Identity and personality Flashcards
Self-concept
Sum of the ways in which we describe ourselves: in the present, who we used to be, and who we might be in the future
Identities
Individual components of our self-concept related to the groups to which we belong. eg religious affiliation, sexual orientation, and ethnic, and national affiliations
Self-esteem
Describes our evaluation of ourselves
Ideal self
Who we want to be
Ought self
Who others want us to be
When is self-esteem high?
When our actual self is close to our ideal self and ought self
Self-efficacy
Degree to which we see ourselves as being capable at a given skill or in a given situation. When placed in a consistently hopeless scenario, self-efficacy can be diminished to the point where learned helplessness results.
Learned helplessness
a condition in which a person suffers from a sense of powerlessness, arising from a traumatic event or persistent failure to succeed. It is thought to be one of the underlying causes of depression.
Locus of control
Self-evaluation that refers to the way we characterize the influences in our lives. People with an internal locus of control see their successes and failures as a result of their own characteristics and actions, while those with an external locus of control perceive outside factors as having more of an influence in their lives.
freud’s psychosexual stages
Freud proposed that psychological development in childhood takes place during five psychosexual stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. These are called psychosexual stages because each stage represents the fixation of libido (roughly translated as sexual drives or instincts) on a different area of the body.
Fixation
A fixation is a persistent focus on an earlier psychosexual stage. Until this conflict is resolved, the individual will remain “stuck” in this stage. A person who is fixated at the oral stage, for example, may be over-dependent on others and may seek oral stimulation through smoking, drinking, or eating.
Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development stems from?
conflicts that occur throughout life. These conflicts are results of decisions we are forced to make about ourselves and environment around us at each phase of our life.
First erikson stage: trust vs mistrust
This stage begins at birth continues to approximately 18 months of age. During this stage, the infant is uncertain about the world in which they live, and looks towards their primary caregiver for stability and consistency of care.
Second erikson stage: autonomy vs shame
This stage occurs between the ages of 18 months to approximately 3 years. According to Erikson, children at this stage are focused on developing a sense of personal control over physical skills and a sense of independence.
Third erikson stage: initiative vs guilt
During the initiative versus guilt stage, children assert themselves more frequently through directing play and other social interaction.Children begin to plan activities, make up games, and initiate activities with others. If given this opportunity, children develop a sense of initiative and feel secure in their ability to lead others and make decisions.Conversely, if this tendency is squelched, either through criticism or control, children develop a sense of guilt. The child will often overstep the mark in his forcefulness, and the danger is that the parents will tend to punish the child and restrict his initiatives too much.
Industry vs inferiority
the fourth of Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development, occurring from ages 6 to 11 years, during which the child learns to be productive and to accept evaluation of his or her efforts or becomes discouraged and feels inferior or incompetent.
Identity vs role confusion
During the identity versus confusion stage, the conflict is centered on developing a personal identity. … According to Erikson, this is important to the process of forming a strong identity and developing a sense of direction in life.
Intimacy vs isolation
points out the struggle young adults have as they try to develop intimate, loving relationships.
Generativity vs Stagnation
Generativity refers to “making your mark” on the world by caring for others as well as creating and accomplishing things that make the world a better place. Stagnation refers to the failure to find a way to contribute.
Integrity vs despair
Ego integrity versus despair is the eighth and final stage of Erik Erikson’s stage theory of psychosocial development. This stage begins at approximately age 65 and ends at death. It is during this time that we contemplate our accomplishments and can develop integrity if we see ourselves as leading a successful life
Kohlberg’s stages of moral development describe
Approaches of individuals to resolving moral dilemmas. There are three main phases: preconvential, conventional, and postconventional
Kohlberg preconventional stage
During the preconventional level, a child’s sense of morality is externally controlled. Children accept and believe the rules of authority figures, such as parents and teachers, and they judge an action based on its consequences.
Kohlberg conventional stage
During the conventional level, an individual’s sense of morality is tied to personal and societal relationships. Children continue to accept the rules of authority figures, but this is now because they believe that this is necessary to ensure positive relationships and societal order.
Kohlberg postconventional stage
During the postconventional level, a person’s sense of morality is defined in terms of more abstract principles and values. People now believe that some laws are unjust and should be changed or eliminated.
Vygotsky’s Cognitive Development Theory
Vygotsky’s Cognitive Development Theory postulates that social interaction is fundamental to cognitive development. Vygotsky’s theory is comprised of concepts such as culture-specific tools, language and thought interdependence, and the Zone of Proximal Development.
Zone of proximal development proposed by vygotsky
The zone of proximal development refers to the difference between what a learner can do without help and what he or she can achieve with guidance and encouragement from a skilled partner.
Imitation
Children reproduce behaviors or role models
Role-taking
Children learn to see the perspectives of others and practices taking on new roles
Reference group
Our self-concept depends in part on our reference group, or the group to which we compare ourselves. Two individuals with the same qualities might see themselves differently depending on how those qualities compare to their reference groups.
Psychoanalytic theory of personality
View personality as resulting from unconsciousnesses urges and desires. These include theories of freud, jung
Id
Base urges of survival and reproduction
Superego
Idealist and perfectionist. he superego is the ethical component of the personality and provides the moral standards by which the ego operates
Ego
Mediator between id, superego, and the conscious mind
Defense mechanims
The ego makes use of these to reduce stress caused by urges of the id and superego
Jung’s view on personality
Assumed a collective unconscious links all humans together. He viewed personality influenced by archtypes.
Collective unconsciousness
the part of the unconscious mind which is derived from ancestral memory and experience and is common to all humankind, as distinct from the individual’s unconscious.
Archetypes
Jungian archetypes are defined as universal, archaic symbols and images that derive from the collective unconscious, as proposed by Carl Jung.
Adler and Horney view on personality
Claim unconscious motivated by social rather than sexual urges as freud argues
Humanistic perspective
Emphasizes internal feelings of healthy individuals as they strive toward happiness and self-realization. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Unconditioned positive regard are examples
Unconditional positive regard (UPR)
Unconditional positive regard (UPR) is a term credited to humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers and is used in client-centered therapy. Practicing unconditional positive regard means accepting and respecting others as they are without judgment or evaluation.
Type and trait theorists believe
personality can be described as a number of identifiable traits that carry characteristic behaviors
Type vs trait theory
The essential difference between the trait theory and type theory is this: type theory views characteristics of people as discrete categories whereas trait theory views these same characteristics as part of a larger continuum
Greek notion of humors
- type theory
- philosophers and early doctors alike believed that the levels of these fluids, or “humors,” determined an individual’s placement in one of four psychological groups: sanguine, choleric, melancholic or phlegmatic. An imbalance among the fluids led to physical or mental illness.
Sheldon’s somatotypes
Somatotyping is the classifying of people into types according to body build. Somatotype theory relates distinctive body types to personality characteristics and relates criminal behavior to the body types.
- type theory
Types A and B
- TYPE THEORY
Type A and Type B are two types of trait classification. Type A individuals are aggressive, ambitious, controlling, highly competitive, preoccupied with status, workaholics, hostile, and lack patience. Type B people are relaxed, less stressed, flexible, emotional and expressive, and have a laid-back attitude
Myers-Briggs type inventory
- type theory
- The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator is a pseudoscientific introspective self-report questionnaire indicating differing psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions.
PEN traits identified by ensencks to describe people
The PEN model is comprised of three personality dimensions based on psychophysiology: Psychoticism (nonconformity), Extraversion (tolerance for social interaction and stimulation), and Neuroticism (arousal in stressful situations).
Big Five
openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism
Allport three basic types of traits
Cardinal, central, and secondary
Cardinal traits
Traits around which a person organizes his or her life; not everyone develops this
Central traits
Represent major characteristics of personality
Secondary traits
More personal characteristics and limited in occurence
Social cognitive perspective on personality
Individuals interact with their environment in a cycle called reciprocal determinism. People mold their environment according to their personalities, and those environments in turn shape our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
Behaviorist perspective on personality
Based on the concept of operant conditioning, holds that personality can be described as behaviors one has learned from prior rewards and punishments
Biological theorists claim
behavior can be explained as a result of genetic expression
