chapter 12

Question 1

idiographic approaches

Answer 1

A qualitative approach to studying personality that emphasizes the uniqueness of each individual.

person centred, focus on individual lives

• narrative approach, humanistic perspective

Question 2

nomothetic approaches

Answer 2

A quantitative approach to studying personality that focuses on common traits or dimensions that apply to all people.

common traits, unique combinations

• projective measures
  -objective measures

Question 3

projective measures

Answer 3

A test of personality based on Freudian theory that provides an ambiguous stimulus onto which test takers “project” their personality.

• TAT - thematic apperception test (need for achievement, power, affiliation)
• rorschach inkblot

Question 4

objective measures

Answer 4

• self reports
• informant ratings

Question 5

psychodynamic theory

Answer 5

• reality principle (ego)
• moral principle (superego)
• pleasure principle ( id)
• defence mechanisms
• conscious mind: present awareness
• preconscious mind: outside awareness but accessible
• unconscious mind: not accessible

Question 6

ego

Answer 6

The component of Sigmund Freud’s personality theory that is the self that others see.

executive mediator

Question 7

id

Answer 7

The component of Sigmund Freud’s personality theory containing primitive drives present at birth.

unconscious psychic energy

Question 8

superego

Answer 8

The component of Sigmund Freud’s personality theory that internalizes society’s rules for right and wrong, or the conscience.

internalized ideals

Question 9

defence mechanisms

Answer 9

In Sigmund Freud’s personality theory, a protective behaviour that reduces anxiety.

unconscious mental strategies that the mind uses to protect itself

Question 10

humanistic approaches

Answer 10

emphasize personal experience and belief systems; propose that people seek personal growth to fulfill their human potential

Question 11

self actualization

Answer 11

• Abraham Maslow
• the realization or fulfillment of one’s talents and potentialities, especially considered as a drive or need present in everyone.

Question 12

person centered

Answer 12

• Carl Rogers
• phenomenology: subjective human experience
• non-directive approach that empowers clients to take the lead in their therapy sessions, promoting self-discovery and self-actualization.

Question 13

unconditional positive regard

Answer 13

• accepting and supporting a person without judging or criticizing them.

Question 14

self concept

Answer 14

People’s description of their own characteristics.

• organized consistent self of perceptions and beliefs about oneself
• incongruent: self discrepancies
• congruent: self actualization

Question 15

self esteem

Answer 15

A judgment of the value of the self.

Question 16

interdependent self construal

Answer 16

-non western cultures

• view of the self that emphasizes one embeddedness in a network of social relationships and downplays one separateness and unique traits or accomplishments

Question 17

independent self construal

Answer 17

• western cultures
• emphasis on internal and distinctive personal characteristics, is thus one in which the self is seen as a unique individual, fundamentally separate from others

Question 18

reciprocal determinism

Answer 18

A social–cognitive learning theory of personality that features the mutual influence of the person and that of the situation on each other.

Question 19

self efficacy

Answer 19

• performance experience (past experience)
• vicarious experience (observed experience or modelling by others)
• social persuasion ( coaching and feedback)
• imaginal experience (visualizations of future success)
• physical and emotional states (experience of physical and emotional sensations)

Question 20

self handicapping

Answer 20

behaviour that creates obstacles to prevent taking personal responsibility for failure or embarassment - protect self image and esteem

Question 21

self regulation

Answer 21

process by which people alter or change their behaviour to attain personal goals

Question 22

self control

Answer 22

process of self regulation in contexts involving a clear trade off between long term goals and short term temptations

Question 23

locus of control

Answer 23

A cognitive expectancy featured in social–cognitive learning theories of personality about the source of individual outcomes; an external locus of control sees outcomes as resulting from luck or chance, while an internal locus of control sees outcomes as the result of individual effort.

Question 24

delay of gratification

Answer 24

• delay of gratification (marshmallow)
• turning hot cognitions into cold cognitions (reframing); ignoring; distraction

Question 25

personality trait

Answer 25

a characteristic; a dispositional tendency to act in a certain way over time and across circumstances

Question 26

personality type

Answer 26

classification based on particular configurations of personality traits or other characteristics

Question 27

big five theory

Answer 27

- openness to experience (fantasy, aesthetics, feelings, actions, ideas, values) - conscientiousness (competence, order, self-discipline, deliberation, achievement striving) - extraversion (warmth, assertiveness, activity, positive emotion, excitement seeking) - agreeableness (trust, altruism, compliance, modesty, tender mindedness) - neuroticism (anxiety, anger, depression, impulsiveness, vulnerability)

Question 28

personality

Answer 28

characteristic thoughts, emotional responses, and behaviours that are stable in an individual over time and across circumstances

Question 29

repression

Answer 29

forcing distressing or unacceptable memories, thoughts and feelings into the unconscious

Question 30

reaction formation

Answer 30

unacceptable thoughts and desires in the unconscious are expressed as their opposite in consciousness

Question 31

projection

Answer 31

attributing ones own unacceptable thoughts, feelings, impulses and motives to others

Question 32

regression

Answer 32

reacting to a threatening situation with a response characteristic of an earlier stage of development

Question 33

sublimation

Answer 33

transforming inappropriate impulses and motives into socially acceptable and valuable expressions

Question 34

denial

Answer 34

conscious refusal to perceive and believe painful facts or situations exist

Question 35

rationalization

Answer 35

creating an acceptable and local explanation to replace a true but threatening cause of behaviour

Question 36

displacement

Answer 36

shifting the expression of an unwanted impulse from a threatening person to a less threatening one

Question 37

neo-freud: carl jung (analytical psychology)

Answer 37

- personal vs collective unconscious - personality types reflecting opposing ways we can orient ourselves to the external environment

Question 38

neo-freud: karen horney (feminist psychology)

Answer 38

- emphasis on cultural and social conditions as a determinant of personality (rather than instinctual or biological drives)

Question 39

self

Answer 39

the totality of the individual, consisting of all characteristic attributes, conscious and unconscious, mental and physical

Question 40

self construal

Answer 40

the extent to which the self is defined independently of others or interdependently with others

Question 41

reciprocal determinism

Answer 41

theory of human behaviour that states that a person behaviour both influences and is influenced by personal factors and the social environment

Question 42

if-then

Answer 42

- interaction between situation and individual - if A, then she X, but if B then she Y

Question 43

continuum

Answer 43

tend to focus on extremes, each trait exists along continuum - fact that most people do not fall into extremes is one of major problems with MBTI