AP Psychology: Topic 4.2 - Attitude Formation and Attitude Change

Stereotype

a widely held but fixed and oversimplified belief about a group of people or things

Prejudice

an unjustified judgment, opinion, or attitude directed toward certain people based on their membership in a particular group

Discrimination

unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its members

Implicit attitudes

attitudes that influence a person's feelings and behavior at an unconscious level

Ethnocentrism

the tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one's own culture

Just-world phenomenon

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

Out-group homogeneity bias

the perception that individuals in an out-group are more similar (homogeneous) than they really are, as compared to members of one's in-group

In-group bias

the tendency to favor one's own group over other groups

Belief perseverance

the tendency to continue believing something even after the evidence supporting it has been contradicted

Confirmation bias

a tendency to search for information that supports one's preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence

Cognitive dissonance

the discomfort a person feels when their beliefs are inconsistent with their actions

Cognitive load

the amount of information the working memory can process at any given time