508 - Personality Theories Flashcards
1st & 2nd order cybernetics
WHERE: 508 personality theories
WHEN: family systems therapy, derived from mechanical systems theory
WHAT: First-order and second-order cybernetics are concepts that relate to systems theory and the study of feedback and communication within systems, including in the context of counseling.
- Cybernetics = mechanical system theory that focuses on regulating feedback mechanisms
- 1st order = addressing symptoms, counseling observing system from outside + understanding the family dynamic (as an expert observer)
- 2nd order = counselor no longer expert observer, and is now a participant observer/therapist becomes a part of the family system
**1st order used at beginning of therapy to observe interactions, 2nd order used later to guide treatment process
WHY: In family therapy, it’s important to have a very good understanding of the family’s dynamic. You cannot fully understand an individual’s behavior without first understanding the context in which it occurs within the family.
EXAMPLE: A family comes into therapy due to problems at home. The therapist will spend the first sessions observing, learning, and working to understand the family’s system and dynamic (1st order). After, the therapist may work to reshape the reality/find alternate perspectives within conflicts (2nd order).
Adlerian therapy
WHERE: 508 personality theories
WHO: Developed by Alfred Adler
WHAT: Adlerian therapy, developed by Alfred Adler, is a holistic approach to psychology that emphasizes the individual’s social context and the importance of feelings of belonging and community.
Here are some key components:
- Principles: people and behavior are purposeful, social interest, positive self-concept, empowerment
-consciousness = subjective + unique to each person - emphases early experiences and family dynamic (birth order, sibling relationship, etc.)
- direct educational strategies to enhance client awareness of issues + their existence
- emphasis on striving for superiority (in connecting with and uplifting community) –> believed that mental healthy is tied with one’s ability to connect with others
Goal = establishing and maintaining healthy relationships
WHY: Helps to explain how life is intertwined with pathology. Adlerian therapy is a good way to teach a patient about how their environment may affect their mental health. It is also versatile – can be used in individual, family, couple, and group therapy.
EXAMPLE: Kacie is a client seeking treatment due to her depression. She says she has been feeling very depressed and ask a result has been isolating herself. A therapist following using Adlerian therapy may work with Kacie to find ways she can connect with others and foster relationships.
automatic thoughts
WHERE: 508 personality theories
WHO: Aaron Beck
WHAT: Automatic thoughts are spontaneous, quick, and often subconscious thoughts that arise in response to specific situations or stimuli. They are typically negative or self-critical and can influence emotions and behaviors. The concept is central to cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), which aims to help individuals recognize and challenge these thoughts to improve their mental health.
Irrational, but appear plausible.
- may affect a person’s mood and actions
** Arise from a situation/environment
- come from faulty assumptions + core beliefs/schemas
- useful in uncovering core beliefs/schemas
WHY: Working with a client to identify their negative automatic thoughts may help in uncovering their core beliefs/schemas. By helping a client become aware of them, they are able to test the validity + disprove them (using Socratic dialogue or downward arrow).
EXAMPLE: Caroline has just started a new job. She told her therapist that on her first day she felt like she didn’t belong and was not good enough to work there. The therapist identifies this as a negative automatic thought and works to disprove it with Caroline.
behavioral activation
WHERE: 508 personality theories
WHO:
WHAT: Used in behavioral therapy
- Involves working with clients to find + schedule activities that are positively reinforcing.
- Based on the idea that psychopathy is due to a lack of positive reinforcement in life
– person is depressed -> they withdraw -> they miss opportunities for positive reinforcement -> depression is maintained
- Goal = increase the rate of naturally occurring reinforcement in life
WHY: BA helps to reduce avoidance in depression individuals. It is short-term and goal-oriented. It allows clients to ‘build momentum’, or feel empowered to stop isolating and seek out reinforcing activities independently.
EXAMPLE: Tana is a therapy client working to treat her depression. She tells her therapist she used to love spending time with her friends, but hasn’t felt motivated to paint in a while. The therapist suggests Tana goes to coffee with a friend. After, the therapist may suggest going to dinner with a friend, then spending the day with a friend, etc.
big five personality model/traits
WHERE: 508 personality theories
WHO:
WHAT:
The Big Five personality model, also known as the Five Factor Model (FFM), is a widely accepted framework for understanding personality traits. It categorizes personality into five broad dimensions, each representing a spectrum of traits
Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism (OCEAN)
- traits are biologically based
- stable and resistant to change in adulthood
- each trait has additional, correlated traits below them (ex: extraversion –> excitement seeking)
- applicable to basically anyone
WHY: Some traits can be exasperated by mental disorders. Therapy can teach skills to manage distress associated with the affected trait. Knowing where a client lies within the model can help to increase the effectiveness of treatments.
EXAMPLE: Peter is telling his therapist that he’s having a lot of anxiety about choosing a college major. The counselor administers a personality inventory and finds Peter has high levels of neuroticism. After further assessment, Peter shows signs of OCD. His big five personality traits correlate with his psychological symptoms.
client-centered/person-centered theory/therapy
WHERE: 508 personality theories
WHO: Carl Rogers, Humanistic therapy
WHAT:
- 3 necessary therapeutic conditions: attitude of congruence (genuine), unconditional positive regard (warmth), empathic understanding
- Psychopathy = failure to learn from experience, accepting projected parental conditions of worth, NOT modifying self-concept based on day-to-day experiences
Mechanism of change =
- trusting the client (very client led), self-discovery, personal growth
- NOT directive –> therapist does not guide/educate clients, interpret behavior, or identify faulty thoughts
- therapist DOES reflects and clarifies ideas of clients to promote client’s clarity
Goal =
- self acceptance
- allow client to be true self
- self actualization
WHY: The necessary conditions are mentions in basically every therapy. They have been proven to support positive therapeutic outcomes. However, PCT may not work with all cultures (focus on self + emotional expression may contradict cultures) and some clients may prefer advice and/or directive therapy.
EXAMPLE: Shelby is a person centered therapists. In her sessions, she does not offer advice or direct clients to solutions. Instead, she lets the client lead, focuses on displaying empathy and creating an environment that encourages clients to be their authentic self. She offers reflections and asks questions that helps clients come to their own conclusions/find clarity.
cognitive therapy
WHERE: 508 personality theories
WHO: Aaron Beck
WHAT: Cognitive therapy, often referred to as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), is a type of psychotherapy that focuses on identifying and changing negative thought patterns and beliefs that contribute to emotional distress and maladaptive behaviors. Developed by Aaron Beck in the 1960s, it is based on the premise that our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are interconnected.
- Psychopathy = result of maladaptive ways of thinking, maladaptive beliefs (distorted attitudes towards self and others)
- Goal/Objective = cognitive restructuring (identify faulty cognitions and replace them with more adaptive ones)
- Therapist Role = active guide/collaborator, identifies +disproves distorted cognitions/patterns by citing or evoking contradictory evidence
- Levels of cognitive distortions: automatic thoughts (spontaneous, appear plausible), assumptions (if-then, contain generalized rules), schemas/core beliefs (deepest/most ingrained level, organize and process info)
WHY: Emphasizes the connection of our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and how they all contribute and maintain pathology. CT allows therapists to better conceptualize patients and how they think, which will help develop the most fitting treatment plan.
EXAMPLE: June comes to therapy to treat her depression. She tells the therapist she is unemployed, feels like a failure, and that there’s nothing she can do to change this. The therapist identifies June’s beliefs as faulty/distorted. and elicits contradictory evidence from June to disprove them.
common factors in psychotherapy
WHERE: 508 personality theories
WHO: Lambert (4 factor model in therapy)
WHAT: Believed to be reasons why psychotherapy works.
4 Categories:
1) extra-therapeutic factors (factors in client environment that aid in recovery outside of sessions)
2) therapeutic alliance (alliance, trust in therapist, positive relationship, WEG)
3) expectation (client hope/expectancy for positive outcome)
4) techniques (therapist expertise, using a compatible type of therapy, therapist flexibility)
WHY: The presence or absence of these factors can determine the outcome of treatment. Several effective psychotherapies overlap with these common factors, which indicates that they’re a necessary component of a successful intervention.
EXAMPLE: A therapist is working with a client to treat their depression. During session, the therapists works to establish a strong alliance by displaying empathy and actively listening. They create a safe environment to encourage the client to be open. They discuss the possibility of positive change to instill hope into the client. The therapist is also flexible when working– altering the treatment to fit the client’s unique needs.
conditional vs unconditional positive regard
WHERE: 508 personality theories
WHO: Rogers
WHAT:
Conditional positive regard = attitude of acceptance and respect for client that depends on if their behavior is acceptable/aligns with one’s personal standards
Unconditional positive regard = attitude of care, acceptance, and respect regardless of one’s behavior
WHY: Unconditional positive regard is a common factor in several psychotherapies. Promotes trust from client and a strong therapeutic alliance.
EXAMPLE: A therapist is treating a client, Jack, who is expressing guilt for cheating on his girlfriend. Even if adultery is against the therapist’s personal beliefs/standards, she will still treat Jack with care, respect, and empathy.
conditions of worth
WHERE: 508 personality theories
WHO: Rogers
WHAT: Standards people believe they must meet into order to be acceptable and worth of love
- when a person considers love and respect to be conditional — depends on if others approve of them
Derived from a child’s sense of being worth of love based on their parents’ approval
- as they grow up, they may only feel worth when expressing the desirable behaviors
WHY: This may lead to a person relying on validation of others to determine their worth. It can lead to a person behaving incongruently with their own values due to approval seeking. This can result in distress and psychopathy.
EXAMPLE: When Janet was a child, her mother would always yell at her when she cried and told her to stop being a baby. As an adult, Janet struggles with expressing emotion and feels ashamed and embarrassed if she does that.
cultural self-awareness
WHERE: 508 personality theories
WHO:
WHAT: Part of multicultural competency in therapy.
The awareness of one’s own cultural background and their (conscious + unconscious) biases through self-reflection.
WHY: A therapist needs to reflect and be aware of their values and biases in order to provide unconditional positive regard and create a successful therapeutic relationship. If not, this could lead to countertransference and/or judgements being passed from the therapist.
EXAMPLE: Maddie is a while, female therapist that grew up in a middle-class suburban neighborhood. She takes that into account when seeing clients that have difference cultural/racial/SES/etc. backgrounds than her. She makes sure to assess any biases or blind spots she may have due to a difference in life experiences.
defense mechanisms
WHERE: 508 personality theories
WHO: Sigmund Frued - psychoanalytic
WHAT: Defense mechanisms are psychological strategies used by individuals to cope with anxiety, stress, or uncomfortable emotions. They often operate unconsciously to protect the individual’s self-esteem and manage internal conflicts. Understanding these mechanisms is important in counseling, as they can reveal how clients manage their feelings and thoughts.
- occur to ward off unpleasant feelings (anxiety, sadness, etc.) that result from internal conflicts between the id, superego, and reality.
- maintaining! DMs are a buffer to temporarily reduce unpleasant feelings
***used by the ego
4 characteristics:
1) automatic
2) unconscious
3) ward off unacceptable impulses
4) distort reality
Examples: repression , denial, projection, reaction formation (opposite), displacement, regression (go back stages), sublimation (doing something better)
WHY: The type of defense mechanisms a person uses may provide insight into their thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and view of the world. Helping the client to become aware of and modify them promotes psychological health and well-being.
EXAMPLE: Kevin is telling his therapist that he always starts a fight with his wife after a bad day at work. The therapist asks if it’s possible Kevin is displacing his feelings about work onto his wife. Or, since Kevin cannot express his anger at work, he uses his wife as a vessel to express his frustration.
externalizing conversations
WHERE: 508 personality theories
WHO:
WHAT: Used in narrative therapy.
- reframes internal problems to be an external entity
- explores the influence of the problem
- allow clients to see themselves separate from the problem // look at them from a distance
- allows for client to ‘take charge’ and work to resolve the problems
WHY: Helps clients feel a sense of control over their life. It reduces shame for clients who may blame themselves for the problems they experience. By identifying and separating themself from the problem, it allows the client to not identify with their symptoms/problems + provides the ability to reframe and resolve problems.
EXAMPLE: A client, Sarah, tells her therapist she’s been anxious recently. The therapist may rephrase that by saying “anxiety has been affecting you?” The therapist may ask Sarah how anxiety affects her, and when anxiety affects her the least.
factor analysis
WHERE: 508 personality theories
WHO:
WHAT: Mathematical procedure done to sort test responses into homogeneous, highly correlated groups. Simplifies and summarrizes data.
- used to categorize data from self-reported personality measures to identify underlying/common traits
- identifies patterns (not causation or explanation of behavior)
WHY: Important in research to condense large sets of data into more manageable groups. Also used to measure construct validity.
EXAMPLE: Factor analysis was used when creating the Big 5 Personality model. It found correlations between 1700 terms typically used to describe personality, and narrowed them down to 5.
fixation
WHERE: 508 personality theories
WHO: Freud’s psychoanalytic theory
WHAT:
- Inappropriate attachment to an early psychosexual object/mode of gratification (ex: anal or oral activity)
OR persistence of an early stage of psychosexual development
- Limits a person’s ability to resolve the tasks of later psychosexual stages
WHY: Fixation may leave a person ‘stuck’ on a certain stage. I can affect later functioning, and possibly result in psychopathy later in life.
EXAMPLE: A client comes to therapy with an addiction to vaping. According to Freud, this client was either over-gratified or withholding during the oral stage
