Identity and the Individual Flashcards
Trait theory of personality
- example
- quantifiable?
- degree or all/none
- machine analogy
characteristics that are stable and vary in degree regardless of environmental factors - reliable predictor
Quantifiable comparison
OCEAN
What the machine will do - predicting
Temperament
- can it be modified by environmental forces?
baseline personality that is a tendency toward certain emotions and social interactions
Often innate - babies and children
can be modified by environmental forces throughout life
Psychoanalytic theory
- machine analogy
- effect of early experience
internal psychic forces that shape personality
subconscious mental life - superego, id, ego
crucial aspect of personality is formed outside consciousness
early experience can have lasting effect on the individual throughout life
internal works of the machine
Behaviorist theory
deterministic view that environment, series of interactions with people, shape personality
external behavior is personality
essence - set of life experiences that reflect in external behavior as personality
social cognitive theory
personal choice in forming personality
involvement of thought and emotion in learning process and experiences people choose to put themselves in
observational learning - form own models based on observation
reciprocal causation - the pyramid of personal factors, behaviors, and environment interacting and influencing each other
James/Jones - job environment, personal characteristics (motivation) contribute to perception of their job and cause changes in behavior
Humanistic theory
- what is important in personality formation
- truly happy person
people continually seek experiences that make them better, more fulfilled individuals
personal choice and freedom in shaping one’s own personality
conscious decision make people who they are
self-concept in personality formation
truly happy person - actual self, ideal self, perceived self overlap
Difference between humanistic and social cognitive theory, and other theories
consideration of self-view, self-concept - concept of self identity
challenge to trait based personality theories
situational approach to explaining behavior
concept of enduring personality is flawed because of characteristic interpretation across different situations
how does identity differ from personality
identity - one’s own perception of self
Identity
self-perception that includes both internal factors (personality traits), and external factors (group membership, career)
flexible to change over lifetime
includes a model of how a person generally behaves in a social setting
self-concept
- what is it
- how does it develop/refine?
- what happens once well-developed?
internal aspect - person’s view of his/her personality
develops and refines through interaction with others
once well-developed, a person behaves to uphold that self-concept and have strong emotional responses to things that threaten that validity
social identity
- what is it?
- is it flexible depending which group you are with?
- components
perception of oneself as a member of certain social groups
flexible - social identity can change and adapt depending on situations and which group you are with
identify with group, and feel emotional attachment to the group; come to identify traits of the group as traits of oneself
imitation
- function
develop sense of who they are in relation to other people, encouraging formation of identity:
1) child sees him/herself as the person they are imitating (ex. gender identity formation)
2) role-taking: adopting the role of another person by imitating and taking on the person’s perspective
reference group
people you refer to for guidance in behavior
either be or aspire to be a member of that group
