Chapter 8: Personality

Question 1

Traits

Answer 1

stable, enduring dispositions that persist over time

Question 2

Trait perspective

Answer 2

assuming that the organization of traits guides an individual’s behavior

Question 3

Five-factor model or Big five

Answer 3

theory intended to capture all essential characteristics of personality in a set of 5 broad dispositions with 6 subscales or facets each

Question 4

NEO-PI-R

Answer 4

questionnaire used to test the FFM; Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness Personality Inventory-Revised

Question 5

5 traits in FFM

Answer 5

OCEAN (openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism)

Question 6

Correspondence principle

Answer 6

people seek environments and experience life events that are consistent with their personalities, further reinforcing their personalities

Question 7

Type A behavior pattern

Answer 7

a collection of traits that include being highly competitive, impatient, feeling a strong sense of time urgency, highly achievement-oriented, and can be high in hostility

Question 8

Personality risk factors for heart disease

Answer 8

type A and type D personality

Question 9

Type D personality

Answer 9

high levels of anxiety, loneliness, and depression who try to suppress their feelings

Question 10

Socioemotional selectivity theory (SST)

Answer 10

people seek to maximize the positive emotions they experience in their relationships as due to their perception of time running out

Question 11

2 types of rewards from relationships

Answer 11

informational rewards that give you new knowledge and emotional rewards that give you positive feelings

Question 12

Affect regulation

Answer 12

increasing your feelings of happiness and well-being

Question 13

Cognitive perspective

Answer 13

people are driven by the desire to control and predict their experiences

Question 14

3 approaches within cognitive perspective

Answer 14

possible selves theory, coping and control, identity process theory

Question 15

Possible selves theory

Answer 15

the individual’s view of the self or self-schema guides the choice and pursuit of future endeavors; people aim to be their hoped-for possible self, not their dreaded possible self

Question 16

Stress

Answer 16

when you perceive a situation to be more than you can handle

Question 17

Coping

Answer 17

thoughts and actions people take to reduce stress and manage internal/external demands

Question 18

2 main forms of coping

Answer 18

problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping

Question 19

Problem-focused coping

Answer 19

approach; changing something about the situation

Question 20

Emotion-focused coping

Answer 20

avoidance; changing your outlook on the situation

Question 21

Identity process theory

Answer 21

the goal of development is optimal adaptation to the environment by establishing a balance between maintaining consistency of the self (identity assimilation) and changing in response to experiences (identity accomodation)

Question 22

Life story

Answer 22

an individual’s inner personal narrative of past events in his or her life

Question 23

Midlife crisis

Answer 23

a period of self-scrutiny and re-evaluation of goals triggered by an individual’s entry into middle age (30-60)

Question 24

Personality

Answer 24

set of psychological traits and mechanisms that are organized and relatively enduring

Question 25

Distinctiveness

Answer 25

how individuals differ from one another

Question 26

Consistency

Answer 26

idea that people will behave similarly across situations

Question 27

3 broad perspectives on personality

Answer 27

radical contextual perspective, biological essentialist perspective, compromise perspective

Question 28

Radical contextual perspective

Answer 28

personality traits are highly prone to change over time and are highly unstable (can depend on context)

Question 29

Biological essentialist perspective

Answer 29

personality is most likely the product of genetics (50%) rather than environmental influences, highly immutable and stable over time

Question 30

Compromise perspective

Answer 30

personality is moderately stable and can change significantly throughout lifespan

Question 31

Mean-level or normative change

Answer 31

reflects whether a GROUP of people increases or decreases on trait dimensions over time; may be influenced by biological, social, historical processes

Question 32

Changes in OCEAN across lifespan

Answer 32

increases in agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability; inverted U for openness

Question 33

Rank-order consistency or differential stability

Answer 33

quantifies the degree to which individual differences are maintained over time; increases from adolescence to 30-40 then peaks from 60-70