ACES Flashcards
Originated from the Latin word PERSONA, which referred to a theatrical mask worn by Roman actors in Greek dramas.
A pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that give both consistency and individuality to a person’s behavior.
Personality
Contribute to individual differences in
behavior, consistency of behavior over time,
and stability of behavior across situations.
Traits
Unique qualities of an
individual that include attributes such as
temperament, physique, and intelligence.
Characteristics
A theory can be a practical guide for a psychotherapist.
- A set of related assumptions that
allows scientists to use logical
deductive reasoning to formulate
testable hypotheses. - The components of a theory are not
proven facts in the sense that their
validity has been absolutely
established. They are, however,
accepted as if they were true. - Used by the researcher to formulate
hypotheses.
Theory
This can never fulfil all the
requirements of an adequate theory.
single assumption
can neither generate meaningful hypotheses nor possess internal consistency—the two criteria of a useful theory.
Isolated assumptions
Theory relates most closely to a branch of philosophy called _____________
, or the nature of knowledge, because it is a tool used by scientists in their pursuit of
knowledge.
EPISTEMOLOGY
Science is a branch of study concerned with the observation and classification of data and with the verification of general laws through the testing of hypotheses
Speculation
terms is defined as an educated guess or prediction scientific enough for its validity to be tested through the use of the scientific method
Hypothesis
A scientific investigator can derive testable hypotheses from a useful theory and then test these hypotheses.
Deductive Reasoning
The investigator then
alters the theory to reflect these results.
Inductive Reasoning
A classification of things
according to their natural relationships.
Taxonomy
This exist because the very nature of a theory allows the theorist to make speculations from a particular point of view.
Alternate theories
● First 5 years of life most shape personality
● Unconscious forces are most important
● Neurosis results from unhealthy moving
toward, against, or away from others
Psychodynamics
Unconscious
Freud
Early Recollections
Adler
Collective Unconscious
Jung
Archetypes
Klein
Object Relations
Horney
Identity Crisis
Erikson
Relatedness
Fromm
They assume primarily that people strive toward meaning, growth, well-being, happiness, and psychological health
● People strive to live meaningful, happy
lives
● People are motivated by growth and
psychological health
● Personality is shaped by freedom of choice, response to anxiety, and awareness
of death
Humanistic-Existential
Meaningful life
Maslow (Self-actualization)
Psychological well-being
Rogers
Growth
May
_____ argue that the unique and long-term tendencies to behave in particular ways are the essence of human personality
● People are predisposed to behave in unique
and consistent ways; they have unique traits
● There are five trait dimensions in human
personality
Dispositional theories
Traits
Allport
Motives
McCrae & Costa
● The foundation for thought and behavior is
biological and genetic forces
● Human thoughts and behaviors have been
shaped by evolutionary forces (natural and
sexual selection
Biological – Evolutionary
● Only explanation for behavior is the
conditions that create behavior
● Learning occurs through association and
consequences of our behavior
● Learning also occurs through succeeding
or failing and watching other people succeed
or fail in their tasks.
Learning-Cognitive
● Personality develops as an interaction
between the internal and external
characteristics of a person
Modeling Self-efficacy
The cognitive constructs we develop to
perceive the world and others mold our
personalities
Cognitive Affective units
Constructs
Kelly
The personalities, cognitive processes, developmental histories, and social experiences of personality theorists help shape their theories. The discipline that deals with these factors is called
● Investigates the impact of an individual
scientist’s psychological processes and
personal characteristics on the development
of his or her scientific theories and research
● Examines how scientists’ personalities,
cognitive processes, developmental
histories, and social experience affect the
kind of science they conduct and the theories
they create.
Psychology of Science
● A theory generates a number of hypotheses that can be investigated through research, thus yielding research data.
● These data flow back into the theory and restructure.
● From this newly contoured theory, scientists can extract other hypotheses, leading to more research and additional data, which in turn reshape and enlarge the theory even more
Generates Research
It contributes to expanding a theory
Concerned with the measurement, labeling, and categorization of the units employed in theory building.
Descriptive Research
Leads to an indirect
verification of the usefulness of the theory.
Hypothesis Testing
● A theory must also be evaluated on its
ability to be confirmed or disconfirmed
● A theory must be precise enough to suggest research that may either support or
fail to support its major tenets
● Falsifiability, however, is not the same as
false; it simply means that negative research
results will refute the theory and force the
theorist to either discard it or modify it
Is Falsifiable
● A useful theory should also be able to organize those research data that are not incompatible with each other
● A useful theory of personality must be
capable of integrating what is currently known about human behavior and personality development
Organizes Data
● The ability to guide the practitioner over the
rough course of day-to-day problems
● Without a useful theory, practitioners would stumble in the darkness of trial and error techniques; with a sound theoretical orientation, they can discern a suitable course of action
● The extent to which the theory stimulates thought and action in other disciplines
Guides Action
● A useful theory need not be consistent with
other theories, but it must be consistent with itself
● A theory is one whose components are logically compatible
● Its limitations of scope are carefully defined
and it does not offer explanations that lie
beyond that scope
● Uses language in a consistent manner
● A good theory will use concepts and terms
that have been clearly and operationally
defined
Internally Consistent
Part of the internal consistency of a theory is
A researcher uses the number of times a person smiles at others as a measure of friendliness. This an example of
Defines units in terms of observable events or behaviors that can be measured.
A set of Operational Definition
● In general, simple, straightforward theories
are more useful than ones that bog down
under the weight of complicated concepts
and esoteric language
● Should strive for simple measurement
models that use the minimum number of
parameters needed to explain a given
phenomenon
Parsimonious
Are people’s behaviors determined by forces
over which they have no control, or can people choose to be what they wish to be?
Can behavior be partially free and partially
determined at at the same time?
Determinism vs Free Choice
Are people doomed to live miserable, conflicted, and troubled lives, or can they change and grow into psychologically healthy, happy, fully functioning human beings?
Pessimism vs. Optimism
Do people act as they do because of what has happened to them in the past, or do they act as they do because they have certain expectations of what will happen in the future?
Causality vs. Teleology
Behavior is a function of past
experiences
Causality
An explanation of behavior in terms of future goals or purposes.
Teleology
Are people ordinarily aware of what they are doing and why they are doing it, or do
unconscious forces impinge on them and drive them to act without awareness of these underlying forces?
Conscious vs. Unconscious
Are people mostly creatures of biology, or are their personalities shaped largely by their social relationships?
Biological vs. Social
Are personal characteristics more the result of heredity, or are they environmentally
determined?
Heredity vs. Environment
Is the salient feature of people their individuality, or is it their common characteristics?
Should the study of personality concentrate
on those traits that make people alike, or should it look at those traits that make people different?
Uniqueness vs. Similarities
● You have been observing human personalities for nearly as long as you have been alive
● In making observations and asking questions, you are doing some of the same things psychologists do, that is, observing human behaviors and trying to make sense of these observations
● Psychologists, like other scientists, try to be systematic so that their predictions will be
consistent and accurate
RESEARCH IN PERSONALITY THEORY
The extent to which it yields
consistent results
Reliability
The degree to which an instrument
measures what it is supposed to measure
Validity
The extent to which an
instrument measures some hypothetical construct
Construct Validity
The extent that scores on that instrument correlate highly with scores on a variety of valid measures of that same construct
Convergent Validity
It has low or insignificant correlations with other inventories that do not measure that construct
Divergent Validity
It discriminates between two groups of people known to be different.
Discriminant Validity
● The extent to which a test can predict future
behavior
● The ultimate value of any measuring
instrument is the degree to which it can
predict future behavior or condition
Predictive Validity
He spent 4 months with Charcot, from whom
he learned the hypnotic technique for treating hysteria
Sigmund Freud
Disorder typically characterized by paralysis or the improper functioning of certain parts of the body
Developed a close professional association
and a personal friendship with Josef Breuer.
Hysteria
The process of removing
hysterical symptoms through “talking them out”
Catharsis
what are the levels of mental life?
- Unconscious
- Suppression
- Preconcious
- Conscious Perception
The Pleasure Principle
Has no contact with reality, yet it strives constantly to reduce tension by satisfying basic desires
Illogical and can simultaneously entertain incompatible ideas
Has no morality; that is, it cannot make value judgments or distinguish between good and evil
THE ID
It is the only region of the mind in contact with reality.
Freud held that the secondary process functions through the
The Reality Principle
The decision-making or executive branch of personality
Constantly tries to reconcile the blind,
irrational claims of the id and the superego with the realistic demands of the external world
THE EGO
It strives for perfection.
It has no contact with the outside world and therefore is unrealistic in its demands for perfection
A well-developed superego acts to control sexual and aggressive impulses through the process of repression
THE SUPEREGO
To Freud, people are motivated to seek
pleasure and to reduce tension and anxiety.
This motivation is derived from psychical and
physical energy that springs from their basic
drives.
Dynamics of Personality
A constant motivational force
Drive
Sex
The aim of the sexual drive is pleasure, but this pleasure is not limited to genital satisfaction
The ultimate aim of the sexual drive
(reduction of sexual tension) cannot be changed, but the path by which the aim is reached can be varied
Can take many forms, including
narcissism, love, sadism, and masochism
Eros
is the psychic energy
Libido
Aggression
The aim of the destructive drive is to
return the organism to an inorganic
state
The ultimate inorganic condition is
death, the final aim of the aggressive
drive is self-destruction
Is flexible and can take a number of
forms, such as teasing, gossip, sarcasm, humiliation, humor, and the enjoyment obtained from other people’s suffering
Psychic energy remained nameless
THANATOS
Freud emphasized this is a felt, affective, unpleasant state accompanied by a physical sensation that warns the person against impending danger
anxiety
As apprehension about an
unknown danger
Neurotic
An unpleasant, nonspecific feeling involving a possible danger
Realistic
Stems from the conflict between the ego and the superego
Moral
Are normal and universally used, but when carried to an extreme they lead to compulsive, repetitive, and neurotic behavior.
Defense mechanisms
most basic Freudian defense mechanism
Present in all defense mechanism
Whenever the ego is threatened by
undesirable id impulses, it protects itself by repressing those impulses; that is, it forces threatening feelings into the unconscious
Repression
A disguise that is directly opposite its
original form
Reactive behavior can be identified
by its exaggerated character
Reaction Formation
Which of the following terms is defined as a Freudian defense mechanism in which unwanted urges are redirected onto other objects or people to disguise the original impulse or concealed?
Displacement
terms is defined as a defense mechanism that arises when psychic energy is blocked at one stage of development, thus making change or psychological growth difficult
The permanent attachment of the libido onto an earlier, more primitive stage of development
Fixation
terms is defined as a defense mechanism whereby a person returns to an earlier stage to protect the ego against anxiety
Once the libido has passed a developmental stage, it may, during times of stress and anxiety, revert back to that earlier stage
Regression
Seeing in others unacceptable feelings or tendencies that actually reside in one’s own unconscious
Projection
Infants possess a sexual life and go through a period of pregenital sexual development during the first 4 or 5 years after birth
Infantile
A defense mechanism whereby people incorporate positive qualities of another person into their own ego
Introjection
The first phase because the mouth is
the first organ to provide an infant with pleasure
Infants obtain life-sustaining nourishment through the oral cavity, but beyond that, they also gain pleasure through the act of sucking
The sexual aim of early oral activity is to incorporate or receive into one’s body the object-choice, that is, the nipple
Oral Phase
Reaches fuller development during the second year when the anus emerges as a sexually pleasurable zone
Characterized by satisfaction gained through aggressive behavior and through the
excretory function
The anus is the leading erogenous zone
Anal Phase
Children take a friendly interest toward their feces, an interest that stems from the erotic pleasure of defecating
Late Anal Period
Children receive satisfaction by destroying or losing objects
Early Anal Period.
At approximately 3 or 4 years of age, children begin in this third stage of infantile development
The genital area becomes the leading
erogenous zone
Marked for the first time by a dichotomy between male and female development
Phallic Phase
According to Freud, a boy who feels strong hostility toward his father and sexual love for his mother is experiencing
An infant boy forms an identification with his father; that is, he wants to be his father
Later he develops a sexual desire for
his mother; that is, he wants to have his mother
Plays a role in the evolution of the castration complex, which for boys takes the form of castration anxiety or the fear of losing the penis
Male Oedipus Complex
Girls become envious of the male appendage, feel cheated, and desire to have a penis (penis envy)
Her libido is turned toward her father, who can satisfy her wish for a penis by giving her a baby, an object that to her has become a substitute for the phallus
Female Oedipus Complex
From the 4th or 5th year until puberty, both boys and girls usually, but not always, go through a period of dormant psychosexual development
Brought about partly by parents’ attempts to punish or discourage sexual activity in their young children
Latency Period
Puberty signals a reawakening of the
sexual aim
Adolescents give up autoeroticism and direct their sexual energy toward another person instead of toward themselves
For girls, the vagina finally obtains the same status for them that the penis had for them during infancy
For boys, they see the female organ as a sought-after object rather than a source of trauma
Genital Period
Stage attained after a person has
passed through the earlier developmental periods in an ideal manner
Unfortunately, psychological maturity seldom happens, because people have too many opportunities to develop pathological disorders or neurotic predispositions
Maturity
Born in Eilbek, a small town near Hamburg, Germany, on September 15, 1885 The only daughter of Berndt (Wackels) Danielsen, a sea captain, and Clothilda van Ronzelen Danielsen, a woman nearly 18years younger than her husband.
Karen Danielsen Horney
❖ Cautioned that strict adherence to orthodox psychoanalysis would lead to stagnation in both theoretical thought and therapeutic practice
❖ Objected to Freud’s ideas on feminine psychology
❖ Stressed the view that psychoanalysis should move beyond instinct theory and emphasize the importance of cultural influences in shaping personality
❖ Claimed that neuroses are not the result of instincts but rather of the person’s “attempt to find paths through a wilderness full of unknown dangers.
HORNEY AGAINST FREUD
The feelings of being alone in a potentially hostile world
This may lead to intensified needs for
affection (mistaken for love)
People of this society are imbued with the
cultural teachings of kinship and humility
Society’s demands for success and
achievement are nearly endless
Western society tells people that they are
free, that they can accomplish anything
through hard work and perseverance
Isolation
❖ Horney believed that neurotic conflict can stem from almost any developmental stage, but childhood is the age from which the vast
majority of problems arise
❖ No single early experience is
responsible for later personality.
THE IMPORTANCE OF CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES
Spawned from the assumption that modern culture is based on competition among individuals
If parents do not satisfy the child’s needs for safety and satisfaction, the child develops such feelings Children repress their hostility toward their parents and have no awareness of it
Basic Hostility
A feeling of being isolated and helpless in a world conceived as potentially hostile
Repressed hostility that leads to profound
feelings of insecurity and a vague sense of apprehension
Basic Anxiety
What are the Early Proposed Defense Mechanisms?
Affection
Submissiveness
Dominance
Withdrawal
- Neurotic individuals have the same
problems that affect normal people,
except neurotics experience them to
a greater degree. - Neurotic individuals cannot change
their behavior by free will but must
continually and compulsively protect
themselves against basic anxiety.
COMPULSIVE DRIVES
What are the Neurotic Needs?
▪ affection and approval
▪ powerful partner
▪ restrict one’s life within narrow borders
▪ power
▪ exploit others
▪ social recognition or prestige
▪ personal admiration
▪ ambition and personal achievement
▪ self-sufficiency and independence
▪ perfection and unassailability
What kind of Neurotic trends is:
Normal: Friendly
Neurotic: Compliant
Moving Toward People
What kind of Neurotic trends is:
Normal: Competitive
Neurotic: Aggressive
Moving Against People
What kind of Neurotic trends is:
Normal: Autonomous
Neurotic: Detached
Moving Away from People
The neurotic trends flow from basic
anxiety, which in turn, stems from a
child’s relationships with other
people.
Intrapsychic processes originate from
interpersonal experiences
As they become part of a person’s
belief system, they develop a life of
their own—an existence separate
from the interpersonal conflicts that
gave them life
INTRAPSYCHIC CONFLICTS
An attempt to solve conflicts by painting a godlike picture of oneself
People need to acquire a stable
sense of identity
This can be solved only by creating
an extravagantly positive view of
themselves that exists only in their
personal belief system
Idealized Self-Image.
An interrelated yet equally irrational and powerful tendency to despise one’s real self
Self-Hatred
The comprehensive drive
toward actualizing the
ideal self
Neurotic search for glory
In their search for glory, neurotics build a fantasy world—a world that is out of sync with the real world
Neurotic claims
A false pride based not on a realistic view of the true self but on a spurious image of the idealized self
Neurotic pride
- Born on June 15, 1902, in southern Germany
- Brought up by his mother and stepfather, but he remained uncertain of the true identity of his biological father
Erik Salomonsen Erikson
held that our ego is a positive force that creates a self- identity, a sense of “I.”
As the center of our personality, our ego
helps us adapt to the various conflicts and crisis of life and keeps us from losing our
individuality to the leveling forces of society.
During childhood, the ego is weak, pliable, and fragile; but by adolescence it should
begin to take form and gain strength.
THE EGO FOR ERIKSON
The experiences with our body; a way of seeing our physical self as different from other people
Body Ego
Represents the image we have of ourselves in comparison with an established ideal
Ego Ideal
The image we have of
ourselves in the variety of social roles we play
Ego Identity
The ego exists as potential at birth, but it must emerge from within a cultural environment
Different societies, with their variations in child-rearing practices, tend to shape personalities that fit the needs and values of their culture
SOCIETY’S INFLUENCE
A term borrowed from embryology The ego follows the path of epigenetic development,
with each stage developing at its proper time
One stage emerges from and is built upon a previous stage, but it does not replace that earlier stage
Epigenetic Principle
Growth takes place according to the
epigenetic principle
In every stage of life there is an interaction of
opposites
STAGES OF PSYCHOSOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT
other word for harmonious?
Syntonic
other word disruptive?
Dystonic
Alfred Adler’s theory presents an optimistic view of people while resting heavily on the notion of social interest (a feeling of oneness with all humankind).
INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY
Saw people as being motivated mostly by social influences and by their striving for superiority or success
Believed that people are largely
responsible for who they are
Present behavior is shaped by people’s
view of the future
Believed that psychologically healthy
people are usually aware of what they are doing and why they are doing it
Adler vs Freud
- The one dynamic force behind people’s behavior is the striving for success or superiority.
- People’s subjective perceptions shape their behavior and personality.
- The value of all human activity must be seen from the viewpoint of social interest.
- The self-consistent personality structure develops into a person’s style of life.
- Style of life is molded by people’s creative power.
INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY
Their goals are personal ones, and their strivings are motivated largely by exaggerated feelings of personal inferiority, or by the presence of an inferiority complex
Striving for Personal Superiority
Psychologically healthy people who are
motivated by social interest and the success of all humankind
Striving for Success of Humanity
Also called Fictions or expectations of the future.
People are motivated not by what is true but by their _________________ of what is true
Subjective Perceptions
Because people begin life small, weak, and inferior, they develop a fiction or belief system about how to overcome these physical deficiencies and become big, strong, and superior
Physical Inferiorities
Thoughts, feelings, and actions are all
directed toward a single goal and serve a single purpose
Unity and Self-Consistency
The disturbance of one part of the body cannot be viewed in isolation; it affects the entire person
The deficient organ expresses the direction of the individual’s goal
Organ Dialect
The part of the goal that is neither clearly formulated nor completely understood by anindividual
Unconscious
Thoughts that are understood and regarded by the individual as helpful in striving for success.
Conscious
- Adler’s somewhat misleading translation of his original German term, Gemeinschaftsgefühl (a feeling of oneness with all humanity)
- Can be defined as an attitude of
relatedness with humanity in general as well as empathy for each member of the human community. - It is the natural condition of the human species and the adhesive that binds society together.
Social Interest
- The term Adler used to refer to the flavor of a person’s life
- It includes a person’s goal, self-concept, feelings for others, and attitude toward the world
- It is the product of the interaction of
heredity, environment, and a person’s
creative power
Style of Life
According to Adler (1956), the one factor underlying all types of maladjustments is underdeveloped social interest.
Abnormal Development
what are the one factor underlying all types of maladjustments is underdeveloped social interest?
- Set their goals too high
- Live in their own private world
- Have a rigid and dogmatic style of
life - Exaggerated Physical Deficiencies
- Pampered Style of Life
- Neglected Style of Life
These protective devices enable people to hide their inflated self-image and to maintain their current style of life
Safeguarding Tendencies
What are the Safeguarding Tendencies?
- Excuses
- Aggression
- Depreciation
- Accusation
- Self-accusation
- Withdrawal
