Chapter 13 & 15: Personality Flashcards
What is personality?
All those relatively permanent traits, dispositions, or characteristics within the individual that give some measure of consistency to that person’s behavior
What is the psychodynamic perspective (Freud)?
Personality is determined by conflicting, unconscious inner forces within the person
What are the 3 levels of Freudian levels of thought?
The conscious, preconscious, and unconscious
What is the conscious level?
Consists of things you are current aware of, constantly changing
What is the preconscious level?
Consists of things you are not currently aware of, but could retrieve if desired
What is the unconscious level?
Consists of things you’re unaware of and would be difficult to bring into awareness, primary personality component
What are Freudian personality components?
The id, the ego, and the superego
What is the id?
Functions according to primary-process thought which is irrational, instinct-driven, and out of touch (pleasure)
What is the ego?
Secondary-process thought, rational, controls and channels id (reality)
What is the superego?
Idealistic principle, strives for moral perfection, contains sense of right and wrong
What is the oral stage?
0-1, trust, pleasure comes from oral exploration of the world
What is the anal stage?
1-3, control, pleasure comes from urination and defecation
What is the phallic stage?
3-6, sex-role identification, pleasure comes from genital stimulation, oedipus conflict and Electra complex
What is the latency stage?
6-puberty, learning, sexual impulses are repressed and energy is focused on achievement and mastery of skills
What is the genital stage?
Puberty-adulthood, intimacy, sexuality resurfaces and pleasure comes from adult-type sexual activity, maturity occurs
What is fixation?
Becoming “stuck” in one stage of psychosexual development and not being able to progress any further
What is regression?
Moving back to an earlier stage of development acting childlike and dependent
What are defense mechanisms?
Employed by the ego to rid itself of the anxiety that comes from constantly trying to satisfy both id and superego
What is the denial defense mechanism?
Refusing to accept that the feeling is present or that the event occurred
What is the repression defense mechanism?
Relegating anxiety, causing thoughts to the unconscious, refusing to think about them
What is the projection defense mechanism?
Attributing one’s undesirable traits or actions to others, so they become the problem instead of you
What is the displacement defense mechanism?
Substituting a less-threatening object for the subject of the hostile or sexual impulse
What is the sublimation defense mechanism?
Redirecting anxiety, causing impulses into socially acceptable actions
What is the reaction formation defense mechanism?
Taking actions opposite to one’s feelings in order to deny the reality of the feelings
What is the rationalization defense mechanism?
Creating intellectually acceptable arguments for thoughts or behavior to hide the actual anxiety-causing impulses
What is a personality assessment?
Psychodynamic theorists use projective tests in which an individual must interpret ambiguous stimuli, reflecting unconscious processes
What is the Rorschach test?
Subject tells what each blot looks like and what aspect of the blot triggered that response
What is the Rorschach test criticized for?
Lack of reliability and low validity
What is the TAT test?
19 vague/ambiguous drawings, person describes what is happening in each
What is free association in psychodynamic therapy?
Patients report what comes to mind
What is resistance in psychodynamic therapy?
Unwillingness to discuss topics related to unconscious conflicts
What is transference in psychodynamic therapy?
Shifting thoughts/feelings about one important person from the past onto the therapist
What are limitations to psychodynamic therapy?
Minimizes patient responsibility, neglects conscious motives and the present, and fairly costly
What are Neo-Freudians?
Former students of Freud who broke away from him to create own theories
What was Alfred Adler’s theory?
Humans are motivated by the need to overcome inferiority and strive for significance, compensation, inferiority complex
What was Carl Jung’s theory?
Personal unconscious, collective unconscious (inherited tendencies to respond in a particular way shared by all humans)
What was Erik Erikson’s theory?
Emphasized social influences, development continues throughout life
What was Karen Horney’s theory?
Emphasized anxiety, felt that Freud’s theory was particularly inadequate for women, role of cultural variables
What is humanistic psychology?
People consciously and purposefully make unique choices that lead to their own personal growth
What are the components of Carl Rogers’ Self Theory?
Real self, ideal self, and fully-functioning person
What is the real self?
People’s actual perception of themselves and their abilities
What is the ideal self?
Contains the attributes the person would like to have
What is the fully-functioning person?
Match between the two: real and ideal self
What is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?
Based on humanistic principles and achievement of self-actualization
What is the Human Potential Movement?
Still evident in counseling and self-help materials
What is humanistic therapy?
Client-centered therapy developed by Carl Rogers
What are characteristics of humanistic therapy?
Uses mirroring, it is subjective (only client can determine improvement), and only appropriate for mild adjustment problems
What are problems with behavioral theories?
They arise from failure to learn adaptive behavior or learning or maladaptive behavior
What is counterconditioning?
Undesirable response replaced by preferable one
What is systematic desensitization?
Clients gradually learn to replace an anxiety response with relaxation
What are extinction procedures?
Likelihood of maladaptive response is reduced
What is flooding?
Person is over-exposed to anxiety-provoking stimulus until it no longer provokes anxiety
Give an example of an operant conditioning technique.
Token economies: using tokens that can be exchanged for other items/privileges as a reinforcer
Give an example of an observational learning technique.
Modeling: learning appropriate or desirable behavior by observing the actions of others
What are limitations to behavioral therapy?
Addresses only behavioral symptoms meaning underlying symptoms are not treated, new behavioral symptoms may emerge in place of the old ones
What are cognitive theories?
Focuses on role that thought processes play in creating disordered behavior
What is rational emotive therapy?
Believing in irrational beliefs: I must be perfect, everyone must love me, the past determines the future, it is catastrophic when things do not go as planned
What is Beck’s cognitive theory?
Teaching patient’s to replace the thoughts with realistic, healthy ones due to depression
What are limitations to Beck’s theory?
Fails to focus on emotions which are an important component of many disorders
What are trait theories?
They describe the structure of personality rather than explain it through processes
What are universal theories?
Examine how individuals differ on traits that all people possess
Give an example of the universal theory.
Being an introvert versus being an extrovert
What are distinctive theories?
Examine individuals’ unique sets of personality traits
What is the Big Five (OCEAN)?
Openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, & neuroticism
What is openness to experience?
Closed to experience or open to it
What is conscientiousness?
If you are dependable or undependable as a person
What is extraversion?
If you are withdrawn or outgoing
What is agreeableness?
If you are low in agreeing or high in it
What Is neuroticism?
If you are stable or unstable
What are pros and cons to the Big Five?
Pros: helpful in predicting general trends in behavior
Cons: too general to predict behavior in specific situations
What are Alport’s personal dispositions?
Traits that are unique to each individual
What are cardinal traits?
Single dominant traits that influence all activities
Give an example of a cardinal trait
Mother Teresa being compassionate
What are central traits?
Influences behavior in most situations
What are secondary traits?
Influences behavior in particular situations
What is the MMPI-2?
Most widely used inventory that consists of 567 true-false that measures 10 clinical scales of personality
What are strengthens and weaknesses of the MMPI-2?
Strengthens: objective, reliable, valid, safeguards against faking
Weaknesses: Not culturally sensitive, classifies too many as emotionally disturbed
What is Bandura’s theory?
Self-efficiency: belief that we are competent and effective in dealing with the environment
Reciprocal determinism: personal variable influence environment and environment influences behavior
What are advantages and disadvantages of group therapy?
Advantages: empathy and support, social pressure, dynamic of group
Disadvantages: Less time and attention from therapist, some issues are not addressed
What is family therapy?
Assumption that many individual problems stem from family dynamics
What does couples therapy help with?
Sharing and adjusting expectations from significant others
True or false: research does not provide convincing evidence that therapy is effective
False, is it effective
Effectiveness of therapy depends on:
Fit among the therapy, nature of the problem, characteristics of therapist, and characteristics of client
