AP Psychology 4.1-4.3

Concept

A mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people that helps to simplify and organize information.

Prototype

A mental image or best example of a category; used to enhance memory and understanding by matching new items to the prototype.

Confirmation Bias

The tendency to search for, interpret, and remember information that confirms one's preconceptions, leading to statistical errors.

Availability Heuristic

Estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind, we presume such events are common.

Representativeness Heuristic

Judging the probability of an event by comparing it to an existing prototype in our minds, which can lead to neglect of relevant base rate information.

Belief Perseverance

Clinging to one's initial beliefs even after they have been discredited.

Person Perception

The process of forming impressions of others, including the judgments we make about their character and intentions.

Attribution Theory

A theory that explains how individuals pinpoint the causes of their own and others' behavior, attributing actions to either internal dispositions or external situations.

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to overemphasize personal characteristics and ignore situational factors when judging others' behavior.

Self-Serving Bias

The common habit of a person taking credit for positive events or outcomes, but blaming outside factors for negative events.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

A belief that leads to its own fulfillment; expectations about a person can lead that person to behave in ways that confirm the expectations.

Actor-Observer Bias

The tendency to attribute one's own actions to external causes while attributing others' behaviors to internal causes.

Prejudice

An unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group and its members, often involving stereotyped beliefs and a predisposition to discriminatory action.

Stereotypes

Generalized beliefs about a group of people, where specific traits are attributed to all members regardless of individual variation.

Discrimination

Unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group or its members based on their membership in that group.

Just-World Phenomenon

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

Social Identity

The part of an individual's self-concept derived from their membership in social groups, combined with the value and emotional significance attached to that membership.

Ingroup

"Us"—a group of people who share a sense of belonging and a feeling of common identity.

Outgroup

"Them"—those perceived as different or apart from one's ingroup.

Ingroup Bias

The tendency to favor one's own group over other groups.

Scapegoat Theory

The theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame.

Other-Race Effect

The tendency to more easily recognize faces of the race that one is most familiar with, often one's own race.

Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon

The tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request.

Role

A set of expectations about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

The theory that we act to reduce the discomfort we feel when two of our thoughts are inconsistent, often by changing our attitudes to align with our actions.

Persuasion

The process of changing someone's beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors through argument, reasoning, or appeal.

Peripheral Route Persuasion

A method of persuasion characterized by an emphasis on factors other than the message itself, such as the attractiveness or credibility of the source.

Central Route Persuasion

A method of persuasion that uses evidence and logical arguments to influence people.

Norms

Understood social rules that prescribe appropriate behavior for various situations.

Social Contagion

The spread of behaviors, attitudes, and affect through crowds and other types of social aggregates from one member to another.

Conformity

Adjusting one's behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.

Normative Social Influence

Influence resulting from a person's desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval.

Informational Social Influence

Influence resulting from one's willingness to accept others' opinions about reality.

Obedience

Complying with instructions or orders from an authority figure.

Stanley Milgram

A psychologist best known for his controversial experiments on obedience, demonstrating the power of authority figures in compelling individuals to act against their personal morals.

Social Facilitation

Improved performance on tasks in the presence of others; occurs with simple or well-learned tasks but not with tasks that are difficult or not yet mastered.

Social Loafing

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

Deindividuation

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

Group Polarization

The enhancement of a group's prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group.

Groupthink

A mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives, often leading to poor decisions.

Tight Cultures

Cultures that have strong norms and low tolerance for deviance from those norms.

Loose Cultures

Cultures that have weaker norms and a higher tolerance for deviance from societal expectations.

Frustration-Aggression Principle

The theory that frustration—the blocking of an attempt to achieve a goal—creates anger, which can generate aggression.

Social Script

A culturally modeled guide for how to act in various situations.

Mere Exposure Effect

The phenomenon that repeated exposure to novel stimuli increases liking of them.

Passionate Love

An aroused state of intense positive absorption in another, usually present at the beginning of a romantic relationship.

Companionate Love

The deep, affectionate attachment we feel for those with whom our lives are intertwined.

Equity

A condition in which people receive from a relationship in proportion to what they give to it.

Self-Disclosure

The act of revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others.

Altruism

Unselfish concern for the welfare of others.

Bystander Effect

The tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present.

Social Exchange Theory

The theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs.

Reciprocity Norm

An expectation that people will help, not hurt, those who have helped them.

Social-Responsibility Norm

An expectation that people will help those who are dependent upon them.

Social Traps

Situations in which conflicting parties, by each pursuing their self-interest rather than the good of the group, become caught in mutually destructive behavior.

Mirror-Image Perceptions

Mutual views often held by conflicting people, in which each side sees itself as ethical and peaceful and the other side as evil and aggressive.

Superordinate Goals

Shared goals that override differences among people and require their cooperation.

GRIT (Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-Reduction)

A strategy designed to decrease international tensions, in which one side announces and initiates conciliatory acts that lead to reciprocal actions from the other side.