AP Psychology Unit 4 Review

Person Perception

Mental processes we use to form judgments and draw conclusions about other people.

Attribution Theory

Theory we credit someone's behavior on either the situation (situational attributes) or the person's character (dispositional attributes). Varies among cultures.

Explanatory Style

Habitual way people explain life events; affects how one views themself and how others view them. Can be optimistic (+) or pessimistic (-).

Fundamental Attribution Error

Tendency for observers to underestimate the impact of a situation and overestimate the personal involvement someone else has; "logical leap"

Actor-Observer Bias

Tendency of people to attribute their behavior on outside forces but others on internal forces.

Self-Serving Bias

Tendency to judge our failures on outside forces but our successes on dispositional factors.

Locus of Control

A person's tendency to perceive the control of rewards as internal (we control our own fate) or external (environment determines our fate).

Mere-Exposure Effect

Repeated exposure causes people to like something more.

Equity

People get from a relationship what they put into it.

Altruism

Unselfish regard for the welfare of others

Bystander Effect

The tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to help if other bystanders are present.

Social Exchange Theory

Proposes social behavior is an exchange that aims to maximize benefits and minimize costs.

Reciprocity norm

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

Social Responsibility norm

An expectation that people will help those who need help.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

An individual's prediction causes new behavior that in turn makes their original (often false) beliefs come true.

Social Trap

A situation in which the conflicting parties pursue their own self-interests, creating mutually destructive behavior

Mirror-Image Perceptions

Mutual views often held by conflicting people, I.e. when each side sees itself as ethical and the other side as evil.

Superordinate Goals

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

Social Comparison

The theory that people evaluate themselves by judging other's worth relative to them.

Relative Deprivation

The idea that one can feel deprived or entitled to something in comparison to another.

Social Facilitation

Stronger responses on simple or well-learned tasks and weaker responses on difficult ones in the presence of others

Social Loafing

Tendency to exert less effort toward attaining a common goal in a group than when individually accountable.

Group Polarization

Tendency of group members to move to an extreme position after discussing an issue as a group.

Groupthink

A situation in which group members seek unanimous agreement despite their individual doubts.

Antisocial Behavior

Negative, destructive, unhelpful behavior

Stereotype

Overgeneralized belief about a group.

Discrimination

Unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its members.

Prejudice

An unjustifiable (usually negative) attitude toward a group/its members; often based on stereotypes.

Implicit Attitudes

People hold an attitude unconsciously, often contradicting our conscious beliefs.

Other-Race Effect

The tendency to recall faces of one's own race more accurately than faces of other races.

Just-World Phenomenon

Tendency for people to believe the world is fair and

that people therefore gets what they deserve.

Culture

Beliefs, customs, and traditions of a specific group of people.

Social identity

The "we" aspect of our self-concept

Outgroups

Social groups we don't identify with; "them"

Ingroups

Social groups we do identify with; "we"

Outgroup Homogenity

Tendency to see members of outgroups as more similar to one another than our ingroups.

Deindividuation

Loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations.

Ingroup Bias

Preferring your own group over others.

Ethnocentrism

Tendency to use your own culture as a standard to judge other cultures; believing your culture is superior.

Contact Hypothesis

Integrating different groups increases exposure and makes more positive attitudes.

Types of Love

Romantic (passionate love) or platonic (companionate love).

Belief Perseverance

Clinging to already disproven beliefs despite contrary evidence.

Cognitive Dissonance

Sense of discomfort or distress that occurs when a person's behavior does not correspond to that person's attitudes; justify or change.

G.R.I.T.

A global strategy designed to decrease international

tensions.

Social Norm

Understood rules and expectations for behaving.

Normative Influence

Conforming to fit in for approval or to avoid disapproval.

Informative Influence

Following others since their behavior is logical.

Role

Norms of behaving for a social position.

Persuasion

Attempting to change someone's beliefs.

- Can be done through logic (central route) or through emotion/incidentally (peripheral route)

Halo Bias

Cognitive bias where our impression of someone/something influences how we feel about its traits.

Foot-In-The-Door Technique

Tendency for people who first agreed to a small request to comply later to a larger request.

Door-In-The-Face Phenomenon

Large, unreasonable demand is followed by a smaller request that is the actual one expected to work.

Obedience

Compliance, influenced by social and personal control.

False Consensus Effect

The tendency to overestimate the extent to which others agree with us.

Personality

Patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving.

Psychodynamic Theory

Any theory of personality that emphasizes the influence of childhood conflicts and unconscious motivations.

Unconscious

Processing that we are unaware of; Reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, memories, etc.

Free Association

Person talks freely without censoring thoughts, revealing unconscious motives.

Psychoanalytic Theory

Personality arises from a conflict between impulse and restraint; trying to solve this determines personality.

Id

Reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that strives to satisfy basic sexual/aggressive drives; demands pleasure.

Superego

Partly conscious part of personality that represents moral principles that provide standard for judgement.

Ego

Conscious, executive part of personality mediating between the demands of the Id, Superego, and Reality; Compromise.

Ego Defense Mechanisms

Ego unconsciously distorts reality to defend itself from threats/anxiety.

Repression

Banishes conscious anxiety-arousing thoughts.

Regression

Revert to child-like behavior.

Projection

Accusing someone of your own feelings/behavior, concealing own impulse.

Displacement

Redirecting impulses to something less bad.

Reaction Formation

Switching unacceptable impulses into their opposites.

Rationalization

Self-justifying unacceptable actions or thoughts.

Denial

Refusing to acknowledge threats.

Sublimation

Channel unacceptable impulses to positive, constructive activity.

Collective Unconscious

Jung's name for the memories shared by all members of the human species.

Terror-Management Theory

How people cope with the knowledge of their own mortality.

Projective Tests

Personality test that uses ambiguous "vague" images to explore the unconscious mind.

Rorschach Inkblots

A projective test where people describe what they see in inkblots.

Thematic Apperception Test

A projective test where people make up stories about ambiguous images.

Physiological Needs

Basic bodily requirements.

Humanistic Theory

Emphasizes ways people strive for self-determination and self-realization based on self-reports.

Self-Actualization Tendency

The striving to fulfill one's innate capacities and capabilities

Self-Transcendence

Striving for identity, meaning, and purpose beyond the self.

Unconditional Positive Regard

Caring acceptance and non-judgemental behavior towards others.

Social Cognitive Theories

Explore interaction between traits and social context

Behavioural Approach

Emphasizes affect of learning on personality development.

Reciprocal Determinism

Interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment that shape personality.

Traits

Enduring characteristics assessed by self/peer-reports.

Personality Inventory

A questionnaire (often with true-false or agree-disagree items) to gauge feelings and assess personality traits.

Empirically Derived Tests

Test developed by testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

a well-researched, clinical questionnaire used to assess personality and psychological problems.

Self

Center of personality

Self-Concept

Description and evaluation of oneself

Self-Efficacy

Perception of capabilities

Self-Esteem

Degree to which self concept is perceived as positive.

Spotlight effect

Overestimating how much others notice us.

Factor Analysis

Statistical procedure that identifies clusters of items associated with traits.

Big Five Theory (OCEAN)

5 Main, Stable Personality Traits:

• Openness (Creativity / Curiosity)

• Conscientiousness (Organization / Responsibility)

• Extraversion (Outgoingness)

• Agreeableness (Cooperativeness / Caring)

• Neuroticism (Emotional Stability)

Narcissism

Excess self-love

Individualism vs Collectivism

The prioritization of an individual versus a group.

Drive Reduction Theory

Body creates a drive that motivates an organism to satisfy a need.

Homeostasis

Body's tendency to maintain internal steady state of metabolism.

Arousal Theory

Relationship between arousal and performance based on Yerkes-Dodson Law.