Social Psychology and Personality
7 topics · 150 Practice Questions
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Topics in this Unit
Topic 4.1Attribution Theory and Person PerceptionReviewed summary
What this topic is about
The Unit 4 review explains how people make judgments about why others behave as they do. Tim focuses on attribution errors and biases that can cause us to overlook situational information or interpret people through assumptions. He also names explanatory styles and locus of control as ways to describe beliefs about why events happen and whether outcomes are under a person's control.
Key ideas
- Attribution is how people explain the behavior of themselves and others.
- The video discusses explanatory style and how expectations about whether outcomes can change may affect motivation.
- The fundamental attribution error emphasizes a person's disposition while underweighting the situation.
- The actor-observer bias describes explaining our actions by circumstances but others' actions by the person.
- Locus of control and self-serving explanations are also discussed.
Common confusion
The actor-observer bias compares explanations for our own behavior with explanations for others'; the fundamental attribution error focuses on explanations of other people.
Review connection
Review this in the Unit 4 Review video, then try the Topic 4.1 Practice Quiz.
Reviewed by Tim Steadman
Open topic pageTopic 4.2Attitude Formation and Attitude ChangeReviewed summary
What this topic is about
The video describes how stereotypes, implicit attitudes, and group beliefs form and how attitudes can change. It connects inconsistency between beliefs and actions to cognitive dissonance and then discusses persuasion techniques.
Key ideas
- A stereotype is a generalized belief about a group; the review also discusses implicit bias, prejudice, and discrimination.
- Ingroup bias and outgroup homogeneity can shape attitudes toward people inside and outside one's group.
- Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable tension when behavior and beliefs conflict; people may change behavior, change a belief, or explain the inconsistency.
- Foot-in-the-door and door-in-the-face are persuasion techniques using requests in different orders.
Common confusion
Foot-in-the-door starts with a smaller request before a larger one; door-in-the-face starts large and then makes a smaller request.
Review connection
Review this in the Unit 4 Review video, then try the Topic 4.2 Practice Quiz.
Reviewed by Tim Steadman
Open topic pageTopic 4.3Psychology of Social SituationsReviewed summary
What this topic is about
This section examines how social situations and group membership influence behavior. Tim discusses conformity, obedience, group processes, cultural orientation, helping behavior, bystander effects, and workplace applications. For helping, it discusses reciprocity and social-responsibility norms, and explains that more bystanders can reduce each person's felt responsibility.
Key ideas
- Normative social influence involves fitting in; informational influence involves using others as a source of guidance.
- The video discusses conformity, obedience, and the Milgram study.
- Group polarization, social loafing, deindividuation, and social traps show different effects of group situations.
- Prosocial behavior is explored through reciprocity, social responsibility, and diffusion of responsibility in bystander situations.
- Individualistic and collectivist orientations and industrial-organizational psychology are also included.
Common confusion
The review distinguishes fitting in with a group from looking to others for information about what to do.
Review connection
Review this in the Unit 4 Review video, then try the Topic 4.3 Practice Quiz.
Reviewed by Tim Steadman
Open topic pageTopic 4.4Psychodynamic and Humanistic Theories of PersonalityReviewed summary
What this topic is about
The personality section contrasts Freud's psychodynamic account with humanistic views of growth and choice. Tim explains Freud's levels and parts of personality, then introduces Rogers and Maslow's emphasis on personal development. Defense mechanisms named include projection and rationalization, and projective tests use ambiguous stimuli.
Key ideas
- Freud's theory emphasizes unconscious drives, childhood experiences, and inner conflict.
- The review describes conscious, preconscious, and unconscious levels of awareness.
- It presents the id, ego, and superego as parts of personality with different roles.
- Defense mechanisms are described as ways of reducing anxiety from conflict.
- Humanistic psychology emphasizes free will, personal growth, and unconditional positive regard.
Common confusion
The psychodynamic account emphasizes unconscious conflict; the humanistic perspective in the video focuses on growth and the drive to become one's best self.
Review connection
Review this in the Unit 4 Review video, then try the Topic 4.4 Practice Quiz.
Reviewed by Tim Steadman
Open topic pageTopic 4.5Social-Cognitive and Trait Theories of PersonalityReviewed summary
What this topic is about
Tim moves from unconscious and humanistic explanations to perspectives that connect personality with learning, situations, and enduring traits. The review introduces the Big Five as a framework for describing individual differences. The review describes self-report inventories as questionnaires and mentions checking for consistency and validity.
Key ideas
- The social-cognitive approach considers reciprocal influence between a person, their behavior, and their environment.
- The video uses an example of joining a team, changing behavior through practice, and then being shaped by the people in that setting.
- Trait theories describe broad, relatively stable patterns in personality.
- The Big Five are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
- Self-report inventories and consistency/validity are discussed as ways of measuring traits.
Common confusion
The Big Five describe broad trait dimensions; they are not presented as five types that sort everyone into fixed categories.
Review connection
Review this in the Unit 4 Review video, then try the Topic 4.5 Practice Quiz.
Reviewed by Tim Steadman
Open topic pageTopic 4.6MotivationReviewed summary
What this topic is about
The video frames motivation as the forces that direct behavior toward goals. It discusses intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, sensation seeking, competing goals, and biological and environmental influences on eating. Other explanations in the section include drive reduction, arousal and incentive accounts, plus instinct as an earlier explanation.
Key ideas
- Intrinsic motivation comes from interest or satisfaction; extrinsic motivation is driven by external rewards.
- Self-determination theory is used to discuss these different sources of motivation.
- Sensation seeking includes experience seeking, thrill and adventure seeking, disinhibition, and boredom susceptibility.
- The review names approach-approach, avoidance-avoidance, and approach-avoidance conflicts.
- Hunger is discussed through biological signals and environmental cues such as food, time, and social settings.
Common confusion
Intrinsic motivation is tied to the activity itself; extrinsic motivation depends on an outcome or reward outside the activity.
Review connection
Review this in the Unit 4 Review video, then try the Topic 4.6 Practice Quiz.
Reviewed by Tim Steadman
Open topic pageTopic 4.7EmotionReviewed summary
What this topic is about
In the closing section, Tim describes emotion as involving bodily responses, thoughts, and behavior or expression. The review compares theories of emotion and notes that culture can influence when and how emotions are shown. Tim compares theories about bodily arousal, cognitive interpretation, and emotion, then separates emotional experience from its culturally shaped expression.
Key ideas
- The video describes physiological, cognitive, and behavioral components of emotion.
- It reviews theories that differ in how bodily arousal and emotional experience relate.
- Facial expressions and feedback from the body are discussed as part of emotional experience.
- Positive and negative emotions can influence attention and action in different ways.
- Display rules are cultural norms about when and how emotions should be expressed.
Common confusion
The video distinguishes having an emotion from the culturally shaped rules for expressing it publicly.
Review connection
Review this in the Unit 4 Review video, then try the Topic 4.7 Practice Quiz.
Reviewed by Tim Steadman
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