Chapter 12: What is personality and how do we measure it

Question 1

Personality

Answer 1

The unique collection of attitudes, emotions, thoughts, habits, impulses, and behaviors that define how a person typically behaves across situations.

Question 2

2. Psychoanalytic Perspective (IMPORTANT!)

Answer 2

A personality approach developed by Sigmund Freud that sees personality as the product of driving forces within a person that are often conflicting and sometimes unconscious.

Question 3

3. Freud Proposes 3 levels of awareness for the human personality:

Answer 3

a. Conscious Level: The level of consciousness that holds all the thoughts, perceptions, and impulses of which we are aware. b. Preconscious Level: The level of consciousness that holds thoughts, perceptions, and impulses of which we could potentially be aware. c. Unconscious Level: The level of awareness that contains the thoughts, perceptions, and impulses of which we are unaware.

Question 4

Id

Answer 4

The unconscious part of the personality that seeks pleasure and gratification.

Question 5

Pleasure Principle:

Answer 5

The basis on which the id operates; the urge to feel good and maximize gratification.

Question 6

Ego

Answer 6

The conscious part of the personality that attempts to meet the demands of the id in a socially appropriate way.

Question 7

Reality Principle

Answer 7

The basis on which the ego operates; finding socially appropriate means to fulfill id demands.

Question 8

Superego

Answer 8

The part of the personality that represents your moral conscience.

Question 9

Defense Mechanism:

Answer 9

A process used to protect the ego by reducing the anxiety it feels when faced with the conflicting demands of the id and the superego.

Question 10

Oral Stage

Answer 10

First stage of development, lasting from birth to roughly 18 months of age. The handling of the child’s feeding experiences affects personality development.

Question 11

Anal Stage

Answer 11

Freud’s second psychosexual stage, which occurs from approximately 18 months to 3 years of age, in which the parents regulation of the child’s urge to expel or retain feces affects personality development.

Question 12

Phallic Stage

Answer 12

Freud’s third psychosexual stage of development, which occurs between 3 years and 6 years of age, in which little boys experience the Oedipus complex and little girls experience the Electra complex.

Question 13

Oedipus Complex

Answer 13

In the male, an unconscious sexual urge for the mother that develops during the phallic psychosexual stage.

Question 14

Electra Complex

Answer 14

In the female an unconscious sexual urge for the father that develops during the phallic psychosexual stage.

Question 15

Latency Stage

Answer 15

Freud’s 4th psychosexual stage of development which occurs from around age 6 to puberty, in which the child’s sexuality is suppressed due to widening social contacts with school, peers, and family.

Question 16

Genital Stage

Answer 16

Freud’s final psychosexual stage of development which begins at puberty, in which sexual energy is transferred toward peers of the other sex (heterosexual orientation) or same sex (homosexual orientation).

Question 17

Neo-Freudians

Answer 17

Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, and Karen Horney

Question 18

Personal Unconsciousness:

Answer 18

According to Jung, the part of the unconscious that consists of forgotten memories and repressed experiences from one’s past.

Question 19

Collective Unconscious:

Answer 19

According to Jung, the part of the unconscious that contains images and material universal to people of all time periods and cultures.

Question 20

Archetypes:

Answer 20

According to Jung, mental representations or symbols of themes and predispositions to respond to the world in a certain way that are contained in the collective unconscious.

Question 21

Basic Anxiety

Answer 21

According to Horney, the feeling of helplessness that develops in children from early relationships.

Question 22

Trait Approach (Gordon Allport):

Answer 22

A personality perspective that attempts to describe personality by emphasizing internal, biological aspects of personality called traits.

Question 23

Trait:

Answer 23

Tendency to behave in a certain way across most situations.

Question 24

Central Traits:

Answer 24

According to Allport, the tendencies we have to behave in certain ways across most situations.

Question 25

Secondary Traits:

Answer 25

According to Allport, the tendencies we have that are less consistent and describe how we behave in certain situations.

Question 26

Cardinal Traits

Answer 26

According to Allport, those dominant elements of our personalities that drive all of our behaviors.

Question 27

Surface Traits

Answer 27

Basic traits that describe people’s personalities, according to Cattell.

Question 28

Source Traits

Answer 28

Universal tendencies that underlie and are at the core of surface traits, according to Cattell.

Question 29

Introversion

Answer 29

Personality traits that involve energy directed inward, such as being calm or peaceful.

Question 30

Extraversion

Answer 30

Personality traits that involve energy being directed outwards, such as being easygoing, lively, or excitable.

Question 31

Emotional Stability

Answer 31

Having control over one’s emotions.

Question 32

Neuroticism

Answer 32

The degree to which one is emotionally unstable.

Question 33

Psychoticism

Answer 33

The degree to which one is hostile, nonconforming, impulsive, and aggressive.

Question 34

5 Factor Trait Theory

Answer 34

Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism

Question 35

Openness

Answer 35

The degree to which one is thoughtful and rational in considering new ideas.

Question 36

Conscientiousness:

Answer 36

The degree to which one is aware of and attentive to other people, to the details of a task, or to both.

Question 37

Extraversion

Answer 37

The degree to which one’s energy is directed inward or outward.

Question 38

Agreeableness

Answer 38

The degree to which one gets along well with others.

Question 39

Neuroticism

Answer 39

The degree to which one is emotionally stable or unstable.

Question 40

Behavioral Genetics:

Answer 40

Field of study that examines the influence of genetics and hereditary factors on personality traits.

Question 41

Humanistic Approach:

Answer 41

A personality perspective that emphasizes the individual, personal choice, and free will in shaping personality; assumes that humans have a built-in drive toward fulfilling their own natural potential.

Question 42

Self-Actualization:

Answer 42

The fulfillment of one’s natural potential. Maslow believed that only 1 out of 10 people had enough of their other needs met that they could focus on self-actualization needs.

Question 43

Actualizing Tendency:

Answer 43

According to Rogers, the natural drive in humans to strive for fulfillment and enhancement.

Question 44

Self-Concept

Answer 44

One’s perception or image of his or her abilities and uniqueness.

Question 45

Unconditional Positive Regard:

Answer 45

Acceptance and love of another’s thoughts and feelings without expecting anything in return.

Question 46

Reliability:

Answer 46

The degree to which a test yields consistent measurements of a trait.

Question 47

Validity:

Answer 47

The degree to which a test measures the trait that it was designed to measure.

Question 48

Personality Inventory:

Answer 48

An objective paper-and-pencil or computerized report forms that measures personality on several dimensions.

Question 49

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2):

Answer 49

A personality inventory that is designed to identify problems areas of functioning in an individual’s personality.

Question 50

Projective Test:

Answer 50

A less structured and subjective personality test in which an individual is shown an ambiguous stimulus and is asked to describe what he or she sees.

Question 51

Rorschach Inkblot Test:

Answer 51

A projective personality test consisting of 10 ambiguous inkblots in which a person is asked to describe what he or she sees; the person’s responses are then coded for consistent themes and issues.

Question 52

Thematic Apperception Test:

Answer 52

A projective personality test consisting of a series of pictures in which the respondent is asked to tell a story about each scene; the responses are then coded for consistent themes and issues.

Question 53

Clinical Interview:

Answer 53

The initial meeting between a client and a clinician in which the clinician asks questions to identify the difficulty in functioning that the person is experiencing.