Intro To Personality Flashcards
what is personality?
personality = characteristics, emotions, thoughts, behaviors that are relatively stable over time and across circumstances
what makes you who you are? why are you unique? what is the same over time?
what is a personality trait?
characteristics of the person, a dispositionaly tendency to act in a certain way over time
relatively stable disposition in behavior - act in a particular/ consistant way
- extroversion vs. introversion
- needing the optimal level of arousal
- more physiologically activated = more prone to neuroticism and depression
how have scientists studied personality?
pyschodynamic theories emphasize unconcious and dynamic processes
humanistic approaches emphasize integrated personal experience - “i’m okay you’re okay mentality”
social cognitive approach - how people interact in social situations and how it can help us understand personality
type and trait approached describe behavioral dispositions - categorizing people
what is the freudian or “pyschodynamic” approach?
the role of unconscious influences on personality
Id = unconscious, pleasure center (basic impulse)
superego = dictates from society, parents (constrain natural tendency to seek just pleasure - overly harsh)
ego = mediates between id and superego (sense of self, how we want to act in the world)
introduced concept of unconscious defense mechanisms
what does freud’s topographical model look like?
almost everything is unconscious… pyramid
conscious
preconscious
unconscious
what is “the penis envy” theory?
“the female acknowledges the fact of her castration and with it too the superiority of the male and her own inferiority, but she rebels against this unwelcome statue of affairs”
what aer the 7 common defense mechanisms?
denial - refusing to acknowledge source of anxiety (pretending it doesn’t exist)
ill person ignores med advice
repression - excluding source of anxiety from awareness (not remembering something neg occured)
person fails to remember an unpleasant event
projection - attributing unacceptable qualities of the self to someone else (seeing traits you don’t like in others and not acknowledging it in self)
competitve person describes others as supercompetitive
reaction formation - warding off an uncomfortable thought by overemphasizing its opposite (act in extreme way for things we don’t like about ourselves - neg attitudes)
person with unacknowledged homosexual desires makes homophobic remarks
rationalization - concoeting a seemingly logical reason or excuse for behavior that might otherwise be shameful
person cheats on taxes because “everyone does it”
displacement - shiting the attention of emotion from one object to another (put emotions on someone else)
person yells at kid after a bad day of work
sublimation - channeling socially unacceptable impulses into constructive, even admirable, behavior
sadist becomes a surgeon or dentist
what is the humanistic-extential approach: personality as choice?
humanistic and existential theorists focus on how healthy choices create personality
- humanistic pyschologists emphasize a positive, optimistic view of human nature; goodness and potential for growth
- existential pyschologists focus on the individual negotiating the issue of meaning and the reality of death
more positive, learn to change behaviors and ont overly harsh, self-actualization model
ex. when kids do something wrong and parents show unconditional love
what is the highest “need” in Maslow’s Humanistic Model of human motivation? what are the rest?
self-actualization
esteem
belonging and love
safety
physiological
what is the self-actualizaing tendency?
the human motive toward realizing our inner potential
- engagement in tasks that match our abilities cause a state of focus called flow (optimally engaged in task where it isn’t too easy or hard)
highest need according to maslow
what is the existential approach?
regards personality as governed by an individual’s ongoing choices and decisions in the context of the realities of life and death
- angst can arise as we find meaning in life and death and take responsibility for making free choices
- one must deal with issues head-on instad of using defenses
what is the social cognitive approach?
an approach that views personality in terms of how the person thinks about the situations encountered in daily life and behaves in response to them
what do you do in situations?
behavioral concept
what is person-situation controversy?
the question of whether behavior is cause more by personality or by situational factors
seek out situations that reflect our personality
what are different types of studying personality tests (projective approach)?
roschach inkblot test: individual interpretations of the meaning of a set of unstuctured ink blots are analyzed to identify a respondent’s inner feelings and interperet personality
thematic apperception test (TAT): respondents reveal underlying motives, concerns, and ways they see the social world through stories they make up about ambiguous pictures
*open to subjective interpretation
how are self-report inventories used in studying personality?
personality inventories use multiple-choice/ forced choice
- validity scales help alleviate response style biases (sometimes people present themselves in an extreme manner to make themselves look good)
- self report = a series of answers to a questionnaire that asks people to indicate the extent to which sets of statements or adjectives accurately describe their own behavior or mental state
- MMPI-2= a well-researched clinical questionnaire used to assess personality and pyschological problems (most common self-report - not sure why they are asking some questions - linked with other items to find traits)
look at sensation seeking table (12.1) and rotter’s locus of control (12.5)
what is the narrative approach in studying personality?
dan mcadams - personality researcher
to understand people, need to understand their personal narratives of their whole lives
“tell me about you life” - talking about childhood, how you got to a this place in life
anyway to learn about a person through their life story
what are traits?
classified by using adjectives (language), which may be organized in a hierarchical pattern
what are the big 5 traits?
factor analysis sorts trait items into small dimensions. researchers have aruged how many core factors exist
big five - the traits of a five-factor model
- conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness to experience, and extraversion
- accounts for variability without overlap, multiple observer agreeability, and is reliable across cultures (may be universal)
