AP Psychology - Unit 4.1-4.3 Vocabulary

Dispositional attribution

Explaining behaviors due to personality

Situational attribution

Explaining behaviors due to a situation

Optimistic explanatory style

Attitude that good things will happen and that people’s wishes or aims will ultimately be fulfilled

Pessimistic explanatory style

Attitude that things will go wrong and that people’s wishes or aims are unlikely to be fulfilled

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

Fundamental attribution error (FAE)

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

Self-serving bias

The tendency to credit yourself for success while blaming external factors outside of your control for failures

External locus of control

The perception that outside forces beyond our personal control determine our fate

Internal locus of control

The perception that we control our own fate

Mere exposure effect

An increased preference (or liking) for a stimulus as a consequence of repeated exposure to that stimulus

Self-fulfilling prophecy

A belief that leads to its own fulfillment

Social comparison

People evaluate their abilities and attitudes in relation to those of others in a process that plays a significant role in self-image and subjective well-being

Relative deprivation

The perception that we are worse off relative to those with whom we compare ourselves

Stereotype

A generalized belief about a group of people

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 and automatic attitudes

Just-world phenomenon

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

Out-group homogeneity bias

Our brain’s tendency to believe that people in other groups are all alike

In-group bias

The tendency to favor one’s own group

Ethnocentrism

Applying your own culture or ethnicity as a frame of reference to judge other cultures, practices, behaviors, beliefs, or people instead of using the standards of the particular culture involved

Belief perseverance

The tendency to cling to our beliefs in the face of contrary evidence

Confirmation bias

The tendency to search for, interpret, and recall information in a way that supports what we already believe and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence

Cognitive dissonance

A state of uneasiness that happens when you have inconsistent beliefs or behavior; people change their thoughts to help minimize feelings of discomfort

Social norms

Understood rules for accepted and expected behavior

Social influence theory

Theory that social pressure to believe or think in certain ways can be normative or informational

Normative social influence

Influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval

Informational social influence

Influence resulting from a person’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality

Elaboration likelihood model

Attitude change will depend upon the level of scrutiny we give to information; persuaded by either central or peripheral route

Central route to persuasion

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

Peripheral route to persuasion

Occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues (distractions, emotions, desire, conformity, celebrities, etc.)

Halo effect

The tendency to allow one specific trait or our overall impression of a person, company, or product to positively influence our judgment of their other related traits

Foot-in-the-door technique

Persuasion strategy where a person asks another person a small request to make them comply with larger requests eventually

Door-in-the-face technique

Persuasion strategy where a person first makes a large, unreasonable request that is likely to be rejected, then follows up with a smaller, more reasonable request, which the person is then more likely to agree to due to the contrast between the two requests

Conformity

Adjusting our behavior or thinking to follow the behavior and rules of the group we belong to

Obedience

Complying with an order or a command from an authority figure

Individualism

A cultural pattern that emphasizes people’s own goals over group goals and defines identity mainly in terms of unique personal attributes

Collectivism

A cultural pattern that prioritizes the goals of important groups (often one’s extended family or work group)

Multiculturalism

A society in which different ethnic and cultural groups have equal status and access to power but each maintains its own identity, characteristics, and more

Group polarization

When a person shifts to an extreme opinion when in a group

Groupthink

Phenomenon where people tend to confirm with group decisions to avoid feeling outcast (want harmony), leading to errors in decision making

Diffusion of responsibility

In a group, we feel able to share responsibility and this may lead to a reduction of effort

Social loafing

The tendency of an individual in a group to exert less effort toward attaining a common goal than when tested individually

Deindividuation

The loss of self-awareness and self-restraint in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity

Social facilitation

People show an increased level of effort as a result of the real, imagined, or implied presence of others

False consensus effect

The tendency to assume that one’s own opinions, beliefs, attributes, or behaviors are more widely shared than is actually the case

Superordinate goals

Shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation

Social traps

Situations in which conflicting groups, by pursuing their own self-interest, become caught in mutually destructive behavior

Industrial-organizational psychology

Branch of psychology that studies human behavior in the work environment and applies general psychological principles to work-related issues and problems

Altruism

Selfless behavior motivated by genuine concern for the welfare of others, even at a cost to oneself

Prosocial behavior

Behavior intended to benefit others or society as a whole

Social responsibility norm

A belief that we should help people who need our help (kids and those who can’t give as much as they receive), even if the costs outweigh the benefits

Social reciprocity norm

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

Bystander effect

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