defined by Duval and Wicklund (1972) in which individuals become aware of themselves as objects, including their traits, feelings, and behaviours.

Public Self-Awareness

A state of awareness focused on how one is perceived by others, triggered when aspects of oneself can be seen and evaluated by others (Carver & Scheier, 1981).

Private Self-Awareness

A state of awareness focused on internal states such as private thoughts, feelings, and attitudes (Carver & Scheier, 1981).

Trait Self-Esteem

A person's enduring level of self-regard across time that remains fairly stable across time in adults (Block & Robins, 1993).