Definitions of key words and concepts Flashcards
Individual Differences
AKA - Differential psychology
Comparison of people’s thoughts, feelings, wants, needs and behaviours.
Asks the question - how and why to we differ?
Social Psychology
Looks at human social behaviour and asks - why do people behave in such a way? What is the nature of human behaviour and what caused it to be so?
Studies the ways in which people interact with and perceive others in social situations.
The main themes are:
1. How does one individual impact another?
2. How does the group impact it’s members?
3. How do the individual members impact the wider group?
4. How does one group impact another?
5. How does the social context impact both the group and the individual?
Four domains of executive functioning
Affect
Behaviour
Cognition
Desire
Affect
Feelings, emotions and moods
Behaviour
Motor actions and physiological processes
Cognition
Thoughts and beliefs
Desire
Motivation, drives and goals
Experimental social psychology
Individuo-centred and Psychological
Studies how social stimuli impacts the individual
Critical social psychology
Socio-centred and sociological
Studies the relationships between individuals and the groups they are part of
Biopscyhosocial model
Ecological perspectives
Individual: Self
Micro: Immediate environment
Macro: Culture and society
Systems theory
Theories which involve examining concepts using the integration of multiple parts.
Nomothetic
Looking for similarities in people - based on the assumption that there is a finite set of variables that can be used to describe personality.
- Interested in breadth
- Using deductive research (top down)
- Objective
- Looking for causal explanations
- Uses statistics
- Interested in general laws
Idiographic
Looking for differences in people.
- Interested in depth
- Using inductive research (bottom up)
- Subjective
- Looking for interpretive concepts
- Studies individuals
- Interested in uniqueness
Self
Who am I?
What does it mean to be a person?
A selection of organised thoughts we have about ourselves
Personality
Definitions are difficult.
AKA character or temperament.
Generally: the characteristics or qualities which are individual to a person.
Measured through observing behaviour.
Distinct from MOOD as it is thought to be made up of your stable characteristics.
Mood
Fluid.
Distinct from personality.
Trait-based intelligence theories
The idea that personality is made up of a selection of identifiable dimensions, or traits, which are stable across time and situations.
The theory is descriptive rather than explanatory - i.e. looking at what people’s personality is, rather than why it is that way.
Psychoanalytic intelligence theories
Consciousness
Key feature of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality.
Freud used hypnotherapy on his patients to try and unlock the unconscious and access their forgotten behaviours.
Social categorisation
A method we use to slot people we come across into categories and understand them.
There are four stages.
1. Characteristics: we notice someone and observe their characteristics in order to learn about them.
2. Description: we use these social cues to describe what kind of person we think they are.
3. Meaning: these descriptions mean something to us.
4. Consequence: we decide from this meaning whether we are safe in interacting with this person, among other things.
It is a survival mechanism and a time-saving strategy.
We are able to also locate ourselves among others, this is called self-differentiation.
When categorising ourselves we use our personal traits and our social ones.
Social identity
Our identity in relation to membership in a group.
Identified using intergroup comparison.
We ask - how am I the same as others?
We abandon some of our uniqueness and become a member of a group.
Personal identity
Our identity in relation to our personal traits and characteristics.
Identified using intragroup comparison.
We ask - how am I unique?
We experience ourselves as individuals.
Intelligence
Difficult to define. Options: - Cognition - Common sense Is it part of personality? Main area of disagreement - does it involve your ability, your skills or your knowledge.
Ability
A general capacity for learning and problem solving.
Can’t be taught - basic cognitive abilities.
Examined quantitatively (IQ testing for example).
Cross-situational - it doesn’t change across different situations.
Knowledge
Specific acquired and retained information.
Can be trained or taught - acquired intellect.
Examined qualitatively.
Domain specific - it does change across different situations.
Skills
Specific acquired and retained information.
Can be trained or taught - acquired intellect.
Examined qualitatively.
Domain specific - it does change across different situations.
Comprehension
Processing
Manipulation