Chapter Fourteen

Question 1

True or False: Personality growth is static.

Answer 1

False, personality growth is continuous.

Question 2

Define Personality.

Answer 2

The distinctive and relatively stable pattern of behaviours, motives, and emotions that characterized an individual throughout life.

Question 3

Define Trait.

Answer 3

A characteristic of an individual, describing a habitual way of behaving, thinking, and feeling.

Question 4

What is the Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory?

Answer 4

(20th Century) That a person’s conflicts, guilts, defences, and ways of dealing with others come from unconscious dynamics that developed in early childhood.
It states that the structure and conflicts in the human mind shape personality.

Question 5

What is Behaviourism?

Answer 5

(20th Century) The idea that personality is an illusion - a convenient fiction to satisfy the ‘self’; there are no internal traits. Consistency was a result of reinforcement over time (reinforcers can change from time to time and event to event).

Question 6

What is Humanistic/Existentialism?

Answer 6

(20th Century) It rejected psychoanalytic and behaviourist theories of human nature, and focused on individual’s strengths and free will.
Personality is the private self - the ‘true self’ behind the many faces that people wear in daily life. They are understood by others to be a genuine expression of who you are.

Question 7

What is the Behavioural-Genetic Revolution?

Answer 7

(20th Century) Research showed that 50% of variation in personality is due to genetic variation; it is no longer though that you are what your parent and environment makes you. The other 50% of variation is due to interactions with peers, parents, culture, and the unconscious. Gene are not more fundamental that environment.

Question 8

What are the Big Five Factors of Personality?

Answer 8

1. Openness/Intellect/Culture
2. Conscientiousness/Dependability
3. Extroversion
4. Agreeableness
5. Neuroticism/Emotional Stability

Question 9

What are Temperaments?

Answer 9

Physiological dispositions to respond to the environment in certain ways; present in infancy and assumed to be innate. They are usually stable over time, and include reactivity, soothability, and positive and negative emotionality.

Question 10

What is Heritability?

Answer 10

A statistical estimations of the proportion of the total variance in some trait that is attributable to genetic differences among individuals within a group. Genetic predisposition is not genetic inevitability.

Question 11

What amount of personality is attributed to heritability?

Answer 11

About 50% of the variation within a given trait is attributed to genetic differences.

Question 12

What are Central Traits?

Answer 12

Aspects of personality that reflect a characteristic way of behaving, dealing with others, and reacting to new situations.

Question 13

What are Secondary Traits?

Answer 13

Changeable aspects of personality.

Question 14

What power do parents have over personality?

Answer 14

The shared environment of the home has little influence on personality (non-shared environment more important).

Question 15

What power do peers have over personality?

Answer 15

Peer acceptance is so important to children and adolescents that being bullied, victimized, or rejected by peers is far more traumatic than punitive treatment by parents.

Question 16

What is Reciprocal Determinism?

Answer 16

The two-way interaction between aspects of the environment and aspects of the individual in the shaping of personality traits.

Question 17

What do cultural influences on personality develop from?

Answer 17

From the shared space; anything from our clothing outward.

Question 18

What is Culture?

Answer 18

A program of shared rules that govern the behaviour of members of a community or society. A set of values, beliefs, and attitudes shared by most members of that community.

Question 19

What is Individualistic Culture?

Answer 19

Cultures in which the self is regarded as autonomous, and individual goals and wishes are prized above duty and relations with others. Colder climates and wealthy cultures tend to be individualistic.

Question 20

What is Collectivistic Culture?

Answer 20

Cultures in which the self is regarded as embedded in relationships, and harmony with one’s group is prized above individual goals and wishes. Poor cultures and warmer climates.

Question 21

What happens when culture isn’t appropriately considered?

Answer 21

People will attribute unusual behaviour to personality.

Question 22

What is the difference between timeliness in monochronic and polychronic cultures?

Answer 22

Monochronic: time is ordered sequentially, schedules and deadlines are values over people
Polychronic: time is ordered horizontally, people are valued over schedules and deadlines.

Question 23

What does Aggressiveness have to do with cultures?

Answer 23

Male aggression results from more cultural factors than biological ones, but the difference between genders is not well understood. Men can be ‘toughed up’ to fight for resources.
Direct aggression is more common than indirect aggression for both genders.

Question 24

What is Altruism and Culture?

Answer 24

Culture has a strong influence on moral behaviour.

Question 25

Freud and Psychoanalysis.

Answer 25

A structure of the personality. Intrapsychic (all is within the mind, and can be accessed). It is almost entirely based in Libido (the psychic energy that fuels the life, or sexual instincts, of the id; essential energy for survival and determines who we are).

Question 26

Freud’s Structure of Personality

Answer 26

Id: operates according to the pleasure principle (primitive and unconscious part of personality)
Ego: operates according to the reality principle (mediated between id and superego)
Superego: moral ideals and conscience.

Question 27

What Defence Mechanisms do humans have?

Answer 27

Repression 
Projection
Displacement (sublimation)
Reaction formation (opposite feelings)
Regression
Denial

Question 28

What is Jung’s Psychodynamic Approach?

Answer 28

Theory - collective unconscious (universal memories, symbols, experiences of the human kind represented in archetypes in art, myths, stories, dreams). Two important archetypes are maleness and femaleness.

Question 29

What is the problem with psychodynamic theories?

Answer 29

They violate the principle of falsifiability, draw universal principles from atypical patients, and base theories on retrospective accounts.

Question 30

Define Cognitive Unconscious

Answer 30

Non-Freudian Unconscious; mental processes that are inaccessible to consciousness but that influence judgements, feelings, or behaviours.

Question 31

What psychologists were involved in the humanistic approach?

Answer 31

Abraham Maslow, Carl Rodgers, and Rollo May.

Question 32

What is Humanist Psychology?

Answer 32

(Maslow) An approach that emphasizes personal growth, resilience, and the achievement of human potential.
There are peak experiences, which are rare moments of rapture caused by the attainment of excellence or the experience of beauty.
Positive psychology.

Question 33

What is the order of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?

Answer 33

Physiological -> safety -> belongingness -> esteem -> self-actualization

Question 34

What did Carl Rogers believe?

Answer 34

Unconditional Positive Regard - a situation in which the acceptance and love one receives from significant others is unqualified.
Conditional Positive Regard - a situation in which the acceptance and love one receives from significant others is contingent upon one’s behaviour.

Question 35

What is the Self-Discrepancy Theory?

Answer 35

The idea that self-esteem is defined by the match between how we see ourselves and how we want to see ourselves. When our self doesn’t equal our ideals, we feel sad. When our self doesn’t equal our ‘oughts’, we feel shame.

Question 36

What did Rollo May believe?

Answer 36

He shared the humanist belief in free will and freedom of choice, but also emphasized loneliness, anxiety, and alienation.
Existentialism - free will confers on us responsibility for our actions.

Question 37

How can you measure personality?

Answer 37

Objective Tests (inventories) [standardized questions requiring written responses; they typically include scales for rating]
Factor analysis is used to examine the underlying characteristics.

Question 38

Are the Big Five Personality Dimensions stable or changing?

Answer 38

Stable over a lifetime.

Question 39

What is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory?

Answer 39

A personality test for clinical and employment settings that measures problem personalities.

Question 40

What are examples of Projective Tests?

Answer 40

Thematic Apperception Test and the Rorshach.