Untitled Flashcards Set

Abraham Maslow – Psychologist known for creating the hierarchy of needs, which prioritizes human motivations.

Achievement motivation – The drive to excel, achieve, and reach goals.

Aggression – Any physical or verbal behavior intended to harm someone.

Albert Bandura – Psychologist known for the social learning theory and Bobo doll experiment, demonstrating observational learning.

Altruism – Unselfish concern for the well-being of others.

Attitudes – Feelings, often influenced by beliefs, that affect behavior toward objects, people, and events.

Behavior feedback effect – The tendency for behavior to influence emotions and perceptions.

Big Five personality factors – A model of personality traits including openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.

Bystander effect – The tendency for individuals to be less likely to help someone in need when others are present.

Cannon-Bard Theory – The theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers physiological responses and the experience of emotion.

Central route to persuasion – Persuasion that occurs when people focus on arguments and respond with favorable thoughts.

Cognitive dissonance – The discomfort experienced when holding two conflicting beliefs or attitudes.

Collectivism – A cultural orientation that prioritizes group goals over individual ones.

Companionate love – Deep, affectionate attachment between people whose lives are intertwined.

Conflict – A perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas.

Conformity – Adjusting behavior or thinking to align with a group standard.

Defense mechanisms – Psychological strategies used unconsciously to protect oneself from anxiety (e.g., repression, denial).

Deindividuation – The loss of self-awareness and self-restraint in group situations that promote anonymity.

Discrimination – Unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group or its members.

Drive reduction theory – The idea that a physiological need creates an aroused state that drives an organism to satisfy the need.

Ego – According to Freud, the rational part of personality that mediates between the id and superego.

Extrinsic motivation – A desire to perform a behavior due to external rewards or punishments.

Facial feedback effect – The tendency of facial expressions to influence emotions.

Foot-in-the-Door phenomenon – The tendency for people who agree to a small request to later comply with a larger request.

Frustration-aggression principle – The idea that frustration leads to aggression.

Fundamental attribution error – The tendency to overestimate personal traits and underestimate situational factors when explaining others’ behavior.

Grit – Passion and perseverance in pursuing long-term goals.

Group polarization – The tendency for group discussions to strengthen the group’s prevailing attitudes.

Groupthink – The mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony overrides realistic decision-making.

Hierarchy of Needs – Maslow’s model of human motivation, prioritizing physiological needs, safety, love/belonging, esteem, and self-actualization.

Homeostasis – The tendency to maintain a balanced internal state.

Humanistic Theory – A psychological perspective that emphasizes personal growth and self-actualization.

Id – According to Freud, the unconscious, impulsive part of personality that seeks pleasure.

Incentive – An external stimulus that motivates behavior.

Individualism – A cultural orientation that prioritizes individual goals over group goals.

Informational social influence – Conforming because of a desire to be correct when uncertain.

Ingroup – The group to which a person belongs and identifies.

Ingroup bias – The tendency to favor one’s own group.

Instinct – An innate, fixed pattern of behavior in response to stimuli.

Intrinsic motivation – A desire to perform a behavior for its own sake.

James-Lange Theory – The theory that emotions arise from physiological arousal.

Just-World Phenomenon – The belief that the world is just and people get what they deserve.

Mere exposure effect – The phenomenon that repeated exposure to stimuli increases liking of them.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) – A widely used personality test designed to assess psychological disorders.

Mirror image perceptions – Reciprocal views of opposing groups that each sees itself as good and the other as bad.

Motivation – The processes that initiate, direct, and sustain goal-directed behavior.

Normative social influence – Conforming to gain social approval or avoid rejection.

Norms – Socially accepted rules of behavior.

Obedience – Compliance with orders from an authority figure.

Ostracism – Exclusion from a group.

Other-race effect – The tendency to better recognize faces of one’s own race.

Outgroup – A group one does not identify with.

Passionate love – Intense, emotional love typically present at the beginning of a relationship.

Peripheral route to persuasion – Persuasion influenced by incidental cues, like attractiveness.

Personality – An individual’s characteristic pattern of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

Personality inventory – A questionnaire used to assess personality traits.

Personality trait – A characteristic pattern of behavior or disposition.

Persuasion – The process of changing attitudes or beliefs.

Physiological need – A basic bodily requirement for survival.

Prejudice – An unjustifiable negative attitude toward a group.

Projective test – A personality test using ambiguous stimuli to reveal inner feelings.

Psychoanalysis – Freud’s theory of personality and therapeutic technique.

Psychodynamic theories – Theories that view personality as influenced by unconscious motives and childhood experiences.

Reciprocal determinism – Bandura’s idea that behavior, cognition, and environment interact.

Reciprocity norm – The expectation to return favors.

Regression – A defense mechanism where one reverts to an earlier stage of development.

Rorschach inkblot test – A projective test using inkblots to analyze personality.

Scapegoat theory – The tendency to blame others for one’s problems.

Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory – The theory that emotions depend on physiological arousal and cognitive labeling.

Self-actualization – The realization of one’s full potential.

Self-concept – One’s perception of themselves.

Self-esteem – One’s overall sense of self-worth.

Self-serving bias – The tendency to credit successes to oneself and blame failures on external factors.

Sigmund Freud – The founder of psychoanalysis, known for theories on the unconscious mind.

Social cognitive perspective – A theory that emphasizes how environment, behavior, and cognition interact.

Social exchange theory – The idea that relationships are based on cost-benefit analysis.

Social facilitation – Improved performance on tasks in the presence of others.

Social loafing – The tendency to put in less effort in group tasks.

Social psychology – The study of how individuals think about, influence, and relate to others.

Social responsibility norm – The expectation to help those in need.

Social trap – A situation where individuals harm the group by acting in their own interest.

Solomon Asch – Psychologist known for his conformity experiments.

Spotlight effect – Overestimating how much others notice about us.

Stanley Milgram – Psychologist known for obedience studies involving authority figures.

Stereotype – A generalized belief about a group.

Superego – According to Freud, the moral part of personality.

Superordinate goals – Shared goals that require cooperation.

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) – A projective test where people create stories about ambiguous pictures.

Unconscious – According to Freud, thoughts and feelings outside of awareness.