AP-Psych Unit 4

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to overestimate internal/dispositional factors and underestimate situational factors when judging others' behavior.

Self Serving Bias

The tendency to attribute our successes to ourselves and our failures to external factors.

Cognitive Dissonance

The mental tension we feel when our behaviors and attitudes don't match; we usually change our attitude to align with the behavior.

Central Route Persuasion

Persuasion based on logic, facts, and the content of the message.

Peripheral Route Persuasion

Persuasion based on incidental cues, such as a speaker’s attractiveness or celebrity endorsements.

Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon

The tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request.

Conformity

Adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard (Asch’s line study).

Normative Social Influence

Conforming to avoid rejection or to gain social approval

Informational Social Influence

Conforming because we believe the group has more accurate information than we do.

Social Loafing — The tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward a common goal.

The tendency for people in a group to exert less effort when pooling their efforts toward a common goal.

Deindividuation

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

Group Polarization

The enhancement of a group’s prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group.

Groupthink

The mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives.

Id

Freud's concept of the unconscious psychic energy that strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives (pleasure principle).

Ego

The "executive" part of personality that mediates between the id and superego (reality principle).

Superego

The part of personality that represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscience).

Defense Mechanisms

The ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality (e.g., Repression, Projection, Displacement).

Self Actualization

According to Maslow, the ultimate psychological need that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met; the motivation to fulfill one’s potential.

Unconditional Positive Regard

According to Rogers, an attitude of total acceptance toward another person.

The Big Five (OCEAN)

The five broad personality traits: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.

Self Efficacy

One's belief in one's ability to succeed in specific situations or to accomplish a task (Bandura).

Reciprocal Determinism

The interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment.

Internal Locus of Control

The perception that you control your own fate.

External Locus of Control

The perception that chance or outside forces beyond your personal control determine your fate.