Chapter 13- Personality 2 Flashcards
Sigmund freud
-created psychoanalysis and psychotherapy
psychoanalysis
unconscious mind is the most powerful force behind thought and behaviour
- dreams have meaning
- our experiences during childhood shapes out adult personality
- assumes people use psychological defences to protect themselves from threatening impulses, thoughts, feelings and fantasies
- repressing disturbing thoughts and impulses is cause of bad adult behaviour
Freud’s three layers of consciousness
1) Conscious layer
- what we are aware of at any moment
- surface of awareness
2) Pre-conscious layer
- below the surface of awareness
- not conscious but can become so easily
3) Unconscious layer
- all the drives, urges, or instincts that are outside awareness
- motivate most of our speech, thoughts, feelings, or actions
The three provinces of the mind/ CONTROL AND REGULATION OF IMPULSES
1) id
2) ego
3) superego
id
- first to develop
- founded on the “pleasure principle” and operates on the “do it” principle
- creates impulses
ego
-develops at the end of first year of life
-sense of self
-operates on the “reality principle”
manages the conflict between impulses and control
superego
- develops at age 2-3
- controls behaviour
- operates on the “moralistic principle”
- determines what is right/wrong
- is our conscience
big id
-overly impulsive and thrill seeking
big ego
- healthiest type of person
- can manage impulse and controls
big superego
-overcontrolling and represses emotions
defence mechanisms
unconscious strategies mind uses to protect itself
-distorts and denies reality
2 qualities:
1) they are unconscious
2) deny/distort reality
Repression
-most basic
-is the basis of all defence mechanisms
keeping threatening thoughts/ideas out of conscious awareness
ex: sexual and aggressive impulses
reaction formation
- turning unpleasant feeling into its opposite
- results in over exaggerated and obsessive behaviour
- ex: homophobia is a reaction formation of being gay
- hating your mom, turns them into showy exaggerated fake love cuz not socially acceptable
sublimation
- turning socially unacceptable feelings/things into something socially acceptable/desirable/creative
- guy who is hopelessly in love with a random girl, writes a romance novel
psychosexual stage theory
- freuds stages of personality development
- as we develop a different part of body becomes erogenous/a source of pleasure
4 stages of psychosexual development
1) Oral stage
- 12-18 months
- mouth is centre of pleasure
ex: infants suck, bite, and chew
2) Anal stage
- 2nd-3rd year of life
- pleasure is from holding and releasing bladder/bowels
- potty training
- ex: child learn to control their bladder/bowels
3) Phallic stage
-ages 3-6
-self pleasure from genitals
“phallic”= penis like, applies to girls and boys
-most complex and controversial
-pleasure from oedipal complex
Latency Stage
- not a psychosexual stage
- no pleasure, sexual feelings go latent and dormant
4) Genital stage
- puberty to rest of life
- mature, interpersonal sexual pleasure, sexual pleasure from other people outside the family
oedipal complex
- occurs in the phallic stage
- attraction to opposite sex parent, hostility to same sex parent
- overcome by identifying with the same sex parent
fixation
defence mechanism of focusing on earlier stages of development
Types of fixations
oral fixation may lead to smoking and sarcasm, nail biters
anal fixation may lead to obsessive cleanliness
phallic fixation may lead to “daddy/mommy issues”, attraction to people like opposite sex parent
genital fixation may lead to immature sexuality that is self or other focused, different fetishes
issues with freud’s theories
1) based only on case studies about adults (not children)
2) only focused on male development, not female
3) concepts difficult to operationally define and measure
Alfred Alder
- the first to break away from Freud’s ideas
- saw freud as a collegeau, not a follow
Alder’s Assumptions
Striving for superiority
-major drive of all behaviour is to overcome physiological and psychological challenges
not sex or aggression
-done via compensation
compensation
making up for feeling weak
inferiority complex
the need to dominate to compensate for feeling weak
Carl jung
- the unconcious has 2 forms: personal and collective
- full personality requires the acknowledgement of the underdeveloped parts of personality
Personal unconscious
- belongs to the individual
- the repressed/hidden thoughts, feelings, impulses
- similar to freud’s unconscious
Collective unconscious
-belongs to the species
- all ancestor’s experiences that are passed down
(experiences = God, mother, life, water, earth, aggression, survival)
-made up of archetypes
archetypes
-ancient images from ancestry
1) the shadow- the dark and disturbing part of ourselves
2) anima- the female part of the male personality
3) animus- the male part of the female personality
Karen Horney
- first female in psychoanalytic movement
- focused on SOCIAL AND CULTURAL influence on neuroses and neurotic personality
- created the psychoanalytic social theory
neuroses
anxiety/ obsessive thoughts
psychoanalytic theory
neuroses stems from basic hostility and basic anxiety
Basic hostility
anger that stems from birth
the fear of being rejected
turns into basic anxiety
Basic anxiety
-feeling helpless in a hostile world
helplessness and isolation
-not always neurotic (gives rise to some normal behaviours)
-prevented by forming neurotic needs/trands
Neurotic needs/trends (defences against anxiety)
- compulsive movement
1) moving towards others - the compliant personality (needy, tearing yourself down)
2) moving against others
- the aggressive personality (competition, challenging, angry)
3) moving away from others
- the detached personality (no emotion, robot, can’t commit)
Normal needs/trends (defences against anxiety)
- spontaneous movement
1) movement towards others - friendly, loving
2) movement against others
- survivor in a competitive world
3) movement away from others
- independent, autonomous, serene
neurotic
- when a person becomes obsessive/compulsive
- unable to switch from one need to another
Humanistic psychology
-optimistic about human nature
-believing that humans strive towards their full potential (being fully human)
- no empirical/experimental evidence
-Abraham Maslow and Carl rOGERS
Self actualization + unconditional positive regard
Abraham Maslow
- created the hierarchy of needs
- self actualization is at the top of hierarchy of needs
self- actualization
-living life to the fullest and reaching ones full potential
characteristics of a self-actualizing person
1) spontaneous, simplicity, naturalness
- honest, childlike in their spontaneity, tell it like it is
2) Problem centered
- have a calling
- a lot of peak moments: knowing your personal meaning and worth
- once they figure out what they want to do with their life, dedication
3) Deep personal relations
- very few but very close friendships
4) Self-actualization creativity
- creativity in everyday life
- not specialized creativity
ex: single mother, works a good job, provides great life for kids, does yoga every sunday
5) Resistance to enculturation
-ideas are unique
don’t need help from others
Carl Rogers
- psychotherapy based on belief that humans strive towards growth and fulfillment
- need unconditional positive regard for this to happen
-real self vs. ideal self
Unconditional positive regard
- loving/respecting someone no matter what their actions/beliefs are
- requires separating the person from their behaviour
- no conditions of worth
Conditions of worth / conditional positive regard
- loving someone based off a condition
- is a barrier to self actualization
Rogers view: Everyone has 2 ways of seeing themselves
1) Real self
- how someone actually is in real life
2) Ideal self
- how someone wants to be
- perfect version of themselves
THE MORE THAT REAL SELF OVERLAPS/IS CONGRUENT WITH IDEAL SELF, THE HAPPIER WE ARE
Disadvantages of humanistic psychology
- self actualization and positive regard are difficult to test operationally
- no empirical evidence
Positive psychology
- empirical research/scientific evidence
- focusing on the good and the bad
- study of positive emotions and experiences
Social cognitive learning perspective
peoples personality are the product of the environment and different ways of thinking
Bandura’s theory
Reciprocal determinism and self efficacy
Reciprocal determinism
personality = personal factors (thoughts/behaviours that have been rewarded in the past) + environment + behaviour
self efficacy
the belief about one’s ability in performing a behaviour to the desired outcome
high efficacy= put in more effort ex: people doing extra credit
low efficacy= put in no effort, think they’re going to fail
Mitchell’s theory of inconsistency
- personality is not consistent across all situations
- person +situation + behaviour interact
Trait theories
traits = personality -describes but doesn't explain personality ex: Allport Cattell's 16 source traits Big Five model/five factor model
Gordon Allport
initially identified 18,000 words that depicted personality
after corrections, identified 4,000 words that described personality
10 traits can be found in a person
Cattell’s 16 personality factors
-had people rate themselves on traits
-used factor analysis: identifying traits that go together
-discovered 16 source traits
source trait: behavioural opposites
-aspect of personality that you can see
ex: (reserved, outgoing), (dominant, submissive)
Big 5 or five factor model
personality consists of 5 dimensions
1) Openness; trying new experiences
2) Conscientiousness: careful, organized, controlled
3) Extraversion: outgoingness
4) Agreeableness
5) Neuroticism: anxious, worry, tense, high-strung
Big 5 personality dimensions theory
basic tendencies (big 5) + characteristic adaptations -caused by biology
idealized virtual identities
-using social media to display your ideal self
Does online social media reflect people’s actual personalities?
Beck and colleagues used 236 users of people who used social media in Germany and the US
Participants completed self-reports that assessed the Big-Five factors
Researchers found that individuals’ self reports correlated with the independent ratings of their personality as viewed from their profiles
Suggested that people use social media to communicate their real personalities
Researchers examined the relationship between the Big Five factors and the way people played the computer game Sims 2
30 undergrad students volunteered and were administered a personality test that assessed the Big Five before playing Sims 2 for a total of 10 hours over 6 weeks
After the participants completed a questionnaire that asked detailed questions on how they played the game
Results indicated the personality traits of neuroticism, openness to experience, and conscientiousness correlated with specific game playing behaviours
Scored high on neuroticism: more likely to frequently change their Sims’ careers and were more likely to enjoy making their Sims tease or insult other Sims
Scored high on openness: more likely to report that it was important for their Sims to live exciting lives, worked hard at achieving their goals for their Sims
Scored high on conscientiousness: more likely to report that it was important to keep Sims’ house clean, more likely to feel in complete control of their Sims’ lives
How do the personality traits of people from a particular culture compare to their corresponding cultural stereotype?
One study examined perceptions of personalities of people from 49 cultures
compared those ratings to self reports of people within those cultures
self-reports do not match the cultural stereotypes
Canadians were widely believed to be high in agreeableness and low in neuroticism
Canadian self reports revealed that they were no more agreeable and just as neurotic as people from other cultures
National character
shared perceptions of personality characteristics of citizens of a particular country
unfounded stereotypes
Biological theory of personality/ Eysencks Theory
- personality differences are due to differences in CNS structures: genes, hormones, NT’S
- heredity + environment
- personality consists of 3 dimensions
1) Psychoticism ( agreeableness, openness, conscientioussness)
2) Extraversion
3) Neuroticism
cortical arousal
level of brain activation
introverts and extravertts
due to differences in cortical arousal
introverts
- higher cortical arousal
- lower threshold for arousal
- increased sensitivity to stimuli
- withdraw from stimulation
extroverts
- decreased cortical arousal
- higher threshold for arousal
- love stimulation
introversion / inhibition
coping with stimulation, an aroused and sensitive CNS
Neuroticism:
sometimes called emotional stability, excitability, fearfulness, emotional reactivity, fear-avoidance, or emotionality
Agreeableness:
labelled aggression, hostility, understanding, opportunistic, sociability, affection, or fighting-timidity
Dominance-submission:
trait often seen and measured in non-human animals
-does not fit into any Big 5 categories
Study of European bird resembling chickadee
researchers placed a foreign object into the cage, such as a battery or pink panther doll
some birds were consistently curious and explored new object
others withdrew and avoided the object
Differences in birds: bold and shy
Approach-boldness and shyness-avoidance are dimensions of human temperament
Placing a Bowl of Worms in room
Startled the birds by lifting a metal plate nearby
observed the amount of time it took for birds to return to the worms
consistent individual differences
some birds were bold, returned quickly
others were shy, returned slowly
these behavioural differences are consistent over long periods of time and are genetic
Took only 4 generations of breeding to produce bolder or shyer birds
These behaviours are influenced by the same dopamine receptor gene that is involved in thrill seeking and openness to novel experiences in humans
supports claim that human personality is the product of evolutionary forces
inter-rater reliability
measure of how much agreement there is in ratings when using two or more raters to rate personality/behaviours
if it exists, two or more raters accurately rate and agree on their ratings
Behavioural observations
do not depend on people’s view of themselves (self-report measures do)
direct and objective
costly and time consuming
not all personality traits can be observed (anxiety, depression- self report is more reliable)
Self reports can be obtained in 3 ways:
Interviewing
projective tests
personality questionnaires
interviewing
Interviewing
sitting face to face
most natural and comfortable of all personality assessing techniques
more engaging and pleasant than filling out a questionnaire
open ended, participants can say anything they want
verbal response to a question that must be coded reliably and accurately
ease of interviews from participant prospect is offset by the difficulty of scoring responses reliably
projective tests
ambiguous stimulus
- tell a story about what they see
- unconscious desires
2 MOST WIDELY USED PROJECTIVE TESTS
1) Rorschach Inkblot Test
2) Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Rorschach Inkblot Test
series of ambiguous inkblots are presented one at a time, participant is asked to say what they see
responses recorded and coded by psychologist as to how much human and non-human “movement”, colour, shading, and form the participant sees in each card
used to measure unconscious motives
responses help diagnose various psychological disorders: depression, suicidal thoughts, pedophilia, PTSD, or anxiety
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
series of hand-drawn cards depicting simple scenes that are ambiguous
participants task is to make up a story about what he or she thinks is going on in the scene
scored by trained raters
No interpretation based on one TAT story
Personality questionnaires
responses arranged on a Likert scale: attaches numbers to descriptive responses (1= completely disagree, 3= neither agree nor disagree, 5=completely agree)
Questions are based on either the rational or empirical method:
Rational or face valid method
involves using reason or theory to come up with a question
ex: if we wanted to develop a new measure of anxiety, might include an item like “I feel anxious much of the time”
This is a “face valid” item because its clear about what it measures, can be taken at a face value
NEO-PI
Frequently used personality questionnaire that uses face valid method
PROBLEM: questions are transparent, participants might give socially desirable or false answers
Empirical method
disregards theory and face validity
focuses on whether a question distinguishes groups its supposed to distinguish
ex: if the statement “I prefer baths to showers” distinguishes anxious from non-anxious people, it is used in a measure of anxiety
