AP Psychology Vocabulary | Unit 4: Social Psychology & Personality

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Ego

The largely conscious, "executive" part of personality that mediates decision making, operating on the reality principle to satisfy desires realistically.

Defense Mechanisms

Unconscious psychological strategies used to cope with anxiety or emotional distress, protecting the ego from overwhelming thoughts or feelings.

Denial

An individual refuses to acknowledge or accept an uncomfortable reality or truth, serving as a way to protect themselves from emotional distress or anxiety

Displacement

The redirection of negative feelings from one person or thing to another; a person deals with the tension or anxiety associated with negative feelings by releasing them on a nonthreatening target.

Projection

An individual attributes their own unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or impulses to someone else; blaming someone else for their feelings.

Rationalization

Creating seemingly logical explanations to justify unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or behaviors, often to avoid acknowledging the true, potentially uncomfortable, underlying reasons and protect the ego from discomfort and guilt.

Reaction Formation

Involves replacing an unwanted feeling with its opposite, often expressed in an exaggerated manner.

Regression

An individual reverts to earlier, more immature behaviors or coping mechanisms in response to stress, anxiety, or conflict.

Repression

Pushing or blocking unacceptable or anxiety-provoking thoughts, feelings, and memories out of conscious awareness.

Sublimation

Channeling unacceptable impulses or emotions into socially acceptable and constructive activities, rather than acting them out destructively.

Unconscious

Mental activities and processes occurring outside of conscious awareness, influencing thoughts, feelings, and behaviors without our direct knowledge.

Personality

An individual's unique and enduring pattern of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that persist over time and across situations.

Psychodynamic Theory

Emphasizes the influence of unconscious drives and past experiences, particularly childhood, on behavior and personality.

Projective Tests

A personality assessment that uses ambiguous stimuli (like inkblots or images) to reveal unconscious thoughts, feelings, and motivations by analyzing how individuals interpret them.

Preconscious

Thoughts, feelings, and memories that are not currently in conscious awareness but are readily retrievable and can be brought into consciousness when needed.

Humanistic Psychology

A perspective that emphasizes an individual's inherent capacity for growth, self-actualization, and positive development, focusing on the subjective human experience and free will rather than deterministic forces.

Unconditional Positive Regard

Accepting and valuing someone without judgment or conditions, regardless of their behavior or beliefs.

Self-Actualizing Tendency

Refers to the inherent human drive to reach one's full potential,

Drive-Reduction Theory

Proposes that behavior is motivated by the need to reduce internal physiological imbalances (drives) and achieve a state of homeostasis or balance.

Arousal Theory

People are driven to maintain an optimal level of physiological alertness, attention, and energy, seeking activities to increase or decrease that level based on their current state.

Optimal Level of Arousal

Point where someone’s alert and energized enough to concentrate and perform effectively, but not so much that they become anxious or overwhelmed. 

Yerkes-Dodson Law

Proposes that there's an optimal level of arousal for peak performance. Too little arousal (like boredom or apathy) can lead to poor performance, while too much arousal (like extreme stress or anxiety) can also hinder performance. 

Self-Determination Theory

Posits that humans have three fundamental psychological needs – autonomy, competence, and relatedness – that are essential for motivation and well-being

Intrinsic Motivation

Engaging in a behavior because it is personally rewarding or enjoyable, rather than for external rewards or to avoid punishment.

Extrinsic Motivation

Engaging in a behavior because of a drive or force that originates from outside the individual.

Instincts

Innate, fixed patterns of behavior that are species-specific and automatic responses to certain stimuli, not learned through experience.

Lewin’s Motivational Conflicts Theory

Individuals face different types of internal conflicts based on the nature of the choices presented, with the three main types being approach-approach, approach-avoidance, and avoidance-avoidance.

Sensation-Seeking Theory

Posits that individuals vary in their need for stimulation and novelty, influencing their behavior and preferences for experiences, ranging from extreme risk-taking to seeking stable environments.

Hormones

Chemical messengers produced by the endocrine system, released into the bloodstream to influence various physiological functions and behaviors.

Approach-Approach Conflict

A situation where an individual must choose between two or more desirable or attractive options, creating internal conflict due to the difficulty of choosing one over the other.

Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict

Occurs when an individual is faced with a decision between two undesirable options, both of which carry negative outcomes.

Approach-Avoidance Conflict

A situation where a person is faced with a single goal or option that has both desirable and undesirable aspects, creating internal tension and making decision-making difficult.

Ghrelin

A hormone primarily produced by the stomach that signals hunger to the brain, stimulating food intake and is often referred to as the "hunger hormone".

Leptin

A hormone secreted by fat cells that signals the brain about the amount of body fat stored, influencing appetite and energy balance.

Hypothalamus

A brain region primarily responsible for regulating autonomic functions like body temperature, hunger, thirst, and sleep-wake cycles,

Pituitary Gland

A pea-sized endocrine gland located at the base of the brain, often referred to as the "master gland" because it regulates the activity of other endocrine glands and influences growth, metabolism, and reproduction.

Emotion

A complex psychological state involving a subjective experience, a physiological response, and a behavioral or expressive response, often directed towards a specific object.

Broaden-and-Build Theory

Posits that positive emotions broaden an individual's momentary thought-action repertoire, leading to the building of enduring personal resources, like resilience and coping skills.

Universal Emotions

Suggests that there are a set of basic emotions that are universally recognized and expressed in the same way across different cultures.

Anger

A strong, negative emotion characterized by feelings of displeasure, hostility, and a potential desire to harm or confront someone or something perceived as having caused harm or injustice.

Disgust

A strong feeling of revulsion or aversion towards something unpleasant or offensive, often associated with a desire to avoid or reject it.

Happiness

A state of emotional well-being, encompassing both short-term positive experiences and a broader sense of subjective well-being or positive evaluation of one's life.

Surprise

A brief, often startled, reaction to something unexpected, characterized by a sudden redirection of attention and a brief period of muscle tension, potentially leading to a fight-or-flight response.

Fear

A basic, intense emotion triggered by a perceived or real threat, leading to an immediate alarm reaction and mobilization of the organism, characterized by physiological changes like increased heart rate and muscle tension.

Sadness

A fundamental human emotion, often characterized by feelings of unhappiness, low mood, and potentially associated with loss, despair, or disappointment, and can lead to withdrawal or passivity.

Display Rules

Culturally learned norms that dictate how and when individuals are expected to express emotions in specific social situations.

Traits

Enduring personality characteristics that describe or determine an individual's behavior across various situations, representing stable patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving.

The Big Five Theory

Theory in psychology that identifies five broad dimensions used by some psychologists to describe the human personality and psyche. These are openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism

Agreeableness

A personality trait characterized by a tendency to be cooperative, kind, sympathetic, and trusting, reflecting an individual's motivation to maintain positive relationships and minimize conflict.

Openness to Experience

A personality trait that describes a person's tendency to be open-minded, imaginative, and receptive to new ideas and experiences.

Extraversion

A personality trait characterized by sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness, and high emotional expressiveness, where individuals gain energy from social interactions and enjoy being around others.

Conscientiousness

A personality trait characterized by organization, responsibility, and a tendency towards goal-directed behavior.

Emotional Stability

Refers to the ability to remain calm, composed, and emotionally consistent, even in the face of challenges; the opposite of neuroticism (the tendency to perceive negative emotions).

Personality Inventories

A standardized questionnaire designed to assess an individual's personality traits, behaviors, and attitudes by asking them to respond to a series of questions or statements.

Factor Analysis

A statistical method used to identify underlying relationships between variables by grouping them into factors or components. It helps researchers understand how different variables relate to each other and can be used to reduce data by identifying commonalities.

Attribution Theory

A psychological framework that explains how individuals interpret and understand the causes of their own and others' behaviors, distinguishing between internal traits and external situational factors.

Dispositional Attributions

Attributions that explain behavior based on internal characteristics, such as personality or motives,suggesting that behavior is a reflection of an individual's inherent qualities.

Situational Attributions

Attributions that explain behavior based on external circumstances or environmental factors.

Explanatory Style

A way individuals narrate their interpretations of events, focusing on dimensions like internal vs. external and stable vs. unstable factors

Actor-Observer Bias

The tendency to attribute one's own actions to situational factors while attributing others' actions to dispositional factors.

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to overemphasize dispositional factors and underestimate situational factors when explaining others' behavior.

Self-Serving Bias

A cognitive bias where individuals attribute their successes to internal factors, such as their own skills or efforts, while attributing failures to external factors, such as bad luck or situational constraints.

Internal Locus of Control

The belief that one has control over their own life events and outcomes, attributing success or failure to personal actions rather than external circumstances.

External Locus of Control

The belief that external factors, such as luck or chance, significantly influence life events and outcomes, leading individuals to attribute success or failure to circumstances beyond their control.

Mere Exposure Effect

The psychological phenomenon where individuals develop a preference for things merely because they are familiar with them. This effect suggests that repeated exposure to a stimulus increases liking for it.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

A psychological phenomenon where an individual's belief or expectation about a future event leads them to act in ways or make others act in ways that make the belief come true. This dynamic occurs because individuals often modify their behavior to align with their expectations, thus influencing the outcome in a manner that confirms their original belief.

Social Comparison

The process of evaluating one's own abilities, achievements, or opinions by comparing them to those of others. This can influence self-esteem and perceptions of social identity.

Relative Deprivation

The perception that one is worse off compared to others, which can lead to feelings of dissatisfaction and resentment.

Stereotype

A widely held but oversimplified belief about a particular group of people, often leading to generalized assumptions and expectations about individuals based on their group membership.

Cognitive Load

The total amount of mental effort being used in the working memory, which can affect the ability to process information and make decisions.

Prejudice

A negative attitude or belief toward individuals based on their group membership, often resulting in discrimination and social bias.

Discrimination

The actions that result in unequal treatment of individuals based on their group membership (e.g., race, gender, age),

Implicit Attitudes

Unconscious beliefs or feelings about a person or group that can influence behavior without awareness.

Out-Group Homogeneity Bias

The tendency to perceive members of an out-group as more similar to each other than they actually are, leading to stereotypes and generalizations.

Door-In-The-Face Technique

A compliance strategy where a large request is made first, which is expected to be refused, followed by a smaller, more reasonable request.

Halo Effect

A cognitive bias where the perception of one positive trait leads to the assumption of other positive traits in an individual.

Prosocial Behavior

Actions intended to benefit others or society as a whole, often characterized by altruism and helping behaviors.

Obedience

A form of social influence where an individual follows direct commands or instructions from an authority figure, often in a structured setting.

Persuasion

An attempt by one person to influence another's attitudes, beliefs, or actions, often done through reasoning or by appealing to emotions.

Central Route Persuasion

The process by which attitudes are formed or changed as a result of carefully scrutinizing and thinking about the central merits of attitude-relevant information

Individualism

A social and cultural orientation that emphasizes personal independence and the importance of individual rights and self-expression over group goals.

Collectivism

A social and cultural orientation that prioritizes group goals and interdependence over individual rights and self-expression.

Diffusion of Responsibility

The phenomenon where individuals feel less compelled to take action or assume responsibility for a task when others are present, often leading to inaction in emergency situations.

Social Loafing

The tendency of individuals to put forth less effort when they are part of a group

Social Facilitation

a social psychology phenomenon that describes when people perform better on tasks when others are present.

Deindividuation

A psychological state where people lose their sense of self and identity when they are in a group. It can lead to people acting in ways they might not otherwise, such as breaking social norms.

Groupthink

A psychological phenomenon where a group, seeking harmony and conformity, prioritizes agreement over critical evaluation, potentially leading to irrational or ineffective decision-making.

Group Polarization

Occurs when a group's opinions become more extreme after discussion

Altruism

Unselfish regard for the welfare of others

The Bystander Effect

How the presence of multiple bystanders reduces an individual's likelihood of intervening or offering help in an emergency, often because they assume someone else will step up.

Social Responsibility Norm

An expectation that people will help those dependent upon them or those who need assistance even if doing so may not offer any visible reward

Informational Social Influence

Occurs when people change their behavior to gain knowledge or to conform to what they believe is correct.

Normative Social Influence

A type of social pressure that causes people to change their behavior to fit in with a group for approval and not wanting disapproval.

Social Influence Theory

A psychological theory that explains how people are influenced by others' actions and ideas and are modified by the presence or action of others.

Social Norms

Acceptable rules and behaviors in a society/group.

Peripheral Route Persuasion

A method of influencing attitudes and beliefs by appealing to superficial cues and emotions rather than logical arguments

Foot-in-the-Door Technique

Route of persuasion where someone agrees to a small request to increase their chances of complying with a larger subsequent request.

Confomity

The process whereby people change their beliefs, attitudes, actions, or perceptions to more closely match those held by groups to which they belong.

Belief Perseverance

the tendency to hold onto one's beliefs even when new information contradicts them

Ethnocentrism

Where individuals view their own culture as the center of the world and perceive other cultures as inferior or strange. It involves judging other cultures based on the norms, values, and beliefs of one's own culture, often leading to biases and prejudices.