AP Psych

Psychodynamic Perspective

how behavior is based on unconscious aspects of a person; usually aspects that developed during childhood

Behavioral Perspective

how behavior is shaped by environment/ environmental aspects

Humanistic Perspective

desire for personal growth and achieving one’s potential

Cognitive Perspective

how people think/remember/make judgements/etc

Biological Perspective

how one’s biology affects behavior and other traits (genes)

Evolutionary Perspective

how traits/behavior results from evolution

Sociocultural Perspective

how behavior/traits are influenced by culture/social groups

random assignment

method used to randomly assign participants to different groups (experimental groups and control)

case study

research method involving in depth examination of an individual or group

naturalistic observation

research method where scientists observe subjects and record behavior w/out manipulating anything

experiment/ experimental study

research done under controlled conditions; point is to establish cause and effect relationship (MUST have independent/dependent variables)

longitudinal study

research that lasts a long time; may follow same subject(s) throughout their lifetime

cross sectional study

research study that examines data from different groups at a single point in time

correlational study

research that determines if a relationship exsists between variables w/out manipulating variables

confounding variable

extraneous factor(s) that influences the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable, making it difficult to determine the true relationship between the variables

attribution theory

explains how people guage if someone’s behavior is caused by their personality or their situation

dispositional attribution

assuming a person’s behavior is based on their personality (not situation)

situational attribution

assuming a person’s behavior is due to their situation/circumstance

fundamental attribution error

people tend to assume that someone’s behavior is due to their personality (disposition) rather than situation

actor-observer bias

you tend to blame your behaviors on the circumstance/situation and blame the behaviors of other people on their personality

self-serving bias

when you succeed you credit your personality and when you fail you blame your circumstances

just-world hypothesis

idea that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people

peripheral route of persuasion

persuasion that relies on superficial stuff NOT logic

halo effect

your first impression of someone influences how you feel about their character

central route of persuasion

using logic and evidence to convince someone of something

foot in the door technique

persuasion strat where you start w/ a small request that an individual will say yes to b/c then they are more likely to say yes to bigger subsequent requests

door in the face technique

persuasion strat where you start w/ a big request knowing the other perso will say no b/c then if you follow up with a smaller request they are more likely to say yes to that

cognitive dissonance

psychological discomfort experienced when you hold conflicting beliefs/attitudes or when your actions don’t match your beliefs

cognitive dissonance theory

we are motivated to reduce dissonance by changing our behavior/belief or adding a new belief to better match our actions and thoughts

conformity

process of adjusting your own thoughts/feelings/behavior to align with those of a group

result of real or imagined pressure

normative social influence

influence that makes you conform specifically b/c you want to be accepted/liked

informational social influence

Influence that makes you conform your beliefs b/c you think you’re wrong and the other people are right . Pertains to the idea that if a bunch of people all think one thing, it must be true.

obedience

following direct commands

(usually from authority; follow no matter if they contradict personal beliefs or morals)

Milgram experiment

measured how willing people were to obey an authority figure when the commands went against morality

(Individuals were told to administer electric shocks to actors. Each time, the voltage was supposedly increasing and they were inflicting more pain. The experiment was trying to see how far the individuals would be willing to obey)

factors that increases obedience

1. physical proximity to the person giving orders

2. how much authority you perceive the person giving orders to have (perceived legitimacy)

3. distance/depersonalization of victim (whoever they may hurt when following orders)

4. lack of model for defiance

issues with Milgram’s experiment

• no informed consent

• deception w/ no debriefing

• caused emotional disturbance to participants

• participants couldn’t stop when they wanted ( they’d be coerced into continuing)

social facilitation

strengthened performance in the presence of others

may decrease task difficulty b/c you feel encouraged by others

social inhibition

decreased performance in the presence of others

social loafing

tendency for individuals to put in less effort when working in a group

free-rider effect

relying on others to do all the work b/c they think since its a group their own personal contribution isn’t noticeable or important

diffusion of resposibility

feeling less responsibility for group work b/c responsibility is perceived as divided amongst the group members

sucker effect

only doing your part and refusing to do anything else so social loafers can’t take advantage of you

group polarization

after group discussion, people’s views become more extreme due to reinforcement from the group

groupthink

When making decisions with a group, people want to maintain harmony and prevent disputes within the group; so much so that it overrides being realistic.

Everyone just conforms to the general consensus without thinking about alternatives or questioning it; leading to poor decisions being made

Edward Thorndike’s Law of Effect

behaviors followed by favorable outcomes (rewarded) are more likely to be repeated while behaviors followed by unfavorable outcomes (punishment) are less likely to be repeated

BF Skinner

researched how consequences influences behavior

operant conditioning

strengthening or weakening a behavior using consequences (reward or punishment)

based on Edward Thorndike’s Law of Effect

skinner box

developed by BF Skinner; was an operant chamber that holds a small animal and a button (or some other object) to press for a reward

shaping

gradually reinforcing behaviors that are closer and closer to the desired behavior (think training a dog)

chaining

breaks a task down into small steps then teaches each step individually

reinforcement

anything that can be used to strengthen/increase behavior

positive reinforcement

presenting a desirable stimulus after a behavior to increase the behavior

negative reinforcement

removing a negative stimulus after a behavior to increase said behavior

punishment

anything used to decrease a behavior

positive punishment

adding a bad stimulus after a behavior to discourage it

negative punishment

taking something good away after a behavior to discourage the behavior

fixed ratio reinforcement schedule

a behavior is reinforced after a specific number or responses

variable ratio reinforcement schedule

behavior is reinforced after a varied number of responses

fixed interval reinforcement schedule

behavior is reinforced after a specific amount of time

Ex) working hard is reinforced with a paycheck every two weeks

variable interval reinforcement schedule

behavior is reinforced after varied amount of time

Ex.) your texts are responded to after varied amounts of time