Chapter 14- Personality Flashcards
personality
people’s typical ways of thinking, feeling and behaving
traits
relatively enduring predisposition that influences our behaviour across many situations
Three Broad influences on personality
- genetic factors
- shared environmental factors
- Non environmental factors
- genetic factors
it does not matter how and by whom we are raised, our personalities have been linked to our biological parents genetic makeup
- shared environmental factors
-experiences that make individuals within the same family more alike.
-if parents try to make both of their children more outgoing by reinforcing them with attention and succeed in doing so, their parenting in this case is shared environmental factors
Non shared environmental factors
-experiences that make individuals within the same family less alike.
-If a parent treats one child more affectionately than another, and as a consequence this child ends up with a higher self esteem than the other child, the parenting in this case is no shared environmental factor
nomothetic approach
scientific approach that seeks out general principles in nature, rather than principles specific to an individual
Idiographic approach
scientific approach that focuses on identifying the unique configuration of characteristics and life history experience within a person
molecular genetic study
investigation that allows researchers to pin point genes associated with specific personality traits
novelty seeking
a trait that refers to the tendency to search out and enjoy new experiences
psychic determinism
the assumption that all psychological events have a cause
Id
reservoir of our most primitive impulses, including sex and aggression
pleasure principle
tendency of the id to strive for immediate gratification
superego
our sense of morality
ego
psyche’s executive and principle decision maker
reality principle
tendency of the ego to postpone gratification until it can find an appropriate outlet
defence mechanisms
unconscious manoeuvres intended to minimize anxiety
repression
motivated forgetting of emotionally threatening memories or impulses
denial
motivated forgetting of distressing external experiences
reaction formation
transformation of an anxiety provoking emotion into its opposite
projection
unconscious attribution of our negative characteristics to others
displacement
directing an impulse from a socially unacceptable target onto a safer and more socially acceptable target
rationalization
providing a reasonable sounding explanation for unreasonable behaviours or for failures
sublimation
transforming a socially unacceptable impulse into an admired goal
erogenous zone
sexually arousing zone of the body
oral stage
psychosexual stage that focuses on the mouth
anal stage
psychosexual stage that focussed on toilet training
phallic stage
psychosexual stage that focuses on the genitals
oedipus complex
conflict during phallic stage in which boys supposedly love their mothers romantically and want to eliminate their fathers as rivals
latency stage
psychosexual stage in which sexual impulses are submerged into the unconscious
genital stage
psychosexual stage in which sexual impulses awaken and typically begin to mature into romantic attraction toward others
neo-freudian theories
theories derived from freud’s model, but that placed less emphasis on sexuality as a driving force in personality and were more optimistic regarding the prospects for long term personality growth
style of life
according to Adler, each persons distinctive way of achieving superiority
inferiority complex
feelings of low self esteem that can lead to overcompensation for such feelings
collective unconscious
according to Jung, our shared storehouse of memories that ancestors have passed down to us across generations
archetypes
cross culturally universal symbols
social learning theorists
theorists who emphasize thinking as a cause of personality
reciprocal determinism
tendency for people to mutually influence each others behaviours
radical behaviourists are determinists
they believe that all of our actions are products of pre existing genetic and environmental casual influences
self actualization
drive to develop our innate potential to the fullest possible extent
our personality consists of three components
- organism
- self
- conditions of worth
- organism
the organism is our innate and substantially genetically influence blueprint.
- self
the self is pit self concept, the set of beliefs about who we are
- conditions of worth
expectations we place on ourselves for appropriate and inappropriate behaviour
peak experiences
transcendent moment of intense excitement and tranquility marked by a profound sense of connection to the world
factor analysis
analyses the correlations among responses on personality inventories and other measures
big five repeatedly
five traits that have surfaced repeatedly in factor analyses of personality measures
lexical approach
approach proposing that the most crucial features of personality are embedded in our language
these five dimensions are
- openness to experiences
- conscientiousness
- extroversion
- agreeableness
- neuroticism
- openness to experiences
sometime just called “openness”, open people tend to be intellectually curious and unconventional
- conscientiousness
conscientious people tend to be carful and responsible
extroversion
extroverted people tend to be social and lively
agreeableness
agreeable people tend to be sociable and easy to get along with
neuroticism
neurotic people tend to be tense and moody
structured personality tests
paper and pencil question consisting of questions that respondents answer in one of a few fixed ways
Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory
widely used structured personality test designed to asses symptoms of mental disorders
empirical method of test construction
approach to building tests in which researchers begin with two or more criterion groups and examine which items best distinguish them
face validity
extent to which respondents can tell what the items are measuring
rational/theoretic method of test construction
approach to building tests that requires tests developers to begin with a clear- cut conceptualization of a trait and then write item to asses that conceptualization
projective test
test consisting of ambiguous stimuli that examinees must interpret or make sense of
projective hypothesis
hypothesis that in the process of interpreting ambiguous stimuli, examinees project aspects of their personality onto the stimuli
Rorschach inkblot test
projective test consisting of ten symmetrical inkblots
Thematic Apperception test
projective test requiring examinees to tell a story in response to ambiguous pictures
graphology
psychological interpretation of handwriting
P.T Barnum effect
tendency of people to accept high base rate descriptions as accurate
