Myers' Psychology Modules 4.1-4.8

Attribution theory

We tend to explain someone’s behavior by crediting either the situation (situational attributions) or a person’s stable traits (dispositional attributions).

Fundamental Attribution Error

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

Self-serving bias

The tendency, when analyzing our own behavior, to attribute it to external, situational causes.

Actor-observer bias

The tendency for those acting in a situation to make situational attributions about themselves, but for observers to make dispositional attributions about others.

False-consensus effect

The tendency to overestimate the amount of other people who share your opinion.

Stereotype

A generalized belief about a person or group of people.

Implicit bias

The unconscious attitudes or stereotypes that affect our thinking and behavior towards and person or group of people.

Just-world phenomenon

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

Ingroup bias

The tendency to favor our own groups over other groups.

Outgroup homogeneity bias

The tendency to believe that people in outgroups are more similar to each other, and less diverse. This bias leads to the assumption that all members of an outgroup share similar characteristics and behaviors.

Attitudes

Feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events.

Foot-in-the-door phenomenon

The tendency for people to comply with a large request after first agreeing to a small request.

Door-in-the-face phenomenon

The tendency for people to reject a large request but then agree to a smaller request.

Cognitive dissonance theory

The theory that we behave in ways to make our actions and attitudes line up. When they are inconsistent, it leads to discomfort, prompting us to change either our attitudes or actions to reduce the dissonance.

Central route of persuasion

A method of persuasion that focuses on logical arguments and factual evidence to change attitudes.

Peripheral route of persuasion

A method of persuasion that relies on emotional appeals and superficial cues (such as the speaker’s attractiveness), rather than logical arguments, to influence attitudes.

Conformity

Adjusting behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.

Normative social influence

Influences that results from a person’s desire to gain approval and to appear normal to the group.

Informational social influence

Influences that results from a person’s willingness to accept others’ opinions to seem “correct” in the group.

Obedience

Complying to an order or command from a person perceived as legitimate and an authority figure.

Social facilitation

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

Social loafing

The tendency of people in a group to put in less effort overall when pooling efforts to achieve a common goal vs. when held individually accountable.

Deindividuation

The lose of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity, like riots.

Group polarization

The enhancement of a group’s pre-existing attitudes through discussion within the group. Attitudes become more extreme after discussion with like-minding individuals.

Groupthink

The mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony and consensus in decision-making groups overrides realistic appraisal and objection to decisions.

Frustration-aggression principle

The principle that frustration—the blocking of an attempt to achieve goals—creates feelings of anger, which leads to aggressive behavior.

Mere exposure effect

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

Bystander effect

The tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present. The phenomenon is due to the diffusion of responsibility, which says that in a large group, individual responsibility is lowered because it is perceived that others can provide help.

Exchange theory

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

Reciprocity norm

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

Social responsibility norm

The expectation that people will help those needing their help, like elderly people and young children.

Social traps

Situations in which individuals or groups act in their own self-interest, leading to negative outcomes for the group.

Self-fulfilling prophecy

A belief that leads to its own fulfillment because it impacts behavior, causing a person to act in a way that will confirm the belief.

Superordinate goals

Shared goals that override difference among people and require their cooperation.

Personality

An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and behavior.

Free association

In psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing.

Id

In psychoanalysis, it is the reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy sexual and aggressive.

Superego

In psychoanalysis, it is the partly conscious part of personality that represents internalized ideals and moral beliefs. It is constantly clashing with the id.

Ego

In psychoanalysis, it is the part of personality that mediates between the desires of the id and the constraints of the superego, operating on the reality principle.

Psychosexual stages

Freud's theory of personality development, consisting of five stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital, where each stage focuses on different pleasure areas.

Oedipus complex

The collection of feelings (during the phallic stage) that onvolve unconscious sexual desire towards one;s opposite-sex parent, and jealousy of one’s same-sex parent.

Defense mechanisms

In psychoanalysis, they are the ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality.

Repression

A defense mechanism that involves burying distressing thoughts and memories in the unconscious mind.

Regression

A defense mechanism where an individual reverts to behaviors characteristic of an earlier stage of development, often in response to stress or anxiety.

Reaction formation

A defense mechanism where an individual behaves in a way that is opposite to their true feelings to reduce anxiety associated with those feelings.

Projection

A defense mechanism in which individuals attribute their own unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or motives to another person, thereby alleviating their own anxiety.

Displacement

A defense mechanism where an individual redirects feelings or impulses to someone or something else.

Rationalization

A defense mechanism where individuals offer self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening unconscious reasons for one’s actions.

Sublimation

A defense mechanism where socially unacceptable impulses or idealizations are transformed into socially acceptable actions or behaviors.

Denial

A defense mechanism wherein an individual refuses to accept reality or facts, thus blocking external events from awareness.

Collective unconscious

Carl Jung’s concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memories and themes from human history.

Archetypes

In Carl Jung’s psychoanalytic theories, they are any set of symbols that represents aspects of the psyche that derive from the accumulated experience of humankind (the collective unconscious). The Anima/Animus, The Self, The Shadow, and The Persona are the major examples of these.

Projective tests

A personality test that provides ambiguous images designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics and explore the pre-conscious and unconscious mind. These tests include the Rorschach Inkblot Test and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT).

Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow’s theory that prioritizes human needs in a five-tier model, where basic needs must be met before higher-level psychological needs can be addressed. Typically presented as a pyramid with tiers; physiological needs being the base of the pyramid, and self-actualization needs being at the very top of the pyramid.

Unconditional positive regard

A caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed would help people develop self-awareness and self-acceptance.

Person-centered approach

A therapeutic approach developed by Carl Rogers that emphasizes creating a supportive environment where clients can explore their thoughts and feelings without judgment.

Trait theory

The theory of personality that revolves around self-report inventories and peer reports to measure a specific pattern of behavior or disposition to act in certain ways.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

A se;f-report questionaire designed to categorize individuals in 16 distinct personality types. Types are determine by answers to question that lean towards Extroversion/Introversion, Intuition/Observation, Thinking/Feeling, and Perceiving/Judging.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

A standardized psychometric test used to assess and diagnose mental disorders by measuring a variety of psychological conditions and personality attributes. It is the most widely researched and clinically used personality inventories.

Big Five inventory

A personality assessment tool that measures individuals across five main dimensions: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism (OCEAN).

Barnum effect

The tendency for people to accept vague personality descriptors as accurate.

Reciprocal determinism

The theory that human behavior is influenced by the interaction of personal factors, environmental influences, and behavior. Each factor affects and is affected by the others.

Self-esteem

Our feelings of high or low self worth than can affect our behaviors and mental health.

Self-efficacy

Our sense of competence and effectiveness. Alfred Adler introduced the concept, and the ideas of inferiority and superiority complexes that relate to the concept.

Dunning-Kruger effect

The ignorance of one’s own incompetence. People (especially in Western cultures) tend to believe they can do more and know more than they actually do.

Motivation

The need or desire that energizes and directs behavior.

Drive-Reduction theory

The theory that a physiological need (drive) creates an aroused state that motivates an organism to satisfy the need. This satisfaction reduces the drive and restores balance.

Incentive theory

The theory that emphasizes the role of external stimuli in motivating behavior, suggesting that we are driven to pursue rewards and avoid punishments.

Arousal theory

The theory that suggests that individuals are motivated to maintain an optimal level of arousal, which can vary depending on the task at hand. Too much or too little arousal can negatively impact performance.

Yerkes-Dodson Law

The principle that performance increase with arousal up to a point, beyond which performance decreases with increasing arousal.

Self-determination theory

The theory that we are motivated by the needs to satisfy feelings of competence, autonomy, and relatedness.

Intrinsic motivation

The desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake and for the joy of performing it.

Extrinsic motivation

The desire to perform a behavior to receive a promised reward or avoid threatened punishment.

Overjustification

The tendency for intrinsic motivation to diminish when external rewards are given for behaviors that are already intrinsically rewarding.

Achievement motivation

A desire for significant accomplishment, for mastery of skills, for control, or for attaining a high standard.

Ghrelin

A hormone that secreted by an empty stomach that stimulates appetite, signals hunger to the brain, and plays a role in regulating energy balance.

Leptin

A hormone produced by fat cells that helps regulate energy balance by inhibiting hunger, signaling satiety to the brain.

Emotion

The response of the whole organism, involving (1) physiological arousal, (2) expressive behaviors, and (3) conscious experience resulting from one’s interpretations of the situation.

James-Lange theory

The theory that emotions arise from physiological arousal.

Cannon-Bard theory

The theory that physiological arousal and emotional experience occur simultaneously and independently.

Schachter Two-Factor theory

The theory that emotions are determined by physiological arousal and cognitive labeling of that arousal.

LeDoux theory

The theory that emotions can bypass the conscious thought process and be processed directly by the amygdala, leading to immediate emotional responses.

Lazarus’ theory

The theory that emotions are determined by an individual's appraisal of a situation, where cognitive evaluation occurs before the emotional/physiological response.

Facial feedback effect

The tendency of facial muscle states to trigger corresponding feelings such as happiness or sadness, indicating that facial expressions can influence emotional experiences.

Behavior feedback affect

The tendency of behavior to influence our own and others’ thoughts, feelings, and actions.