Introduction Flashcards
The scientific study of the psychological forces that make people uniquely themselves.
Personality psychology
What are the components of the psychological triad?
Thoughts, feelings, behaviours
With respect to behaviour, what is personality psychology generally most interested in?
Individual differences in behaviour patterns
Personality psychology theories — each other
Complement
What are the eight major perspectives on personality (six discussed in class, two extra in textbook)?
Unconscious
Ego forces
Biological
Conditioning
Cognitive
Traits and skills
Spiritual dimension*
Interactions*
An individual’s unique and relatively consistent patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving
Personality
Modern personality psychology involves…
Scientific inference through systematic gathering of evidence
Objective, quantifiable measures
Model of personality that includes memories, experiences, and beliefs, with a “core” of the self that these things orbit around, informing the self
Common sense model
Model of personality that removes the “core” and ceases to view the self as a thing that is informed by experiences, beliefs, etc. but is merely the collection of these things themselves and the narrative that these things create
Novel model
According to the novel model, our minds are…
The sum of its parts (and nothing more)
What implications does the novel model have concerning the nature of the self?
The self is not an illusion; It is ever-changing and can’t be preserved in any one state from moment to moment
What does the OCEAN acronym represent?
Openness, Conscientiousness, Extrovertedness, Agreeableness, Neuroticism
Traits that we adopt in order to achieve a certain goal or aim that are independent of our core personality traits
Free traits
When do we adopt free traits?
When we are passionate about something and cannot achieve our aims without adopting a free trait
What is the consequence of adopting free traits?
Adopting these traits is effortful; Often followed by a “repair” period in which central traits are readopted
What are the four key considerations in modern personality research?
Individual behaviour (uniqueness)
Behaviour in the context of the environment
Personality as an organized whole, not a series of separate components
Importance of cross-cultural study
A mathematical index of the degree of association between two measures
Correlation coefficient
Modern personality psychologists are scientific in the sense that they…
Attempt to use scientific inference to test theories
Approach to personality psychology in which concepts are developed based on carefully collected observations
Inductive approach
Approach to personality psychology in which conclusions follow logically from the premises/assumptions
Deductive approach
Darwinian evolutionary theory freed personality psychology from…
Assumptions of divine control
What did Margaret Mead’s work contribute to personality psychology?
Demonstrated that personality should not be studied in only one culture or context
Which psychologist rejected the idea of trying to break down personality into basic components and instead looked for underlying organization making each person unique?
Allport
Which psychologist, based the Gestalt tradition, suggested the whole may be greater than the sum of its parts in regards to personality?
Lewin
Which psychologist attempted to integrate clinical issues with theory and assessment issues?
Murray
The tendency to believe in the accuracy of vague generalities about one’s personality
The Barnum effect
