Exam 4 Psychology Flashcards
Personality Definition
Personality refers to the long-standing traits and patterns that propel individuals to consistently think, feel, and behave in specific ways
Where does the word “personality” come from?
The word personality comes from the Latin word persona. In the ancient world, a persona was a mask worn by an actor.
How long has the concept of personality been studied?
The concept of personality has been studied for at least 2,000 years, beginning with Hippocrates in 370 BCE
Hippocrates theorized that personality/behaviors are based on what four temperaments associated with the four fluids of the body?
- choleric temperament (yellow bile from the liver)
- melancholic temperament (black bile from the kidneys),
- sanguine temperament (red blood from the heart),
- phlegmatic temperament (white phlegm from the lungs)
What Greek physician built on Hippocrates theory centuries later?
Galen
What was Galen’s theory?
That both diseases and personality differences could be explained by imbalances in the humors and that each person exhibits one of the four temperaments.
(Ex: choleric person is passionate, ambitious, and bold)
In 1780, What German physician proposed that distances between bumps on the skull reveal a person’s personality traits, character, and mental abilities?
Franz Gall
Who else contributed to Galen’s development of the four primary temperaments?
- Immanuel Kant (in the 18th century)
- Wilhelm Wundt (in the 19th century)
What did Wundt separate his description of personalities into?
- Vertical axis: strong from weak
(the melancholic and choleric temperaments from the phlegmatic and sanguine). - Horizontal axis: changeable temperaments
(choleric and sanguine) from the unchangeable ones (melancholic and phlegmatic)
- The most controversial and misunderstood psychological theorist
- first to systematically study and theorize the workings of the unconscious mind (what we now associate with modern psychology)
Sigmund Freud (1865 - 1939)
What was Sigmund Freud’s psychodynamic perspective of personality?
He believed the unconscious drives influenced by sex and aggression, along with childhood sexuality, are the forces that influence our personality.
What are the three interacting systems within our minds?
Id, ego, and superego
What is the id?
- It contains our most primitive drives or urges
- Present from birth
- Directs impulses for hunger, thirst, and sex
What is the superego?
- Develops when a child interacts with others learning social rules for right and wrong
- Strives for perfection and judges our behavior
What is the ego?
- The rational part of our personality
- It helps the id satisfy its desires in a realistic way
Defense Mechanism
An unconcious protective behavior s that aim to reduce anxiety
What are the 8 defense mechanisms?
- Denial
- Displacement
- Projection
- Rationalization
- Reaction Formation
- Regression
- Repression
- Sublimation
Denial
Refusing to accept real events because they are unpleasant
Ex: Kailia refuses to admit she has an alcohol problem although she is unable to go a single day without excessively drinking
Displacement
Transferring inappropriate urges/behaviors onto a more acceptable or less threatening target
Ex: During lunch at a restaurant, Mark is angry at his older problem but doesn’t express it and becomes verbally abusive to the server
Projection
Attributing unacceptable desires to other
Ex: Chris often cheats on her boyfriend because she suspects he is already cheating on her
Rationalization
Justifying behaviors by substituting acceptable reasons for less-acceptable real reasons
Ex: Kim failed his history course because he did not study/attend class, but he told his roommates that he failed because the teacher didn’t like him
Reaction Formation
Reducing anxiety by adopting beliefs contrary to your own beliefs
Ex: Nadia is angry with her coworker Beth for always arriving late to work after a night of partying, but she is nice and agreeable to Beth and affirms the partying as “cool”
Regression
Returning to coping strategies for less mature stages of development
Ex: After failing to pass his doctoral examination, Giorgio spends days in bed cuddling his favorite childhood toy.
Repression
Suppressing painful memories and thoughts
Ex: LaShea cannot remember her grandfather’s fatal heart attack, although she was present
Sublimation
Redirecting unacceptable desires through socially acceptable channels
Ex: Jerome’s desire for revenge on the drunk driver who killed his son is channeled into a community support group for people who’ve lost loved ones to drunk driving
Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development
- Stage: Oral, Ages: 0-1
Erogenous Zone: Mouth
Conflict: Weaning off breast or bottle
Adult fixation: Smoking, overeating - Stage: Anal, Ages: 1-3
Erogenous Zone: Anus
Conflict: Toilet Training
Adult fixation: Neatness, messiness - Stage: Phallic, Ages: 3-6
Erogenous Zone: Genitals
Conflict: Oedipus/Electra complex
Adult fixation: Vanity, overambition - Stage: Latency, Ages: 6-12
Erogenous Zone: None
Conflict: None
Adult fixation: None - Stage: Genital, Ages: 12+
Erogenous Zone: Genitals
Conflict: None
Adult fixation: None
Who founded individual psychology (focuses on our drive to compensate for feelings of inferiority) ?
Alfred Adler (1937-1956)
Inferiortiy Complex
A person’s feelings that they lack wrth and don’t measure up to the standards of others or of society
What 3 fundamental social tasks did Adler say we must all experience?
- Occupational tasks (careers)
- Societal tasks (friendship)
- Love tasks (finding an intimate partner for a long-term relationship)
Who proposed the theory that an individual’s personality develops throughout the lifespan?
Erik Erikson
Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages of Development
Stage 1- Ages: 0-1
- Development task: Trust vs mistrust
- Description: Trust (or mistrust) that basic needs, such as nourishment and affection, will be met
Stage 2 - Ages: 1-3
- Development task: Autonomy vs shame/doubt
- Description: Sense of independence in many tasks develops
Stage 3 - Ages: 3-6
- Development task: Initiative vs guilt
- Description: Take initiative on some activities, may develop guilt when success not met or boundaries overstepped
Stage 4 - Ages: 7-11
- Development task: Industry vs inferiority
- Description: Develop self-confidence in abilities when competent or sense of inferiority when not
Stage 5 - Ages: 12-18
- Development task: Identity vs confusion
- Description: Experiment with and develop identity and roles
Stage 6 - Ages: 19-29
- Development task: Intimacy vs isolation
- Description: Establish intimacy and relationships with others
Stage 7 - Ages: 30-64
- Development task: Generativity vs stagnation
- Description: Contribute to society and be part of a family
Stage 8 - Ages: 65+
- Development task: integrity vs despair
- Description: Assess and make sense of life and meaning of contributions
Who developed the theory of analytical psychology (Focuses on balancing opposing forces on conscious and unconscious thought, and experience within one’s personality) ?
Carl Jung
Collective unconcious
The universal version of the personal unconscious, holding mental patterns, or memory traces, which are common to us all.
Archetypes
Ancestral memories that are represented by universal themes in various cultures expressed through literature, art and dreams
Jung two attidues toward life
Extroversion and Introversion
Introvert
- Energized by being alone
- Avoids attention
- Speaks slowly and softly
- Thinks before speaking
- Stays on one topic
- Prefers written communication
- Pays attention easily
Cautious
Extrovert:
- Energized by being with others
- Seeks attention
- Speeks quickly and loudly
- Thinks out loud
- Jumps from topic to topic
- Prefers verbal communication
- Distractible
- Acts first, thinks later
Who’s theories focuses on the role of unconscious anxiety?
Karen Horney
Horney’s Coping Styles
Moving toward people
- Affiliation and dependence
Ex: Child seeking positive attention/affection from parent; adult needing love
Moving against people
- Aggression and manipulation
Ex: Child fighting/bullying other children; adult who is abrasive and verbally hurtful, or who exploits others
Moving away from people
- Detachment and isolation
Ex: Child withdrawn from the world and isolated; adult loner
Who created the social cognitive theory (emphasizes both learning and cognition as sources of individual difference in personality) ?
Albert Bandura
What concept did Bandura propose that stated that cognitive process, behavior, and context all interact, each factor influencing and being influenced by other simultaneously?
Reciprocal determinism
Self efficacy
Our level of confidence in our own abilities, developed through our social experiences
Who created the concept of locus of control (Our beliefs about the power we have over our lives) ?
Julian Rotter
Situationism
The view that our behavior and ations are determined by our immediate enviroment and surroundings
Who created the “Marshmallow study” and believed an individual’s behavior is influenced by two things- the specific attributes of a given situation and the manner in which he perceives the situation?
Walter Mischel
What is the Marshmallow Study?
The study on self-regulation (aka will power) - ability to delay gratification
- He placed children in a room with one marshmallow on the table. He told them they could either eat it now, or wait until the researcher returned to recieve another one.
Who studied healthy, creative, production people (Eleanor Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln) and found they were all open, creative, loving, spontaneous, compassionate, concerned for others, and accepted themselves?
Abraham Maslow
Who linked personatlity to self-concept, divided the self into ideal self and real self, and believed we needed to find congruence between the ideal self and the real self?
Carl Rogers
Ideal self
The person you would like to be
Real self
The person you actually are
High congruence
Greater sense of self-worth and a healthy productive life
Incongruence
Maladjustment
Heritability
Refers to the proportion of difference among people that is attributed to genetics
Minnesota study of Twins Reared apart:
- Identical twins raised together or apart have similar personalities
Temperament
- Appears early in life (suggesting a biological basis)
- Babies can be categorized into one of three temperaments - Easy, difficult, or slow to warm up
- Two dimensions of temperament important to adult personality:
Reactivity and Self-regulating
Who believed body types could be linked to personality?
William H. Sheldon
What are the 3 somatotypes Sheldon proposed?
- Endomorphs
relaxed, comfortable, good-humored, even-tempered, sociable, and tolerant - Mesomorphs
adventurous, assertive, competitive, and fearless - Ectomorphs
Anxious, self-conscious, artistic, thoughtful, quiet, and private
Who found 4,500 words in the English language to describe people and organized them into three categories?
Gordon Allport
What 3 categories did Allport organized the 4,500 words into?
- Cardinal traits
Dominates entire personality (rare) - Central traits
make up our personality - Secondary traits - less obvious/consistent, present under certain circumstances (Ex: preferences, attitudes)
Who narrowed Allport’s list to about 171 traits ad identified 16 dimensions of personality (Instead of being present/absent, people are scored on a continuum) ?
Raymond Cattell
Who focused on temperament and believed our personality traits are influenced by our genetic inheritance?
Hans and Sybil Eysenck
What 2 personality dimensions did Hans and Sybil create?
- Extroversion/Introversion
- High in extroversion: sociable , outgoing
- High in introversion: high need to be alone, engage in solitary behaviors - Neuroticism/Stability
- High in neuroticism: anxious, overactive, sympathetic nervous system
- High in stability - more emotionally stable
Five Factor Model (Ocean Test)
- Openness
(Imagination, feelings, actions, ideas)
- Low score: Practical, conventional, prefers routine
- High score: curious, wide range of interests, independent - Conscientiousness (competence, self-discipline, thoughtfulness, goal driven)
- Low score: impulsive, careless, disorganized
- High score: hardworking, dependable, organized - Extroversion
(sociability, assertiveness, emotional expression)
- Low score: quiet, reserved, withdrawn
- High score: outgoing, warm, seeks adventure - Agreeableness
(cooperative, trustworthy, good natured)
- Low score: critical, uncooperative, suspicious
- High score: helpful, trusting, empathetic - Neuroticism
(tendency toward unstable emotions)
- Low score: calm, even tempered, secure
- High score: Anxious, unhappy, prone to negative emotions
The HEXACO Traits
(H) Honesty-humility
Sincerity, modesty, faithfulness
(E) Emotionality
Sentimentality, anxiety, sensitivity,
(X) Extroversion
Sociability, talkativeness, boldness
(A) Agreeableness
Patience, tolerance, gentleness
(C) Conscientiousness
Organization, thoroughness, precision
(O) Openness
Creativity, inquisitiveness, innovations
Culture
Beliefs, customs, art, and traditions of a particular society
Asian cultures
More collectivist, tend to be less extroverted
Central/South American cultures
Tend to score higher on openness to experience
Europeans
Tend to score higher on neuroticism
Selective Migration
People choose to move to places that are compatible with their personalities and needs
Individualist cultures
- Value independence, competition, and personal achievement
- Mainly Wester nations such as the U.S, England, Australia
People display more personally oriented personality traits
Collectivist Cultures
- Value social harmony, respectfulness, and group needs over individual needs
- Asia, Africa, and South America
- People display more socially oriented personality traits
Examples of self report inventories
- Self- Report inventories
- Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
- Likert Scales
4.
Examples of Projective tests
- Rorschach Inkblot Test
- Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
- Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank (RISB)
Social Psychology
Deals with all kinds of interactions between people, spanning a wide range of how we connect
Intrapersonal topics
Emotions and attitudes, the self, and social cognition
Interpersonal topics
Helping behavior, aggression, prejudice and discrimination, attraction and close relationship, and group processes and intergroup relationships
Situationism
The view that our behavior and actions are determined by our immediate environment and surroundings
Dispositionism
The view that our behavior is determined by internal factors (attributes of a person such as personality traits and temperament).
Fundamental attribution error
Tendency to overemphasize internal factors as explanations/attributions for the behavior is due to situational variables
Fundamental Attribution Error
the tendency people have to overemphasize personal characteristics and ignore situational factors in judging others’ behavior
Ex: People from collectivistic cultures such as Asian cultures, are more likely to emphasize relationships with others than to focus primarily on the individual
Actor-observer bias
Phenomenon of explaining other people’s behaviors are due to internal factors and our own behaviors are due to situational forces
Self-serving bias
Tendency of an individual to take credit by making dispositional or internal attributions for positive outcomes but situational or external attributions for negative outcomes
Protects self-esteeem - allows people to feel good about their accomplishments
Attribution
A belief about the cause of a result
One model of attribution proposes 3 dimensions:
- Locus of control
(Internal vs external) - Stability
(Extent to which the circumstances are changeable) - Controllability
(Extent to which the circumstances can be controlled)
Just-world hyopthesis
Believe that people get the outcomes they deserve
- People who hold these beliefs tend to blame the people in poverty for their circumstances, ignoring situational and cultural causes of poverty
Social norm
A group’s expectation of what is appropriate and acceptable behavior for its members
Social Role
A pattern of behavior that is expected of a person in a given setting or group
Ex: Student
Script
A person’s knowledge about the sequence of events expected in a specific setting
Philip Zimbardo created the Standford Prison Experiement (1971) that:
- Demonstrated the power of social roles, norms, and scripts
- A mock prision was constructed and participants (male college students) were assigned to play the roles of prisoners and guards
- In a short amount of time, the guards started to harass he prisoner in an increasingly sadistic manner
- Prisoners began to show signs of severe anxiety and hopelessness
Attitude
Our evaluation of a person, and idea, or an object
3 components of attitude:
- Affective component - feelings
- Behavioral component - the effect of the attitude on behavior
- Cognitive component - belief and knowledge
Who created the theory of cognitive dissonance (psychological discomfort arising from holding two or more inconsistent attitudes, behaviors, or cognitions) ?
Leon Festinger
To reduce cognitive dissonance
- Change their behavior (quitting smoking)
- Change their belief through rationalization or denial (suchs as discounting the evidence that smoking is harmful)
- Add a new cognition (“Smoking suppresses appetite so I don’t become overweight, which is good for my health”)
Aronson and Mills Experiment (1959)
College students volunteered to join a group that would regularly discuss the psychology of sex
- 3 conditions: no initiation, easy initiation, difficult initiation
- Students in the difficult initiation condition like the group more than students in other conditions due to the justification of effort
Persuasion
Process of changing our attitudes toward something based on some kind of communcation
Elaboration Likelihood Model
Petty & Cacioppo (1986)
Central Route:
- logic driven
- uses date and facts
- direct route to persuasion focusing on the quality of information
- works best when audience is analytical and willing to engage in processing of the information
Peripheral Route:
- indirect route
- uses peripheral cues to associate positivity with the message
- Use characteristics such as positive emotion or celebrity endorsement
- Results in less permanent attitude change
Foot-in-the-door-technique
Persuader gets a person to agree to a small favor, only to later request a large favor
Conformity
The change in a person’s behavior to go along with the group, even if does not agree with the group
Asch’s Experiment
Used line segments to illustrate the judgment task
Asch Effect
The influence of the group majority on an individuals judement