Class Periods

17-23

AP Exam Weight

15-25%

Sub-Topics

7 Sections

🔍 Attribution Theory

• Definition: How we explain the causes of behavior
• Internal Attribution: Behavior due to personality/character
• External Attribution: Behavior due to situation/environment
• Stable Attribution: Cause unlikely to change over time
• Unstable Attribution: Cause likely to change
• Controllable: Person can control the cause
• Uncontrollable: Person cannot control the cause

🎭 Attribution Biases

• Fundamental Attribution Error: Overestimate internal causes for others' behavior
• Actor-Observer Bias: Internal attributions for others, external for self
• Self-Serving Bias: Internal attributions for success, external for failure
• Ultimate Attribution Error: Biased attributions for outgroup members
• Defensive Attribution: Blame victims to feel safer
• False Consensus Effect: Overestimate how much others agree with us

👁️ Person Perception

• First Impressions: Quick judgments based on limited info
• Primacy Effect: First information has greatest impact
• Recency Effect: Recent information has greater impact
• Halo Effect: One positive trait influences overall impression
• Physical Attractiveness: Influences many judgments
• Nonverbal Cues: Body language, facial expressions

🎨 Impression Formation

• Central Traits: Key characteristics that shape overall impression
• Peripheral Traits: Less important characteristics
• Implicit Personality Theory: Assumptions about trait relationships
• Stereotypes: Generalized beliefs about groups
• Confirmation Bias: Seek info confirming impressions
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Expectations influence outcomes

🎪 Impression Management

• Self-Presentation: Control how others perceive us
• Ingratiation: Try to be liked
• Intimidation: Try to be feared
• Self-Promotion: Try to appear competent
• Exemplification: Try to appear moral
• Supplication: Try to appear helpless

🌍 Cultural Differences

• Individualistic Cultures: Emphasize internal attributions
• Collectivistic Cultures: Emphasize external attributions
• Western Cultures: More fundamental attribution error
• Eastern Cultures: More situational awareness
• Cultural Values: Influence attribution patterns
• Social Norms: Shape person perception processes

🧩 Components of Attitudes

• Cognitive Component: Beliefs and thoughts about attitude object
• Affective Component: Emotional feelings toward attitude object
• Behavioral Component: Actions or intentions toward attitude object
• Attitude Object: Person, thing, or idea attitude is about
• Example: Attitude toward exercise (beliefs, feelings, behaviors)
• Consistency: Components usually align but can conflict

🌱 Attitude Formation

• Direct Experience: Personal contact with attitude object
• Observational Learning: Watch others' attitudes and behaviors
• Classical Conditioning: Associate object with positive/negative stimuli
• Operant Conditioning: Rewards/punishments shape attitudes
• Social Learning: Learn from family, peers, media
• Genetic Factors: Some attitudes have biological basis

🔄 Cognitive Dissonance

• Definition: Discomfort from conflicting cognitions
• Festinger's Theory: Motivated to reduce dissonance
• Change Attitude: Modify beliefs to match behavior
• Change Behavior: Modify actions to match beliefs
• Add Cognitions: Justify inconsistency with new thoughts
• Example: Smoker who knows smoking is harmful

📢 Elaboration Likelihood Model

• Central Route: Careful evaluation of message content
• Peripheral Route: Focus on superficial cues
• Motivation: Personal relevance affects route choice
• Ability: Knowledge and cognitive resources matter
• Central = Durable: More lasting attitude change
• Peripheral = Temporary: Less lasting change

🎯 Persuasion Techniques

• Source Credibility: Expert, trustworthy communicator
• Message Quality: Strong arguments and evidence
• Audience Factors: Intelligence, self-esteem, mood
• Fear Appeals: Scare tactics (effective with solutions)
• Social Proof: Others believe/do this too
• Reciprocity: Return favors and concessions

🛡️ Resistance to Persuasion

• Inoculation: Exposure to weak counterarguments builds resistance
• Reactance: Opposition when freedom threatened
• Forewarning: Knowing persuasion attempt increases resistance
• Strong Attitudes: Extreme, important attitudes resist change
• Selective Exposure: Avoid conflicting information
• Biased Processing: Interpret info to support existing attitudes

🐑 Conformity

• Definition: Changing behavior to match group norms
• Normative Influence: Conform to be liked/accepted
• Informational Influence: Conform to be correct
• Unanimity: All group members agree increases conformity
• Group Size: 3-5 people optimal for conformity
• Cohesion: Closer groups produce more conformity
• Cultural Differences: Collectivistic cultures conform more

👮 Obedience to Authority

• Definition: Following direct commands from authority figure
• Legitimate Authority: Person perceived as having right to command
• Gradual Escalation: Small requests lead to larger ones
• Proximity: Physical closeness to authority increases obedience
• Institutional Support: Престижious setting increases obedience
• Personal Responsibility: Reduced when following orders

🏃 Social Facilitation & Inhibition

• Social Facilitation: Others' presence improves performance
• Social Inhibition: Others' presence impairs performance
• Zajonc's Rule: Presence enhances dominant response
• Simple Tasks: Presence helps performance
• Complex Tasks: Presence hurts performance
• Evaluation Apprehension: Fear of judgment affects performance

👥 Group Dynamics

• Social Loafing: Reduced effort in group tasks
• Deindividuation: Loss of individual identity in groups
• Groupthink: Desire for harmony overrides critical thinking
• Group Polarization: Groups make more extreme decisions
• Risky Shift: Groups make riskier decisions than individuals
• Social Roles: Expected behaviors in group positions

🤝 Helping Behavior

• Bystander Effect: Less likely to help when others present
• Diffusion of Responsibility: Responsibility spread among bystanders
• Pluralistic Ignorance: Others' inaction suggests no help needed
• Decision Model: Notice → Interpret → Responsibility → Know How → Help
• Altruism: Helping without expectation of reward
• Prosocial Behavior: Any behavior intended to help others

🚫 Prejudice & Discrimination

• Prejudice: Negative attitude toward group members
• Discrimination: Negative behavior toward group members
• Stereotypes: Oversimplified beliefs about group characteristics
• Ingroup Bias: Favor own group over outgroups
• Outgroup Homogeneity: See outgroup members as similar
• Contact Hypothesis: Equal status contact reduces prejudice

Freud's Psychodynamic Theory

• Id: Pleasure principle, unconscious desires
• Ego: Reality principle, mediates id and superego
• Superego: Moral principle, conscience and ideals
• Defense Mechanisms: Repression, projection, displacement
• Psychosexual Stages: Oral, anal, phallic, latent, genital

Neo-Freudians

• Jung: Collective unconscious, archetypes
• Adler: Individual psychology, inferiority complex
• Horney: Social and cultural factors
• Erikson: Psychosocial development stages

Humanistic Theories

• Maslow: Hierarchy of needs, self-actualization
• Rogers: Self-concept, unconditional positive regard
• Self-Actualization: Realizing full potential
• Free Will: Emphasis on choice and responsibility

Big Five Personality Traits

• Openness: Creativity, intellectual curiosity
• Conscientiousness: Organization, self-discipline
• Extraversion: Sociability, assertiveness
• Agreeableness: Cooperation, trust
• Neuroticism: Emotional instability, anxiety
• Acronym: OCEAN (easy to remember)

Other Trait Theories

• Allport: Cardinal, central, secondary traits
• Cattell: 16 personality factors
• Eysenck: Extraversion-introversion, neuroticism

Social-Cognitive Theory

• Bandura: Reciprocal determinism
• Self-Efficacy: Belief in ability to succeed
• Observational Learning: Learn by watching others
• Situation × Person: Behavior depends on both

🔋 Drive-Reduction Theory

• Homeostasis: Body maintains optimal internal state
• Drive: Internal tension motivating behavior to reduce need
• Primary Drives: Biological needs (hunger, thirst)
• Secondary Drives: Learned through association (money)
• Drive Reduction: Behavior reduces drive, restores balance
• Limitations: Doesn't explain all motivated behavior

🏆 Incentive Theory

• External Motivation: Pulled by external rewards
• Positive Incentives: Approach desirable outcomes
• Negative Incentives: Avoid undesirable outcomes
• Expectancy-Value: Motivation = expectancy × value
• Cultural Differences: Different incentives valued
• Individual Differences: Personal values affect incentives

🔥 Arousal Theory

• Optimal Arousal: Motivated to maintain ideal arousal level
• Yerkes-Dodson Law: Performance peaks at moderate arousal
• Individual Differences: Optimal arousal varies by person
• Task Complexity: Complex tasks need lower arousal
• Sensation Seeking: Some people need high stimulation
• Boredom: Too little arousal motivates stimulation seeking

💖 Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivation

• Intrinsic: Internal satisfaction, enjoyment, interest
• Extrinsic: External rewards, punishment avoidance
• Self-Determination: Autonomy, competence, relatedness
• Overjustification Effect: Extrinsic rewards can undermine intrinsic
• Flow: Optimal experience of intrinsic motivation
• Long-term Success: Intrinsic motivation more sustainable

🧩 Components of Emotion

• Physiological: Heart rate, breathing, muscle tension
• Cognitive: Thoughts, interpretations, appraisals
• Behavioral: Facial expressions, body language, actions
• Subjective: Personal experience of feeling
• Integration: All components work together
• Cultural Influence: Expression rules vary across cultures

😀 Basic vs Complex Emotions

• Basic Emotions: Happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, disgust
• Universal: Recognized across cultures
• Innate: Present from birth or early development
• Complex Emotions: Combinations of basic emotions
• Learned: Shaped by culture and experience
• Examples: Pride, shame, guilt, contempt, love

😮 Facial Feedback Hypothesis

• Theory: Facial expressions influence emotional experience
• Mechanism: Muscle feedback affects brain emotion centers
• Research: Holding pen in teeth (smile) improves mood
• Botox Studies: Reduced facial movement affects emotion
• Cultural Display Rules: When/how to show emotions
• Practical Application: "Fake it till you make it"

🎭 Emotion Regulation

• Cognitive Reappraisal: Change interpretation of situation
• Suppression: Hide emotional expression
• Distraction: Focus attention elsewhere
• Problem-Solving: Address source of emotion
• Social Support: Share with others
• Development: Regulation skills improve with age