Social Psychology and Personality

AP Psychology Unit 4 Comprehensive Note

Attribution Theory & Perception

Explaining Behaviors

  • Why Explain Behaviors?

    • Need to understand why others behave certain ways (e.g., friend not responding to texts).

Attribution Types

  • Dispositional (Internal): Personality, intelligence, attitude.

  • Situational (External): Environmental factors like weather or events.

Attribution Theory

  • Explains how we interpret behaviors by attributing them to dispositional or situational causes.

Biases in Attribution

  • Self-Serving Bias: Successes attributed internally, failures externally (protects self-esteem).

  • Actor-Observer Bias: Own behaviors explained situationally, others’ dispositionally.

  • Fundamental Attribution Error: Overemphasis on dispositional factors for others.

Explanatory Style

  • Optimistic Style: Bad events temporary (external), good events due to internal factors.

  • Pessimistic Style: Bad events permanent (internal), good events external (luck).

  • Example: Optimist sees no reply as busy; pessimist fears rejection.

Locus of Control

  • External: Belief that outcomes are determined by external factors (risk of learned helplessness).

  • Internal: Belief personal actions influence outcomes (higher self-efficacy, proactive).

Person Perception

Mere Exposure Effect

  • Repeated exposure to stimuli increases liking; familiarity breeds comfort.

  • Example: Song on radio gradually liked; advertising uses repeated exposure.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

  • Expectations influence behavior, causing original expectations to manifest.

  • Example: Belief someone is mean leads to behaving unfriendly, reinforcing belief.

Social Comparison

  • Upward Comparison: Comparing oneself to someone perceived as better (can motivate or discourage).

  • Downward Comparison: Comparing oneself to someone worse (improves self-esteem, reduces motivation).

Relative Deprivation

  • Feeling worse off compared to others despite basic needs being met.

  • Example: New phone seems less appealing when friends have newer models.

Attitude Formation and Change

Attitudes

  • Evolving through experiences and social interactions.

  • Explicit Attitudes: Conscious beliefs.

  • Implicit Attitudes: Unconscious biases (e.g., gender leadership bias).

Common Biases

  • Just-World Phenomenon: Belief people get what they deserve (leads to victim-blaming).

  • Out-Group Homogeneity Bias: Viewing out-group members as similar (stereotypes).

  • In-Group Bias: Favoring one's own group.

  • Ethnocentrism: Belief one's culture is superior.

  • Cultural Relativism: Evaluating cultures by their own standards.

Resistance to Change

  • Belief Perseverance: Clinging to beliefs despite contradictory evidence.

  • Confirmation Bias: Focusing on information confirming existing beliefs.

Stereotypes & Prejudice

  • Stereotypes: Generalized beliefs about groups.

  • Prejudice: Negative attitudes toward groups; leads to discrimination.

  • Discrimination: Unfair treatment based on group membership.

Cognitive Dissonance

  • Discomfort from conflicting beliefs/actions; motivates attitude change to restore harmony.

Social Norms & Conformity

Social Norms

  • Unwritten societal rules; powerful pressure for conformity.

  • Example: Elevator experiment (facing the wall).

Conformity

  • Influenced by group size, unanimity, cohesion, authority, culture (collectivist vs. individualistic).

Obedience

  • Compliance with authority; influenced by proximity, legitimacy, dissent.

Social Influence Theory

  • Normative Influence: Conforming to be liked.

  • Informational Influence: Conforming believing others know better.

Persuasion Techniques

Elaboration Likelihood Model

  • Central Route: Logical arguments, facts.

  • Peripheral Route: Emotional appeals, quick persuasion.

  • Halo Effect: Positive first impression impacts overall judgment.

Techniques

  • Foot-In-The-Door: Small request followed by larger request.

  • Door-In-The-Face: Large request followed by smaller, reasonable request.

Group Dynamics

Group Polarization & Groupthink

  • Polarization: Views become extreme in like-minded groups.

  • Groupthink: Prioritizing harmony over critical thinking.

Deindividuation & Diffusion of Responsibility

  • Loss of individual accountability; reduced responsibility in large groups.

  • Social Loafing: Reduced effort in group tasks.

  • Social Facilitation: Improved performance in group presence.

Other Phenomena

  • False Consensus Effect: Overestimating shared beliefs.

  • Superordinate Goals: Cooperative goals reducing conflict.

  • Social Traps: Short-term benefits causing long-term harm.

Prosocial Behavior

Altruism

  • Selfless concern for others' well-being; debated genuine existence.

Norms

  • Social Responsibility Norm: Duty to help vulnerable individuals.

  • Social Reciprocity Norm: Expectation of reciprocal help.

Bystander Effect

  • Less likely to help with others present due to diffusion of responsibility.

Psychodynamic & Humanistic Theories

Psychodynamic Theory

  • Personality shaped by unconscious conflicts (Freud).

  • Defense Mechanisms: Denial, displacement, projection, rationalization, reaction formation, regression, sublimation, repression.

  • Personality: Ego mediates between ID (pleasure) and Superego (morality).

  • Projective Tests: Open-ended personality assessments.

Humanistic Theory

  • Innate goodness, self-actualization.

  • Positive regard: Unconditional (no conditions) vs. Conditional (conditions).

  • Self-concept: How we view ourselves.

  • Self-esteem: Feelings about self-concept.

  • Congruence: Alignment between actual and ideal self.

Motivation

Motivation Theories

  • Drive-Reduction: Homeostasis maintenance.

  • Arousal Theory: Optimal stimulation level (Yerkes-Dodson Law).

  • Self-Determination Theory: Intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation.

  • Incentive Theory: Focuses primarily on extrinsic rewards.

  • Sensation Seeking: Four types—experience, thrill/adventure, disinhibition, boredom susceptibility.

  • Kurt Lewin’s Conflict Theory: Approach-approach, avoidance-avoidance, approach-avoidance.

Emotion

Early Theories

  • James-Lange: Physiological then cognitive.

  • Cannon-Bard: Physiological and cognitive simultaneously.

  • Schachter Two-Factor: Physiological arousal + cognitive labeling.

Facial Feedback Hypothesis

  • Facial expressions influence emotions.

Broaden-and-Build Theory

  • Positive emotions broaden mindset and build personal resources; negative emotions narrow focus.

Culture & Emotions

  • Universality and variations; display rules culturally influenced.

  • Elicitors of Emotion: Culturally influenced triggers of emotional responses.