Exam prep Flashcards
What are Individual Differences?
‘Individual Differences’ refers to how people differ
psychologically from one another
How do individuals differ?
Personality
Intelligence and mental abilities
Definition of Personality ?
The consistencies within individuals that lead to the
differences between people
Key components of personality?
Consistency
- across time
- across similar situations
- across different situations
Within individuals: Indicates intrapersonal processes:
- Thoughts
- Feelings
- Motive
What are the 5 approaches to personality?
- Psychodynamic
- Humanistic
- Trait
- Behavioural/Social learning
- Cognitive
- Biological
Who came up with the psychodynamic theory of personality?
Freud
List some aspects of the psychodynamic theory?
- The topographic model (or levels of consciousness).
- The structural model of personality.
- Drive (instinct model)
- Defense mechanisms.
- Psychosexual development.
- Assessment – projective testing.
- The therapeutic process.
What is the Psychodynamic Approach?
The psychodynamic approach includes all the theories in psychology that see human functioning based upon the interaction of drives and forces within the person, particularly unconscious, and between the different structures of the personality.
What is the the topographic model?
Freud’s Iceberg Model for Unconscious. According to Freud, there are three levels of consciousness. Freud believed that the majority of what we experience in our lives, the underlying emotions, beliefs, feelings, and impulses are not available to us at a conscious level. He believed that most of what drives us is buried in our unconscious.
- Conscious - in awareness.
- Preconscious - not in current thoughts but easily brought to
mind. - Unconscious - out of awareness, contains primitive
instincts and anxiety-laden memori
What is the structural model?
Personality is the dynamic interplay between three mental structures:
Id:
-Strives to satisfy drives without consideration - pleasure
principle
-present at birth
Ego:
- Operates on the reality principle. Satisfying id’s desires but without penalty- delayed gratification
- Developes early childhood
Superego:
- Operates according to the morality principle
- moderatore
What is the drive (Instinct) Model ?
Human behavior is motivated by two drives
- The life or sexual drive – eros
- The death or aggressive drive – thanaton
What are defense mechanisms? What are the types of anxietys that create defense mechanisms?
n When ego is unable to mediate id and superego = anxiety (uncomfortable)
Reality anxiety - threats from environment
Moral anxiety - threatened by punishment from the superego
Neurotic anxiety - ego overwhelmed by id’s unacceptable impulses
The ego reduces anxiety though defense mechanisms – but these ‘distort’ reality
What is Repression?
Preventing painful or dangerous thoughts from
entering consciousness
What is Denial?
Protecting oneself from an unpleasant reality by simply
refusing to perceive or acknowledge it
What is sublmination?
Channelling unacceptable impulses into
constructive/socially acceptable activities
What is Rationalization?
: Socially acceptable reasons are substituted for
thoughts or actions based on unacceptable motives
What is Intellectualization?
Ignoring the emotional aspects of a painful experience by focusing on abstract thoughts, words or ideas
What is Projection?
Transferring unacceptable motives or impulses onto others
What is reaction formation?
Refusing to acknowledge unacceptable urges, thoughts or feelings by exaggerating the opposite state
What is regrassion?
Responding to a threatening situation in a way that
is appropriate to an earlier age or level of development