Psychology Notes from Myers' AP Course, Unit 4

Person Perception

  • Definition: The process by which we form impressions of ourselves and others. This involves making attributions of behavior.

Attribution Theory

  • Definition: A framework that explains how we interpret and attribute someone’s behavior.

    • Types of Attributions:

    • Situational Attribution: Explaining behavior based on the situation at hand.

    • Dispositional Attribution: Explaining behavior based on stable, enduring traits of the person involved.

Fundamental Attribution Error

  • Definition: The tendency to underestimate situational influences and overestimate personal traits when analyzing others' behaviors.

Actor-Observer Bias

  • Definition: The tendency for observers to explain others' actions as stemming from internal characteristics while attributing their own actions to external factors. This further contributes to the fundamental attribution error.

Prejudice

  • Definition: An unjustifiable, typically negative attitude towards a group and its members. Involves:

    • Negative emotions

    • Stereotyped beliefs

    • A predisposition to discriminatory action.

Stereotype

  • Definition: A generalized belief about a group of people, which can be accurate or overgeneralized.

Discrimination

  • Definition: Unjustifiable negative behavior towards a group or its members.

Just-World Phenomenon

  • Definition: The belief that the world is inherently just, leading individuals to see people as deserving their circumstances.

Social Identity

  • Definition: The aspect of our self-concept derived from our group memberships. Reflects the “we” aspect of our identity.

Ingroup

  • Definition: Refers to “us”—people with whom we share a common identity.

Outgroup

  • Definition: Refers to “them”—people perceived as different or apart from the ingroup.

Ingroup Bias

  • Definition: The tendency to favor one's own group over others.

Scapegoat Theory

  • Definition: A theory positing that prejudice provides an outlet for anger by assigning blame to others.

Other-Race Effect

  • Definition: The tendency to recognize faces of one’s own race more accurately than those of other races.

  • Also Called: Cross-race effect and own-race bias.

Attitudes

  • Definition: Feelings that often influenced by beliefs, predispose us to respond in certain ways to objects, people, and events.

Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon

  • Definition: The tendency for people who initially agree to a small request to comply later with a larger request.

Role

  • Definition: A set of expectations (norms) regarding a social position and behaviors appropriate for that position.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

  • Definition: This theory suggests that we act to reduce discomfort when our thoughts are inconsistent.

    • Example: Changing attitudes to align with behaviors that clash with them.

Persuasion

  • Definition: The act of changing people's attitudes to potentially influence their behaviors.

Peripheral Route Persuasion

  • Definition: When people are influenced by incidental cues, such as the attractiveness of a speaker.

Central Route Persuasion

  • Definition: Occurs when people's thinking is influenced by considering the evidence and arguments presented.

Norms

  • Definition: The understood rules for accepted and expected behavior in a society. Specifies proper behavior in social situations.

Conformity

  • Definition: Adjusting our behaviors or thoughts to align with group standards.

Normative Social Influence

  • Definition: Influence stemming from a person's desire for approval and fear of disapproval from others.

Informational Social Influence

  • Definition: Influence resulting from a person’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality.

Obedience

  • Definition: The act of complying with orders or commands.

Social Facilitation

  • Definition: The phenomenon where performance on simple tasks improves in the presence of others, while performance on complex tasks may deteriorate.

Social Loafing

  • Definition: The tendency for individuals in a group to exert less effort towards achieving a common goal compared to when they are individually responsible.

Deindividuation

  • Definition: A loss of self-awareness and self-restraint in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity.

Group Polarization

  • Definition: The phenomenon where discussion within a group amplifies the group's prevailing inclinations.

Groupthink

  • Definition: A mode of thinking that occurs when harmony in a group overrides realistic appraisal of alternatives.

Culture

  • Definition: The enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people.

    • Tight Culture: A culture with clearly defined and strictly enforced norms.

    • Loose Culture: A culture with flexible and informal norms.

Aggression

  • Definition: Any behavior that is intended to harm someone physically or emotionally.

  • Related Principle: Frustration-aggression principle, which posits that frustration leads to anger that can result in aggression.

Social Script

  • Definition: Culturally modeled guidelines for how to act in various situations.

Mere Exposure Effect

  • Definition: The tendency for repeated exposure to novel stimuli to enhance liking of those stimuli.

Passionate Love

  • Definition: An intense, positive absorption in another, typically seen at the beginning of a romantic relationship.

Companionate Love

  • Definition: The deep affectionate attachment we develop for those with whom our lives are intertwined.

Equity

  • Definition: A condition in which people receive in proportion to what they contribute in relationships.

Altruism

  • Definition: A selfless concern for the welfare of others.

Bystander Effect

  • Definition: The phenomenon where individuals are less likely to help a victim when other bystanders are present.

Social Exchange Theory

  • Definition: The theory viewing social behavior as an exchange process aimed at maximizing benefits and minimizing costs.

Reciprocity Norm

  • Definition: The expectation that people will help, rather than hurt, those who have previously helped them.

Social-Responsibility Norm

  • Definition: The expectation that people will help those who need assistance.

Conflict

  • Definition: A perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas among individuals or groups.

Social Trap

  • Definition: A situation where two parties, by pursuing self-interests rather than the good of the group, engage in mutually destructive behavior.

Mirror-Image Perceptions

  • Definition: Mutual views held by conflicting parties, where each side sees itself as ethical and peaceful while viewing the other as evil and aggressive.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

  • Definition: A belief that brings about its own fulfillment.

Superordinate Goals

  • Definition: Shared goals that necessitate cooperation among disparate groups and override differences.

GRIT (Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-Reduction)

  • Definition: A strategy designed to reduce international tensions through phased cooperation.

Personality

  • Definition: An individual’s characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving.

Psychodynamic Theories

  • Definition: Theories emphasizing the role of the unconscious mind and early childhood experiences in personality development.

Psychoanalysis

  • Definition: Freud’s theory attributing thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts; uses techniques to reveal these tensions for therapeutic purposes.

Unconscious

  • Definition: Freud's concept of a reservoir holding unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories; includes information processing of which we are unaware.

Free Association

  • Definition: A psychoanalytic method where the person relaxes and speaks whatever comes to mind, regardless of how trivial or embarrassing.

Id

  • Definition: The part of personality that contains unconscious psychic energy aimed at fulfilling basic sexual and aggressive drives; operates on the pleasure principle seeking immediate gratification.

Ego

  • Definition: The partially conscious part of personality that mediates between the demands of the id, superego, and reality; operates on the reality principle, satisfying desires in acceptable ways.

Superego

  • Definition: The part of personality representing internalized ideals and standards of judgment; often equated with the conscience and aspirations.

Defense Mechanisms

  • Definition: The ego's protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality.

    • Repression: The basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness.

Collective Unconscious

  • Definition: Carl Jung's idea of a shared reservoir of memory traces from the history of the species.

Terror-Management Theory

  • Definition: A theory examining people's emotional and behavioral responses to reminders of their impending death.

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

  • Definition: A projective test where individuals express their inner feelings through stories they create about ambiguous images.

Projective Test

  • Definition: A type of personality test designed to reveal inner dynamics via ambiguous stimuli, such as the TAT or Rorschach.

Rorschach Inkblot Test

  • Definition: A projective test created by Hermann Rorschach that analyzes how individuals interpret inkblots to uncover inner feelings.

Humanistic Theories

  • Definition: Theories emphasizing the potential for healthy personal growth and self-actualization in personality.

Hierarchy of Needs

  • Definition: Maslow’s model of human needs arranged in a pyramid, beginning with physiological needs and culminating in self-actualization.

Self-Actualization

  • Definition: The fulfillment of personal potential, arising once basic physiological and psychological needs and self-esteem have been achieved.

Self-Transcendence

  • Definition: The striving for identity, meaning, and purpose beyond oneself, as proposed by Maslow.

Unconditional Positive Regard

  • Definition: A nonjudgmental, caring, and accepting attitude believed necessary for self-awareness and acceptance according to Carl Rogers.

Self-Concept

  • Definition: Encompasses all thoughts and feelings about oneself, responding to the question “Who am I?”

Trait

  • Definition: A characteristic pattern of behavior or disposition to react in certain ways, often assessed through self-report inventories and peer reports.

Personality Inventory

  • Definition: A questionnaire aiming to assess a wide array of feelings and behaviors via true-false or agree-disagree responses.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

  • Definition: The most researched and clinically used personality test, originally developed to identify emotional disorders but now has broader applications.

Empirically Derived Test

  • Definition: A test developed by selecting items from a pool that effectively discriminate between different groups.

Big Five Factors

  • Definition: Five core traits describing human personality: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Also referred to as the five-factor model.

Social-Cognitive Perspective

  • Definition: A viewpoint suggesting that behavior is influenced by the interplay of individual traits (including thinking) and social context.

Behavioral Approach

  • Definition: Focuses on how learning effects personality development.

Reciprocal Determinism

  • Definition: The concept that behavior, internal cognition, and environmental factors all interact and influence one another.

Self

  • Definition: The assumed central aspect of personality that organizes thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Spotlight Effect

  • Definition: The tendency to overestimate how much others notice and evaluate our appearance, performance, and mistakes, as if we were under a spotlight.

Self-Esteem

  • Definition: Our overall feelings of worthiness and self-acceptance, potentially leading to feelings of high or low self-worth.

Self-Efficacy

  • Definition: One's own sense of competence and effectiveness in achieving goals.

Self-Serving Bias

  • Definition: The tendency to view oneself in an overly favorable manner.

Narcissism

  • Definition: An excessive preoccupation with oneself and one's achievements; often involves self-love and self-absorption.

Individualism

  • Definition: A cultural orientation emphasizing personal goals and defining identity through individual attributes.

Collectivism

  • Definition: A cultural orientation prioritizing group goals and defining identity mainly through group memberships.

Motivation

  • Definition: A need or desire that energizes and directs behavior.

Instinct

  • Definition: A complex behavior that is rigidly patterned throughout a species and typically unlearned.

Physiological Need

  • Definition: A basic bodily requirement essential for survival.

Drive-Reduction Theory

  • Definition: The concept that a physiological need creates an aroused state (drive) that motivates an organism to fulfill that need.

Homeostasis

  • Definition: The tendency for organisms to maintain a balanced internal state; regulates body chemistry, like blood glucose, around a certain level.

Incentive

  • Definition: An environmental stimulus that can motivate behavior, which can be positive or negative.

Yerkes-Dodson Law

  • Definition: The principle stating that performance increases with arousal only up to a point, after which performance may decrease.

Affiliation Need

  • Definition: The need to form and maintain social relationships and feel part of a group.

Self-Determination Theory

  • Definition: A theory proposing that motivation is driven by the need for competence, autonomy, and relatedness.

Intrinsic Motivation

  • Definition: The desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake, without external rewards.

Extrinsic Motivation

  • Definition: The motivation driven by external rewards or the avoidance of punishment for behaviors.

Ostracism

  • Definition: The deliberate social exclusion of individuals or groups from certain activities or interactions.

Achievement Motivation

  • Definition: The drive for significant accomplishment, mastery of skills or concepts, and maintaining high standards of performance.

Grit

  • Definition: In psychology, refers to passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals.

Glucose

  • Definition: The form of sugar that circulates in the bloodstream, serving as a primary energy source for body tissues; hunger is triggered when glucose levels are low.

Set Point

  • Definition: The level at which the body’s “weight thermostat” is set; when weight falls below this point, increased hunger and decreased metabolic rate work to restore lost weight.

Basal Metabolic Rate

  • Definition: The rate of energy expenditure of the body at rest.

Obesity

  • Definition: Defined by a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher; calculated from the weight-to-height ratio; BMI of 25 or higher indicates being overweight.

Emotion

  • Definition: A holistic response involving physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience resulting from individual interpretations.

Polygraph

  • Definition: A device used to measure emotion-linked changes in perspiration, heart rate, and breathing in attempts to detect deception.

Facial Feedback Effect

  • Definition: The phenomenon where facial muscle states can trigger corresponding emotional feelings, such as fear or happiness.

Behavior Feedback Effect

  • Definition: The tendency for one's behavior to influence their own and others' thoughts, feelings, and actions.