CHAPTER 1 Flashcards
personality
a pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that give both consistency and individuality to a person’s behavior
traits
contribute to individual differences in behavior, consistency of behavior over time, and stability of behavior across situations
characteristics
are unique qualities of an individual that include such attributes as temperament, physique, and intelligence
theory
A set of related assumptions that allows scientists to use logical deductive reasoning to formulate testable hypotheses
philosophy
- Love of wisdom; philosophers are people who pursue wisdom through thinking and reasoning
- Epistemology: or the nature of knowledge. Theory relates most closely to this branch of philosophy, because it is a tool used by scientists in their pursuit of knowledge
- A set of principles about how one should live one’s life cannot be a theory
- The goodness or badness of the outcome of these statements is beyond the realm of theory
speculation
- Closely tied to empirically gathered data and to science
- Speculation and empirical observation are the two essential cornerstones of theory building
- But speculation must not run rampantly in advance of controlled observation
hypothesis
It is an educated guess or prediction specific enough for its validity to be tested through the use of the scientific method
taxonomy
- Classification of things according to their natural relationships.
- Taxonomies can evolve into theories when they begin to generate testable hypothesis and to explain research findings
why do we have different theories?
- Theories are not immutable laws; they are built, not on proven facts, but on assumptions that are subject to individual interpretation
- Because observations are colored by the individual observer’s frame of reference, it follows that there may be many diverse theories
psychodynamic theories
- Importance of early childhood experience and on relationships with parents as guiding forces that shape personality development
- Sees the unconscious mind and motives as much more powerful than the conscious awareness
humanistic-existential theories
- aka “positive psychology”
- People strive toward meaning, growth, well-being, happiness, and psychological health
- States of positive emotion and happiness foster psychological health and pro-social behavior
dispositional theories
- Unique and long-term tendencies to behave in particular ways are the essence of our personality
- These unique dispositions, such as extraversion or anxiety, are called traits
- Traits serve the function of making certain behaviors more likely in some people
biological-evolutionary theories
- Behavior, thought, feelings, and personality are influenced by differences in basic genetic, epigenetic, and neurological systems between individuals
- Human thought, behavior, and personality have been shaped by forces of evolution
learning-(social) cognitive theories
- All behaviors are learned through association and/or its consequences
- To shape desired behavior we have to understand and then establish the conditions that bring about those particular behaviors
- What personality we have is shaped by how we think and perceive the world
psychology of science
- Studies both science and the behavior of scientists
- Investigates the impact of an individual scientists’s psychological processes and personal characteristics on the developments of her or his scientific theories and research
- Personality differences influence one’s theoretical orientation as well as one’s inclination to lean toward the “hard” or “soft” side of a discipline
- Understanding of theories of personality rests on information regarding the historical, social, and psychological worlds of each theorist at the time of his or her theorizing