Chapter 12 (final) Flashcards
what is Personality
can be defined as an enduring set of internally based characteristics that serves to produce uniqueness and consistency in the expressions of a person’s thoughts and behaviors, along with an explanation to account for these characteristics
what are personality traits
internally based characteristics
what are the psychodynamic perspectives of personality
the underlying assumption is that the expression of personality is motivated by internal processes and conflicts over which individuals have little or no consciousness awareness and consequently limited personal control
The individual most closely associated with the psychodynamic perspective is who
Sigmund Freud
Freud’s iceberg model of the mind consisting of three regions what are they
the conscious, the preconscious, and the unconscious
what is in The preconscious mind
contains mental information that the individual may not be thinking about at any given moment but can easily gain access to when needed, as well as remove from awareness when no longer needed
what s the unconscious mind
the largest and, according to Freud, the most influential region of the mind. The unconscious mind is a seemingly unlimited storage facility containing the thoughts, feelings, memories, needs, desires, wishes, and past experiences deemed too threatening to appear at the conscious level of awareness. According to Freud, to understand personality, it is necessary to expose and gain access to the content of the unconscious mind
what is free association
The method of free association required the individual to say whatever came to his or her mind without considering how meaningless or threatening it might seem. He assumed that because the associations are linked together emotionally in the unconscious, an analysis of the pattern of these connections would reveal their true meaning as expressions of past and present psychological trauma
what is manifest content
With dream analysis, the manifest content is what the dreamer remembers and, according to Freud, the disguised content
what is The latent content
The latent content is the expression of the content of unconscious mind and a reflection of a person’s true feelings, needs, and desires
what are the Structural Components of Personality
id, ego, and superego
what is the id
the core component of personality and is located completely in the unconscious mind.
Freud proposed that the id, without any direct contact with the external world or conscious awareness, operates on the pleasure principle. The id acts on basic human needs for survival and self-preservation (e.g., eating, drinking) in addition to primal urges to indulge the pleasure principle, which includes sexual impulses (Eros) and unrestrained aggression (Thanatos)
what is the ego
Freud identified the ego as the component of the mind that can subdue the id’s sexual and aggressive impulses to wait for the “right time and right place.”
what does the ego operate on
the reality principe
it is the balancer’
what is the superego
represents one’s sense of right and wrong
what does the superego operate on
on a sense of morality reflecting family values, official laws, social conventions, religious beliefs, and a personal moral code. The sense of morality characteristic of the superego is regulated by the ego ideal and the conscience
what did freud say is the reason for anxiety
anxiety serve as a warning sign of possible danger to the ego
what is Reality anxiety
informs the ego of real danger (e.g., a car is drifting into your lane).
what is Moral anxiety
notifies the superego that the ego is considering violating a moral code (e.g., you want to cheat on a test).
what is Neurotic anxiety
warns the ego of the threatening expression of id impulses at the level of conscious awareness (e.g., you want to scream out loud while sitting in a boring meeting
To mask feelings of anxiety and disguise the source of the tension, as well as from keeping them from being expressed, (e.g., screaming out loud), individuals unconsciously employ a variety of what
defense mechanisms
The principal defense mechanism is what
repression
what is repression
characterized by the individual’s ego simply removing (e.g., ignoring, trying to forget) the threatening impulse from conscious awareness. For example, a victim of assault may have trouble recalling the details of the attack because doing so would trigger the images and emotions of the entire episode. However, such memories remain buried in the unconscious, where they continue to create feelings of anxiety.
At the core of this explanation, Freud proposed the development of personality through a sequence of five what
psychosexual stages
what are the psychosexual stages
see chart
Each stage is associated with a major biological function corresponding to a specific what
erogenous zone
what is erogenous zone
a region of the body that serves as the source of enjoyment
what are The Neo-Freudian Perspectives
represent explanations of personality based on reactions to and extensions of Freud’s psychoanalytic perspective. The basis of each of these viewpoints reflects a perceived limitation of some aspect of Freud’s ideas and a desire to correct that shortcoming
One major point of dispute was with Freud’s ideas regarding the nature of the unconscious mind. Jung proposed what
collective unconscious
what is collective unconscious
which he believed was interconnected through past experiences to other individuals across generations and locations around the world. Contained in this region of the mind was a universal set of common thoughts, feelings, behaviors, beliefs, rituals, emotions, experiences, images, and symbols inherited from all of those who ever came before us over time, including animals. Examples of such universal knowledge and tendencies include a fear of the unknown, search for novelty, desire for social order, and need for the emotional contact with others
Jung believed that all of this inherited universal knowledge was stored in the collective unconscious in the form of
archetypes
what are archetypes
Archetypes are universal thought patterns and behavior rituals triggered by specific situations and symbols and images representing certain people, ideas, or beliefs. When expressed, these archetypes provide a universal response that is adaptive over time and across situations.
what was jung’s persona theory
The persona was the tendency for people to develop a certain pattern of behaviors when in public to get along with others, similar to Freud’s superego
what was jung’s shadow theory
The shadow represents the dark and more primitive side of personality, similar to Freud’s id.
what was jung’s self theory
the most important archetype, serves to unit all other aspects of the individual’s personality, much like Freud’s ego.
who was Alfred Adler
an early supporter of Freud, but eventually began to disagree with him on some of his most important ideas, including the importance of unconscious sexual needs, the meaning of dreams, and the role of the ego
what did Adler propose
proposed that striving for superiority, operating at the conscious level, was the primary motivational source of personality. Striving for superiority does not mean that we strive to be superior or better than others. Instead, it means trying to become a better person in an effort to overcome real or imagined feelings of inferiority developed earlier in life through interactions with parents, siblings, and peers
It was Adler’s belief that striving for superiority should be guided by the principle of what
social interest
what is social interest
the goal of becoming a better person should to do so to make society better as you make yourself a better person
what did Karen Horney focus on
Horney wanted to focus more on interpersonal relationships than on intrapsychic conflicts as primary determinants of personality
what was the motivational force underlying the expression of personality
the motivational force underlying the expression of personality was the search for social security
what is social security
a sense of feeling safe and loved in our relationships with others
what is basic anxiety
When individuals feel unsafe, unloved, and powerless in their relationships
what is basic hostility
Feelings of basic hostility begin to emerge along with the belief that significant others are not helping to create a secure environment
Horney (1945) identified three basic strategies individuals use to reduce feelings of basic anxiety and establish a sense of safety what are they
moving toward people
moving away from people
moving against people
what is moving toward people
in which the individual does and says certain things in the hopes that other will like and take care of them. For example, teenagers may succumb to peer pressure and conform to the beliefs and behaviors of others in an effort to be accepted and avoid being teased and ridiculed
what is moving away from people
in which the individual withdraws emotionally in the hopes that others will not be able to harm them. As an example of this strategy, a shy man stays at home and plays video games to avoid being rejected when he tries to talk to individuals he finds attractive at parties
what is moving against people
in which the individual tries to harm others first in the hopes of preventing others from considering doing harm to them. For example, a woman ends a series of romantic relationship early to avoid having her heart broken by others.
In direct contrast to the rather pessimistic views of the psychodynamic perspective is what
the humanistic perspectives
what are the humanistic perspectives
based on the underlying assumption that the expression of personality is motivated by the internal desire for self-improvement and self-enhancement, which operates at the conscious level of awareness
what is Carl Rogers theory
Rogers’ Self-Theory: The Search for Self-Actualization
purported that the core element of an individual’s personality is the self-concept
what is self-concept
which refers to how someone perceives his or her unique set of characteristics, skills, qualities, and abilities
what is Self-esteem
is how positively or negatively a person evaluates him or herself based on life experiences
what is Conditional positive regard
serves to stifle personal growth by placing limits on the acceptance people give to others. For example, parents may show approval when their teenage daughter conforms to their wishes for her to go to medical school instead of her own desire to study social work.
what is unconditional positive regard
which includes displaying an attitude of acceptance and respect for an individual, no matter what that person says or does
According to Bandura, a core element of personality is the what
self-system
what is the self-system
The self-system is a set of cognitions that people use to observe, evaluate, and regulate their behavior in different situations. For example, a shy student notices that at a specific pub on game day, those wearing a home-team ball cap seem to have an easier time striking up conversations with others than those not wearing one. As a result, he now wears the ball cap when going to the pub on game day
what is self-efficacy
In addition to monitoring the behaviors of others, Bandura also proposed that people consider their ability to satisfactorily perform various behaviors as well as the potential consequences of a particular behavior in a given context to determine their sense of self-efficacy
Self-efficacy is the belief about one’s ability to successfully perform in a given situation. High levels of self-efficacy occur when a person feels confident in his or her ability to excel in a variety of situations
