Chapter 13

Question 1

personality

Answer 1

characteristic thoughts, emotional responses, and behaviors

Question 2

personality trait

Answer 2

pattern of thought, emotion, and behavior that is relatively consistent over time and across situations

Question 3

how much of personality is genes

Answer 3

about half

Question 4

temperament

Answer 4

biologically based tendencies to feel or act a certain way, including amount of energy, intensity of emotions, self control, and sociability

Question 5

psychodynamic theory

Answer 5

Freudian theory that unconscious forces determine behavior

Question 6

id

Answer 6

completely unconscious, operates only to seek pleasure and avoid pain (libido)

Question 7

superego

Answer 7

acts as a brake on the id, early socialization of proper conduct and morality

Question 8

ego

Answer 8

mediates between id and superego, uses rational thought and problem solving

Question 9

defense mechanism

Answer 9

unconscious mental strategies used to protect from distress caused by conflicts between id and superego (e.g. rationalization, denial, projection, sublimation) and protect self esteem

Question 10

psychosexual stages

Answer 10

Freudian idea that there are developmental stages that correspond to libidinal urges (oral, anal, phallic) and can become fixated a certain stage

Question 11

non-Freudian models of personality

Answer 11

cognitive affective personality system- personality doesn’t predict behavior across circumstances, people’s expectations of their behavior shape their responses, etc
Kelly- people have personal constructs: theories they are constantly testing

Question 12

humanistic approaches

Answer 12

emphasize personal experience, belief system, and uniqueness of each person as a whole (in contrast to deterministic factors) Therapist creates a supportive and unconditionally loving environment

Question 13

trait approach & five factor theory

Answer 13

focuses on how individuals different in certain personality traits (like OCEAN- openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism)

Question 14

biological trait theory (Eysenck)

Answer 14

two major dimensions: introversion/extroversion and emotional stability (possible third dimension of psychoticism/constraint)

Question 15

behavioral approach system vs. behavioral inhibition system

Answer 15

brain structures that lead organisms to approach stimuli in pursuit of rewards (“go” system) vs structures that inhibit dangerous behavior. Linked to extraversion and introversion (extraverts are more influenced by rewards than punishments)

Question 16

situationism

Answer 16

behaviors are determined more by situations than personality traits, sparked person/situation debate. Consensus is that on average it still does predict behavior

Question 17

interactionists

Answer 17

behavior is determined jointly by situations (strong like a funeral or weak like a party) and underlying dispositions

Question 18

are personality traits consistent?

Answer 18

ya they tend to be relatively stable over long periods. Over all countries, conscientiousness tends to increase and neuroticism decreases

Question 19

projective measures

Answer 19

explore unconscious by having people tell stories about ambiguous stimuli, hoping they will project onto them (like Rorschach blots)

Question 20

working self concept

Answer 20

people access and describe themselves with personality traits that differentiate themselves from a group (a black man working with women will identify as a man, working with whites will identify as black)

Question 21

self esteem

Answer 21

evaluative aspect of self concept where people feel worthy or unworthy

Question 22

self serving bias

Answer 22

taking credit for success but blaming external factors for failure