AP Psych Unit 4

Orta Grissom 2025-26

Social Psychology

The scientific study of how individuals think, feel, and behave in a social context

Conformity

The process by which individuals adjust their thoughts, feelings, or behavior to align with those of a group, as a result of real or imagined pressure.

Normative Social Influence

The influence to conform to the positive expectations of others, driven by the desire to be liked or accepted by the group.

Social Norms

Unwritten rules that dictate acceptable behavior within a society or group, influencing how individuals act and interact.

Social Comparison

The process of evaluating oneself by comparing with others,often to assess one’s abilities, status, or opinions.

Relative Deprivation

A feeling of dissatisfaction or injustice experienced when individuals compare themselves compare themselves to others and perceive that they are worse off.

Upward Social Comparison

Comparing oneself to others who are perceived to be better off or more skilled, which can motivate self-improvement but may also decrease self-esteem.

Downward Social Comparison

Comparing oneself to others who are perceived to be worse off or less skilled, which can boost self-esteem but may also foster complacency.

Informational Social Influence

The influence to accept information from others as evidence about reality, often occurring in situations where the correct action or belief is uncertain.

Obedience

The act of following direct commands, usually from an authority figure, even if they contradict personal beliefs or morals.

Stanley Milgram

Designed on of the more famous experiments in the history of psychology on obedience.

Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment

Demonstrates the powerful role that the situation can play in human behavior

Group

A set of individuals who interact over time and have shared fate, goals, or identity

Social Facilitation

The tendency for people to perform differently when in the presence of others, typically showing improved performance on simple or well-practiced tasks and worse performance on complex or new tasks.

Social Loafing

The tendency for individuals to exert less effort when working in a group than when working alone.

Deindividuation

A psychological state where individuals lose their self-awareness and sense of individuality in a group settings, often leading to impulsive and deviant behavior.

In-Group Bias

The tendency to favor and extend loyalty to members of one’s own group over those in other groups, often leading to preferential treatment and judgement.

Ethnocentrism

The belief in the inherent superiority of one’s own ethnic group or culture, often accompanied by a feeling of contempt for other groups.

Out-Group Homogeneity Bias

The tendency to see members of an outgroup as more similar to each other than they really are, often perceiving them as less varied than members of one’s own group.

Stereotype

A generalized belief about a particular category of people, often oversimplified and not based on direct experience.

Prejudice

An unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group and its members. Generally involved negative emotions, stereotypes beliefs, and a predisposition to discriminatory action.

Scapegoat Theory

Members of a group in power hold members of a less powerful group responsible for their problems.

Discrimination

Unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group or its members.

Contact Hypothesis

Bringing members from different group together will reduce prejudice and improve positive attitudes.

Collectivism

A cultural value that emphasizes the importance of the group or community over individual goals and desires, prioritizing group cohesion and interdependence.

Multiculturalism

The view that promotes the acknowledgement and respect of diverse cultural backgrounds and traditions, encouraging the coexistence and value of various cultural identities within a society.

Group Polarization

When people in a group talk about an idea, they often end up agreeing even more strongly with each other, making their group opinion more extreme.

Groupthink

the desire for harmony or conformity in a group leads to irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcomes. Members suppress dissenting opinions, leading to a loss of individual creativity and responsibility.

Interpersonal Attraction

All of the forces that lead people to like each other, establish relationships, and in some cases, fall in love

Proximity

The closer together people are physically, the more likely they are to form a relationship/friendship

Mere Exposure Effect

Liking someone occurs because of repeatedly seeing that person or thing

Physical Attractiveness

People tend to like those whom they find physically attractive

Halo Effect

Our overall impression of a person influences how we feel and think about his or her character.

Evolutionary Psychologists

Speculate that the tendency to be attracted to physically attractive people is adaptive

Similarity

The more similar two people are in attitudes, background, and other traits, the more probable it is that they will like each other.

Reciprocity of Liking

people have a very strong tendency to like people who like them

Intimacy

the feelings of closeness that one has for another person or the sense of having close emotional ties to another.

Passion

the physical aspect of love, the emotional and sexual arousal a person feels towards another

Commitment

The decisions one makes about a relationship, promise to sustain the relationship

Passionate Love

Emotional love that is mostly expressed in a physical manner

Companionate Love

Passionate love that has settled to a warm enduring love between partners in a relationship; it is comprised of intimacy and commitment.

Consummate Love

The most complete and ideal form of love, combining intimacy, passion, and commitment

Aggression

Range of behaviors that are intended to cause harm to others who do not wish to be harmed (physical, verbal, or relational)

The Frustration-Aggression Principle

The idea that people become aggressive when they’re frustrated by being blocked from reaching a goal

Social Traps

Situations in which individuals or groups pursue immediate rewards that later prove to have negative or even catastrophic consequences for the larger community.

Prisoner’s Dilemma

A type of dilemma in which one party must make either cooperative or competitive moves in relation to another party.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

When a belief about a situation or a person leads to actions that make the belief come true.

Altruism

The selfless concern for the well-being of others, leading to behavior that benefits others at a personal cost

Social Responsibility Norm

The societal expectation that people should help others who need assistance, without regard to future exchanges.

Superordinate Goals

Shared goals that require cooperation among individuals or groups, typically overriding smaller or individual conflicts and fostering collaborative efforts.

Bystander Effect

The phenomenon where individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when the other people are present. The greater the number of bystanders, the less likely any one individual is to help.

Diffusion of Responsibility

The tendency for individuals to feel less responsible for taking action or helping in a situation when others are present, leading to a decrease in the likelihood of intervention.

Bystander Intervention

Helping an emergency despite the presence of others.

GRIT

A strategy designed to decrease international tensions, initiation of cooperation and compromise.

Persuasion

The process of influencing others’ attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors through communication, often involving appeals to reason, emotions, or authority

Central Route of Persuasion

A method of persuasion that involves deeply engaging with the content of a message, leading to careful analysis and thoughtful consideration, typically resulting in a more durable attitude change.

Peripheral Route of Persuasion

A method of persuasion that relies on superficial cues such as attractiveness or credibility of the speaker, rather than the actual content of the message, leading to temporary attitude changes.

Foot-in-the-Door Technique

A persuasive strategy where agreement to a small, initial request increases the likelihood of compliance with a larger, subsequent request

Door-in-the-Face Technique

A persuasion strategy where a large, initial request is made knowing it will be refused, followed by a smaller, more reasonable request that is more likely to be accepted.

False Consensus Effect

A cognitive bias where people overestimate how much others agree with their own beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes

Cognitive Dissonance

A psychological discomfort experienced when simultaneously holding conflicting beliefs, attitudes, or values, often leading to an alteration in one of the beliefs or behaviors to reduce the discomfort

I/O Psychologists

Psychologists who apply psychological principles and research methods to the workplace to improve productivity, select and promote employees, and enhance organizational culture and structure.

Motivation

The needs, desires, feelings, and ideas that direct behavior toward a goal

Instincts

Innate, fixed patterns of behavior in animals that are triggered by specific stimuli, driving them to act in predictable ways

Drive-Reduction Theory

behavior is motivated by the need to reduce internal drives caused by physiological deficits, such as hunger/thirst, aiming to restore homeostasis

Ghrelin

a hormone produced in the stomach that stimulates appetite

Leptin

hormone produced by fat cells that helps regulate energy balance by inhibiting hunger

Arousal Theory

individuals are motivated to maintain an optimal level of alertness, seeking to increase alertness when it is too low and decrease alertness when it is too high, to enhance performance and well-being

Sensation-Seeking Theory

proposes that one’s motivation is driven by the need for varied, novel, and intense experiences

Thrill-Seeking

a component of the SST, individuals are motivated by the desire for intense and exciting experiences, often involving risk

Adventure Seeking

component of SST, individuals are motivated by the desire for new and challenging experiences

Yerkes-Dodson Law

performance increases with physiological or mental arousal, but only up to a point; when levels of arousal become too high, performance decreases

Belongingness

innate human desire to form and sustain close, meaningful relationships, which significantly drives behavior and affects emotional health

Disinhibition

the tendency to seek out social and experiential thrills by engaging in behaviors that are typically restrained by social norms and inhibitions

Boredom Susceptibility

an individual’s tolerance for repetitive or monotonous experiences, leading them to seek out new and stimulating activities to avoid boredom

Incentive Theory

behavior is motivated by the desire for external rewards or incentives, which can include money, praise or other tangible benefits

Self-Determination Theory

proposes that people are motivated by intrinsic motivations OR extrinsic motivations

Intrinsic Motivation

engaging in activities for their own sake, driven by internal rewards such as personal satisfaction, enjoyment, or a sense of achievement

Extrinsic Motivation

engaging in behaviors due to external rewards or pressures, such as money, grades, or approval from others

Overjustification Effect

phenomenon in which being rewarded for doing something actually diminishes intrinsic motivation to perform that action

Lewin’s Motivational Conflicts Theory

describes the psychological struggles individuals face when making decisions

Approach-Appproach

individuals must choose between 2 desirable options

Avoidance-Avoidance

individuals must choose between 2 undesirable options

Approach-Avoidance

an individual is drawn to and repelled by the same option

Attribution Theory

Explains how people decide whether someone’s behavior is caused by their personality or their situation.

Dispositional vs. Situational Attributions

actions are due to personality vs. circumstance

Explanatory Style

How a person usually explains the reasons behind events- whether they blame themselves or outside factors (optimistic vs. pessimistic)

Fundamental Attribution Error

tendency to blame people’s actions more on their personality and less on their situation

Actor-Observer Bias

habit of blaming our own actions on the situation but blaming other people’s actions on their personality

Self-Serving Bias

tendency to attribute one’s successes to personal characteristics and failures to external factors, enhancing one’s self-esteem

Confirmation Bias

tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall info in a way that confirms one’s preexisting beliefs of hypotheses.

Belief Perseverance

the tendency to hold on to one’s initial beliefs even after they have been shown to be false

Just-World Phenomenon

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

Implicit attitudes

unconscious beliefs or feelings that influence a person’s behavior and perceptions without their awareness

internal locus of control

belief that one’s own actions and decisions directly influence the outcomes and events in their life

external locus of control

belief that outcomes and events are determined by external forces or fate

Humanistic Theories

emphasize free will and individual experience

Self Theory

an organized, consistent set of beliefs and perceptions about ourselves, which develops in response to our life experiences

Incongruence

difference between real and ideal self

unconditional positive regard

showing complete support and acceptance of a person no matter what they say or do