AP Psychology Unit 4

Dispositional Attribution

Assumes that the cause of a behavior or outcome is internal (personality trait, mental abilities)

Ex. if a student fails a test, they will attribute the failure to their own poor work habits or lack of intellectual abilities.

Situational Attribution

assumes the cause of a behavior or outcome is due to external conditions.

Ex. If a student fails a test, they might attribute the failure to a bad teacher.

Explanatory Style

Refers to how people explain good and bad events that happen to themselves and to others.

• This can be positive “I can cope, the problem is not a big deal”, or a pessimistic view where the event is perceived as highly stressful.

Self-serving Bias

A tendency for individuals to attribute their success to internal factors and their failures to external factors, enhancing self-esteem and protecting self-image.

Ex. When an athlete wins a game, they may credit their talent and training, but if they lose, they might blame the referee or poor weather conditions.

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to overemphasize personal characteristics and underestimate situational factors when evaluating other’s behaviors.

Ex. If a coworker misses a deadline, one might attribute it to laziness rather than considering potential health or family challenges the individuals might be facing.

Actor-Observer Bias

People tend to attribute their own bad actions to situational factors while attributing others’ bad actions to personal traits.

EX. If someone is late to a meeting, they might say it was due to traffic, but they assume a colleague who is late is disorganized

Internal Locus of Control

Believing you have control of your life.

External Locus of Control

Believing external factors control your life.

Interpersonal Attraction

The tendency to positively evaluate a person and then to gravitate toward that person.

• Interpersonal Attraction is influenced by positive evaluation, shared opinions, and good physical appearance.

Positive Evaluation

Refers to the fact that we like to be positively evaluated and, therefore, we tend to prefer the company of people who think highly of us.

Shared Opinions

We prefer the company of people who share the same opinions as us.

Mere Exposure Effect

Encountering something repeatedly makes people like it more.

Self-fulfilling Prophecy

A prediction that comes true because a person expects it to happen.

Ex. If Person A expects Person B to fail then Person B is more likely to fail.

Rosenthal Effect

High expectations lead to improved performance, while low expectations lead to poor performance.

Social Comparison Theory

Individuals determine their own self-wroth based on the abilities of others.

Ex. People can inflate their self-esteem by taking pride in the accomplishments of an individual or group that the person strongly affiliates with in their life (Minorities feeling proud and accomplished when other minorities succeed)

Social Identities

Social identities are how individuals are seen in the context of their society (work, religion, gender, sexuality)

Ex. Someone’s social identities might be lawyer, young adult, Muslim, and female.

Personal Identities

Personal identities are generally words that describe personality (kind, generous, thoughtful, insightful)

Intersectionality

The effects and nature of overlapping social identities.

Ex. Someone who identifies as female, Latina, and bisexual can provide a window into each of these social identities.

Primary Group

A group of close friends and acquaintances who share the same interests or values.

Ex. Being a part of a running group with others who share a passion for running

In-group vs Outgroup

• In-groups are of individuals with a shared identity (teachers share an in-group with other teachers)

• Individuals do not have a shared identity (Punk vs Preppy)

People favor those they share a common identity with (in-group bias) and disdain those outside their group.

Stereotypes

Assumptions about a characteristic of an entire group

Ex. Thinking all Black people are violent

Prejudice

Pre-conceived belief about a person based on their membership in a particular group

Ex. Thinking someone is dumb because they are blond

Discrimination

Engaging in unjust treatment of a person or group based on the prejudicial belief (prejudice is the though, discrimination is the action)

Ex. Refusing to hire a blond because you think all blonds are stupid

Implicit Bias

Someones unconsciously negative attitude against a specific social group.

• The person might not be consciously aware of their negative beliefs but that bias manifests in their speech and actions.

Out-group Homogeneity Bias

The tendency to view all members of an out-group as more similar than they actually are while members of one’s in group are diverse.

Just-world Phenomenon

The tendency to believe the world is just and fair; people get what they deserve and deserve what they get (i.e victim blaming)

Ex. If you pull out your wallet on the street and you get robbed, you deserve to be robbed because you didn’t show street smarts

Belief Perseverance

A person only sees the evidence that supports their position/belief

Cognitive Dissonance

When a person’s behavior and beliefs contradict each other, this creates unwanted tension that one tries to remove through adjustment.

• Generally, people adjust their attitudes and continue their behavior.

Ex. Law-abiding citizens speed frequently because people have changed their attitude to not care about the law in order to continue their behavior.

Social Norms

Expectations for the behavior of individuals that change from society to society.

Ex. In the west, people greet by saying hello and shaking hands. In other societies, people greet through bows.

Social Influence Theory

Society places pressure on its members to conform to certain standards of behavior or though

Normative Social Influence

Going along with others in pursuit of social approval or belonging (and to avoid disapproval/rejection). 

Informational Social Influence

Going along with others because their ideas and behavior make sense, the evidence in our social environment changes our minds. 

Elaboration Likelihood Model

Explains that people are persuaded by multiple factors labeled central route of persuasion and peripheral route of persuasion.

• The content of a message (the logic of its argument)

• The length of the message

• The appearance of the person delivering the message

Central Route of Persuasion

People are persuaded by the content of the argument.

• They are influenced by the logic & evidence presented in the message

Peripheral Route of Persuasion

People are persuaded by superficial or secondary characteristics of the message or individual delivering the message.

• They are influenced by the length of the message, the expertise of the speaker, and the attractiveness of the speaker.

Groupthink

a phenomenon in which group members prioritize harmony and unanimous decisions over critical evaluation of alternatives or dissenting opinions, leading to flawed decision-making and the suppression of opposing viewpoints.

Mindguard

Ostracizing members of the group who do not agree with the rest

Collectivist Culture

The needs of the society are placed before the needs of the individual

Individualistic Culture

Personal needs are put above the needs of society

Social Facilitation

Increase in task performance when that task is performed in the presence of others.

Social Inhibition

The presence of others makes performance worse

Ex. Giving a speech infant of your class