On This Page:ToggleIntrinsic MotivationIntrinsic MotivationEmpirical ResearchInfluence On Learning On This Page:Toggle On This Page: Key Takeaways Scholars have described several key differences between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (Mitchell, 2013): Intrinsic MotivationExtrinsic MotivationPurpose of participation: Enjoyment in the process itselfPurpose of participation: Benefits derived from participatingEmotions experienced: Pleasant (enjoyment, freedom, relaxation)Emotions experienced: Tension and pressure (social approval is not under direct control)Rewards: Effective rewards (enjoyment, pleasure)Rewards: Social or material rewardsMore likely to stay with a task long-termMore likely to do a necessary task of little interestSelf-motivation to take on new tasks and innovateIncreases social learning complianceSelf-motivation to take on new tasksIncreases speed of taskSlower behavioral changeRemoving rewards results in motivation loss...

On This Page:ToggleDefinitionProletariat vs. BourgeoisieExamplesCritical Evaluation On This Page:Toggle On This Page: Summary What is False Consciousness? False consciousness is a concept from Marx’s theory of social class and refers to how the consciousness of the lower classes systematically misperceives the dominant social relations that create their oppression in society. Although Marx himself did not use the term false consciousness, he paid extensive attention to the related ideas of ideology and commodity fetishism....

On This Page:ToggleDefinitionInfluential factorsExamplesResearch On This Page:Toggle On This Page: Key PointsThe false consensus effect describes the tendency for people to believe that their own opinions, beliefs, and attributes are more common and normative in others than they actually are and that opinions, beliefs, and attributes that others have but they do not share are more indicative of someone’s personality in general.Although researchers have been describing the projection of one’s beliefs onto others for decades, Ross et al....

On This Page:ToggleCharacteristicsExamplesSignificance On This Page:Toggle On This Page: Summary Scientists sometimes call this cue a key stimulus or sign stimulus. Although Fixed Action Patterns are more complex than reflexes, they are still automatic and involuntary. Once triggered, Fixed Action Patterns will go on to completion, even when the key stimulus is removed. The first people to propose the idea of a Fixed Action Pattern wereKonrad Lorenz(1981) and Tinbergen. Lorenz considered behavior to be composed of basic units such as classical reflexes and Fixed Action Patterns specific to species....

On This Page:ToggleTypesWhy They HappenAlternative ExplanationsExamplesDo They Mean Anything? On This Page:Toggle On This Page: Have you ever said something that you actually did not mean to say? Or did you blurt out a word that was unintentional? Well, according to psychologistSigmund Freud, this could be revealing a secret wish or thought of yours, and it is called a Freudian slip. So, what is a Freudian slip? A Freudian slip, or sometimes known as a parapraxis, is a verbal or memory mistake (a “slip of the tongue”) that is considered to be linked to the unconscious mind....

On This Page:ToggleBackground and assumptionsExamplesCauses of FrustrationReformulationCritical Evaluation On This Page:Toggle On This Page: Summary The frustration aggression hypothesis proposes that frustration leads to aggression, with aggression being an outcome of blocked goals. Background and assumptions The frustration-aggression hypothesis states that aggression is a result of frustration. Frustration is any event or stimulus that prevents an individual from attaining a goal and it’s accompanying reinforcement quality (Dollard & Miller, 1939)....

On This Page:ToggleComponents of a GameTypesCooperative vs. Non-CooperativeGame StrategyNash EquilibriumWhen it’s UsedRelation to Psychology On This Page:Toggle On This Page: Game theory is a theoretical framework that is used for the optimal decision-making of players in a strategic setting. A key characteristic of game theory is that a player’s payoff is dependent on the strategy of other players. Game theory is thought to apply to any situation with two or more players where there are known payoffs or quantifiable consequences....

On This Page:ToggleGrandiosity Vs. Delusions Of GrandeurSignsPersonal ExperiencesCausesComplicationsTreatment OptionsHow To Be Supportive On This Page:Toggle On This Page: Grandiosity refers to an exaggerated sense of one’s importance, power, knowledge, or identity, often to the point of arrogance or superiority, and sometimes without the basis in reality. It can be a symptom in various psychological disorders, includingnarcissistic personality disorderand bipolar disorder during manic episodes. During manic episodes, individuals with bipolar disorder may exhibitgrandiose delusions,such as believing they have special powers or abilities, or that they are destined for greatness....

On This Page:ToggleHistorical BackgroundTheoretical ApproachesExplanationsGroup Polarization in Social InfluenceExamples On This Page:Toggle On This Page: Key takeaways Historical Background Group polarization describes how members of a group adopt more extreme positions than the initial attitudes and actions of individual group members (Baumeister, 2007). This occurs because the collective involvement of groups amplifies individual attitudes and opinions, shifting them further in the direction of group norms (Colman, 2015). The underpinnings of group polarization lie in Stoner’s (1961) now-discredited master’s thesis on “risky shift,” which evolved into theories about choice shift....

On This Page:ToggleHistory and OverviewCultural DimensionsCorrelations With Other Country’s DifferencesApplicationsEvaluation On This Page:Toggle On This Page: Key Points History and Overview Hofstede’s cultural values or dimensions provide a framework through which sociologists can describe the effects of culture on the values of its members and how these values relate to the behavior of people who live within a culture. Outside of sociology, Hofstede’s work is also applicable to fields such as cross-cultural psychology, international management, and cross-cultural communication....

On This Page:ToggleHistorical DevelopmentIndividualistic vs. Collectivist CulturesExamplesEffectsWhat Determines A Culture? On This Page:Toggle On This Page: Key Takeaways In individualistic cultures, people tend to value independence, self-reliance, and personal goals over group cohesion. Historical Development The 19th-century French sociologist Emile Durkheim (1893) outlined differences between “mechanical solidarity,” — where individuals are so similar that they relate to each other automatically — and “organic solidarity,” — where people are interdependent, namely because it confers privileges....

On This Page:ToggleDefinitionCausesExamplesTypes On This Page:Toggle On This Page: Summary What is Instrumental Aggression? Instrumental aggression is a form of aggression where the primary aim is not to inflict pain on the victim but to reach some other goal where aggression is merely incidental. Instrumental aggression can be both overt and covert. Evolutionary psychologists have historically believed that males use aggression to display dominance over other males in order to protect a mate and perpetuate the male’s genes....

On This Page:ToggleWhat is Intergroup Conflict?Intergroup Conflict ModelsIntergroup vs. Intragroup conflict On This Page:Toggle On This Page: Key TakeawaysIntergroup conflict refers to any disagreement or confrontation between the members of at least two different groups.There are numerous models that attempt to explain the emergence and persistence of intergroup conflict. Among these are the aggressor-defender, conflict-spiral, and structural change models.There are also a number of beliefs implicated in intergroup conflicts, such as perceptions of superiority, injustice, vulnerability, distrust, and helplessness transferred from one group to another....

On This Page:ToggleDevelopment of the ConceptExamplesAbsolute vs. Difference ThresholdImplications On This Page:Toggle On This Page: Key Points Just noticeable difference in psychology refers to the smallest change in a stimulus, like the number of speckles on an egg, that can be detected at least 50% of the time. Development of the Concept The difference threshold, otherwise known as the just notable difference or the difference limen, is the smallest difference between two stimuli that can be consistently and accurately detected in experimental trials 50% of the time....

On This Page:ToggleEarly LifeCritique of FreudContributions to PsychologyFurther Reading On This Page:Toggle On This Page: Key Takeaways Early Life Karen Horney was born in Germany in 1885 and was granted a medical degree from the University of Berlin in 1911. After researching psychoanalytic theory with Abraham, Horney conducted psychiatric work within Berlin hospitals before moving to the United States to become the assistant director of the Institute for Psychoanalysis (Vena, 2015)....