AP Psychology - Unit 4a Vocab

Attribution (Attribution Theory)

Explains how people decide whether someone’s behavior is caused by their personality or their situation.

Dispositional Attributions

Assuming a person's actions are due to their personality, not their situation.

Situational Attributions

Assuming a person's actions are due to their circumstances, not their personality.

Explanatory Style

How a person usually explains the reasons behind events—whether they blame themselves or outside factors.

Actor-Observer Bias

The habit of blaming our own actions on the situation but blaming other people’s actions on their personality.

Internal Locus of Control

The belief that one's own actions and decisions directly influence the outcomes and events in their life.

Mere Exposure Effect

The phenomenon where repeated exposure to a stimulus increases an individual's preference for that stimulus.

Self Fulfilling Prophecy

When a belief about a situation or a person leads to actions that make the belief come true.

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to blame people’s actions more on their personality and less on their situation.

Self-Serving Bias

The tendency to attribute one’s successes to personal characteristics and failures to external factors, enhancing one's self-esteem.

External Locus of Control

The belief that outcomes and events are determined by external forces or fate, rather than one's own actions.

Social Comparison

The process of evaluating oneself by comparing with others, often to assess one's abilities, status, or opinions.

Relative Deprivation

A feeling of dissatisfaction or injustice experienced when individuals compare themselves to others and perceive that they are worse off.

Stereotype

A generalized belief about a particular category of people, often oversimplified and not based on direct experience.

Cognitive Load

Mental effort required for processing information.

Prejudice

An unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group and its members.

Discrimination

Unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group or its members.

Implicit Attitudes

Unconscious beliefs or feelings that influence a person's behavior and perceptions without their awareness.

Just-World Phenomenon

A belief that the world is fundamentally fair, leading people to rationalize injustice or misfortune as deserved.

Belief Perseverance

The tendency to hold on to one's initial beliefs even after they have been shown to be false, often ignoring contradictory evidence presented.

Confirmation Bias

A tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses.

Out-Group Homogeneity Bias

The tendency to see members of an outgroup as more similar to each other than they really are, often perceiving them as less varied than members of one's own group.

In-Group Bias

The tendency to favor and extend loyalty to members of one's own group over those in other groups, often leading to preferential treatment and judgment.

Ethnocentrism

The belief in the inherent superiority of one's own ethnic group or culture, often accompanied by a feeling of contempt for other groups.

Cognitive Dissonance

A psychological discomfort experienced when simultaneously holding conflicting beliefs, attitudes, or values, often leading to an alteration in one of the beliefs or behaviors to reduce the discomfort.

Social Influence Theory

Behavior shaped by real or imagined pressure.

Normative Social Influence

The influence to conform to the positive expectations of others, driven by the desire to be liked or accepted by the group.

Informational Social Influence

The influence to accept information from others as evidence about reality, often occurring in situations where the correct action or belief is uncertain.

Central Route Persuasion

A method of persuasion that involves deeply engaging with the content of a message, leading to careful analysis and thoughtful consideration, typically resulting in more durable attitude change.

Peripheral Route Persuasion

A method of persuasion that relies on superficial cues such as attractiveness or credibility of the speaker, rather than the actual content of the message, leading to temporary attitude changes.

Individualism

Prioritizing personal goals over group goals.

Collectivism

Prioritizing group goals over personal goals.

Multiculturalism

Valuing multiple cultural identities within society.

Group Polarization

When people in a group talk about an idea, they often end up agreeing even more strongly with each other, making their group opinion more extreme.

Prosocial Behavior

Actions intended to help others.

Altruism

The selfless concern for the well-being of others, leading to behavior that benefits others at a personal cost.

Social Responsibility Norm

The societal expectation that people should help others who need assistance, without regard to future exchanges.

Halo Effect

The cognitive bias where a positive impression in one area (like attractiveness) leads to positive evaluations in other areas, influencing overall judgments about a person.

Foot-in-the-Door Technique

A persuasive strategy where agreement to a small, initial request increases the likelihood of compliance with a larger, subsequent request.

Door-in-the-Face Technique

A persuasion strategy where a large, initial request is made knowing it will be refused, followed by a smaller, more reasonable request that is more likely to be accepted.

Conformity

The process by which individuals adjust their thoughts, feelings, or behavior to align with those of a group, as a result of real or imagined group pressure.

Social Norms

Unwritten rules that dictate acceptable behavior within a society or group, influencing how individuals act and interact.

Obedience

The act of following direct commands, usually from an authority figure, even if they contradict personal beliefs or morals.

Groupthink

The desire for harmony or conformity in a group leads to irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcomes. Members suppress dissenting opinions, leading to a loss of individual creativity and responsibility.

Diffusion of Responsibility

Social Loafing

The tendency for individuals to exert less effort when working in a group than when working alone.

Deindividuation

A psychological state where individuals lose their self-awareness and sense of individuality in group settings, often leading to impulsive and deviant behavior.

Social Facilitation

The tendency for people to perform differently when in the presence of others, typically showing improved performance on simple or well-practiced tasks and worse performance on complex or new tasks.

Bystander Effect

The phenomenon where individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present. The greater the number of bystanders, the less likely any one individual is to help.

Companionate Love

Deep affection, commitment, long-term attachment.

Passionate Love

Intense, arousing romantic attraction.