Social constructionism approach emphasizing has izi ng the way social phenomena develop in social contexts.

Critical social psychology: An alternative to mainstream (often termed experimental) social psychology arguing that mainstream social psychology is limited by its focus on 'universals' or human nature, which do not exist

Social cognitive neuroscience/ social neuroscience Study of processes in the brain that allows people to understand others and them selves, and to successfully navigate the Social world.

Postmodernism: an intentional departure from previously dominant approaches of enquiry emphasizing that apparent realities are only social constructs and are therefore subject to change.

Gestalt psychology: Approach proposing that objects are viewed in a holistic sense.

Discursive psychology: language is viewed as social action, through which people construct their social world.

Positive social psychology: branch of social psychology that focuses on what makes people happy and wh.it contributes to life satisfaction

Self-reference effect: the tendency for people to better remember information when it has been encoded in reference to the self (Rogers, Kuiper, & Kirker, 1977)

Self-presentation: Refers to how people make concerted efforts to create an impression, usually good, to others

Impression management: It describes how people take steps to monitor and manage their presentation of self in their interactions. (Of course, not always successful :)…) كن كما تبدو و ابدو كما تكون

Naïve Realism: The conviction that everyone perceives things “as they really are”.

Descriptive methods: (naturalistic observations, case studies, archival, studies, surveys, and psychological tests) Experimental methods: Search for casual processes by systematically manipulating some aspect of the situation (called independent variable). Experiments allow conclusions about cause and effect but are more artificial than many descriptive methods

Character is the overall, Personality is the face/mask one puts on. One has one character btu multiple personalities Your character is based on your core beliefs, while your personality is how you go about life in every situation

Functional magnetic resonance Imaging (fMRI) A type of neuroimaging scan used by social psychologists to measure the change in blood flow that occurs in the brain during social tasks.

Heuristics: mental shortcuts that allow people to solve problems and make judgments quickly and efficiently

Bounded rationality: the idea that rationality is limited when individuals make decisions, and under these limitations, rational individuals will select a decision that is satisfactory rather than optimal.

Self-serving bias: The tendency to make dispositional attributions about your successes and situational attributions about your failures. (Not necessarily only the self, but also loved ones)

Behaviour/action: an action or reaction that occurs in response to an event or internal stimuli (i.e., thought).

Attitude: a feeling, belief, or opinion of approval or disapproval towards something.

Cognitive dissonance (Festinger 1957): Negative feelings from conflicting behaviour (action) & and belief, Eg: peer pressure to be a certain character (forced compliance), Conflicting info, forced compliance, effort justification, decision making

The principle of cognitive consistency: we have an inner drive to have our attitudes and behaviour in harmony

Argument: = discourse with the aim of persuasion

Priming: Exposure to stimuli that activate a mental representation of a particular concept, value, goal or object.

Diary study: A research method that requires participants to keep track of their daily activities or events task for a particular period of time.

Parents are highly influential to their children's self-perception (and social view) and hence, are critical in the formation of positive self-concept

Anterior cingulate cortex: the frontal part of the cingulate cortex that resembles a "collar" surrounding the frontal part of the corpus callosum. Responsible for a host of cognitive functions, including emotional expression, attention allocation, and mood regulation.

Individualist Cultures: cultures where people see themselves as independent entities with independent characteristics and voluntary social bonds. Collectivist cultures cultures where people see themselves as dependent on others with characteristics that respond to social situations, and important and involuntary social bonds

Social representations: socially shared beliefs or widely shared ideas and values associated with our cultures

Confirmation bias: the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one's existing beliefs or theories.

Anchoring: a cognitive bias that describes the common human tendency to rely too heavily on the first piece of information offered (the “anchor”) when making decisions.

Framing: The framing effect is when someone reacts to a choice or concept based on how it is framed or presented to them

Actor-observer bias: people explain other’s behaviour with situational causes, and other’s with dispositional (cartoon) Creates conflict in interpersonal relationships. Main cause is to protect the Ego.