AP Psychology Social Behavior: Influence, Groups, and Relations

What does social psychology study?

The social influences that explain why the same person acts differently in different situations.

What is Attribution Theory?

A theory that explains others' behavior through the situation or their personality.

What is the Fundamental Attribution Error?

The tendency to overemphasize personality and underestimate the situation when explaining others' behavior.

What is cognitive dissonance?

The theory that we act to reduce the discomfort we feel when two of our thoughts are inconsistent.

What is the difference between Central Route and Peripheral Route in persuasion?

Central Route involves thinking influenced by evidence and arguments, while Peripheral Route involves influence by incidental cues, such as a speaker's attractiveness.

What is the Door-in-the-Face phenomenon?

The tendency to make an unreasonable request first, which is then followed by a moderate request that seems more acceptable.

What is the Foot-in-the-Door phenomenon?

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

What is the Chameleon Effect?

The tendency to adopt postures, gestures, and mannerisms of interaction partners.

What is conformity?

Adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.

What is the Milgram Experiment?

An experiment that tested obedience, where participants were instructed to shock another human with lethal voltage.

What factors increase obedience in the Milgram Experiment?

Presence of an authority figure, support from a prestigious institution, victim depersonalization, and absence of role models for defiance.

What is social loafing?

The phenomenon where people exert less effort in a group than when they are individually accountable.

What is deindividuation?

Loss of self-awareness and self-restraint in groups that promote arousal and anonymity.

What is group polarization?

The tendency for group discussion to strengthen members' existing views.

What is groupthink?

A situation where group harmony takes priority over realistically evaluating alternatives.

What is a stereotype?

A generalized belief about a group of people.

What is discrimination?

Unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group or its members.

What is prejudice?

An unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group and its members.

What is the other-race effect?

The tendency to recall faces of one's own race more accurately than faces of other races.

What is the frustration-aggression principle?

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

What is the mere-exposure effect?

The tendency for repeated exposure to novel stimuli to increase our liking of them.

What is the bystander effect?

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

What is the social responsibility norm?

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

What is the self-fulfilling prophecy?

A belief that leads to its own fulfillment.

What is the just-world phenomenon?

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