Identity and the Individual

Question 1

Personality theories

Answer 1

1. Trait Theory 2. Biological theory - determinist 3. Psychoanalytic theory - determinist 4. Behaviorist theory - determinist 5. Social cognitive theory - not determinist; choice involved 6. humanistic theory - not deterministic

Question 2

Trait theory

Answer 2

–Personality consists of a set of traits –They are stable over the course of a lifetime –Not affected by environmental factors –Ex: Big 5 model - Openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism

Question 3

Biological Theory

Answer 3

–Personality is the result of a person’s genome and traits differ in the extent to which they are influenced by heredity –Temperament is innate but then modified by environmental influences throughout the life

Question 4

Psychoanalytic theory

Answer 4

–Different from trait theories and biological theories in that it focuses on the mental processes that shape personality and translate personality into behavior

–Id: the most primitive part of personality, seeks instant gratification with no consideration for morality or social norms

–Superego: develops later in life through internalization of society’s rules for moral behavior, learned primarily through interactions with caregivers —Ego: Directs behavior by balancing the id and superego **Conscious vs. unconscious

Question 5

Behaviorist theory

Answer 5

–personality is constructed through experience with the environment –It is the environment that shapes personality rather than biological factors or inherent psychological drives –This theory contrasts significantly with psychoanalytic theory. Psychoanalytic focuses on internal, subconscious dynamics. Behaviorist theory assumes internal life is unknowable and you must focus on behavior. –Personality IS behavior

Question 6

social cognitive theory

Answer 6

–Focuses on learning experiences and observable behaviors like behaviorist theory –UNLIKE behaviorist theory, it takes into account an individual’s mental life and personal choices. –Includes the process of observational learning –key concept: reciprocal causation - behavior, personal factors, and the environment continually interact and influence each other

Question 7

humanistic theory

Answer 7

–Central concept: self-actualization –Conscious decisions make people who they are –Key figure: Carl Rogers

Question 8

personality vs. identity

Answer 8

–Personality is thought of staying more or less constant

–Identity maintains enough flexibility to change in response to experience, such as a career change

–identity has personal and social concepts

Question 9

self concept vs. social identity

Answer 9

–the personal and internal aspects of identity

–social identity is centered around group membership

Question 10

the guiding force of socialization

Answer 10

culture

Question 11

in-group vs out-group

Answer 11

An in-group is a group someone identifies with. An out-group is one with which the person does not identify.

Question 12

Theories of Development

Answer 12

1. Freud
2. Erik Erikson - psychosocial
3. Lev Vygotsky - zone of proximal development
4. Kohlberg’s theory of moral development

Question 13

Freud’s theory of development

Answer 13

1. oral stage - infancy (1st year)
2. anal stage - toilet training age (2nd year)
3. phallic stage - sexual and gender identity development by focusing on opposite-sex parent. Superego develops in this stage. (Years 3-6)
4. latent period - sexual impulses suppressed (Years 7-12)
5. genital stage - starts in adolescence (Adolescence and older)

Question 14

Erik Erikson

Answer 14

–psychosocial stages of development

1. Trust vs. mistrust (infancy)
2. Autonomy vs. self doubt (late infancy)
3. initiative vs. guilt (early childhood) - chilrden attempt to develop ability to execute a plan like in play activities
4. industry vs. inferiority (school age) - whether the child views him/herself as capable of mastering skills that are societally valued
5. identity vs. role confusion (adolescence) - most explicitly concerned with identity formation. Goal: stable sense of self. Possible pitfall: role confusion
6. intimacy vs. isolation (young adulthood) - ability to form emotionally significant relationships with others. Ages 20-40 about.
7. generativity vs. stagnation (40-60) - the extent individuals want to “put back” energy into family, work, and community (generativity) or just care for their own needs (stagnation)
8. integrity vs. despair (old age) - evaluating life and developing a sense of how well they have lived

Question 15

James Marcia’s types of identity status

Answer 15

1. Identity diffusion - no identity or motivation to engage in identity exploration
2. Identity moratorium - an adolescent in the midst of identity crisis who is actively attempting to develop identity
3. Identity foreclosure - someone has a sense of identity but has failed to undergo an identity crisis, instead choosing to unquestioningly adopt the values and expectations of others.
4. Identity achievement - someone has undergone an identity crisis and emerged with a strong sense of identity

Question 16

Lev Vygotsky

Answer 16

People have a “current developmental level” composed of the tasks that are capable of being performed already. Then there is a “potential developmental level” composed of the tasks a child can do with guidance. The range of activities between the current and potential levels is called the “zone of proximal development.” This is the range of tasks that can be accomplished with or without help. As development occurs, what used to be the “potential level” becomes the “current level.”

Question 17

Kohlberg’s theory of moral development

Answer 17

–Kohlberg’s stages of moral development parallel Piaget’s stages of cognitive development

1. Preconventional Morality - judgement is based only on anticipated consequences. Punishment and Reward.
2. Conventional Morality - takes into account social judgements. Social disapproval and rule following. ex: a person in this stage will refrain from breaking a law that protects the rights of others not because it is the right thing to do, but because it is the law established by society
3. Postconventional Morality - Focuses on universal principles and fully-developed ideas about right and wrong. Social contract and universal ethics.

Question 18

Parallels between Kohlberg and identity development

Answer 18

–Transition from conventional to postconventional reasoning involves an identity crisis, the need to question self and society. This transition is associated with identity moratorium: the state of active identity crisis.

–Conventional level - people are more likely to be people in identity foreclosure

–Postconventional level - people who have reached this stage are most likely to have a well-established identity. **Not all people who have reached identity achievement have necessarily reached postconventional moral reasoning.

Question 19

Example of Kohlberg’s stages of moral reasoning

Answer 19

Do you steal a drug from a drugstore for your dying wife if you can’t afford it but it would save her?

1. Preconventional Stage - No because you might get arrested. Yes because your wife dying would impact you negatively.
2. Conventional stage - No because people would look unfavorably upon you for getting arrested. Yes because people might think poorly of you for not taking action.
3. Postconventional stage - No because stealing is wrong, regardless of the circumstances given the social contract. Yes because it is morally wrong for a dying person to be denied medication.

Question 20

Attribution theory

Answer 20

–how we understand people in social interactions.

–Focuses on how we understand the behavior of others

Question 21

dispositional attribution

Answer 21

assigning the cause of a behavior to an inherent quality or desire

Question 22

situational attribution

Answer 22

assigning a cause of behavior to environmental forces

Question 23

fundamental attribution error

Answer 23

–the tendency to assume that another person’s behavior is a reflection of personal qualities and not because of environmental influences

–results from the fact that dispositional attributions require less information, time, and attentional than situational attributions

Ex: Someone cuts me off in traffic and i assume they’re an asshole instead of assuming they are rushing to the hospital for a medical emergency

–criticism: this was developed in the Western world and thus this attribution error is not really “fundamental”

Question 24

self-serving bias

Answer 24

the tendency to attribute one’s success to internal factors while attributing one’s failure to external factors

Question 25

cultural variants of attribution

Answer 25

–Eastern cultures (collective cultures) are less likely to invoke dispositional attribution

–Members of individualistic cultures are more likely to invoke the self-serving bias

Question 26

Approximate 1-year prevalences of psychological disorders among americans 18 years and older

Answer 26

Anxiety disorders - 18%

Mood disorders - 9.5 %

Personality disorders - 9%

Schizophrenia - 1%

Question 27

Personality disorders

Answer 27

Defined by their tendency to endure temporally and across different situations

Question 28

positive symptoms vs. negative symptoms

Answer 28

Positive symptoms of schizophrenia: hallucinations, racing thoughts, delusions.

Negative symptoms of schizophrenia: apathy, lack of emotion, poor social function