Ap psychology unit 4 : Social psychology

Conformity

process by which individuals adjust their thoughts, feelings, or behavior to align with those of a group

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

feeling of dissatisfaction or injustice experienced when individuals 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.

Social Facilitation

The tendency for people to perform differently when in the presence of others

Group Polarization

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

Groupthink

the desire for harmony or conformity in a group leads to irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcomes.

Bystander Effect

The phenomenon where individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present.

Diffusion of Responsibility

The tendency for individuals to feel less responsible for taking action or helping in a situation when others are present

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 group settings,

Attribution Theory

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

Dispositional Attributions

Assuming a person's actions are due to their personality, not their situation.

Situational Attributions

Assuming a person's actions are due to their circumstances, not their personality.

Explanatory Style

How a person usually explains the reasons behind events

Optimistic Explanatory Style

The habit of explaining good things as likely to happen again and bad things as one-time events.

Pessimistic Explanatory Style

The habit of explaining bad things as likely to happen again and good things as one-time events.

Fundamental Attribution Error

The tendency to blame people's actions more on their personality and less on their situation.

Actor-Observer Bias

The habit of blaming our own actions on the situation but blaming other people's actions on their personality.

Self-Serving Bias

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

Internal Locus of Control

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

External Locus of Control

The belief that outcomes and events are determined by external forces or fate, rather than one's own actions.

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.

Stereotype

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

Confirmation Bias

A tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses.

Belief Perseverance

The tendency to hold on to one's initial beliefs even after they have been shown to be false, often ignoring contradictory evidence presented.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

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

Prejudice

an unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group and its members

Discrimination

unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group or its members.

Implicit Attitudes

Unconscious beliefs or feelings that influence a person's behavior and perceptions without their awareness.

Just-World Phenomenon

A belief that the world is fundamentally fair, leading people to rationalize injustice or misfortune as deserved.

Out-Group Homogeneity Bias

The tendency to see members of an outgroup as more similar to each other than they really are

In-Group bias

The tendency to favor and extend loyalty to members of one's own group over those in other groups

Mere Exposure Effect

The phenomenon where repeated exposure to a stimulus increases an individual's preference for that stimulus.

Ethnocentrism

The belief in the inherent superiority of one's own ethnic group or culture,

Collectivism

A cultural value that emphasizes the importance of the group or community over individual goals and desires

Multiculturalism

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

Superordinate Goals

Shared goals that require cooperation among individuals or groups, typically overriding smaller or individual conflicts

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.

Persuasion

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

Elaboration Likelihood Model

A theory that describes how people process persuasive messages in two ways

Central Route of Persuasion

A method of persuasion that involves deeply engaging with the content of a message

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,

Halo Effect

The cognitive bias where a positive impression in one area (like attractiveness) leads to positive evaluations in other areas

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.

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

Homoestasis

body's effort to maintain stable internal conditions

Ghrelin

a hormone produced in the stomach that stimulates appetite.

Leptin

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

Belongingness

innate human desire to form and sustain close, meaningful relationships

Arousal Theory

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

Yerkes-Dodson Law

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

Sensation-seeking Theory

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

Thrill seeking

a component of sensation-seeking theory, where individuals are motivated by the desire for intense and exciting experiences, often involving risk

Adventure Seeking

a component of sensation-seeking theory, where individuals are motivated by the desire for new and challenging experiences, often involving physical activities and exploration.

Disinhibition

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

Boredom Susceptibility

refers to an individual's intolerance 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,

Self-Determination Theory

proposes that people are motivated by intrinsic (internal) motivations, such as personal growth and fulfillment, or extrinsic (external) motivations, such as rewards and recognition.

Intrinsic Motivation

refers to 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 behavior due to external

rewards or pressures, such

as money, grades, or approval

from others.

Lewin's Motivational Conflicts Theory

describes the psychological struggles individuals face when making decisions

Approach-Approach Conflict

occur when an individual must choose between two desirable options, leading to a conflict of which positive outcome to pursue.

Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict

occur when an individual must choose between two undesirable options, leading to a conflict of which negative outcome to avoid.

Approach-Avoidance

occur when an individual is drawn to and repelled by the same option, leading to a conflict between the desire for a positive outcome and the fear of a negative consequence.

Emotion / Affect

is a feeling that involves our thoughts, body reactions, and actions, and is influenced by what happens inside us and around us.

Elicitors

stimuli or events that trigger an emotional response in an individual.

Arousal Comes before Emotion

suggests that emotions follow bodily arousal/reactions

Facial-Feedback Hypothesis

suggests that facial expressions can influence emotions,

Arousal and Emotion occur simultaneously

stimulus causes both bodily arousal and emotional experience at the same time.

Arousal + Cognitive Label = Emotion

our interpretation of reaction or situation determines the specific emotion we experience.

Broaden-Build Theory of Emotion

positive emotions help us think more openly and try new things, making us stronger. Negative emotions do the opposite

Universal Emotion

idea that certain emotional expressions are recognized and experienced similarly across different cultures.

Display rules

cultural norms that dictate how, when, and where individuals should express emotions.

Psychodynamic Theory

suggests that personality is shaped by unconscious forces, internal conflicts, and defense mechanisms -- emphasizing the influence of childhood experiences and unconscious drives.

Preconscious Mind

contains thoughts and feelings that are not currently in conscious awareness but can be easily accessed when needed.

Unconscious Mind

consists of processes and memories that are beyond conscious awareness and significantly influence thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

Projective Tests

tools used by psychodynamic personality psychologists to assess personality

Ego Defense Mechanisms

unconscious strategies used by the ego to protect itself from anxiety and perceived threats.

Denial

an ego defense mechanism where an individual unconsciously refuses to acknowledge reality or facts,

Displacement

an ego defense mechanism where emotional impulses are redirected from the original source to a safer or more acceptable substitute target

Projection

an ego defense mechanism where individuals attribute their own unacceptable feelings, thoughts, or motives to someone else, thus deflecting self-criticism.

Rationalization

an ego defense mechanism where individuals justify and explain their behaviors or feelings in a seemingly rational or logical manner to avoid confronting the true underlying reasons.

Reaction Formation

an ego defense mechanism where individuals suppress unacceptable impulses by unconsciously displaying the opposite behavior or emotion.

Regression

an ego defense mechanism where an individual reverts to earlier stages of development and childlike behaviors when faced with stress or emotional conflict.

Repression

an ego defense mechanism where distressing thoughts and feelings are unconsciously blocked from entering conscious awareness.

Sublimation

an ego defense mechanism where negative urges and impulses are channeled into socially acceptable or constructive activities.