Exam 1 Flashcards
Personality
organization of enduring behavior patterns that distinguish us from one another
- emphasis on distinctiveness and uniqueness
- assumed to be consistent and predictable
What does the word personality come from
the word “Persona” which means mask.
- implies personality is a cover, what we show to others
Who thought personality came from biological factors such as blood
hippocrates
Why a need for personality theories?
- Self-understanding
- Understand others
- Human intrigue
- Prediction
- Help people
- self-understanding
can be useful for career choice, change your behavior
- Prediction
predict how ppl will act/behave, when your basic needs aren’t met, you may do things you otherwise never would
Personality theories
- developmental
- learning
- perception
- abnormal
- social
Issues addressed by good personality theories
- personality structure
- what motivates human behavior
- how does personality develop
- what determines personality disturbance
- how can personality change
- what are characteristics of a healthy personality
personality structure
how stable is the personality, stable character, simple v. complex
what motivates human behavior
“I hung out with a friend because I felt bad for ghosting him”
- internal v. external motivation
How does personality develop
stages, continuous, milestones
nature v. nurture
stages
psychosexual -> need to achieve 1 stage before you move to the next
continuous
occurs gradually
ex. memory, “adulting”
milestones
dont need to master one stone before moving to the next, don’t need to be in order
Nature v. nurture
- “reaction range”
- environment determines where you fall, heredity sets all standards/perameters (ex. height)
what determines personality disturbance
childhood conflict, society, punishment v. reward
anger can be a learned behavior
how can personality change
insight v. unlearn behavior
Personality Stability and Change
- personality psych addresses change (development) and stability (ppl change over time and stay the same)
Causes of Personality Stability
- temperament
- environment
- early experiences (that affect personality)
- P x E (person/environment interactions)
- temperament
has to do with positive/negative feelings
ex. peaceful babies = peaceful adults
- environment
out of our control
ex. economic status grown up in, urban v. rural
- early experiences
many emergefrom situations with strong personalities
ex. parents divorcing, bullied
- PxE (person/environment interactions)
situations you seek out v. avoid
ex. why are you drawn to your major
Personality Change
- Maturity Principle
- Social Investment Change
- Personality change is possible
maturity principle
personality changes in response to responsibilities
social investment change
the roles you take on
personality change is possible
ex. you can work on responsibility by not waiting until last minute to do assignment
Continuity of Aging
personality now is what it was, but even stronger
- become what we already are
Personality Assessment
objective tests
projective tests
objective tests
multiple choice, true/false (forced choice)
projective tests
hidden drives, dreams, fears, thoughts
- unconscious proccess, ambiguous stimulus
Basic Assumptions of Human Nature
- freedom v. determinism
2. rationality v. irrationality
freedom v. determinism
- who is in charge of our behavior? are we controlled by something else?
- ex. gambling, addiction
rationality v. irrationality
extent taht rational thought influences behavior
ex. wearing mask bc science or bc fear
Freud’s creation of dynamic psychology
went to paris, witnessed charcot hypnotize women with hysteria
- called it “catharsis”
Personality fueled by “Psychic Energy”
catharsis
relief of symptoms through expression of emotions
- most are unconscious (release unconscious emotions through conscious activities)
Personality fueled by “Psychic Energy”
instinct -> arousal -> tension
instinct
fuel psychic energy, causes physical arousal, leads to tension, causes psychic energy
- obey instincts and release tension
- implies personality is biologically based
Levels of consciousness
- conscious
- preconscious
- unconscious
conscious
present awareness
preconscious
available memory
ex. what you did last weekend
unconscious
thoughts, feelings, wishes, memories we’re unaware of
Personality Structures
- are hypothetical
- fueled by instincts and psychic energy
1. ID
2. Ego
3. Superego
ID
- inborn, houses instincts, creates tension, raw, primitive
- opperates according to “pleasure principle”
- “it” in latin (objectifies)
pleasure principle
find pleasure, avoid pain
pleasure = decreased tension
2 ID processes
- reflex action
2. wish fulfilment
reflex action
reflex we have to relieve tension
wish fulfilment
when we can’t fulfil needs, we daydream about it
Ego
- gratify ID desires in conjunction w/ reality (takes reality into consideration
- “reality principle”
- “secondary process”
reality principle
postpones ID desires until appropriate time and place
- ex. party v. study
secondary process
problem solving, thinking, battle btn ID and Ego
Superego
morals and conscience (guilty)
- comes from our parents, child integrates parents’ standards of right/wrong
- starts by wanting to avoid punishment and then develops
- battle between ID and SE even stronger
2 subsystems of superego
- ego-ideal
2. conscience
ego-ideal
concepts of moral goodness, instilled thru rewards
ex. rewarded for helping teacher
conscience (superego subsystem)
concepts of moral wrong/bad, instilled thru punishment
what do we want ego to do
moderate between id and superego
large id, small ego and small se
person is reckless
large se, small ego and small id
person constantly appologetic, always feels guilty
large ego, small se and small id
person is realistic and dry, doesn’t enjoy life
what are the instincts
- death instincts
2. life instincts
death instincts
unconscious instinct, expressed consciously through things we do (any kind of risky behavior) ex. aggression
- thanatos (death wish), desire to return to earth/organic matter
- motivated to avoid pain -> death is ultimate pain reliever
Life instincts
libido
libido
energy used by life instincts
- libidmal energy invested in an object that will satisfy a need (cathexis)
|_ anticathexis
anticathexis
formed by ego and se to restarain cathexis
ex. dad hits kid, kid fantasizes hitting dad back (cathexis). anticathexis prevents him from hitting dad back
- original cathexis “displaced” onto safer object (kid hits toys instead of dad, feels anger but also anxiety)
Anxiety
- sign of a threat, our personality is being threatened to some extent (“anxiety thermostat”)
- feeling of anxiety is conscious, yet cause is often unconscious
Primary Anxiety
child’s inability to master internal and external excitations
- baby goes from womb to having to use functions in new environment
3 types of anxiety
- reality
- moral anxiety
- neurotic anxiety
reality anxiety
source in external world
ex. pop quiz
moral anxiety
superego; guilt/shame
- when we’ve done something wrong or think of doing something wrong
neurotic anxiety
- don’t know why we feel anxious
- fear Ego and SE will lose control of ID
dont know why we feel anxious
according to freud, id wants to do something but ego and se hold it back
how is neurotic anxiety manifested
- phobia
- free-floating anxiety
- panic
phobia
manifestation of death instinct
- we unconsciously want what the phobia represents
- ego and se develop phobia to prevent death instinct (anticathexis)
panic
if ego and se fail, id bursts forth
how do we deal with anxiety
defense mechanisms
defense mechanisms
- problem solving strategies to defend against open ID
how do defense mechanisms work
- blocking impulse
- distorting impulse
- ex. disliking someone but killing them with kindness
types of defense mechanisms
- repression
- projection
- sublimation
- reaction formation
- displacement
- rationalization
- regression
repression
- obstruct expression of unconscious instinct
ex. repressed memory activation - what happens to repressed material?
what happens to repressed material?
- exist unchanged
- force its way thru anticathexis of ego and se
- expressed thru displacement
- repression may lift
projection
unacceptable impulses attributed to others
- taking quality u have and project onto other ppl
- unconscious way of expressing anger over our own qualities by projecting onto others
sublimation
unacceptable impulses channeled in a form that is socially acceptable
reaction formation
repress an unacceptable impulse and express its opposite
displacement
unwanted thought/feeling is redirected onto a safer substitute
rationalization
give a rational but incorrect excuse for behavior/thoughts that cause anxiety
regression
retreat from anxious conflict to an earlier developmental stage
- do something that made u feel comfort at an earlier state (ex. moving back with parents after graduating)
criticisms of freuds theory
- reliance upon case studies
- concepts were vaguely defined
- didn’t distinguish b/n observation and inference
- lack of testability
- difficulty w/ use of symbols
- influence and zeitgeist
- pessimistic
- “post-dictive”
