PSYC Test 4 Review

Naive psychology

Natural way people interpret others’ behavior

Attribution

Explaining behavior using personality or situation

Attribution theory

Behavior explained by disposition (traits) or situation

Consistency

Whether a person behaves the same way in similar situations

Consensus

Whether others behave the same way in that situation

Distinctiveness

Whether the person behaves that way across different situations

Fundamental attribution error

Overestimating personality and underestimating situational factors

Cognitive dissonance

Discomfort from conflicting beliefs or behaviors

Dissonance reduction

Changing attitudes, avoiding info, or justifying behavior

Social pain

Emotional pain from social rejection, similar to physical pain

Central route persuasion

Using logic and reasoning to persuade

Peripheral route persuasion

Using cues or gut reactions to persuade

Foot-in-the-door technique

Small request increases likelihood of agreeing to larger request

Door-in-the-face technique

Large request followed by smaller one increases compliance

Stanford Prison Experiment

Demonstrated power of situation over personality

Milgram Experiment

Showed obedience to authority even when harmful

Self-control

Ability to inhibit impulses

Executive functioning

Higher-level processes like planning and self-control

Ego depletion

Idea that self-control is a limited resource

Social brain network

Default brain system focused on social thinking

Amygdala

Brain region for emotional arousal

Insula

Brain region associated with disgust

Prefrontal cortex (PFC)

Decision-making, reasoning, self-control

Ventromedial PFC (vmPFC)

Emotion-based decision making

Dorsolateral PFC (dlPFC)

Logic, reasoning, impulse control

Moral dumbfounding

Strong moral belief without logical reasoning

Personality

Stable patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving

Trait

Stable predisposition to behave in a certain way

State

Temporary behavior based on situation

Big Five (OCEAN)

Five major personality traits framework

Openness

Willingness to try new experiences and think creatively

Conscientiousness

Organization, responsibility, goal-directed behavior

Extraversion

Sociability and energy from interactions

Agreeableness

Kindness and concern for others

Neuroticism

Emotional instability and stress sensitivity

Psychoanalytic perspective

Focus on unconscious and childhood (Freud)

Humanistic perspective

Focus on growth and free will (Maslow, Rogers)

Trait perspective

Focus on measuring personality traits

Social-cognitive perspective

Interaction of environment and personality (Bandura)

Reciprocal determinism

Behavior influenced by interaction of person and environment

Internal locus of control

Belief that outcomes are controlled by oneself

External locus of control

Belief that outcomes are controlled by outside forces

MMPI

Clinical personality test used for diagnosis

Rorschach test

Inkblot test with low reliability and subjectivity

Myers-Briggs

Popular but scientifically unsupported personality test

Forer/Barnum effect

Accepting vague statements as personally accurate

Reliability

Consistency of a test’s results

Validity

Whether a test measures what it is supposed to

Test-retest reliability

Consistency of results over time

Inter-rater reliability

Agreement between different evaluators

Internal consistency

Whether test items measure the same thing

Sensitivity

Ability to detect true positives

Specificity

Ability to detect true negatives

Neuropsychological assessment

Testing brain function through behavior

Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test

Measures memory and visual recall