Social Psychology
Lily Scott
8 min read
Study Guide Overview
This AP Psychology study guide covers social psychology, focusing on how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by others. Key concepts include social influence, social cognition, and social relations. It examines influential studies by Festinger, Zimbardo, Asch, and Milgram, exploring concepts like cognitive dissonance, conformity, and obedience. The guide also defines key vocabulary terms related to social psychology and offers practice questions and exam tips.
#AP Psychology: Social Psychology - The Ultimate Study Guide 🚀
Welcome to the final unit of AP Psychology! This is where everything comes together, focusing on how we interact with and influence each other. Let's make sure you're fully prepared for the exam!
#🎯 Unit Overview: Social Psychology
This unit is all about how our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the presence of others, whether real or imagined. It's a high-value topic, so let's dive in!
#💡 Key Concepts:
- Social Influence: How the presence of others affects our actions.
- Social Cognition: How we think about ourselves and others in social situations.
- Social Relations: How we form relationships, help, and hurt others.
#🧭 Contextualizing Social Psychology
Remember how we've been focusing on the individual? Now, we're shifting to the social context. Social psychology explores why we behave differently in groups than we do alone. It's like discovering the hidden rules of social interaction. 👪
#🧠 Key Figures and Studies
Many of the foundational studies in social psychology were conducted before strict ethical guidelines were in place. While some of these studies may be unsettling, they are crucial for understanding ethical research practices.
#👨🏫 Leon Festinger
- Cognitive Dissonance Theory: When our actions and beliefs clash, we feel discomfort. We then try to reduce this discomfort by changing our thoughts or actions.
- Example: You know smoking is bad (belief), but you still smoke (action). To reduce dissonance, you might justify it by saying, "I don't smoke that much" or quit smoking.
Think: Dissonance = Disharmony. We want our thoughts and actions to align.
#👨🏫 Philip Zimbardo
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#Stanford Prison Experiment: Demonstrated how quickly people adopt assigned roles, even to the point of engaging in harmful behavior.
This study highlights the power of situational factors over individual personality in determining behavior.
Don't confuse Zimbardo's study with Milgram's. Zimbardo focused on role-playing, while Milgram focused on obedience.
#👨🏫 Solomon Asch
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#Conformity Study: Showed that people are likely to conform to group norms, even when they know the group is wrong.
Over one-third of participants conformed to the wrong answer in Asch's study.
Think: Asch = Agreeing. People tend to agree with the group.
*Image: Asch's line comparison task. Participants were asked to match the target line with one of the comparison lines. Confederates purposely gave the wrong answer to test conformity.*
#👨🏫 Stanley Milgram
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#Obedience Study: Revealed that people are surprisingly likely to obey authority figures, even when it means harming others.
This study raised significant ethical concerns about the treatment of participants.
Be prepared to discuss the ethical implications of Milgram's experiment on the FRQ.
#🗂️ Key Vocabulary
Here's a breakdown of important terms. Think of this as your social psychology dictionary!
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Fundamental Attribution Error | The tendency to overestimate the impact of dispositional (personality) factors and underestimate situational factors when explaining others' behavior. |
| Self-Serving Bias | The tendency to attribute our successes to internal factors (our abilities) and our failures to external factors (bad luck). |
| False Consensus Effect | The tendency to overestimate how much others agree with our beliefs and behaviors. |
| Confirmation Bias | The tendency to search for and interpret information that confirms our existing beliefs. |
| Just-World Hypothesis | The belief that people get what they deserve, leading to victim-blaming. |
| Halo Effect | The tendency to form a positive impression of someone in one area, and then assume they are good in other areas. |
| Central Route to Persuasion | Persuasion based on facts and logic. Requires careful thought by the audience. |
| Peripheral Route to Persuasion | Persuasion based on superficial cues (like attractiveness of the speaker). Does not require careful thought by the audience. |
| Cognitive Dissonance | The discomfort felt when our thoughts and actions clash. |
| Elaboration Likelihood Model | A model that explains when people will be persuaded by central vs. peripheral routes. |
| Groupthink | A phenomenon where a group prioritizes harmony over critical thinking, leading to poor decisions. |
| Conformity | Changing behavior to fit in with a group. |
| Obedience to Authority | Following orders from an authority figure. |
| Bystander Effect | The tendency for people to be less likely to help someone in need when others are present. |
| Social Facilitation | Improved performance on simple tasks in the presence of others. |
| Social Inhibition | Worsened performance on complex tasks in the presence of others. |
| Group Polarization | The tendency for group discussions to strengthen the dominant viewpoint, making groups more extreme in their views. |
| Deindividuation | Loss of self-awareness and restraint when in a group, leading to impulsive behavior. |
| Diffusion of Responsibility | The tendency for individuals to feel less responsible for their actions when in a group. |
| In-group/Out-group Bias | The tendency to favor our own group (in-group) and view other groups (out-groups) negatively. |
| Reciprocity Norms | The expectation that people will help those who have helped them. |
| Social Norms | Rules for how people should behave in a given group or society. |
| Social Traps | Situations where individuals acting in their own self-interest leads to a negative outcome for everyone. |
| Superordinate Goals | Shared goals that require cooperation between groups, which can reduce conflict. |
| Ethnocentrism | The tendency to view one's own culture as superior to others. |
| Prejudice | A negative attitude toward a group and its members. |
| Bias | A tendency to favor one thing over another. |
| Discrimination | Negative behavior toward a group and its members. |
| Scapegoat Theory | The theory that prejudice arises from the need to blame others for our problems. |
| Stereotype | A generalized belief about a group of people. |
| Out-group Homogeneity Bias | The tendency to perceive members of out-groups as more similar to each other than members of our in-group. |
| Mere-Exposure Effect | The tendency to develop a preference for things merely because we are familiar with them. |
| Altruism | Unselfish concern for the welfare of others. |
| Aggression | Any physical or verbal behavior intended to harm someone. |
| Interpersonal Attraction | Factors that lead to liking and loving others (e.g., proximity, similarity, physical attractiveness). |
#🎯 Final Exam Focus
- Key Studies: Be very familiar with the studies by Asch, Milgram, and Zimbardo. Understand their methodologies, findings, and ethical implications. - Social Influence: Know the difference between conformity, obedience, and groupthink, and be able to apply them to real-world scenarios. - Prejudice & Discrimination: Understand the roots of prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination, and how they affect society.
#📝 Last-Minute Tips:
- Time Management: Don't spend too long on any one question. If you're stuck, move on and come back later.
- Common Pitfalls: Be careful not to confuse similar terms (e.g., prejudice vs. discrimination). Pay attention to the wording of the questions.
- FRQ Strategies: Always define key terms, provide examples, and explain how they relate to the prompt.
#❓ Practice Questions
Practice Question
Multiple Choice:
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In Milgram's obedience experiments, what was the primary factor that influenced participants' willingness to administer shocks to others? (A) The participants' personal beliefs about violence (B) The authority of the experimenter (C) The participants' understanding of the experiment's purpose (D) The participants' empathy for the learner (E) The participants' level of education
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Which of the following best describes the concept of cognitive dissonance? (A) The tendency to favor one's own group over others (B) The discomfort experienced when one's beliefs and actions are inconsistent (C) The tendency to attribute one's successes to internal factors and failures to external factors (D) The tendency to conform to group norms, even when they are wrong (E) The tendency to obey authority figures, even when they are harmful
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A person who believes that all members of a certain ethnic group are lazy and unintelligent is demonstrating: (A) Altruism (B) Conformity (C) Stereotyping (D) Obedience (E) Cognitive dissonance
Free Response Question:
A high school principal is concerned about the level of bullying occurring at their school.
(a) Define the following terms and explain how each might relate to the bullying problem: - Deindividuation - Bystander effect - In-group/out-group bias
(b) Describe one strategy the principal could use to reduce bullying at the school, based on social psychology principles.
Scoring Breakdown:
(a) Definitions and Explanations (3 points)
- Deindividuation (1 point):
- Definition: Loss of self-awareness and restraint in a group setting.
- Explanation: When students are in a group, they may feel less personally accountable for their actions and engage in bullying behavior they wouldn't do alone.
- Bystander Effect (1 point):
- Definition: The tendency for individuals to be less likely to help someone in need when others are present.
- Explanation: Students who witness bullying may not intervene because they assume someone else will, thus perpetuating the problem.
- In-group/Out-group Bias (1 point):
- Definition: The tendency to favor one's own group and view other groups negatively.
- Explanation: Students may target those they perceive as different or not part of their group, leading to bullying.
(b) Strategy (1 point)
- Strategy: The principal could implement a program that creates superordinate goals for students, such as collaborative projects that require students from different groups to work together. This can help reduce in-group/out-group bias and foster a sense of shared identity.
- Explanation: The strategy should be based on a social psych principle and be explained.
You've got this! Remember to stay calm, take your time, and trust your knowledge. Good luck on the exam! 🍀
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