AP PSYCH Social Psychology study guide

Attribution Theory

Attribution Theory

Explains how people determine the cause of behavior, distinguishing between situational and dispositional attributions.

Situational Attribution

Attributing behavior to external factors, such as environmental features, rather than internal traits.

Dispositional Attribution

Assigning behavior to inherent characteristics like beliefs or personality, rather than external influences.

Fundamental Attribution Error

Overestimating dispositional factors over situational ones in explaining behavior.

Compliance Strategies

Techniques like foot-in-the-door and door-in-the-face to encourage compliance with requests.

Norms of Reciprocity

Expectation that helping others will lead to receiving help in return.

Elaboration Likelihood Model

Persuasion routes - central (facts, evidence) and peripheral (positive associations).

Cognitive Dissonance

Unpleasant state from conflicting beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors.

Conformity

Adjusting behavior to match group standards, influenced by normative and informational social influence.

Obedience

Compliance with authority, as shown in Milgram's study on obedience to harmful orders.

Zimbardo’s Prison Study

Demonstrated how roles can influence behavior, showing deindividuation and groupthink.

Social Facilitation Theory

Performance enhancement or impairment in front of a group based on task difficulty.

Group Dynamics

Concepts like deindividuation, social loafing, groupthink, and group polarization.

Social Identity Theory

Assigning oneself to a group leads to in-group identification.

Prejudice

Unreserved negative attitude towards a group, leading to discrimination and stereotypes.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Prediction that influences behavior to confirm the prophecy.

Combating Prejudice

Strategies like contact theory, social dilemmas, and communication to reduce prejudice.

Psychology of Aggression

Types include instrumental and hostile aggression, influenced by Bandura's modeling and frustration-aggression hypothesis.

Social Relations

Concepts like equity, self-disclosure, and altruism in relationships.

Attraction

Factors like proximity, reciprocal liking, similarity, liking through association, and physical attractiveness in relationships.