Social Psychology and Personality Flashcards
Social Psychology
Describes how individuals think, feel, and behave in various social situations
Person Perception
Describes the mental process we use to form judgments and draw conclusions about the characteristics of others.
Mere Exposure Effect
This phenomenon occurs when people are repeatedly exposed to a stimulus, leading them to develop a preference for the stimulus over time.
Self-fulfilling Prophecy.
Individuals can act in a manner that prompts others to exhibit behaviors that align with their beliefs or perceptions about themselves or others.
Attribution Theory
A psychological concept that focuses on how individuals explain the causes of events and behaviors.
Explanatory Style
This style refers to how people interpret positive and negative events, both in their own lives and in the lives of others.
Fundamental Attribution Error
Refers to the tendency to underestimate the impact of a situation when explaining someone else’s behavior and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition when explaining our behavior.
Actor-Observer Bias
This bias leads us to attribute our behavior to external factors rather than internal characteristics, as we possess more insight into the various factors influencing our actions.
Self-Serving Bias
Attributes positive outcomes to our abilities or efforts while attributing adverse outcomes to external factors beyond our control.
Blaming the Victim
Blaming innocent victims of crime, disaster, or severe injury to themselves.
Just World Hypothesis
The assumption that the world is fair and, therefore, people get what they deserve and deserve what they get.
Social comparison
This psychological phenomenon involves individuals evaluating themselves by comparing their attributes, abilities, and possessions to those of others in society or their social circles
Upward social comparison
Occurs when individuals compare themselves to those perceived as superior in certain aspects, often leading to feelings of inadequacy or aspiration.
Downward social comparison
Involves comparing oneself to those perceived as inferior, which can boost self-esteem but may also lead to guilt or complacency
Relative Deprivation
Individuals often assess their sense of deprivation by comparing themselves to others.
Prejudice
An unjustifiable, typically negative attitude toward a particular group and its members.
Explicit Forms
Where individuals consciously express bias.
Implicit forms
Operates bias beneath conscious awareness.
Ingroup bias
Where we favor those in our group, and the outgroup bias.
Other-Race Effect
The tendency to recognize faces of one’s own race more easily than faces of other races.
Ethnocentrism
The belief in the inherent superiority of one’s own ethnic group or culture
Scapegoat Theory
The idea that people blame others for their own problems to avoid taking responsibility
Internal factors (Dispositional)
Personal characteristics or abilities
External factors (Situational)
Situational influences or luck.
Stereotypes
Are generalized beliefs about a particular group.
Implicit attitudes
Are unconscious biases that individuals may hold without being aware of them.
Just-World Phenomenon
This is the belief that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get
Out-Group Homogeneity Bias
This bias involves perceiving members of an out-group (a group to which one does not belong) as more similar to each other than they actually are.
In-Group Bias
This is the tendency to favor members of one’s own group over those of out-groups.
Belief perseverance
Where individuals continue to hold onto a belief or attitude even when faced with contradictory evidence.
Cognitive dissonance
Occurs when one has two conflicting attitudes, the original attitude vs. the realization that you behaved in a way inconsistent with the attitude.
Ex - Imagine a person who strongly believes in the importance of environmental conservation but regularly forgets to recycle or chooses to drive a gas-guzzling car
conformity
Sometimes, we will change our behaviors to align with those around us.
Central route (Persuasion)
Involves using logical arguments and evidence to persuade someone to change their attitude.
Peripheral route (Persuasion)
Focuses on more superficial aspects of a message, such as the source of the message, its emotional appeal, or the use of catchy slogans or images.
The foot-in-the-door
Involves making a small request that is likely to be accepted, followed by a larger request
door-in-the-face
Begins with a large, often unreasonable request that is likely to be rejected, followed by a more reasonable request.
Social facilitation
The phenomenon where the presence of others can either improve or worsen our performance based on the task at hand
Social loafing
When individuals come together to work as a group, their behavior can be impacted by the presence of others.
False consensus effect
A cognitive bias that causes people to overestimate how many others share their beliefs.
Deindividuation
A phenomenon where the presence of others can lead individuals to lose their self-awareness and self-restraint, often resulting in uninhibited behavior.
Group polarization
Explains how discussions with like-minded individuals can amplify our initial views.
Groupthink
Occurs when the desire for harmony within a group overrides the realistic evaluation of alternatives.
Superordinate goals
Bringing together different groups towards a shared objective
Social traps
Emerge when individuals prioritize their self-interest over the collective good, leading to conflicts and challenges within the group.
Altruism
Refers to selfless behavior
Bystander Effect
People are less likely to help someone in need if others are present
Reciprocal Liking
we are more likely to like someone that we already know likes us. People feel better about themselves knowing that they are likeable and enjoy the company of those who give them positive feelings.
Similarity
The more alike we are the more liking endures. Friends and couples who share beliefs, interests, similar age, race, gender, education, intelligence, and attitudes are more likely to last. We associate ourselves with similar people, especially when it comes to choosing a long-term mate.
Proximity
Refers to the geographic nearness to someone. Familiarity breeds fondness as the more we are exposed to something or someone the more safe and approachable it becomes. This repeated exposure is referred to as the mere exposure effect. Evolution has programmed us to bond with those that are familiar and become wary of those who are not like us.
Halo Effect
Occurs when a person’s overall judgment is based on a single trait.
Passionate love
Is short in duration and arousal is the key ingredient. It is intense and enhances emotion.
Companionate love
Is a deep affection or attachment for those with whom we share our lives.
Psychoanalytic theory of personality
The central theme behind this theory is that unconscious forces, sexual and aggressive instincts, and early childhood experiences shape our personalities.
id
Your primal and animalistic instincts. The id is located deep in your unconscious so you are largely unaware of it. The id is with drives our most primitive behaviors. The id is ruled by the pleasure principle, our relentless drives toward immediate satisfaction.
Ego
Located in our conscious. The part of the psyche we are aware of and makes up the most of our personality. It’s purpose is to satisfy the id while also maintaining social limitations. Governed by the reality principle and acts as a mediator between the id and superego.
Superego
This part of the personality develops last and is located in the pre-conscious. It provides us with our morals and sense of right and wrong.
Repression
Pushing or banishing anxiety driven thoughts out of conscious awareness.
Regression
When faced with an anxiety causing situation returning to an earlier more comfortable form of behavior or stage.
Reaction Formation
Expressing feelings the exact opposite of how you really feel.
Projection
Taking feelings that are threatening or causing your ego anxiety and directing them at another person.
Rationalization
Making up acceptable excuses for behaviors that cause us to feel anxious.
Displacement
Shifting or redirecting unacceptable feelings or impulses onto a less threatening target or outlet.
Sublimation
Channeling one’s socially unacceptable behaviors or impulses towards a more acceptable or approved activity.
Denial
When we choose not to accept a truth associated with ego-threatening information.
Intellectualization
The overemphasis with thinking when confronted with an unacceptable situation, impulse, or behavior.
Projective tests
Psychological assessments that present individuals with ambiguous stimuli, allowing for a wide range of interpretations. These tests are designed to uncover aspects of a person’s inner dynamics by analyzing their responses.
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
The subject is given a set of ambiguous pictures portraying human figures in a variety of settings. They are then asked what is going on in the picture and how the person in the picture feels. The subject’s answers to the questions are the manifest content, and the interpretation by the psychologist is the latent content. The analysis reveals expectations on relationships at work, with peers, parents or other authority figures, subordinates, or romantic partners.
Rorschach Inkblot Test
Includes a set of ten inkblots designed to identify people’s feelings when they are asked to interpret the inkblots. As with the TAT, the subject’s descriptions are the manifest content, and the therapist’s interpretation is the latent content. The inkblot test can be used to understand and describe personality as well as diagnose a disorder. The Rorschach Inkblot Test is criticized for its low reliability and validity. Despite these drawbacks, some clinicians value the Rorschach test as a tool for generating initial insights during interviews and as a conversation starter.
Self-actualizing Tendency
Describes the innate drive to maintain and enhance oneself.
Surface Traits
The traits that we use to describe friends and family are those traits that lie on the “surface”
The Big 5 Theory
According to this theory, personality can be primarily understood through five key traits: agreeableness, openness to experience, extraversion, conscientiousness, and emotional stability (neuroticism).
Spotlight effect
where individuals exaggerate how others notice and evaluate their actions and appearance.
Self-efficacy
which is our belief in our ability to succeed in specific tasks
