Social Psychology

Social psychology is one of the highest-yield areas of the Psych/Soc section. This lesson covers attitudes and cognitive dissonance (and how attitudes predict behavior), attribution theory (dispositional vs. situational, the fundamental attribution error, actor–observer and self-serving biases), conformity, compliance, and obedience (Asch, Milgram, and the techniques of social influence), prejudice and discrimination (stereotypes, in-group/out-group bias, and their reduction), and group dynamics (social facilitation, social loafing, groupthink, deindividuation, and prosocial vs. aggressive behavior). The interactive lesson grounds each concept in the classic studies the MCAT references.