Ch 1 Flashcards
why use the word personality as a concept?
- sense of consistency
- sense that behaviour originates within
- conveys that qualities summarize what person is like
fundamental themes in personality psychology
- individual diffs: no personality is the same = whole point
- intrapersonal functioning: personality involves internal processes that influence behaviour ex. motives influence behaviour
-diff approaches look @ these two themes to varying degrees
what do theories do
explain and predict something
should be testable
personality definition
- has organization
- had processes/causal forces
- is psychological and physical: both mental and neural
- individualized patterns/consistencies
what makes a theory good
- breadth of info: based on multiple info sources
- parsimony: not unnecessarily complex
- lead to strong feelings/opinions/spark interest
perspectives/theories of personality
-tons of diff ones, none meant to be full explanation
-they compliment each other, explain SOME aspects
-each has strengths and weaknesses
-debate on what topics should be included
-some argue for grand-scale theory of personality
psychological triad
thoughts
feelings
behaviour
personality and clinical psych come tgthr when…
patterns of personality are extreme, unusual, cause problems
funders first law
must try to maximize advantages, minimize disadvantages
-advantages and disadvantages are tightly interconnected
-great strengths = great weaknesses
what does it mean that personality psych may pigeonhole humans
-try to fit them too perfectly into categorized boxes
-however this may be good as it promotes/encourages/acknowledges individuality
funders second law
no perfect indicators of personality exist, only clues exist
funders third law
something beats nothing most of the time
-important to be sceptical about meaning of clues but not too sceptical
4 ways to research personality
- persons opinion of themselves (s)
- ask others about person (i)
- look at persons daily life (L)
- observe behaviour directly (b)
