8-Personality Flashcards
Personality
Characteristic patterns of thought, emotion and behaviour in a person. Includes psychological mechanisms behind these patterns whether they are hidden or not.
definition is very broad
Approaches to studying personality
list 5
- Psychoanalytical
- Behavioural
- Cognitive
- Trait
- Biological
Who coined the psychoanalytic theory?
Sigmund Freud
Psychoanalytical theory
The mind is composed of three parts:
Id:
- drive: basic instincts, wants pleasureno morality
- where: unconscious
- develops: first, from birth
Superego: need to be/do good
- drive: conscience, do the right thing, your morals
- where: unconscious, small amount is conscious
- develops: formative years, starting age 4
Ego:
- drive: satisfy both the id and ego
- where: most conscious of the three
- develops: throughout life
The balance between these 3 dictates personality
Psychosexual stages theory
basic idea
- childhood has a major influence on personality
- 5 stages total, with specific challenges and awareness gained
- Fixations: Unconscious mind can get stuck in a stage, which will change personality, these changes lead to fixations that are characteristic to the stage they were stuck in
- most people have a fixation
Defense mechanisms
definition + list
Freud believed that the desire to avoid anxiety drives behaviour.
Definition: Automatic mental strategies which help relieve anxiety by disguising or distracting from stressors.
- Denial
- Repression
- Rationalization
- Projection
- Sublimation
there are more but these have held up the best
defense mechanism
Denial
define + example
Denying the validity of thoughts or information presented.
eg: believing that your bad mark on the test was just a glitch in avenue
defense mechanism
Repression
define + example
Pushing thoughts or experiences to the unconscious mind.
eg: forgetting a traumatic experience
defense mechanism
Rationalization
define + example
Using “logical” arguments to rationalize past behaviour, avoiding more beneficial arguments. Thought occurs AFTER the behaviour.
eg: you ate 6 cookie dough mochi’s, “I just really needed something sweet after all this studying and I must’ve been super hungry”
defense mechanism
Projection
define + example
Believing others are the root cause of your feelings instead of acknowledging a different source and using this to rationalize your behaviour.
eg: I don’t like that person, they must be a bad person therefore it’s not my fault I’m rude to them.
defense mechanism
Sublimation
define + example
Considered the one healthy/mature coping mechanism
Finding outlets for unconscious impulses that are more socially acceptable.
eg: going for a run to relieve stress instead of yelling at others
What is the biggest problem with psychoanalytic theory?
It is immeasurable and therefore unfalsifiable
Behavioural theory
- Believe we start as blank slates
- Learning processes shape our personalities (rewards and punishments throughout life can shape our future behaviours)
Cognitive theory
- individuals also learn through observation and change their behaviour based on a model
- our behaviour is also influenced by the rewards and punishments we see others recieving
Trait Theory
definition of trait + basics of trait theory
Trait: a personality characteristic that is stable and consistant for one person but varies between people
- Personality is the combination and interaction between multiple traits
