Unit 4

Social Psychology and Personality: the one-page sheet

4.1 Attribution Theory and Person Perception

Attribution theory describes how people explain behavior, by disposition or by situation. Explaining others mostly by disposition is the fundamental attribution error; switching between situation for yourself and disposition for others is the actor-observer bias; crediting yourself for success and the situation for failure is the self-serving bias. Locus of control and explanatory style describe how people explain their own outcomes, and the mere exposure effect, self-fulfilling prophecies, social comparison and relative deprivation shape how we see others and ourselves.

Dispositional attributions explain behavior by the person (traits, effort, ability); situational attributions explain it by circumstances (luck, other people, a hard test).
Three biases: the fundamental attribution error (others: too much disposition), the actor-observer bias (situation for me, disposition for you), the self-serving bias (my wins are me, my losses are the situation).
About yourself: locus of control is internal (my actions decide outcomes) or external (luck and others decide); explanatory style is optimistic (bad events are temporary and limited) or pessimistic (personal, lasting, everywhere).
Person perception: the mere exposure effect, the self-fulfilling prophecy, upward and downward social comparison, and relative deprivation.

their personality is the most visible explanation the fundamental attribution error the actor-observer bias: situation for me, disposition for you the self-serving bias: credit for success, the situation for failure

attribution theory: The theory that people explain behavior by crediting either the person's disposition or the situation.
dispositional attribution: Dispositional attribution: explaining behavior by the person's traits, abilities, effort or character.
situational attribution: Situational attribution: explaining behavior by outside circumstances, such as the task, luck or other people.
explanatory style: A habitual way of explaining bad events. An optimistic style sees them as temporary, limited and not wholly one's fault; a pessimistic style sees them as personal, lasting and affecting everything.
actor-observer bias: Actor-observer bias: explaining one's own behavior by the situation but another person's similar behavior by disposition.
fundamental attribution error: Fundamental attribution error: overestimating disposition and underestimating the situation when explaining other people's behavior. It is generally weaker in cultures that emphasize context.
self-serving bias: Self-serving bias: crediting one's successes to oneself and blaming one's failures on the situation.
locus of control: A belief about who controls one's outcomes. An internal locus of control credits one's own actions; an external locus of control credits luck, fate or other people.
mere exposure effect: Mere exposure effect: the tendency to like people and things more as they become familiar through repeated exposure.
self-fulfilling prophecy: Self-fulfilling prophecy: an expectation that changes behavior in ways that make the expectation come true.
social comparison: Judging one's own abilities and situation against other people. Upward social comparison is with people who are better off; downward social comparison is with people who are worse off.
relative deprivation: The sense of being worse off than a group one compares oneself with, whatever one's actual situation.

4.2 Attitude Formation and Attitude Change

Attitudes combine feelings and beliefs about people and things. Stereotypes, cognitive load and implicit attitudes can feed prejudice, and the just-world phenomenon, in-group bias, out-group homogeneity and ethnocentrism keep it going. Confirmation bias and belief perseverance make attitudes resist change, while cognitive dissonance, the discomfort of acting against an attitude, can change them. The classic dissonance findings hold up in part; a large 2024 replication found attitude change but not every prediction.

A stereotype is a generalized belief about a group; prejudice is an unjustified, usually negative attitude toward a group. Under cognitive load, people lean on stereotypes more.
Implicit attitudes are automatic associations that can differ from what people say they believe. Reaction-time tests of them are useful for research but are unreliable for labeling one person.
What sustains prejudice: the just-world phenomenon (victims are blamed), in-group bias, out-group homogeneity and ethnocentrism.
Why attitudes resist change: confirmation bias and belief perseverance. What can change them: cognitive dissonance, when actions and attitudes clash.

stereotypes can feed prejudice, especially under cognitive load in-group bias and out-group homogeneity keep prejudice going confirmation bias and belief perseverance make attitudes resist change cognitive dissonance can push the attitude to shift toward the action

attitude: A learned feeling and belief about a person, group, object or idea that predisposes a person to respond in a certain way.
stereotype: A generalized belief about the members of a group, which may be partly accurate but is often overgeneralized and applied to individuals who do not fit it.
prejudice: An unjustified, usually negative attitude toward a group and its members. It involves feelings, beliefs and a tendency to discriminate.
cognitive load: How much of working memory's limited capacity is in use. Under high cognitive load, people have less room to check automatic stereotypes.
implicit attitude: An automatic association, often outside awareness, about a group or object, which can differ from the attitude a person reports. Reaction-time measures of it vary from testing to testing and predict an individual's behavior only weakly.
just-world phenomenon: Just-world phenomenon: the tendency to believe the world is fair, so that people get what they deserve. It can lead to blaming victims.
in-group: A group a person identifies with ("us").
out-group: A group a person does not identify with ("them").
out-group homogeneity: Out-group homogeneity: seeing members of other groups as more alike than members of one's own group.
in-group bias: In-group bias: favoring members of one's own group, even when the group was formed by chance.
ethnocentrism: Judging other cultures by the standards of one's own culture, treating one's own as the right or normal way.
belief perseverance: Holding on to a belief even after the evidence that formed it has been discredited.
confirmation bias: The tendency to seek, notice and remember information that supports what one already believes and to overlook information that challenges it.
cognitive dissonance: The discomfort felt when one's actions and attitudes, or two beliefs, clash. People tend to reduce it by changing the attitude, changing the action or adding a justification.

Situations shape behavior powerfully. People conform for information or acceptance and often obey authority; persuasion works by central or peripheral routes and by request techniques. Groups can polarize views, silence doubts (groupthink), improve easy performance (social facilitation), reduce effort (social loafing) and lower restraint (deindividuation). Helping depends on norms and on the situation: the bystander effect lowers each person's chance of helping, but in real public conflicts recorded on camera, someone usually helps. Classic studies are taught with their limits: Milgram's results partly replicate, and the Stanford prison study's methods are seriously flawed.

Conformity is matching a group; obedience is following an authority's orders. Informational influence: "they know better." Normative influence: "I want to fit in."
Persuasion: the central route (arguments) and the peripheral route (cues such as celebrities); foot-in-the-door (small then large), door-in-the-face (large then small), the halo effect.
Groups: group polarization, groupthink, social facilitation, social loafing, deindividuation, false consensus; superordinate goals reduce conflict; social traps hurt everyone.
Helping: altruism, the reciprocity and social responsibility norms; the bystander effect lowers each person's chance of helping, though in real conflicts someone usually helps.

they conform through informational or normative social influence many people obey, even against their values each person feels less responsible (diffusion of responsibility), so each is less likely to help people put in less effort (social loafing)

social norm: An unwritten rule for expected behavior in a group or situation (facing forward in an elevator).
social role: A set of norms for how a person in a given position should act (student, coach, guard).
normative social influence: Normative social influence: going along with a group to be liked or accepted, or to avoid rejection, even when privately disagreeing.
informational social influence: Informational social influence: going along with a group because one believes the group has accurate information, strongest when the right answer is unclear.
persuasion: Communication meant to change a person's attitudes or behavior.
elaboration likelihood model: Elaboration likelihood model: persuasion works by a central route (careful thought about arguments, when people are motivated and able) or a peripheral route (surface cues such as attractiveness or fame). Central-route change tends to last longer.
halo effect: The tendency for one positive trait, such as attractiveness, to color judgments of a person's other, unrelated traits.
foot-in-the-door technique: Foot-in-the-door technique: getting agreement to a small request first, which makes agreement to a larger request later more likely.
door-in-the-face technique: Door-in-the-face technique: making a large request that is refused, then a smaller one, which now seems reasonable and is more likely to be accepted.
conformity: Changing one's behavior or beliefs to match those of a group.
obedience: Following the direct orders of an authority figure.
individualism: A cultural emphasis on personal goals, independence and defining oneself by personal traits.
collectivism: A cultural emphasis on group goals, interdependence and defining oneself by one's relationships and groups.
multiculturalism: Valuing and supporting the presence of several cultures within one society.
group polarization: The strengthening of a group's prevailing view after members discuss it.
groupthink: A mode of thinking in which a group's desire for harmony overrides a realistic look at alternatives, so doubts go unspoken.
diffusion of responsibility: Diffusion of responsibility: feeling less personally responsible to act when others are present who could also act.
social loafing: The tendency to put in less effort on a group task when individual contributions are pooled and not identified.
deindividuation: A loss of self-awareness and self-restraint in group situations that bring arousal and anonymity.
social facilitation: Improved performance on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others; on hard or new tasks, others' presence tends to impair performance.
false consensus effect: False consensus effect: overestimating how many other people share one's own beliefs and behaviors.
superordinate goals: Superordinate goals: shared goals that require groups to cooperate and that reduce conflict between them.
social trap: A situation in which each person pursuing self-interest leads to an outcome that is worse for everyone (overusing a shared resource).
industrial-organizational psychology: Industrial-organizational (I/O) psychology: the application of psychology to the workplace, including hiring, training, motivation, leadership and health at work.
burnout: Physical, emotional and mental exhaustion, with cynicism and reduced effectiveness, caused by long-term job stress.
altruism: Unselfish concern for the welfare of others, shown in helping that brings no reward to the helper.
reciprocity norm: The expectation that people should return help and favors to those who have helped them.
social responsibility norm: Social responsibility norm: the expectation that people should help those who depend on them, without expecting anything in return.
bystander effect: Bystander effect: the finding that each individual is less likely to help in an emergency when other bystanders are present, partly through diffusion of responsibility.

4.4 Psychodynamic and Humanistic Theories of Personality

The psychodynamic view explains personality through unconscious processes and the defense mechanisms that protect us from anxiety (repression, denial, displacement, projection, rationalization, reaction formation, regression, sublimation), assessed with projective tests whose reliability and validity are often weak. The humanistic view stresses growth: when people receive unconditional positive regard, the self-actualizing tendency moves them toward their potential. Both views are influential but hard to test.

The psychodynamic view says much of personality runs on the unconscious: wishes, fears and memories outside awareness that still shape behavior.
Defense mechanisms protect us from anxiety: repression, denial, displacement, projection, rationalization, reaction formation, regression and sublimation. Learn to spot each in a scenario.
Projective tests (Rorschach inkblots, the Thematic Apperception Test) use ambiguous images. Scoring often has weak reliability and validity.
The humanistic view stresses free choice and growth: unconditional positive regard frees the self-actualizing tendency.

in the psychodynamic view, a defense mechanism keeps it out of awareness or disguises it it shows up as behavior, such as excuses (rationalization) or anger aimed at a safer target (displacement) they use projective tests, such as inkblots, whose ambiguous images may reveal hidden concerns they can see themselves honestly, and the self-actualizing tendency moves them toward growth

personality: A person's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and acting that stays fairly consistent across time and situations.
psychodynamic theory: A view of personality, begun by Sigmund Freud, that explains behavior through unconscious motives and conflicts, often rooted in childhood, and the defenses we use against anxiety.
unconscious: In the psychodynamic view, the large part of mental life outside awareness: wishes, fears and memories that still influence behavior. Modern research supports unconscious processing in a narrower form, such as priming.
defense mechanism: In the psychodynamic view, an unconscious strategy that protects a person from anxiety by distorting or hiding a threatening thought, feeling or fact. The eight usually taught: repression, denial, displacement, projection, rationalization, reaction formation, regression and sublimation.
denial (defense): A defense mechanism: refusing to accept a threatening reality, such as insisting a persistent cough is nothing.
displacement (defense): A defense mechanism: shifting a feeling, often anger, from its real source to a safer target, such as yelling at a sibling after being criticized by a boss.
projection (defense): A defense mechanism: seeing your own unacceptable thoughts, feelings or urges in other people, such as a person tempted to cheat accusing others of cheating.
rationalization: A defense mechanism: giving reasonable-sounding but false explanations for your behavior to hide the real, threatening reason.
reaction formation: A defense mechanism: acting in a way that is the exaggerated opposite of an unacceptable feeling, such as being overly sweet to someone you resent.
regression (defense): A defense mechanism: retreating to behavior from an earlier stage of development under stress, such as a school-age child returning to thumb sucking.
sublimation: A defense mechanism: channeling an unacceptable impulse into a socially valued activity, such as turning aggressive urges into competitive sport.
projective test: A personality test that shows ambiguous images, such as the Rorschach inkblots or the Thematic Apperception Test pictures, on the idea that responses reveal unconscious concerns. Scoring often has weak reliability and validity.
humanistic psychology: A view of personality, linked to Carl Rogers, that stresses free will, the person's own view of themselves and the drive to grow.
unconditional positive regard: Unconditional positive regard: accepting and valuing a person without conditions, even while judging a behavior. In the humanistic view it lets people see themselves honestly and grow.
self-actualizing tendency: In the humanistic view, the built-in drive to grow and fulfill one's potential, which flourishes when a person feels accepted.

The social-cognitive view explains personality as reciprocal determinism among person factors, behavior and environment, with self-concept, self-esteem and self-efficacy as key person factors. Trait theories describe stable tendencies; factor analysis of trait ratings yields the Big Five (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism), measured with personality inventories. Traits are fairly stable across adulthood but still change, and situations shape how they show.

The social-cognitive view (Albert Bandura) explains personality through reciprocal determinism: person factors (beliefs, expectations), behavior and environment influence one another.
Self-concept is who you think you are; self-esteem is how you value yourself overall; self-efficacy is your belief you can succeed at a specific task.
Trait theories describe stable tendencies. Factor analysis of ratings gives the Big Five: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism.
Traits are measured with personality inventories: many clear self-report items scored against norms. Traits are fairly stable in adults but still change across the lifespan.

you try it and keep going when it gets hard you improve and find settings, such as a club or team, that support you raise your self-efficacy further: person, behavior and environment shape each other the ratings cluster into five broad traits, the Big Five, measured with personality inventories

social-cognitive theory: A view of personality, developed by Albert Bandura, that explains behavior through the interaction of a person's thoughts and beliefs, their behavior and their environment, including what they learn by watching others.
reciprocal determinism: The social-cognitive idea that person factors (thoughts, beliefs, expectations), behavior and environment all influence one another, so none acts alone.
self-concept: All of a person's beliefs about who they are: their answer to "Who am I?"
self-efficacy: A person's belief that they can succeed at a specific task or in a specific area. Higher self-efficacy leads to more effort and persistence.
self-esteem: A person's overall sense of their own worth: how much they value and accept themselves.
trait theory: An approach that describes personality by stable tendencies (traits), such as being outgoing or careful, that show across many situations, rather than explaining where they come from.
Big Five personality traits: Five broad personality traits found by factor analysis: openness (curious, imaginative), conscientiousness (organized, dependable), extraversion (sociable, energetic), agreeableness (warm, cooperative) and neuroticism (prone to worry and negative feelings, versus emotionally stable). They are partly heritable, found in many cultures, and fairly stable in adults.
factor analysis: A statistical method that finds clusters of items whose scores are correlated with each other, revealing underlying factors such as broad personality traits.
personality inventory: A questionnaire with many clear statements about typical feelings and behavior (true-false or agree-disagree), scored objectively against norms. Big Five questionnaires and the MMPI are examples.

4.6 Motivation

Motivation theories explain different behavior: instincts for fixed animal patterns, drive-reduction for body needs and homeostasis, incentives for outside pulls, arousal theory and the Yerkes-Dodson law for the best level of arousal, and self-determination theory for intrinsic motivation, which expected rewards can undermine (the overjustification effect). Motivational conflicts are approach-approach, avoidance-avoidance, approach-avoidance and multiple approach-avoidance. Hunger involves ghrelin, leptin, the hypothalamus and external cues; the need to belong drives social behavior.

Instinct theory fits fixed, unlearned patterns in animals. Drive-reduction: needs create drives that push us toward homeostasis. Incentive theory: outside rewards pull us.
Arousal theory: we seek an optimal level of arousal. The Yerkes-Dodson law says performance peaks at moderate arousal, lower for hard tasks. Sensation seekers prefer high arousal.
Self-determination theory: needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness. Intrinsic motivation comes from the activity; extrinsic from rewards. Expected rewards can undermine intrinsic interest (overjustification).
Hunger: ghrelin (stomach) signals hunger, leptin (fat cells) signals stored energy, the hypothalamus integrates them; external cues also trigger eating. The need to belong is a basic motive.

a drive (thirst) pushes you to act, and drinking restores homeostasis: drive-reduction theory it pulls behavior even without a body need: incentive theory performance drops; it is best at a moderate level, lower for hard tasks (Yerkes-Dodson law) your reason shifts to the reward and intrinsic motivation can fall (overjustification effect)

motivation: A need or desire that starts, directs and keeps behavior going toward a goal.
instinct theory: The idea that behavior is driven by instincts: complex, unlearned behavior patterns found throughout a species, such as a spider spinning its species' web without ever having seen one built. It explains some animal behavior well but explains little of human behavior.
drive-reduction theory: The theory that a body need (such as for food or water) creates an aroused state, a drive, that pushes us to act to reduce it and return to homeostasis.
arousal theory: The theory that people are motivated to keep an optimal level of arousal: we seek stimulation when bored and calm when overstimulated.
Yerkes-Dodson law: The finding that performance is best at a moderate level of arousal, falling when arousal is too low or too high. The best level is lower for difficult or new tasks and higher for simple or well-practiced ones.
incentive theory: The theory that behavior is pulled by outside rewards (incentives), such as money, praise or tasty food, even when no body need is present.
self-determination theory: A theory (Deci and Ryan) that people have basic needs for autonomy (choice), competence (mastery) and relatedness (connection), and that meeting them supports intrinsic motivation.
intrinsic motivation: Intrinsic motivation: the desire to do something for its own sake, because it is interesting or satisfying.
extrinsic motivation: Extrinsic motivation: the desire to do something to gain a reward or avoid a punishment from outside the activity.
overjustification effect: The overjustification effect: giving an expected reward for an activity a person already enjoys can lower their intrinsic motivation, because they come to explain their behavior by the reward. It is strongest for expected, tangible rewards.
approach-approach conflict: Conflicts between goals, as described by Kurt Lewin: approach-approach (two attractive options), avoidance-avoidance (two unattractive options), approach-avoidance (one option with good and bad sides) and multiple approach-avoidance (several options, each with good and bad sides).
sensation seeking: A trait of seeking varied, new, intense experiences and being willing to take risks for them; high sensation seekers prefer a higher level of arousal.
hunger: The motive to eat. Ghrelin from an empty stomach signals hunger, leptin from fat cells signals stored energy and lowers appetite, and the hypothalamus combines these signals; learned and external cues also matter.
external eating cues: External eating cues: signals outside the body that prompt eating, such as the sight or smell of food, portion size, the time of day or other people eating.
need to belong: The need to belong: a basic human motive to form and keep close, lasting relationships. Being accepted supports mood and health; being excluded is painful.

4.7 Emotion

Emotion combines physiological arousal, a felt experience and expression. Theories differ in sequence: arousal first, then the feeling; arousal and feeling at the same time; or arousal plus a cognitive appraisal that labels it, with some fast reactions coming before appraisal. The facial feedback hypothesis has mixed evidence. Some emotions are recognized across cultures above chance, though better within one's own culture, and display rules shape expression. Broaden-and-build theory says positive emotions widen thinking and build resources.

Three sequences: arousal first, then the feeling; arousal and feeling at the same time; arousal plus a cognitive appraisal, then the feeling. Some reactions are fast, before appraisal.
Physiological arousal comes mainly from the sympathetic nervous system. The amygdala helps detect threats quickly.
The facial feedback hypothesis says expressions can shape feelings. Evidence is mixed: large replications of the pen-in-teeth study found no reliable effect.
Some universal emotions are recognized across cultures above chance, but better within one's own culture. Display rules govern how much is shown. Broaden-and-build: positive emotions widen thinking and build resources.

the sympathetic nervous system produces physiological arousal: racing heart, fast breathing, sweating and the feeling follows from it (arousal first, then emotion) so arousal and the feeling happen together, neither causing the other the same arousal can become excitement or fear, depending on the label

emotion: A response of the whole person that combines physiological arousal, expressive behavior and conscious experience (thoughts and feelings).
physiological arousal: The body's activation in emotion, such as a racing heart, faster breathing and sweating, produced mainly by the sympathetic nervous system.
cognitive appraisal: How a person interprets a situation. In one view of emotion, arousal plus this appraisal (a label for the arousal) determines which emotion is felt.
facial feedback hypothesis: The facial feedback hypothesis: facial expressions can influence the emotions a person feels. Evidence is mixed; a large multi-lab replication of the pen-in-teeth study found no reliable effect, and other methods show small effects at most.
broaden-and-build theory: Barbara Fredrickson's theory that positive emotions broaden attention and thinking in the moment and, over time, build lasting personal resources such as skills and relationships.
universal emotions: Basic emotions, often listed as happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise and disgust, whose facial expressions are recognized above chance across many cultures. Recognition is better within one's own culture, and how universal they are is still debated.
display rules: Cultural norms about when, how and how much emotion to show, such as expressing grief loudly in one culture and quietly in another.

4.1 Attribution Theory and Person Perception

4.2 Attitude Formation and Attitude Change

4.3 Psychology of Social Situations

4.4 Psychodynamic and Humanistic Theories of Personality

4.5 Social-Cognitive and Trait Theories of Personality

4.6 Motivation

4.7 Emotion