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Reductionism
Definition
Reductionism means that complex principles can be reduced to simpler or more fundamental principles. Social psychologists often oppose reductionism and emphasize instead the social context that surrounds the individual. There are two basic types of reductionism: psychological and methodological.
Psychological Reductionism
One can often identify reductionism with the mindbody problem, which is the question about the relationship between mental and physiological processes. Psychological reductionism is the idea that one can completely explain the human psyche by breaking it down into several general principles. Social reductionism explains social events in terms of the qualities of the individuals who are involved. For example, a social reductionist would explain the aggression of a football crowd by saying that it is made up of aggressive individuals, whereas another explanation might be ...
- Action Control
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- Independence of Positive and Negative Affect
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- Mere Exposure Effect
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- Conformity
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- Entitativity
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- Group Cohesiveness
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- Group Performance and Group Productivity
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- Intergroup Anxiety
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- Intergroup Relations
- Jigsaw Classroom
- Leadership
- Minimal Group Paradigm
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- Optimal Distinctiveness Theory
- Organizational Behavior
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- Outgroup Homogeneity
- Polarization Processes
- Power
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- Realistic Group Conflict Theory
- Ringelmann Effect
- Risky Shift
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- Roles and Role Theory
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- Scapegoat Theory
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- Sex Roles
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- Social Dominance Orientation
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- Social Justice Orientation
- Social Loafing
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- Subtyping
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- Influence
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- Forced Compliance
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- Heuristic-Systematic Model of Persuasion
- Influence
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- Inoculation Theory
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- Minority Social Influence
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- Persuasion
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- Matching Hypothesis
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- Need to Belong
- Nonverbal Cues and Communication
- Ostracism
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- Propinquity
- Rejection
- Romantic Love
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- Self-Disclosure
- Self-Evaluation Maintenance
- Self-Expansion Theory
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
- Sex Drive
- Sexual Desire
- Sexual Economics Theory
- Similarity-Attraction Effect
- Social Exchange Theory
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- Mental Accounting
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- Naive Cynicism
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- Preference Reversals
- Prisoner's Dilemma
- Prospect Theory
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- Recency Effect
- Representativeness Heuristic
- Risk Taking
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- Thematic Apperception Test
- Traits
- Uniqueness
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- Altruism
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- Attraction
- Bystander Effect
- Compassion
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- Decision Model of Helping
- Distributive Justice
- Empathic Accuracy
- Empathy
- Empathy–Altruism Hypothesis
- Gratitude
- GRIT Tension Reduction Strategy
- Helping Behavior
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- Positive Psychology
- Prisoner's Dilemma
- Prosocial Behavior
- Public Goods Dilemma
- Reciprocal Altruism
- Religion and Spirituality
- Search for Meaning in Life
- Volunteerism
- Self
- Actor–Observer Asymmetries
- Apparent Mental Causation
- Barnum Effect
- Basking in Reflected Glory (BIRGing)
- Brainwashing
- Close Relationships
- Collective Self
- Contingencies of Self-Worth
- Deindividuation
- Downward Social Comparison
- Ego Shock
- Egocentric Bias
- Escape Theory
- Executive Function of Self
- Exemplification
- Facial-Feedback Hypothesis
- Identity Crisis
- Illusion of Control
- Illusion of Transparency
- Impression Management
- Independent Self-Construals
- Ingratiator's Dilemma
- Interdependent Self-Construals
- Introspection
- Looking-Glass Self
- Mental Control
- Mere Ownership Effect
- Misattribution of Arousal
- Moral Development
- Mortality Salience
- Name Letter Effect
- Objectification Theory
- Optimal Distinctiveness Theory
- Overjustification Effect
- Personal Space
- Phenomenal Self
- Positive Illusions
- Procrastination
- Projection
- Psychological Entitlement
- Reactance
- Regulatory Focus Theory
- Roles and Role Theory
- Schemas
- Self
- Self-Affirmation Theory
- Self-Attribution Process
- Self-Awareness
- Self-Categorization Theory
- Self-Complexity
- Self-Concept
- Self-Concept Clarity
- Self-Control Measures
- Self-Deception
- Self-Defeating Behavior
- Self-Determination Theory
- Self-Disclosure
- Self-Discrepancy Theory
- Self-Efficacy
- Self-Enhancement
- Self-Esteem
- Self-Esteem Stability
- Self-Evaluation Maintenance
- Self-Expansion Theory
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
- Self-Handicapping
- Self-Monitoring
- Self-Perception Theory
- Self-Presentation
- Self-Promotion
- Self-Reference Effect
- Self-Regulation
- Self-Reports
- Self-Serving Bias
- Self-Stereotyping
- Self-Verification Theory
- Social Comparison
- Social Identity Theory
- Spotlight Effect
- Stigma
- Symbolic Self-Completion
- Terror Management Theory
- Threatened Egotism Theory of Aggression
- Uniqueness
- Value Priorities
- Zeal
- Social Cognition
- Accessibility
- Accountability
- Action Identification Theory
- Actor–Observer Asymmetries
- Adaptive Unconscious
- Alcohol Myopia Effect
- Anchoring and Adjustment Heuristic
- Assimilation Processes
- Associative Networks
- Attention
- Attribution Theory
- Attributional Ambiguity
- Attributions
- Automatic Processes
- Availability Heuristic
- Bad Is Stronger Than Good
- Barnum Effect
- Base Rate Fallacy
- Basking in Reflected Glory (BIRGing)
- Belief Perseverance
- Blaming the Victim
- Central Traits Versus Peripheral Traits
- Confirmation Bias
- Consciousness
- Contrast Effects
- Controlled Processes
- Correspondence Bias
- Correspondent Inference Theory
- Counterfactual Thinking
- Creativity
- Curiosity
- Debiasing
- Defensive Attribution
- Depressive Realism
- Diagnosticity
- Dilution Effect
- Discounting, in Attribution
- Distinctiveness, in Attribution
- Downward Social Comparison
- Dual Process Theories
- Egocentric Bias
- Emotional Intelligence
- Encoding
- Excuse
- Expectancy Effects
- Expectations
- Eyewitness Testimony, Accuracy of
- False Consciousness
- False Consensus Effect
- False Uniqueness Bias
- Focalism
- Fundamental Attribution Error
- Gain–Loss Framing
- Gambler's Fallacy
- Halo Effect
- Heuristic Processing
- Heuristic-Systematic Model of Persuasion
- Hostile Attribution Bias
- Hostile Media Bias
- Hot Hand Effect
- Illusory Correlation
- Implicit Personality Theory
- Inference
- Integrative Complexity
- Interpersonal Cognition
- Justice Motive
- Just-World Hypothesis
- Kelley's Covariation Model
- Lay Epistemics
- Lowballing
- Matching Hypothesis
- Meaning Maintenance Model
- Memory
- Metacognition
- Mimicry
- Mind-Wandering
- Misattribution of Arousal
- Moral Emotions
- Moral Reasoning
- Motivated Cognition
- Motivated Reasoning
- MUM Effect
- Nonconscious Processes
- Norms, Prescriptive and Descriptive
- Omission Neglect
- Person Perception
- Personality Judgments, Accuracy of
- Person-Positivity Heuristic
- Positive–Negative Asymmetry
- Primacy Effect, Attribution
- Primacy Effect, Memory
- Priming
- Projection
- Prototypes
- Recency Effect
- Responsibility Attribution
- Risk Appraisal
- Salience
- Satisficing
- Schemas
- Scripts
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
- Self-Reference Effect
- Self-Serving Bias
- Self-Verification Theory
- Shifting Standards
- Similarity-Attraction Effect
- Social Categorization
- Social Cognition
- Social Cognitive Neuroscience
- Social Comparison
- Social Impact Theory
- Social Projection
- Spontaneous Trait Inferences
- Spreading of Alternatives
- Subliminal Perception
- Subtyping
- Symbolic Interactionism
- Theory of Mind
- Thin Slices of Behavior
- Three-Dimensional Model of Attribution
- Transactive Memory
- Value Pluralism Model
- Subdisciplines
- Applied Social Psychology
- Consumer Behavior
- Critical Social Psychology
- Discursive Psychology
- Environmental Psychology
- Ethology
- Evolutionary Psychology
- Eyewitness Testimony, Accuracy of
- Forensic Psychology
- Health Psychology
- History of Social Psychology
- Organizational Behavior
- Peace Psychology
- Personality and Social Behavior
- Political Psychology
- Positive Psychology
- Religion and Spirituality
- Social Cognitive Neuroscience
- Social Neuroscience
- Social Psychophysiology
- Sociobiology
- Sociological Social Psychology
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