AP Psychology — attitudes, persuasion and group behavior

Social psychology is the part of AP Psychology students expect to find easiest, because every concept has an everyday example. The difficulty on the exam is that the everyday examples overlap: a person buying something because a celebrity endorsed it, a student following a crowd toward an unfamiliar exit and a worker blaming a laid-off colleague all look like 'going along with others' until the precise concept is named. The category's social psychology material covers the headline studies (the fundamental attribution error, obedience, groupthink, cognitive dissonance, out-group homogeneity). This one covers the rest of topics 4.1 to 4.3.

On person perception and attitudes, it trains the mere exposure effect, the self-fulfilling prophecy, upward and downward social comparison and relative deprivation, the actor-observer bias, stereotypes and implicit attitudes, the just-world phenomenon, ingroup bias and ethnocentrism, and belief perseverance with confirmation bias.

On social influence, it covers the elaboration likelihood model with its central and peripheral routes and the halo effect, the foot-in-the-door and door-in-the-face techniques, and the difference between normative and informational social influence. On groups, it covers social facilitation, social loafing, deindividuation, group polarization, diffusion of responsibility and the false consensus effect, individualism and collectivism, social traps and superordinate goals, and the work of industrial-organizational psychologists on burnout. Prosocial behavior is covered through altruism and the social reciprocity and social responsibility norms.

Every case is invented and set in adult life (offices, neighborhoods, campuses, stadiums), and contested political examples are avoided.

Four formats are offered. The quiz has twelve scenario questions, each explanation saying why the neighboring concept does not fit. The flashcards cover the vocabulary of group behavior and bias. In the oral exam an examiner starts with two charities using opposite compliance techniques and continues one question at a time through persuasion, social influence and group behavior, ending with brief feedback. The written work is a printable sheet of eight open questions, including explaining the actor-observer bias and designing a way to reduce conflict between two rival groups.

The material is based on the published AP Psychology course framework, Unit 4, topics 4.1 to 4.3. Personality theories are in the companion material.

• Apply the mere exposure effect, self-fulfilling prophecy, social comparison and relative deprivation to cases
• Explain the actor-observer bias, the just-world phenomenon, belief perseverance and confirmation bias
• Distinguish central from peripheral routes to persuasion and foot-in-the-door from door-in-the-face
• Tell normative from informational influence and social facilitation from social loafing and deindividuation
• Explain superordinate goals, social traps and the reciprocity and social responsibility norms

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the College Board AP Psychology Course and Exam Description (effective fall 2024, with the October 2025 clarifications), Unit 4, topics 4.1 Attribution Theory and Person Perception, 4.2 Attitude Formation and Attitude Change and 4.3 Psychology of Social Situations. All cases are invented.