Psych Unit 4-B

Conscious

Mental processes you’re aware of

Preconscious

Mental processes that you’re not currently aware of but can be easily brought to consciousness

Unconscious

Inaccessible mental processes that can influence thought, judgement, or behavior

Id

Pleasure principle; “devil on your shoulder”

Superego

Moral compass; “angel on your shoulder”

Ego

Reality principle

Projective Tests

“Projecting” internal, unconscious attitudes on ambiguous stimuli

Defense mechanisms

Serve to protect the ego

Denial

Refusal to accept an anxiety-producing piece of info

Displacement

Redirecting anger toward a less-threatening person or object

Projection

Transferring one’s own unacceptable qualities to others

Rationalization

Distorting reality in order to justify something that’s happened

Reaction formation

Thinking/behaving in a way that’s opposite of your own unacceptable thoughts/feelings

Regression

Retreating from a threatening situation by reverting to a pattern of behavior characteristic of an earlier stage of development

Repression

Preventing anxiety-producing thoughts, memories, and painful feelings by pushing them to the unconscious

Sublimination

Diverting unwanted impulses into socially approved thoughts, feelings, and behaviors

Factor analysis

Technique to summarize and reduce large, correlated data sets into a smaller number of underlying factors or patterns

Conscientiousness

Someone with a high score in this area may be careful, dependable, self-disciplined

Agreeableness

Someone with a high score in this area may be courteous, good-natured, empathetic, caring

Neuroticism

Someone with a high score in this area may be anxious, hostile, depressed

Openness

Someone with a high score in this area may be imaginative, creative, curious, sensitive

Extraversion

Someone with a high score in this area may be outgoing, talkative, sociable, assertive

Self-actualizing tendency

The innate human drive towards growth, fulfillment, and realizing one’s full potential

Unconditional positive regard

An attitude of acceptance of self and others despite their short comings

Real self vs. ideal self

Who you are currently vs. who you hope to be

Congruent vs. incongruent

Strong overlap vs. little overlap

Reciprocal determinism

Three interconnected pieces that determine personality; a person’s behaviors are influenced by, and influence, environmental factors and personal cognitive factors

Self-concept

How one views oneself internally and in relation to others

Self-efficacy

One’s confidence in their ability to succeed

Self-esteem

An individual’s subjective emotional evaluation of their own worth

Dispositional (internal) attribution

Assumption that behavior reflects internal dispositions such as personal attitudes, beliefs, or personality

Situational (external) attribution

Assumption that behavior reflects external influences such as environmental conditions or culture

Explanatory style (pessimistic vs. optimistic)

Bad events are permanent, global, and internal vs. bad events are temporary, specific, and external

Internal locus of control

One’s own actions control outcomes

External locus of control

Outside factors control outcomes

Fundamental attribution error

Tendency to overemphasize dispositional factors to explain other people’s behavior and underemphasize situational factors

Self-serving bias

Overemphasis of dispositional factors for our successes, while overemphasizing situational factors beyond our control for our failures

Just world phenomenon

Tendency to believe that people “get what they deserve,” especially in bad situations

Cognitive dissonance

State of psychological tension or discomfort when a person’s beliefs and behaviors are inconsistent

Social comparison

People evaluate themselves based on comparisons to other members of society or social circles

Upward

Other group perceived as superior; may encourage self-improvement or serve as models for behavior

Downward

Other group perceived as inferior

Relative Deprivation

Actual (or perceived) lack of a resource, can lead to frustration

Ingroup bias

Tendency to favor one's own group

Outgroup-homogeneity bias

Tendency to perceive members of an outgroup as more similar than they actually are

Stereotyping

Fixed, overgeneralized beliefs about a group of people

Scapegoating

A group is made to become the outlet for anger/blame

Prejudice

Negative attitudes toward a group, based on stereotypes

Discrimination

Behavior or action that causes us to treat people differently

Ethnocentrism

Tendency of individuals to judge other cultures by the standards and values of their own culture

Self-fulfilling prophecy

Your expectations about an individual influences your behavior towards them, which influences this person’s behavior towards you

Social facilitation

The tendency for an individual’s performance to improve when simple or well-learned are performed in the presence of others

Social inhibition

Tendency for an individual’s performance to decline when complex or unrehearsed tasks are performed in the presence of others

Conformity & Solomon Asch’s Line Test

Adjustment of behavior to align with the behavior of others due to social influence

Obedience & Stanley Milgram’s electrical shock experiment

Adjustment of behavior in compliance with direct command

Norms, role-playing, and Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment

Normative social influence

Informational social influence

Mere exposure effect

Central route to persuasion

Peripheral route to persuasion

The halo effect

Foot-in-the-door phenomenon

Door-in-the-face phenomenon

Belief perseverance

Confirmation bias

Individualism

Cultural emphasis on goals and rights of an individual

Collectivism

Cultural emphasis on group goals, interpersonal relationships, and behavior for the good of the group

Multiculturalism

Coexistence of diverse cultural groups within a society, promoting the recognition, appreciation, and preservation of different cultural identities

Social traps

Situations where individuals/groups engage in actions that seem individually beneficial but negative for society at large or group as a whole

Groupthink

The desire for harmony/conformity results in an incorrect/errant decision-making

Deindividuation

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

Social loafing

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

Bystander effect

Tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to provide aid if other bystanders are present

False consensus effect

Group polarization

Social reciprocity norm

Social responsibility norm

Altruism

Superordinate goals