chapter 13 personality Flashcards
personality
a person’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting
Freud’s psychoanalytic theory
proposed that childhood sexuality and unconscious motivations influence personality. Humanistic approach focused on our inner capacities for growth and self fulfillment
free association
in psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing
allows us to retrace line of dominoes and follow the chain of thought leading into unconscious mind where memories could be retrieved and released
Psychoanalysis
freud’s theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts; the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions
Unconscious mind
according to freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. according to contemporary psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware. some thoughts are store temporarily in the preconscious area from which we can retrieve them into conscious awareness
repress
forcibly block from our consciousness because they would be too unsettling to acknowledge - these strong feelings influence us
manifest content
content of a memory
latent content
what the content represents
ID. opinions on sex and cake?
contains a reservoir of unconscious energy that strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives. it operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification
ego. opinons on sex and cake?
the largely conscious “executive” part of personality that, according to Freud, meditates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality, the ego operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id’s desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain
SUPEREGO. opinion on sex and cake?
the part of personality that, according to freud represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgement (conscience) and for future aspirations
psychosexual stages
stages children pass through during which the id’s pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct pleasure sensitive areas called erogenous zones
oedipus complex / electra
during phallic stage boys seek genital stimulation ( jealous of father and desire for mother) boy experiences guilt and fear of punishment from father
identification process
process which children incorporate their parents’ values into their developing superegos
children’s superegos gain strength as they incorporate many of their parents’ values
gender identity
children identify with same sex parent to get our sense of being male or female
fixation
lingering focus on pleasure seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage in which conflicts were unresolved. seeks gratification by smoking, excessive eating
defense mechanisms
ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality (7)
repression
banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness\
it underlies all other defense mechanisms
its incomplete and seeps our of dreams and tongue
regression
when faced with anxiety the person retreats to a infantile psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated
thumb sucking, homesickness
reaction formation
psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites. thus people may express feelings that are the opposite of their anxiety arousing unconscious feelings
unacceptable impulses turn opposite
i hate you become i love you
projection
people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others
he doesn’t trust me becomes i don’t trust myself / him
rationalization
offers self justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening unconscious reasons for ones actions
alcoholics say they drink just to be social
people that don’t study say that working makes you dull
displacement
shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person as when redirecting anger toward a safer outlet
children who fear parents will kick their dog
students who are mad at test yell at their roommate
denial
people refuse to believe or perceive painful realities
reject fact or seriousness
dying patients deny gravity of sickness
spouses deny proof of partner’s affair
projective tests
personality test such as Rorschach or TAT that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics
psychological xray
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
projective test where people express inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes
storytelling assesses motivation
Rorschach inkblot test
most widely used projective test
10 inkblots that identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations
not very reliable
the unconscious involves
schemas that control perceptions and interpretations
priming by stimuli
split brain theory
parallel processing of different aspects of vision
implicit memories
emotions that activate before analysis
self concept and stereotypes that influence our opinions
false consensus effect
tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors
people who cheat think everyone else cheats
terror management theory
theory of death related anxiety explores people’s emotional and behavioral responses to reminders of their impending death
humanistic psychologists
focus on ways healthy people strive for self determination and realization
think that secure nondefensive self acceptance is the first step to loving others
people think humanistic psychology is naive because it leaves out our capacity for evil
Maslow - self actualization
ultimate psychological needs that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self esteem is achieved, the motivation to fulfill one’s potential. maslow studied
healthy, creative people, secure
Rogers - unconditional positive regard
attitude of total acceptance toward another person
we are accepting and empathic
self concept
all of our thoughts and feelings about ourselves in answering “who am i”
if we fall short of our ideals we are unhappy
assessed by questionnaire, what people want and what people are
traits
characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act as assessed by self report inventories and peer reports
people’s characteristic behaviors and conscious motives
factor analysis
statistical procedure that identifies clusters of test items that tap basic components of intelligence
brain imaging procedure show
intelligence, impulsivity, cravings, lying, sexual attraction
extraverts seek stimulation because their normal brain arousal is
low
autonomic nervous system reactivity
we respond to stress with greater anxiety and inhibition
fearless child becomes fast driving adventurous adult
personality inventories
questionnaire true/false, agree/disagree, which people respond to items designed to gauge a range of feelings and behaviors; used to assess selected personality traits
longer and cover wide range of feelings and behaviors assess several traits at once
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory MMPI
most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests
developed to identify emotional disorders, now used for many screening purposes
asses more “abnormal” personality tendencies
empirically derived test
like MMPI
developed by testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups
“nothing in the newspaper interests me except comics” - true …etc…
table 13.2!!! Conscientiousness Agreeableness Neuroticism (emotional stability vs. instability) Openess Extraversion
traits are
the traits are stable
with age people mature and become more agreeable
traits are about 50% hereditary
the big 5 predict other personal attributes
Personality stability
with age, personality traits become more stable
careers, relationships, interests change but people recognize their traits
stable but not always constant
