Individual Differences Flashcards
What are Individual Differences?
‘Individual Differences’ refers to how people differ
psychologically from one another
Definition of Personality?
“The consistencies within individuals that lead to the
differences between people.”
What are the Five Approaches to Personality?
- Psychodynamic
- Humanistic
- Trait
- Behavioural/Social learning
- Cognitive
- Biologica
What is an individualistic culture?
Individualistic – emphasis on individual needs and
accomplishments; individuality and uniqueness.
What is a collectivist culture?
Collectivist – emphasis on group accomplishments;
cooperation rather than competition.
What is the Psychodynamic approach to personality?
- Role of the unconscious
- Intrapsychic processes are primarily responsible for individual differences in behaviour.
- Freud
- First comprehensive theory of personality
What did Freud do?
- 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 Topographic Model?
- Conscious - in awareness.
- Preconscious - not in current thoughts but easily brought to
mind. - Unconscious - out of awareness, contains primitive
instincts and anxiety-laden memories.
what is The Structural Model ?
Personality is the dynamic interplay between three mental structures
- Id: Strives to satisfy drives without consideration - pleasure principle
- Ego: Operates on the reality principle. Satisfying id’s desires but without penalty- delayed gratification
- Superego:Operates according to the morality principle
What is the drive (Instinct) model ?
Human behavior is motivated by two drives:
- The life or sexual drive – eros
- The death or aggressive drive – thanatos
What are defense mechanisms?
- 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 unacceptableimpulses
- The ego reduces anxiety though defense mechanisms – but these ‘distort’ reality
Types of defense mechanims?
- Repression: Preventing painful or dangerous thoughts from entering consciousness
- Denial: Protecting oneself from an unpleasant reality by simply refusing to perceive or acknowledge it
- Sublimation: Channelling unacceptable impulses into
constructive/socially acceptable activities - Rationalization: Socially acceptable reasons are substituted for thoughts or actions based on unacceptable motives
- Intellectualization: Ignoring the emotional aspects of a painful experience by focusing on abstract thoughts, words or ideas
- Regression: Responding to a threatening situation in a way that s appropriate to an earlier age or level of development
What defense mechanism is used for young children?
Denial
What defense mechanism is used for older children?
Projection
What defense mechanism is used for those are mature?
Sublimination
What are the Psychosexual Stages of developement?
Oral Stage (0-18 months) -Pleasure centres on the mouth: sucking, biting, chewing
- Anal Stage (18-36 months)
- Pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder elimination; coping withdemands for control
Phallic Stage (3-6 years) -Pleasure zone: genitals; coping with incestuous sexual feelings
Latency Stage (6 to puberty) -Dormant sexual feelings
Genital Stage (puberty onwards) -Maturation of sexual interests
What is pschoanalytic therapy?
-Relaxed, safe environment- the couch
- Free association
- Person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind.
- Aim is to raise conflicts from unconscious to conscious
through exploring themes and resistance- emotional
release
- interpretation and insight
- Dream analysis
“Dreams are often
What is a strengths of Freud’s Theory?
-Enormous impact historically
- First system of therapy – basis of current
approaches such as “self psychology”
- Many ideas live on - defense
mechanisms, fixation, unconscious,
-Freudian slips etc.
What is some limitations of Freud’s Theory
- Originality?
- Difficult to test
- No development after 5-6 years
- Overemphasis on sexuality at expense of social and cultural forces
- Emphasis on the negative
- Derived from limited population
- Sexism
- Lack of cross-cultural support
NOT COST EFFECTIVE
What are neo-feudians?
- expanded on Freud’s ideas by focusing on the importance of sociological and cultural influences in addition to biological influences.
What is the humanistic theory?
humanistic view, people are responsible for their lives and actions and have the freedom and will to change their attitudes and behavior.
What are sources of abnormally?
Anxiety caused by incongruence
- Self-concept challenged
- Between actual and ideal self
Respond with defense mechanisms n Rationalisation (distortion)
- Denial
- Defenses reduce our ability to be fully functioning
Two types of motivations according to maslow?
Deficiency
- lack of needed object ( e.g. food, water, shelter)
- satisfied when need met
Growth
-not satisfied in attainment but in attaining
When would maslows hierachy be used for therapy?
career counselling
What did carl rodgers believe in?
Carl Rogers (1902-1987) was a humanistic psychologist who agreed with the main assumptions of Abraham Maslow, but added that for a person to “grow”, they need an environment that provides them with genuineness (openness and self-disclosure), acceptance (being seen with unconditional positive regard), and empathy (being listened to and understood).
- Conditions of worth
Differences between maslows and rodgers?
- Unique or hierarchy of needs
- Esteem needs - different emphasis
What are type theories?
Types theories are board categories that base peoples persoanlities.
- Introverts and extraverts
- Type A and B
- Greek Typology
- Body types (e.g. Sheldon)
What is a trait?
- a dimension of personality used to categorise people according
to the degree to which they manifest that particular
characteristic - Any person can be placed on a continuum
- Scores are normally distributed
What did Gordon Allport believe?
-Traits have neurological bases factors are acknowledged
Allport’s research strategies:
- Nomothetic: discovering universal laws within groups
- Idiographic: identifying unique characteristics in individuals
What are Allport: Trait Pervasiveness ?
Traits classified according to pervasiveness:
- Cardinal – dominates whole personality
(e. g. need for Power; 10% of population) - Central – usually have 5-10 different traits
- Secondary – less conspicuous
