Psychology key terms

• Compliance


  When an individual accepts influence because they hope to achieve a favourable reaction from those around them. (To be liked)
• Conformity


  A form of social influence that focuses on the tendency for people to adopt the behaviour, attitude and values of other members of the majority
• identification

  an individual adopts an attitude or behaviour because they want to be associated with a particular person or group. Accepting attitudes as they are right but for the purpose of being accepted
• informational social influence


  Due to the desire to be right and gain correct information
• internalisation 


  accepting of influence because the content of the attitude or behaviour is consisting with their own value system.
• normative social influence


  Individual conforms with the expectations of the majority in order to gain approval or avoid social disappointment
• social roles


  behaviours expected of an individual who occupies a given social position or status
• obedience to authority 


  somebody acts in response to a direct order from a figure with perceived authority which they wouldn’t of done if it was a person without authority
• agentic state 


  person sees himself or herself as an agent for carrying out another persons wishes
• legitimate authority 


  a person who is perceived to be in a position of social control within a situation
• authoritarian personality


  a personality pattern with strict adherence to conventional values and a belief in absolute obedience or submission to authority
• dispositional


  explanations of behaviours such as obediance emphasises them being caused by an individuals own personal characteristics rather then situational influences within the environment
• f scale


  a measure of authoritarian traits or tendencies
• right wing authoritarian 


  a cluster of personality variables (conventionalism, authority submission and authoritarian submission) that create a ‘ring wing‘ attitude
• externality


  individuals who tend to believe that their behaviour and experience is caused by events outside their control
• internality


  individuals who tend to believe that they are responsible for their behaviour and experience rather then external forces
• locus of control 


  people differ in beliefs whether the outcomes of their actions are dependent on what they do (internal locus of control) or on events outside of their personal control (external locus of control)
• social support


  the perception that an individual has assistance available from other people and that they are part of a supportive network
• commitment 


  the degree to which members of a minority are dedicated to a particular cause or activity.
• consistency 


  the stability in the expressed position over time and agreement among different members
• flexibility 


  willingness to be flexible and to compromise when expressing a position
• minority influence


  members of the majority influence group change their beliefs or behaviours as a result of their exposure to a persuasive minority
• social change 


  When a society adopts a new belief or way of behaving which then becomes widely accepted as the norm
• social norms interventions 


  attempt to correct misperceptions of the normative behaviour of peers in an attempt to change the risky behaviour of a target population
• capacity


  measure of how much can be held in memory, represented in terms of bits of information such as numbers of digits
• coding


  the way information is changed so it can be stored in memory. information enters the brain via the senses then coded
• duration 


  measure of how long a memory lasts before it is no longer available
• long term memory 


  memory for events that have occurred in the past, lasting anywhere from 2 minutes to 100 years, it is potentially unlimited duration/capacity and is coded semantically
• short term memory


  memory for immediate events, measured in seconds/minutes and disappear if not rehearsed. limited capacity of around 4 items/chunks and is coed acoustically
• multi store model 


  explanation of memory based on three separate stores and how information is transferred between them
• sensory register 


  information present at the senses it is retained for a brief period, the capacity is very large and the method of coding varies
• central executive 


  monitors and coordinates all other mental functions in working memory
• episodic buffer


  receives input from many stores and temporarily stores it, it then integrates it in order to construct a mental episode of what is being experienced
• phonological loop 


  codes speech sounds in working memory typically involving maintenance rehearsal
• Visou-spatial sketchpad 


  codes visual information in terms of separate objects as well as the arrangement of these objects in one’s visual field
• working memory model 


  explanation of the memory used when working on a task, each store is qualitatively different
• episodic memory 


  personal memories of events, putting context into emotional tone
• procedural memory 


  memory for how todo things, these are automatic due to repeated practice
• semantic memory 


  shared memories for facts and knowledges
• Interference


  One memory disrupting the ability to recall another