11. Personality Flashcards
Projective test
Designed to reveal inner aspects of individuals’ personalities by analysis of their responses to a standard series of ambiguous stimuli
Trait
A relatively stable disposition to behave in a particular and consistent way
Orderliness
Doesn’t explain behaviour
Organized in hierarchy, associated to higher-order trait called factor
Neuroticism…anxious, moody…cries, sensitive…dejected, elated, ashamed
Big Five
The traits of the five-factor personality model: open to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism
Liked because no overlap
Five factors come up a lot in studies
Show up in adults, kids, other cultures and languages
Also predict social media behaviour
Psychodynamic approach
Freud Regards personality as formed by needs, strivings, and desires largely operating outside of awareness. Motives that can also produce emotional disorders Meaning taken from Freudian slips Interaction between id, superego, ego determine personality Governed by anxiety Anxiety checked by defense mechanisms Lacks evidence After the fact not predictions
Id
Part of the mind containing the drives present at birth. The source of our bodily needs, wants, desires, and impulses, like sex and aggression
Pleasure principle
Superego
Mental system that reflects the internalization of cultural rules, mainly learned as parents exercise their authority
Conscience
Ego
The component of personality, developed thru contact with the external world, that enables us to deal with life’s practical demands
Delayed gratification driver
Defense mechanisms
Unconscious coping mechanisms that reduce anxiety generated by threats from unacceptable impulses
Psychosexual stages
Distinct early life stages through which personality is formed as children experience sexual pleasures from specific body area and caregivers redirect or interfere with those pleasures
Fixation
A phenomenon in which a person’s pleasure seeking drives become psychologically stuck or arrested at a particular psychosexual stage, creating conflict and influencing personality
Oral stage
The first psychosexual stage, in which experience centres on the pleasures and frustrations associated with the mouth, sucking, and being fed
1 year
Anal stage
The second ps stage, in which experience is dominated by the pleasures and frustrations associated with the anus, retention and expulsion of feces and urine, and toilet training
2-3 years
Phallic stage
The third ps stage in which experience is dominated by the pleasure, conflict, and frustration associated with the phallic-genital region as well as coping with powerful incestuous feelings of love, hate, jealousy, and conflict
3-5 years
Oedipus conflict
A developmental experience in which a child’s conflicting feelings toward the opposite-sex parent are resolved by identifying with the same-sex parent
In phallic stage
Latency stage
4th ps stage, in which the primary focus is on the further development of intellectual, creative, interpersonal, and athletic skills
5-13 years
Making it here is a sign of healthy personality development
Genital stage
5th and final ps stage, the time for the coming together of the mature adult personality with a capacity to love, work, and related to others in a mutually satisfying and reciprocal manner
Self-actualizing tendency
The human motive toward realizing our inner potential
Existential approach
A school of thought that regards personality as governed by an individual’s ongoing choices and decisions in the context of the realities of life and death
Social-cognitive approach
An approach the views personality in terms of how the person thinks about the situations encountered in daily life and behaves in response to them
Perception of environment, how personality shape constructs in one’s mind
Person-situation controversy
The question of whether behaviour is caused more by personality or situational factors
Mischel argued traits don’t predict behaviour
Behaviour won’t predict behaviour in another situation
Personal constructs
Dimensions people use in making sense of their experiences
Lazy vs leisurely
Outcome expectancies
A person’s assumptions about the likely consequences of a future behaviour
Locus of control
A person’s tendency to perceive the control of rewards as internal to the self or external in the environment
Self-concept
A person’s explicit knowledge of his or her own behaviours, traits, and other personality characteristics
Self-verification
The tendency to seek evidence to confirm the self-concept
Narcissism
A trait that reflects a grandiose view of the self combined with a tendency to seek admiration from and exploit others
Self-serving bias
People’s tendency to take credit for their successes but downplay responsibility for their failures
People who don’t engage in it have lower self esteem, at risk for depression and anxiety
What is a well-researched personality test?
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
MMPI-2-RF is 338 true/false statements
Incl. Clinical problems (antisocial, dysfunction)
Somatic problems (head pain)
Internalizing (anxiety)
Externalizing (substance abuse, aggression)
Interpersonal (avoidance, family problems)
Validity scales to foil distortion
Problems with self-reporting
Tendency to underreport socially unflattering behaviours
Inability to report things we don’t know
What is Thematic Apperception Test?
Stories about people in pictures
Older man reps older man in life
Could be projection of scorer
Not reliable
Are men or women more talkative?
Both
16000 words per day
How did Cattell’s theory of personality differ from Eysenck’s?
Cattell had 16 factors
Eysenck reduced to extraversion, neuroticism, psychoticism
When does personality change?
Mostly in childhood
Less in adolescence
Some in adulthood
How close are siblings in personality?
Identical twins closer in personality than fraternal
Identical twins reared apart end up at least as similar as those who grew up together
What is responsible for transmission of conservative values?
Set of genes producing specific characteristics
Associations between conservatism-liberalism and chromosomal regions for mental flexibility
How is extraversion formed?
Pursue stimulation because reticular formation (arousal) not easily stimulated.
Social interaction stimulates
Introverts more easily stimulated to point higher than optimal alertness
What governs intro-extraversion and neuroticism?
Behavioral activation system - Go
Extravert has highly reactive BAS, anticipates reward, seeks reinforcement
Behavioral inhibition system - Stop
Inhibits behaviour in response to stimuli signaling punishment
Anxious person has reactive BIS and focuses on negative outcomes
How do big five correlate with brain?
Neuroticism: sensitivity to threat
Agreeableness: processing info about mental states of others
Conscientiousness: self-regulation
Extraversion: processing reward
What are the engines of the psychodynamic approach?
Id, ego, superego
What are defense mechanisms against anxiety?
Repression Rationalization Reaction formation Projection Regression Displacement Identification Sublimation
Repression
Removing painful experiences and unacceptable impulses from the mind
Forced forgetting
Rationalization
Supplying a reasonable sounding explanation for unacceptable feelings to conceal underlying motives and feelings
Reaction formation
Unconsciously replacing threatening inner wishes and fantasies with an exaggerated version of their opposite
Projection
Attributing one’s own threatening feelings, motives, or impulses to another person or group
Regression
Reverting to immature behaviour
Displacement
Shifting unacceptable wishes to a neutral alternative
Identification
Dealing with feelings of threat and anxiety by unconsciously taking on the characteristics of another person who seems more powerful
Sublimation
Channeling unacceptable drives into socially acceptable and culturally enhancing activities
How do humanist-existentialists see personality?
Choices
Meaning
Death
What is flow?
When engagement and ability match
Energized focus
What are the benefits of self esteem?
Social status
Belongingness
Security
