AP PSYCH UNIT 4

Here are the definitions for the terms you requested:

• Attributions: Explanations we make about the causes of behavior, whether our own or others'.

• Dispositional Attributions: Attributing behavior to internal characteristics such as personality, traits, or abilities.

• Situational Attributions: Attributing behavior to external factors, such as the environment or circumstances.

• Explanatory Style: A person’s habitual way of explaining events, typically as positive or negative.

• Optimistic Explanatory Style: Explaining negative events as temporary, external, and specific, leading to a more positive outlook.

• Pessimistic Explanatory Style: Explaining negative events as permanent, internal, and global, leading to a negative outlook.

• Actor/Observer Bias: The tendency to attribute our own behavior to situational factors but others’ behavior to dispositional factors.

• Fundamental Attribution Error: The tendency to overemphasize personality traits and underestimate situational factors when explaining others’ behavior.

• Self-Serving Bias: The tendency to attribute successes to internal factors and failures to external factors.

• Internal Locus of Control: The belief that one controls their own fate through effort and actions.

• External Locus of Control: The belief that external forces, such as luck or fate, determine outcomes.

• Mere Exposure Effect: The phenomenon where repeated exposure to something increases our liking for it.

• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: When expectations about a person or situation lead to behaviors that make those expectations come true.

• Social Comparison: Evaluating oneself by comparing to others.

• Upward Social Comparison: Comparing yourself to someone who is better off, which can motivate improvement but also lower self-esteem.

• Downward Social Comparison: Comparing yourself to someone worse off to boost self-esteem.

• Relative Deprivation: The feeling of being worse off compared to others, even if one is not actually deprived.

• Stereotype: A generalized belief about a group of people, often oversimplified and not always accurate.

• Cognitive Load: The amount of mental effort being used in the working memory at a given time.

• Prejudice: A negative, preconceived attitude toward a group and its members, often based on stereotypes.

• Discrimination: Unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group or its members based on prejudice.

• Implicit Attitudes: Unconscious beliefs or feelings toward a group or object that influence behavior.

• Just-World Phenomenon: The belief that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get, leading to victim-blaming.

• Out-Group Homogeneity Bias: The tendency to see members of an out-group as more similar to each other than they actually are.

• In-Group Bias: The tendency to favor one’s own group over others.

• Ethnocentrism: Judging another culture based on the standards of one’s own culture, often seeing one’s own culture as superior.

• Belief Perseverance: Holding onto one’s initial beliefs even when presented with contradictory evidence.

• Confirmation Bias: The tendency to seek out and interpret information in a way that confirms preexisting beliefs.

• Cognitive Dissonance: The discomfort experienced when holding two conflicting thoughts or beliefs, often leading to attitude change.

• Attitude Formation: The process by which people develop attitudes through experience, social influences, and conditioning.

• Attitude Change: The process of modifying one’s attitudes due to persuasion, experience, or cognitive dissonance.

Affect

A broad term that encompasses emotions, moods, and feelings.

Internal and External Factors

• Internal factors: Personal characteristics like personality, mood, and past experiences that influence emotions and behavior.

• External factors: Environmental or situational influences, such as social interactions and surroundings, that impact emotions and behavior.

Physiological vs. Cognitive Experiences

• Physiological experiences: Bodily reactions to emotions, such as increased heart rate or sweating.

• Cognitive experiences: Mental interpretations and thoughts associated with emotions.

Cognitive Label

The mental interpretation assigned to physiological arousal to identify an emotion, as explained by the Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory of emotion.

Facial-Feedback Hypothesis

The theory that facial expressions can influence emotions, not just reflect them.

Cognitive Appraisal

The process of evaluating a situation to determine its emotional significance and impact.

Broaden and Build Theory

A theory suggesting that positive emotions expand thinking and behavior, leading to long-term personal growth and resilience.

Universality of Emotions Theory

A theory stating that six basic emotions—anger, disgust, sadness, happiness, surprise, and fear—are universally recognized across all cultures.

Display Rules

Cultural norms that dictate how and when emotions should be expressed.

Elicitor

A stimulus or event that triggers an emotional response.

Drive-Reduction Theory

A theory that suggests motivation arises from the need to reduce internal physiological tension (drives) and restore homeostasis.

Homeostasis

The body’s tendency to maintain a stable internal state, such as regulating temperature, hunger, and fluid balance.

Arousal Theory

A theory stating that people are motivated to maintain an optimal level of arousal, which varies by individual and situation.

Optimal Level of Arousal

The ideal amount of stimulation needed for peak performance and well-being.

Yerkes-Dodson Law

A principle stating that performance improves with arousal up to a certain point, after which too much arousal hinders performance.

Self-Determination Theory

A theory that emphasizes intrinsic motivation and the need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness to enhance personal growth and fulfillment.

Intrinsic Motivation

Engaging in a behavior for personal satisfaction and internal rewards rather than external incentives.

Incentive Theory

A theory suggesting that motivation is driven by external rewards or incentives rather than internal needs.

Extrinsic Motivation

Performing a behavior to gain external rewards or avoid punishment.

Instincts

Innate, biologically programmed behaviors that occur in response to specific stimuli.

Lewin’s Motivational Conflicts Theory

A theory describing three types of conflicts that arise when making decisions: approach-approach, approach-avoidance, and avoidance-avoidance.

Approach-Approach Conflicts

A conflict between two equally desirable options.

Approach-Avoidance Conflicts

A conflict involving one option that has both positive and negative aspects.

Avoidance-Avoidance Conflicts

A conflict between two equally undesirable options.

Sensation-Seeking Theory

A theory suggesting that some individuals have a higher need for varied and intense sensory experiences.

Thrill Seeking

The desire for physically risky activities, such as skydiving or extreme sports.

Adventure Seeking

The tendency to seek novel and exciting experiences, such as traveling to unfamiliar places.

Disinhibition

A preference for impulsive and unrestrained behaviors, often in social settings.

Boredom Susceptibility

A tendency to become easily bored and seek stimulation to avoid monotony.

Ghrelin

A hormone that stimulates hunger by signaling the brain to eat.

Leptin

A hormone that regulates energy balance by signaling the brain to reduce appetite.

Hypothalamus (VMH, LH)

• Ventromedial Hypothalamus (VMH): Regulates satiety and signals when to stop eating.

• Lateral Hypothalamus (LH): Regulates hunger and signals when to eat.

Satiety

The feeling of fullness that reduces the desire to eat.

Pituitary Gland

A gland in the brain that regulates growth, metabolism, and other bodily functions by releasing hormones.

Door-in-the-Face Technique

A persuasion strategy where a large, unreasonable request is made first, followed by a smaller, more reasonable request, which is the actual goal.

Conformity

The tendency to adjust one’s behavior, attitudes, or beliefs to align with group norms.

Obedience

Following direct orders or commands from an authority figure.

Individualism

A cultural orientation that values personal independence, self-expression, and individual achievement over group goals.

Collectivism

A cultural orientation that prioritizes group harmony, interdependence, and collective well-being over individual desires.

Multiculturalism

The coexistence and appreciation of diverse cultural traditions, values, and identities within a society.

Group Polarization

The tendency for group discussions to strengthen the dominant viewpoint, making group members’ opinions more extreme.

Groupthink

A phenomenon where the desire for group harmony leads to poor decision-making due to pressure to conform and suppress dissenting opinions.

Diffusion of Responsibility

The tendency for individuals to feel less responsible for taking action in a group setting, assuming others will step in.

Social Loafing

The tendency for people to exert less effort in a group than when working alone.

Deindividuation

A psychological state in which individuals lose self-awareness and feel less accountable for their actions when in a group.

Social Facilitation

The tendency to perform better on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others, but worse on complex tasks.

False Consensus Effect

The tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our opinions, beliefs, and behaviors.

Superordinate Goals

Shared goals that require cooperation between groups or individuals to achieve, often reducing conflict.

Social Traps

Situations in which individuals or groups pursue short-term gains that lead to long-term negative consequences for everyone involved.

Industrial-Organizational (I/O) Psychologists

Psychologists who apply psychological principles to workplace settings to improve productivity, employee satisfaction, and organizational success.

Burnout

A state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged stress or overwork.

Altruism

Selfless concern for the well-being of others, often leading to helping behaviors without expecting personal gain.

Prosocial Behavior

Actions intended to benefit others, such as helping, sharing, or cooperating.

Social Debt

A sense of obligation to return a favor or kindness received from someone else.

Social Reciprocity Norm

An expectation that people will respond to kindness with kindness, helping those who have helped them.

Social Responsibility Norm

An expectation that people should help those in need, regardless of personal benefit.

Bystander Effect

The phenomenon where individuals are less likely to help in an emergency when others are present, due to diffusion of responsibility.

Situational Variables

External factors that influence behavior, such as environment, social context, or presence of others.

Attentional Variables

Factors that affect how individuals focus their attention on stimuli, such as distractions, motivation, or cognitive load.Door-in-the-Face Technique

A persuasion strategy where a large, unreasonable request is made first, followed by a smaller, more reasonable request, which is the actual goal.

Conformity

The tendency to adjust one’s behavior, attitudes, or beliefs to align with group norms.

Obedience

Following direct orders or commands from an authority figure.

Individualism

A cultural orientation that values personal independence, self-expression, and individual achievement over group goals.

Collectivism

A cultural orientation that prioritizes group harmony, interdependence, and collective well-being over individual desires.

Multiculturalism

The coexistence and appreciation of diverse cultural traditions, values, and identities within a society.

Group Polarization

The tendency for group discussions to strengthen the dominant viewpoint, making group members’ opinions more extreme.

Groupthink

A phenomenon where the desire for group harmony leads to poor decision-making due to pressure to conform and suppress dissenting opinions.

Diffusion of Responsibility

The tendency for individuals to feel less responsible for taking action in a group setting, assuming others will step in.

Social Loafing

The tendency for people to exert less effort in a group than when working alone.

Deindividuation

A psychological state in which individuals lose self-awareness and feel less accountable for their actions when in a group.

Social Facilitation

The tendency to perform better on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others, but worse on complex tasks.

False Consensus Effect

The tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our opinions, beliefs, and behaviors.

Superordinate Goals

Shared goals that require cooperation between groups or individuals to achieve, often reducing conflict.

Social Traps

Situations in which individuals or groups pursue short-term gains that lead to long-term negative consequences for everyone involved.

Industrial-Organizational (I/O) Psychologists

Psychologists who apply psychological principles to workplace settings to improve productivity, employee satisfaction, and organizational success.

Burnout

A state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged stress or overwork.

Altruism

Selfless concern for the well-being of others, often leading to helping behaviors without expecting personal gain.

Prosocial Behavior

Actions intended to benefit others, such as helping, sharing, or cooperating.

Social Debt

A sense of obligation to return a favor or kindness received from someone else.

Social Reciprocity Norm

An expectation that people will respond to kindness with kindness, helping those who have helped them.

Social Responsibility Norm

An expectation that people should help those in need, regardless of personal benefit.

Bystander Effect

The phenomenon where individuals are less likely to help in an emergency when others are present, due to diffusion of responsibility.

Situational Variables

External factors that influence behavior, such as environment, social context, or presence of others.

Attentional Variables

Factors that affect how individuals focus their attention on stimuli, such as distractions, motivation, or cognitive load.Psychodynamic Theory

A psychological approach developed by Freud that emphasizes unconscious drives, childhood experiences, and internal conflicts in shaping personality and behavior.

Unconscious Processes

Mental processes that occur outside of conscious awareness, influencing thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.

Ego Defense Mechanisms

Unconscious psychological strategies used by the ego to reduce anxiety and protect the self from distressing thoughts or emotions.

Denial

Refusing to accept reality or facts to avoid dealing with a painful situation.

Displacement

Redirecting emotions or impulses from the original source to a less threatening target.

Projection

Attributing one’s own unwanted thoughts, feelings, or motives to someone else.

Rationalization

Justifying behaviors or thoughts with logical but false explanations to avoid true reasons for actions.

Reaction Formation

Expressing the opposite of one’s true feelings, often in an exaggerated way, to hide unacceptable impulses.

Regression

Reverting to an earlier developmental stage or behavior when faced with stress or anxiety.

Repression

Unconsciously pushing distressing thoughts or memories out of conscious awareness.

Sublimation

Channeling unacceptable impulses into socially acceptable or constructive activities.

Projective Tests

Psychological assessments, such as the Rorschach Inkblot Test, that use ambiguous stimuli to uncover unconscious thoughts and conflicts.

Preconscious Mind

The part of the mind containing thoughts and memories that are not currently in awareness but can be accessed if needed.

Unconscious Mind

The deepest level of the mind, containing hidden desires, memories, and instincts that influence behavior without conscious awareness.

Humanistic Psychology

A psychological perspective that emphasizes personal growth, free will, and self-actualization as key to understanding human behavior.

Unconditional Regard

Acceptance and support of a person regardless of their actions or feelings, often associated with Carl Rogers’ theory of self-concept.

Self-Actualizing Tendency

The innate drive to reach one’s fullest potential and become the best version of oneself.

Social-Cognitive Theory

A theory that emphasizes the interaction between individuals’ thoughts, behaviors, and the environment, shaping how people learn and act.

Reciprocal Determinism

The idea that behavior, cognitive factors, and environmental influences all interact and influence each other.

Self-Concept

An individual’s perception of themselves, including their attributes, beliefs, and overall self-identity.

Self-Efficacy

An individual’s belief in their ability to successfully perform tasks and achieve goals.

Self-Esteem

A person’s overall sense of self-worth or personal value.

Trait Theories

Psychological models that focus on identifying and measuring stable personality characteristics that influence behavior.

Big Five Theory

A widely accepted model that describes five broad dimensions of personality: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability (neuroticism).

Agreeableness

A personality trait reflecting kindness, cooperation, and empathy.

Openness to Experience

A personality trait associated with curiosity, imagination, and a willingness to explore new ideas and experiences.

Extraversion

A personality trait involving sociability, energy, and a tendency to seek stimulation in the company of others.

Conscientiousness

A personality trait involving organization, dependability, and self-discipline.

Emotional Stability (Neuroticism)

A personality trait that reflects the tendency to experience negative emotions such as anxiety and mood swings. Low neuroticism indicates high emotional stability.

Personality Inventories

Standardized tests designed to measure various aspects of personality, often used to assess traits, behaviors, and preferences.

Factor Analysis

A statistical technique used to identify patterns or clusters of related variables, which help in identifying underlying traits in personality.

Homeostasis

The process by which the body maintains a stable internal environment, such as temperature, pH, and blood sugar levels.

Arousal Theory

The theory that behavior is driven by the desire to maintain an optimal level of arousal, which varies for different individuals.

Optimal Level of Arousal

The point at which a person is most motivated and functioning at their best, balancing both mental and physical stimulation.

Yerkes-Dodson Law

The principle stating that there is an optimal level of arousal for performance, where too little or too much arousal can hinder performance.

Self-Determination Theory

A theory that suggests people are motivated by the need for competence, autonomy, and relatedness to others.

Intrinsic Motivation

The motivation to engage in an activity for its own sake, due to personal enjoyment or fulfillment.

Incentive Theory

The theory that behavior is motivated by external rewards or incentives, such as money or recognition.

Extrinsic Motivation

Motivation driven by external factors such as rewards, praise, or avoiding punishment.

Instincts

Innate, automatic behaviors that are hardwired and typically triggered by specific stimuli.

Lewin’s Motivational Conflicts Theory

A theory describing how individuals experience conflict when making decisions, with three types of conflict: approach-approach, approach-avoidance, and avoidance-avoidance.

Approach-Approach Conflicts

A situation in which an individual must choose between two desirable options.

Approach-Avoidance Conflicts

A situation in which an individual faces a single option that has both positive and negative aspects.

Avoidance-Avoidance Conflicts

A situation in which an individual must choose between two undesirable options.

Sensation-Seeking Theory

A theory that suggests people are motivated to seek out novel and intense experiences to satisfy their need for arousal.

Thrill Seeking

A trait related to seeking exciting, high-risk activities that provide a strong adrenaline rush.

Adventure Seeking

A trait involving a desire for exciting experiences and new challenges, often through physical activities or travel.

Disinhibition

The tendency to engage in risky or impulsive behaviors, often as a result of lowering inhibitions or social constraints.

Boredom Susceptibility

A personality trait characterized by a high sensitivity to boredom, often leading individuals to seek new and exciting experiences.

Ghrelin

A hormone that stimulates appetite and increases food intake, often referred to as the "hunger hormone."

Leptin

A hormone that helps regulate energy balance by inhibiting hunger, signaling to the brain when the body has enough energy stored.

Hypothalamus (VMH, LH)

Parts of the brain involved in regulating hunger and thirst:

• VMH (Ventral Medial Hypothalamus): Often referred to as the "satiety center," it helps regulate feelings of fullness.

• LH (Lateral Hypothalamus): Known as the "hunger center," it plays a key role in triggering feelings of hunger.

Satiety

The feeling of fullness or satisfaction after eating, which signals the body to stop eating.

Pituitary Gland

A small gland located at the base of the brain that regulates various endocrine functions, including the secretion of hormones related to growth, metabolism, and reproduction.