Final Flashcards
What was Theophrastus’ way to characterize people?
wrote about different characters to try and describe individual differences (personality)
What is personality?
distinctive and relatively enduring ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that characterize a person’s response to situations
made up of a collection of traits
What is the purpose and drawbacks of an interview?
interviews
- structured set of standardized questions
- note other behaviours (appearance, speech)
drawbacks
- characteristics of interview affects answer
- honesty of interviewee
What are personality scales?
objective measures, use standard questions and agreed upon scoring key
advantage - collect large amounts of data
disadvantage - validity of answers and scales
Where do traits come from?
- from within
- may be genetic/environmental influences
What is the difference between a trait and a state?
trait - underlying
state - the way you are at any given time
Are traits stable?
dependant on the situation
What are the 5 big personality traits in the five factor model?
extroversion/introversion, agreeableness/disagreeableness, conscientiousness/irresponsibility, neuroticism/stability, openness to experience/unimaginativeness
What is neurosis?
abnormal behaviour pattern caused by unresolved conflict between id, ego, and superego
What are some general aspects of Freud’s theory that remains relevant today? (psychoanalytic)
- our relationships with our parents can influence how we form intimate emotional relationships in adulthood
- spurred first inquiries into functioning of conscious and unconscious aspects of the mind
What did Alfred Adler believe? (psychoanalytic)
social needs and conscious thoughts are more important to human behaviour than sexuality needs or other unconscious motivations
feelings of inferiority motivate behaviour, people make special efforts to compensate for or mask painful feelings
What did Carl Jung believe? (psychoanalytic)
unconscious has 2 parts
- personal - formed from experience
- collective - storehouse of inherited memories shared by all human kind (archetypes)
each of us seeks to integrate the mind’s various conscious/unconscious elements into a coherent whole, the self
What did Karen Horney believe? (psychoanalytic)
basic anxiety which develops in children sets the stage for later neuroses
cultural differences play a more important role in development than traditional psychoanalytic theory
What did Abraham Maslow believe? (humanistic)
see other theorist’s models as deficit based
in each of us is an urge to grow and fulfill our potential, personality arises from people striving to meet their needs
more can be learned from individuals who were healthy rather than experiencing psychological issues
peak experiences - moments in which people experience intense clarity of perception, feelings of joy and excitement, and a suspended sense of time and reality
What is self-actualization?
the need of humans to fulfill their full and special potential; the highest level of need in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
What is positive psychology?
an area of psychology focusing on positive experiences and healthy mental functioning
What did Carl Rogers believe? (humanistic)
personality around a concept of the self rather than around a hierarchy of needs
as children we need unconditional positive regard from parents to avoid forming conditions of worth
client centred therapy - worked with clients to create atmosphere of openness, honesty, and absence of judgement
What is unconditional positive regard?
acceptance without terms or conditions
Why do many critics fault the humanistic theories?
overly positive focus, ignore role of psychological dysfunction in society
What are personality traits?
tendencies to behave in certain ways that remain relatively consistent across situations
describe our dispositions, dispositions lead to our behaviours
What is functional attribution error?
likelihood to explain our own behaviour in situational terms and other’s behaviour in terms of personality traits
What are 3 assumptions trait theorists make?
- people have innate tendencies to respond to situations in certain ways (traits)
- these tendencies can be linked together to form broad habits (central traits)
- such principles can be used to form the foundation of a scientifically testable theory
Describe Hans Eysenck and Factor Analysis.
factor analysis - statistical method for analyzing correlations among variables
3 basic superfactors
- extroversion - the degree to which a person is outgoing and enjoys interacting with others (introvert vs extrovert)
- neuroticism - the degree to which a person tends to experience negative emotions
- psychoticism - the degree to which a person is vulnerable to developing the serious disorders in which contact with reality is lost (psychoses)
What did the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire show?
superfactors correspond to basic personality types in similar ways across many cultures
What is situationism?
the view that behaviour is governed primarily by the variables in a given situation rather than by internal traits
What did B.F Skinner believe?
we approach life in a certain way because some of our behaviours have been rewarding to us in the past while others have not
What is interactionism?
a view emphasizing the relationships between underlying personality traits and reinforcing aspects of the situations in which they choose to put themselves in
What is socially desirable responding?
tailoring answers on personality inventories to try and create a good impression
What are validity items?
questions placed on personality inventories designed to assess the likelihood that the respondent would purposely give a socially desirable answer
What are projective tests?
a personality assessment device intended to tap a person’s unconscious by presenting the person with an ambiguous stimulus and asking the person to interpret what the stimulus means (ex. inkblot test)
What did the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart show?
identical twins proved substantially more similar on every psychological level than fraternal twins despite being raised in separate households and families
What is phrenology and who developed it?
Franz Gall
a method of assessing a person’s mental and moral qualities by studying the shape of a persons skull
What may be the issue with children who have inhibited personality?
amygdala that is too easily activated, aroused too easily by unfamiliar or stressful situations
What are the 3 categories of temperament that personality types can be grouped into?
- negative emotionality - experience more negative emotions and see the world as distressing vs. peaceful and high satisfaction levels
- positive emotionality - social individuals who lead active lives and exhibit enthusiasm vs. shy, less energy and self-confidence
- disinhibition vs constraint - high in disinhibition = difficulty controlling emotional responses, more impulsive vs. high in constraint = more careful and controlled lives
What is the social role theory?
gender differences occur because girls and boys develop different behaviours and skills based on differences in gender role expectations
self esteem would be directly related to how well he lived up to his gender-dependant schemas
What is a self-schema?
individuals cognitive framework for the knowledge he has about himself
What are differences between individualist and collectivist cultures?
people in collectivist cultures tend to score higher on agreeableness
people in individualist cultures tend to score higher on extroversion and openness
What are 4 features shared by personality disorders?
- rigid, extreme, and distorted thinking patterns
- problematic emotional response patterns (feelings)
- impulse control problems
- interpersonal problems
What is the id?
- only part present at birth
- completely unconscious
- all basic urges, operates on pleasure principle
What is the ego?
- logical, realistic part of personality
- satisfy id’s urges in logical way
- operates on reality principle
What is the superego?
- morality aspect of personality
- initially reflects parent’s expectations, grows to incorporate social norms
What are the 5 stages of Freud’s psychosexual development?
oral (mouth), anal (anus), phallic (genitals), latency (none), genital (genitals)
What do neoanalysts say about Frued’s theory?
- failed to recognize social and cultural factors
- overemphasized infantile sexuality
What is abnormal psychology?
the study of psychological disorders
What are the 4 D’s of psychological abnormality?
deviance - behaviours/thoughts/emotions differing from society’s ideas of proper functioning
distress - behaviours/thoughts/emotions cause distress
dysfunction - interferes with daily functioning
danger - dangerous to themselves or others