Ethnocentrism, Prejudice, and Stereotypes in Psychology

Flashcards covering key concepts about ethnocentrism, prejudice, stereotypes, cultural psychology, and personality assessments.

Ethnocentrism

The natural tendency to see the world through one’s own cultural lens.

Enculturation

The process by which individuals learn and adopt the customs, values, behaviors, and beliefs of their own culture.

Ingroup Loyalty

A psychological factor contributing to inflexible ethnocentrism, characterized by allegiance to one’s own group.

Autostereotype

Stereotypes about one’s own group, generalizations about the characteristics of one’s culture or social group.

Heterostereotype

Stereotypes about other groups, generalizations about people from different cultures or social groups.

Selective Attention

The process of filtering out stimuli to focus on a more meaningful amount of information.

Attribution

The process of inferring the causes of one’s own and others’ behavior.

Prejudice

The tendency to prejudge others based on their group membership, often negatively.

Discrimination

The unfair treatment of others based on their group membership.

Institutional Discrimination

Discrimination that occurs on the societal level, within organizations or institutions.

Self-Concept

The way an individual thinks, feels, and evaluates themselves, answering the question 'Who am I?'.

Independent Construal of Self

The self viewed as a separate entity, common in individualistic cultures, with self-worth tied to personal achievements.

Interdependent Construal of Self

The self viewed as connected to others, common in collectivistic cultures, with self-worth tied to group harmony.

Achievement Motivation

The desire to do well or be excellent at something, often reflecting personal goals and individual accomplishments.

Self-Serving Bias

A cognitive bias that attributes successes to personal efforts and failures to external factors to maintain self-esteem.

Indigenous Emotions

Culture-specific feelings that may not be universally recognized but are significant within certain cultural contexts.

Locus of Control

The degree to which individuals believe they can control events affecting them, distinguishing between internal and external factors.

Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ)

A tool in cross-cultural psychology that assesses personality based on four main traits.

Big Five Personality Traits

A model proposing five core dimensions of personality that are considered universal across cultures: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism.