AP Psychology Unit 4: 4.1-4.3

Flash Cards

Personality Psychology

The scientific study of personality and its development, structure, traits, processes, variations, and disordered forms (personality Disorders).

Social Psychology

The scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another. 

Person Perception

How we form impressions of ourselves and others, including attributions of behavior.

Attribution Theory

The theory that we explain someone’s behaviors by crediting either the situation, or the person’s stable, enduring traits.

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency for observers, when analyzing others’ behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition.

Actor-observer Bias

The tendency for those acting in a situation to attribute their behavior to external causes, but for observers to attribute others’ behavior to internal causes. This contributes to the Fundamental Attribution Error.

Prejudice 

an unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group and its members. It generally involves negative emotions, stereotyped beliefs, and a predisposition to discriminatory action. 

Stereotype

a generalized (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people.

Discrimination

unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group or its members.

Just-world Phenomenon

the tendency for people to believe the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get.

Social Identity 

the “we” aspect of our self-concept; the part of our answer to “who am I?” that comes from our group memberships. 

Ingroup

“us” - people with whom we share a common identity.

Outgroup

“them” - those perceived as different or apart from our ingroup.

Ingroup Bias 

the tendency to favor our own group. 

Scapegoat Theory

the theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame.

Other-race effect

the tendency to recall faces of one’s own race more accurately than faces of other races.

Foot-in-the-door Phenomenon

the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request. 

Role

A set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

The theory that we act to reduce the discomfort we feel when two of our thoughts are inconsistent.

Persuasion 

changing people’s attitudes, potentially influencing their actions. 

Peripheral Route Persuasion

occurs when people are influences by incidental cues, such as a speaker’s attractiveness.

Central Route Persuasion

occurs when interested people’s thinking is influenced by considering evidence and arguments.

Norms 

a society’s understood rules for accepted and expected behavior. 

Conformity

Adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.

Obedience

complying with an order or a command.

Social Facilitation 

in the presence of others, improved performance on simple or well-learned tasks, and worsened performance on difficult tasks. 

Social Loafing

the tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable.

Deindividuation

the loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity.

Group Polarization

the enhancement of a group’s prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group.

Group Think

the mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides realistic appraisal of alternatives.

Culture

the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next.

Tight Culture

a place with clearly defined and reliably imposed norms. 

Loose Culture

a place with flexible and informal norms. 

Aggression

any physical or verbal behavior intended to harm someone physically or emotionally.

Frustration-Aggression Principle

the principle that frustration - the blocking of an attempt to achieve some goal - creates anger, which can generate aggression.

Social Script 

a culturally modeled guide for how to act in various situations. 

Mere Exposure Effect

the tendency for repeated exposure to novel stimuli to increase our liking of them.

Passionate Love

an aroused state of intense positive absorption in another, usually present at the beginning of a romantic relationship.

Companionate Love 

the deep affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined. 

Equity

a condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to what they give to it.

Altruism

unselfish regard for the welfare of others.

Bystander Effect 

the tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present. 

Social Exchange Theory

the theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs.

Reciprocity Norm

an expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them. 

Social-Responsibility Norm

an expectation that people will help those needing their help.

Conflict

a perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas.

Social Trap

a situation in which two parties, by each pursuing their self-interest rather than the good of the group, become caught in mutually destructive behavior.

Mirror-Image Perceptions

mutual views often held by conflicting parties, as when each side sees itself as ethical and peaceful and views the other side as evil and aggressive.

Self-fulfilling Prophecy

a belief that leads to its own fulfillment.

Superordinate Goals 

shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation. 

GRIT

Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-Reduction; a strategy designed to decrease international tension.