AP Psychology Social Psychology (Unit 4) — Understanding People in Context

Attribution

The process of explaining why a behavior occurred (inferring its cause).

Dispositional (internal) vs. situational (external) attributions

Dispositional/internal attributions explain behavior using personal traits, motives, or ability; situational/external attributions explain behavior using circumstances, social pressure, luck, or the environment (and both can contribute).

Fundamental attribution error (FAE)

The tendency to overestimate dispositional causes and underestimate situational causes when explaining other people’s behavior.

Actor–observer bias

The tendency to attribute your own behavior more to the situation, but other people’s behavior more to their dispositions.

Self-serving bias

The tendency to attribute successes to internal factors and failures to external factors (protects self-esteem but can block learning).

Covariation model (consistency, distinctiveness, consensus)

A way people infer causes using patterns: consistency (same behavior over time in this situation?), distinctiveness (only in this situation or many?), and consensus (do others do it too?). High consensus + high distinctiveness + high consistency often points to the situation; low consensus + low distinctiveness + high consistency often points to the person.

Attitude

An evaluation of a person, object, or idea ranging from negative to positive, influencing attention, interpretation, and decisions.

A-B-C model of attitudes

Attitudes include Affective (feelings), Behavioral (actions/action tendencies), and Cognitive (beliefs/thoughts) components.

Mere exposure effect

Repeated exposure to a stimulus tends to increase liking, even without deep processing.

Elaboration likelihood model (ELM)

A persuasion framework proposing two routes to attitude change—central (careful thinking) and peripheral (cues)—depending on motivation and ability to process the message.

Central route persuasion

Attitude change driven by strong arguments and careful thinking; tends to be longer-lasting.

Peripheral route persuasion

Attitude change driven by non-logic cues (e.g., attractiveness, slogans, number of arguments); tends to be more temporary.

Cognitive dissonance

Discomfort from inconsistency between attitudes and behavior, motivating people to reduce tension by changing behavior, changing attitudes, or rationalizing.

Conformity

Changing behavior or beliefs to match a group.

Normative social influence

Conforming to be liked/accepted or to avoid rejection (fitting in).

Informational social influence

Conforming because you believe the group is correct, especially in ambiguous or difficult situations.

Compliance

Changing behavior because of a direct request (without an explicit command).

Obedience

Following commands from an authority figure (involving a clear power difference).

Social loafing

Putting in less effort in a group than when alone, often because individual contributions feel less identifiable and responsibility is spread out.

Deindividuation

Reduced self-awareness and self-restraint in group situations that foster anonymity and arousal; behavior tends to follow the group’s norms (not automatically antisocial).

Groupthink

Flawed group decision-making in which the desire for harmony/consensus overrides realistic appraisal of alternatives (e.g., self-censorship, pressure to conform, illusion of unanimity).

Stereotype

A belief (cognitive) about a group (e.g., “They are ___”).

Prejudice

An attitude or feeling (affective), often negative, toward a group.

Discrimination

An action or behavior (behavioral) that treats people differently based on group membership.

Bystander effect

The tendency for individuals to be less likely to help in an emergency when other bystanders are present, often due to diffusion of responsibility and ambiguity about whether it’s an emergency.