Chapter 12: Personality

Question 1

Personality

Answer 1

Patterns of thought and behaviour that make a person react to certain situations in relatively consistent ways

Question 2

Unconscious

Answer 2

The part of our mental life that influences our thoughts, feelings, and exactions that we cannot directly observe and of which we are unaware

Question 3

id

Answer 3

The component of personality in Freud’s psychoanalytic theory that is the manifestation of unconscious and instinctual drives and needs

Question 4

Pleasure principale

Answer 4

Behaviour is driven purely by what feels good, with no real filter or concern about what is polite or possible

Question 5

Ego

Answer 5

The component of personality in Freud’s psychoanalytic theory that represents the largely conscious awareness of reality and the ability to mediate the needs of the id within the constraints of reality

Question 6

Reality principle

Answer 6

Monitoring the environment around us and learning how it places constraints on when, how, and to what extent our id-driven needs can be satisfied

Question 7

Superego

Answer 7

The component of personality in Freud’s psychoanalytic theory that represents the internalized cultural rules and ideals to guide our moral conscience

Question 8

Defence mechanisms

Answer 8

The various ways in which the ego is thought to cope with conflict between the unconscious desires of the id and the moral constraints of society

Question 9

Displacement

Answer 9

A defence mechanism in which the ego redirects the aggressive impulses of the id from their intended targets to more defenceless targets

Question 10

Projection

Answer 10

A defence mechanism in which people, instead of acknowledging it in themselves, see others as possessing a disliked trait or feeling

Question 11

Repression

Answer 11

A defence mechanism in which the ego keeps unwanted feelings, thoughts, and memories below the level of conscious awareness

Question 12

Denial

Answer 12

A defence mechanism in which the ego prevents the perception of a painful or threatening reality as it is occurring

Question 13

Cardinal traits

Answer 13

Traits that dominate someone’s personality. A trait that seemed to direct one’s every behaviour.

Question 14

Central traits

Answer 14

General dispositions that we use to describe someone. Traits that do not utterly define the person but provide useful insight into how they typically behave

Question 15

Secondary traits

Answer 15

Traits that are relevant only in certain contexts.

Question 16

Lexical hypothesis

Answer 16

The hypothesis that the traits that provide useful ways to differentiate among people’s personality characteristics are necessarily encoded in language

Question 17

Factor analysis

Answer 17

A statistical technique that groups a large set of variables into a smaller set of constructs based on how they correlate with one another

Question 18

Assessment

Answer 18

The process of developing and validating tools to accurately measure and quantify traits and other features of personality

Question 19

Fives-factor model

Answer 19

The dominant model in the trait approach to personality, which posits five key dimensions along which humans vary: open-mindedness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism

Question 20

Behavioural genetics

Answer 20

An approach that estimates the heritability of a trait by statistically comparing patterns of similarity in the behavioural or personality profiles of people who differ in their genetic relatedness

Question 21

Gene x environment interactions

Answer 21

The interaction between environmental factors and a person’s genetic predispositions that determine the unique phenotypes expressed in personality

Question 22

Person x situation interactions

Answer 22

A model,positing that in order to understand and predict behaviour, it is necessary to account for both personal dispositions and the situation people find themselves in, as well as the interaction between the two

Question 23

Social learning theory

Answer 23

A theory of how people’s cognitions, behaviours, and dispositions are shaped by observing and omitting the actions of others

Question 24

Reciprocal determinism

Answer 24

The idea that personality guides cognition about the world in ways that can shape the environments people choose, serving to reinforce or amplify their personality.

Question 25

Locus of control

Answer 25

A person’s perception of what determines his or her outcomes: intrinsic (internal) characteristics or random, external forces

Question 26

Outcomes efficacy

Answer 26

The belief that if a person can perform a behaviour, a desired outcome will result

Question 27

Self-efficacy

Answer 27

The belief that one can successfully execute a behaviour linked to a desired outcome

Question 28

Learned helplessness

Answer 28

A state of passive resignation to an aversive situation that one has come to believe is outside of one’s control

Question 29

Depressive realism

Answer 29

The painful awareness of personal limitations that render outcomes uncontrollable, in contrast to a more commonly held illusion of control for those who are not depressed

Question 30

Sexual selection

Answer 30

An evolutionary perspective positing that men and women develop distinct profiles of personality traits because of the different reproductive challenges they face.

Question 31

Social role theory

Answer 31

A theory positing that the roles people find themselves in can profoundly shape their personality

Question 32

Self-actualization

Answer 32

The process of fulfilling one’s true potential by gaining a sense of personal autonomy, accepting oneself, and accepting other people

Question 33

Self-determination theory

Answer 33

A theory positing that well-being and success are most likely to be achieved when a person’s environments support three key motivations: autonomy, competence, and relatedness

Question 34

Self-concept

Answer 34

The broad network of mental representations that a person has of him or herself

Question 35

Self-serving biases

Answer 35

Characteristic ways of processing information to maintain a positive attitude toward the self

Question 36

Self-serving attributions

Answer 36

The tendency to attribute good outcomes to something about us, but to discount bad outcomes as due to the situation or bad luck

Question 37

Sociometer theory

Answer 37

A theory positing that people use self-esteem, a judgment of self-worth, to assess the degree to which they are accepted by others

Question 38

Terror management theory

Answer 38

A theory positing that self-esteem allows people to cope with existential terror stemming from their awareness of their own mortality

Question 39

Narcissism

Answer 39

The tendency to have unrealistic and self-aggrandizing views of the self

Question 40

Independent self-construal

Answer 40

A notion of the self a bounded and stable entity that is distinct from others

Question 41

Interdependent self-construal

Answer 41

A notion of the self as defined by one’s connections to other people