Chapter 12 Flashcards
Personality
A pattern of enduring, distinctive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that characterize the way an individual adapts to the world.
Psychodynamic perspectives
Theoretical views emphasizing that personality is primarily unconscious (beyond awareness). Understanding personality involves exploring the symbolic meanings of behavior and the unconscious mind. Early childhood experiences sculpt the individual’s perspective.
Id
The Freudian structure of personality consisting of unconscious drives; the individual’s reservoirs of psychic and sexual energy. Includes the pleasure principle-do it if it makes you happy, doesn’t matter if it will hurt another.
Ego
The Freudian structure of personality that deals with the demands of reality. Abides by the reality principle. It tries to get the Id what it wants within the norms of society.
Superego
The Freudian structure of personality that serves as the harsh internal judge of our behavior; what we often call conscience. (Moral branch of personality) Jimminy Cricket.
What can conflicts between the Id, Ego, and Superego lead to?
Anxiety which creates defense mechanisms.
Defense mechanisms
The Freudian term for tactics the ego uses to reduce anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality. Not necessarily unhealthy.
Repression
Pushes unacceptable impulses out of awareness. Foundation for all defense mechanisms. Young girl forgets being abused by uncle when she is older.
Rationalization
Replaces a less acceptable motive with a more acceptable one. Doesn’t get into fraternity so tells himself that the fraternity is very exclusive, and a lot of people do not get into it.
Displacement
Shifts feelings from an unacceptable object to an acceptable one. Lady made at her boss, so she takes it out on her husband.
Sublimation
Replaces unacceptable impulse with a socially acceptable one. A man with strong sexual urges paints nudes.
Projection
Attributes own faults to others. Man, who has strong urges to cheat accuses his wife of flirting with other men.
Reaction Formation
Convert to opposite emotion. Young boys pick on crush.
Denial
Disbelieve present reality. Doesn’t believe the death of a family member.
Regression
Revert to earlier, “safer” periods. A woman returns home to mother every time her and her husband fight.
Oral stage
From 0-18 months. Infant’s pleasure centers on the mouth.
Anal stage
From 18-36 months. Children’s pleasure involves eliminative functions. Potty training happens during this stage.
Phallic Stage
From 3-6 years. Child’s pleasure focuses on the genitals. Consists of the oedipal complex and castration anxiety.
Oedipal complex
According to Freud, a boy’s intense desire to replace his father and enjoy the affections of his mother.
Castration anxiety
Boy’s intense fear of being mutilated by his father.
Latency Stage
From 6-puberty. psychic “time-out” Interest in sexuality is repressed.
Genital Stage
From adolescence and adulthood. Sexual reawakening. Source of sexual pleasure is someone else.
Fixation
Remain locked in particular developmental stage (anal retentive) Cannot move to other stages. Ex: if someone is locked in oral stage, may smoke cigarettes, chew on fingers.
What were the criticism of Freud?
- Sexuality is not the pervasive force behind personality. Not erogenous zones: part of body that have especially strong pleasure-giving qualities at a particular stage of development.
- Early experience is not as powerful as Freud thought
- Didn’t not consider how important conscious thought is in personality.
- Sociocultural influences he did not think about.
There is no research for this. He only did case studies of rich, white women in Vienna.
Horney’s Sociocultural approach
Both sexes envy the attributes of the other. Need for security, not sex, is primary motivator.
Jung’s Analytical Theory
Consisted of collective unconscious and archetypes.
Collective unsonscious
Jung’s term for the impersonal, deepest layer of the unconscious mind, shared by all human beings because of their common ancestral past.
Archetypes
Emotionally laden ideas and images in the collective unconscious that have rich and symbolic meaning for all people.
Adler’s individual psychology
Views that people are motivated by purposes and goals and that perfection, not pleasure, is the key motivator in human life.
What were the criticisms of the psychodynamic theory?
- too much emphasis on early experiences.
- too much faith in unconscious mind’s control
- too much emphasis on sexual instincts
- theory cannot be tested.
What were the contributions of the psychodynamic theory?
- Importance of childhood experiences
- Development proceeds in stages
- Role of unconscious processes
Humanistic perspectives
Theoretical views stressing a person’s capacity for personal growth and positive human qualities.
Abraham Maslow
One who helped create this perspective. He created the terms self-actualization and peak experiences (breath taking moments of insight). Biased since focus was on highly successful individuals.
Carl Rogers
Another important personal. Believed in personal growth and self-determination (the explanation for fated things).
Unconditional positive regard
Roger’s construct referring to the individua’s need to be accepted, valued, and treated positively regardless of the person’s behavior. Consists of conditions of worth and self-concept.
Conditions of worth
The standards that an individual must live up to in order to receive positive regard from others.
Self-concept
Our conscious representation of who we are and who we wish to become, during childhood.
What were the three qualities of a relationship a person must experience according to Roger?
- Empathy: involves being a sensitive listener and understanding another’s true feelings.
- Genuineness: being open to one’s feelings and dropping all pretenses and facades.
- Unconditional positive regard.
What were the contributions of the humanistic perspective?
- Self-perception is key to personality (the way we see ourselves matters)
- Consider the positive aspects of the human nature
- Emphasize conscious experience.
What were the criticisms of the humanistic perspective?
- Too optimistic about human nature.
- Promotes self-love and narcissism
Trait
An enduring disposition that leads to characteristics responses. Traits are the building blocks of personality.
Trait theories
Theoretical views stressing that personality consists of broad enduring dispositions (traits) that tend to lead to characteristic responses. People can be described by their typical behavior. Strong versus weak tendencies.
What did Gordon Alport do?
He believed that personality is understood through traits and behavior is consistent across situation. He looked into a dictionary did the lexical approach where he found all the words that could be used to describe a person.
What did W. T. Norman do?
Created the five factor model.
Five factor model of personaility
The five broad traits that are thought to describe the main dimensions of personality: neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. OCEAN
Openness
Openness=imaginative, variety, and independent/ Less open=practical, routine, conforming.
Conscientiousness
Conscientiousness= organized, careful, disciplined/ less=disorganized, careless, impulsive
Extraversion
Extraversion=sociable, fun-loving, affectionate/ less=retiring, somber, reserved
Agreeableness
Agreeableness=softhearted, trusting, helpful/ less=ruthless, suspicious, and uncooperative
Neuroticism/ stability
Stable=calm, secure, and self-satisfied/ neuroticism=anxious, insecure, self-pitying
Did the big five show up in the assessment of personality in cultures around the world?
Yes, especially extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness
Do the big five personality traits show up in animals?
Yes, in dogs and hyenas. Individual traits have been identified in fish, lizards, birds, and orangutans.
What were the contributions of the trait perspectives?
Traits influence health, cognitions, career success, and interpersonal realtions.
What were the critisms of the trait perspectives?
- Ignores the role of the situation of behaviors.
- Ignores nuances of an individual’s personality
Social cognitive perspectives
Emphasis is on conscious awareness, beliefs, expectations, and goals. Incorporates principles from behaviorism when exploring reasoning, beliefs, self-reflection, interpretation of situation.
Reciprocal determinism
Created by Albert Bandura. It describes the way behavior, environment, and person/cognitive factors interact to create personality.
What were the key processes and variables of Bandura’s perspective?
Observational learning, personal control, and self-efficiency
Personal control
Can regulate and control our own behavior despite our changing environment. Includes internal (belief in ability to change things) and external (it’s fates/ punishments and rewards that influence).
Self-efficacy
The belief that one can accomplish a given goal or task and produce a positive change.
Situationalism
Created by Walter Mischel. Says that behavior and personality vary considerably across context.
CAPS Model of personailty
Called cognitive affective processing systems. By Mischel. Theorical model for describing how individuals’ thoughts and emotions about themselves and the world affect their behavior and become linked in ways that matter to that behavior. Stability over time rather than across situations. Interconnections among cognitions and emotions affect our behavior.
What are the contributions of the social cognitive theory?
- Focuses on interactions of individuals with their environments.
- Suggests people can control their environment.
What are the criticisms of the social cognitive theory?
- Too concerned with change and the situation.
- Ignores the role of biology
- Very specific predictions hinder generalizations.
What are the ideas from the biological perspectives about personality and the brain?
Brain damage alters personality. Brain responses correlate with personality. Predispositions in sensitivity to arousal, differences in inhibition, and activity of neurotransmitters.
Behavorial genetics
Twin studies reveal substantial genetic influence on the Big Five traits. Most traits are influenced by multiple genes.
What are the evaluations of the biological perspectives?
- Ties personality to animal learning, brain imaging, and evolutionary theory
- criticisms: biology may be the effect, not the cause of personality.
Self-Report tests
A method of measuring personality characteristics that directly asks people whether specific items describe their personality traits; also called an objective test or an inventory. Beware of social desirability
Empirically keyed tests
A type of self-report test that presents many questionnaire items to two groups that are known to be different in some central way. Used to get around social desirability. Test takers do not know what is being measured. Test items are not related to purpose of test (MMPI example).
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality test
The most widely used and researched empirically keyed self-report test. 567 items. Control for social desirability and assess mental health and used to make hiring decisions and determine criminal risk.
Neuroticism Extraversion Openness
NEOPI uses big 5
Personality inventory-revised
Assess the big five factors and 6 subdimensions.
Myers Briggs Type Indicator
Four dimensions used to make personnel decisions:
1. Extraversion-introversion
2. Sensing-Intuitiing
3. Thinking-feeling
4. Judgement-perception
Not empirically supported and has the Barnum effect (when the information in the tests are so vague, they are worthless.
Projective Tests
A personality assessment test that presents individuals with an ambiguous stimulus and asks them to describe it or tell a story about it-to project their own meaning onto the stimulus. Psychodynamic approach
Rorschach inkblot test
A famous projective test that uses an individual’s perception of inkblots to determine his or her personality. Questionable reliability and validity/ not measuring anything
Thematic Appreciation Test
(TAT) Projective test that is designed to elicit stories that reveal something about an individual’s personality.
What are some other assessment methods?
- Direct Behavorial observation
- Cognitive Assessment of attention and memory
- peer rating (in classroom)
- Psychophysiological measure (polygraph which is not valid because it is measuring heartbeat)
- Brain imaging
