lecture Flashcards
The Royal Tenenbaums
Individual differences
3 kids are adopted and are not related
Continuity of personality across lifespan
Life experiences in childhood influence personality
Family dynamics shape personality
What is personality?
1)Descriptive characteristics (traits)
-Intelligent, hard working
2)Motive and goals
achievement
-motivated,relationship-motivated
3)Values
-honest,loyal,selfish
4)Emotional tendencies
-Moody,anxious,optimistic
5)Memories/life stories
Defining personality
thoughts,feelings,behavior
3 levels of personality analysis
Every human being is
… like all others:human nature
…like some others:
…like no others:
Application of Theory:Aggression
Aggression(universal case)
All people will respond aggressively
if their life depends on it
Aggression (individual differences)
Some people respond aggressively where others don’t
Aggression(unique case)
Some acts of aggression can only be understood from the particular individuals perspective
Abu Ghraib Prison scandal
Human nature perspective
All people are capable of evil, circumstances at abu ghraib unleashed dark side of human nature
Individual differences
Some people are more aggressive, inclined towards anti-social behavior
Unique case
Graners personal history suggest a unique predisposition toward violence
Charles Graner JR: history of domestic violence, aggressive behavior
Lynndie England: overly obedient
Stanley Cup riots
Riot occurred downtown vancouver after canucks lost stanley cup
Personality contributed to what people did in this situation
Measuring Personality
Prescientific methods
Astrology
Assessments of personality on birthday
Physiognomy
Assessment based on shape of body
Phrenology
Based on shape of skull
Descriptive methods
life history,observer report,test data, self report
observer report pro and cons
Advantages:
Capture spontaneous behaviors
Avoid bias of self reports
Disadvantages
Researcher interference
How naturalistic is the observation
Rarity of some behaviors
Research on criminality
Observer bias and selective attention
Time consuming
Self report
Advantages:
quick and easy to obtain data
Allows study of difficult to observe behaviors(such as what youre like at a party)
Disadvantages
Respondents might not be representative
Responses may be biased or untruthful
What did freud do for psychological science and personality research?
A talking cure(talking about your problems)
Mind-body connection
Psychic issues can influence behavior even when people aren’t aware of them
1)Modern view of Repression
Freud view:unacceptable thoughts were pushed into unconscious
george franklin
1990: george franklin accused of raping and murdering susan nason in 1969, by his daughter Eileen, now 29
Should we allow convictions based on repressed memories
Some therapists say yes(book:the courage to heal)
Empirical evidence says:not necessarily
False memory study
psychedelic therapy
(typically with psilocybin, or magic mushrooms) often aims to help clients uncover repressed memories
unconscious Motivated view
we bury hidden needs/desires in the unconscious
Cognitive view
information perceived may become unconscious and influence us but it is not “buried” there
Subliminal priming
Concepts may be perceived and influence us without us even knowing it
Ego psychology(anna freud, erik erikson)
Focus on the strengths of conscious
Control over one’s environment
-goal is to establish a secure identity, failure leads to identity crisis
Eriksons’s 8 stages of development
cover full lifespan
disagree with Freud’s research that development only lasts until puberty and there is a latency period
8 stages of development
1)Trust vs mistrust
2)autonomy vs shame and doubt
3)initiative vs guilt
4)industry vs inferiority(feeling as if they can work to achieve what they want vs failure to achieve)
5)identity vs role confusion
6)intimacy vs isolation
7)generativity vs stagnation(has the person generated something they care about in life)
8)integrity vs despair
self-serving bias
common tendency for people to take credit for successes yet to deny responsibility for failure
Narcissism
inflated self esteem and constant desire to draw attention to oneself
Narcissistic paradox
people who seem to think they’re great may feel insecure underneath
narcissim as a defense mechanism:Reaction formation
something they don’t like about themselves, they express the opposite)
Narcissism in the DSM
Dsm: grandiosity, dominance, entitlement, superiority
What causes narcissism?
Parents over-idealize child, set up unrealistic standards
Simultaneously, they excessively criticize child for failing to meet unrealistic standards
“Narcissistic wound”- early humiliation experience
Narcissists overcompensate for insecurities by self-aggrandizing
Measuring Narcissism
Unrealistically positive beliefs about abilities and achievements
Preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success,power,brilliance, and beauty
Strong sense of entitlement
Grandiose sense of self-importance
narcissim in work
repeated failures, not living up to their own career expectations
narcissim and therapy
tend to go to therapy for external life problems
narcissm and love
idealization and devaluation of romantic partner
always need to be center of attention
Research findings on normal range narcissism
Look in mirror often
Take credit for accomplishments but blame others for failure
Self-promote more on social networking sites
Tend to adopt a game playing style in relationships
Become angry and aggressive in response to failure or negative feedback
narcissism study
for normal people(low on narcissism) in the control, after viewing the self-focused(video of themselves), their self-perceived performance is lower
Narcissistic people after watching a video of themselves, their score on the self-focused condition was even higher than the control
Grandiose narcissist
Has exaggerated self importance
Fragile narcissist
-individuals who exhibit narcisstic traits but are sensitive to criticism
Tend to feel unhappy, depressed
Tends to be critical of other
Tends to feel anxious
Tends to feel envious
Prone to painful feelings of emptiness
Appears to feel privileged and entitled
Tends to feel he/she is inadequate, inferior, or a failure
Object Relations Theory
Early relationship in childhood with parents serves as a basis for relationships with others in adulthood
early childhood attachment
early bond with parent s influence personality
Harlow Monkey experiments
Surrogate cloth mother and surrogate wire mothers
Bowlby
noticed a similar pattern in humans similar to behavior in monkeys
-separation anxiety
Ainsworth: Strange situation procedure
3 attachment styles: secure, avoidant, anxious-ambivalent
ainsworth devised “Internal working models” for later relationships
Unconscious expectations for how people will treat them
Now referred to as adult attachment styles
adult attachment (Hazan and Shaver)
Found similar patterns of attachment in adult relationships
1 Secure relationship style
2 Avoidant relationship style
3 anxious-ambivalent(preoccupied) relationship style
Stress Test Study
Romantic couples brought into lab told that male must participate in experiment involving the machine
The way female partner responds shows their attachment style
Do early childhood experiences predict adult relationship styles?
2015 study shows link between childhood and adult relationships
Moms who shown less sensitivity in childhood(less attending to baby needs) had
larger skin conductance response to conflict with partner (they were more stressed with the partner)
can attachment styles change across lifespan
yes, but not a major shift
-you can be highly anxious when your young but it can decline in adulthood by a little
motives
internal states that direct behavior
-based on needs/tension
-can be unconscious
Achievement vs.affiliation
Individual differences in the various motives
-Always focused on grades or always focused on relationships
motive contribute to
major life outcomes such as career, success, and marriage
motives are
stable over time and tell us why people behave the way they do
Early motive theorists:
Murray, Mclelland, Mcadams
Henry Murray
Thematic apperception test(TAT)
Murray theory
empahsize needs(psychological force that guides behavior)
-needs must be relieved to reduce tension
Needs according to Murray
-Achievements
-Exhibition (getting attention)
-Order
-Dominance
-Aggression
-Autonomy(independence)
-affiliation/intimacy
-Nurturance(taking care of others)
-Abasement((lowering oneself towards other)
-Blame-avoidance
-Succor(desire to be taken care of)
“press”
elements in environment affect a person’s needs, need-relevant aspects of environment
apperception
Process through which we perceive the environment and perceive whats going on
David Mcclelland
Implicit vs. Self-attributed motives
-TAT reveals implicit (unconscious) motives not acted upon readily
-implicit and explicit motives are unrelated
-implicit motives lead to long term outcomes such as career,marriage,health,stable beliefs
-explicit motives lead to shorter term behaviors/attitudes(performance on 1 test)
McClelland and Big 3
Big 3:
Achievement(preference for moderate levels of challenge)
Power
Affiliation(relationships)
Dan mcAdams
argued that intimacy was more important than affiliation
Humanistic/Phenomenological perspective
More clinical than research based;attempt to take motive theory and apply it to help make people’s lives better
-Greater focus on conscious motives;awareness of needs
-Focus on phenomenology(conscious,subjective experience)
-Emphasis on individuals taking responsibility for their own life outcomes
basic assumptions of humanistic perspective
Humans are inherently good
emphasis on phrenomenology
Self-actualization:People are intrinsically good and strive toward greater health, maturity, and autonomy
Emphasis on self/identity (ego): universal need for positive self-regard
Individual differences in the perception of reality(humanistic approach)
subjective reality is more important than objective reality , Everyone perceives reality in their own way, individual perceptions is what’s most important
Abraham Maslow(1908-1970)
Developed theory of human needs, based on his clinical practice
Hierarchy of needs maslow
physiological needs
safety needs
belongingness and love
esteem needs
self-actualization
Self-actualization
Enriched life experiences
Enhanced creativity
Requires self-exploration and action
Fully functioning person
Peak experiences (common for people who are self-actualized)
Time and place are transcended
Not thinking about yourself
Experience unity of self with universe
feeling of power and wonder
Manifests differently for each person
Problems with Maslow Hierarchy
Aspirational but not normative:states what people should do and not what they do do
Inconsistent with scientific understanding of human nature:Creativity should be seen as lower level means to more ultimate reproductive ends
Instead, an alternate perceptive said the hierarchy should be more focused on a evolutionary perspective (highest level being parenting, with mate retention below it)
carl rogers
People are intrinsically good and striving toward self-understanding,self acceptance,maturity and autonomy
How to be self-actualized
Client-centered therapy
Client-centered therapy
Therapist shows unconditional positive regard for client
William James(1842-1910)
Duality of self
The “Me”
Self as object that can be observed
“I have property X..”
The “I”
Self as agent doing the observing
Self as the perceiver
Self-consciousness: “I” looks at “me”
Self consciousness
The “I”
Self-awareness
Self-concept
The “me”
Conception of one’s self as a physical,socal, psychological, moral being
Self-esteem
Global evaluation of one’s self
How do we know a child has a sense of self?
Linguistic markers (18 months)
Cognitive-behavioral markers(18-24 months)
Emotional markers(age 2.5-3 yrs)
Linguistic markers (18 months)
Self referencing (I, me, mine)
Non verbal recognition of self-accomplishment
Narrative language use
Cognitive-behavioral markers(18-24 months)
Imitation and role taking
Mirror self-recognition
Emotional markers(age 2.5-3 yrs)
Self-conscious emotions:
Shame,Guilt,Embarrassment,Pride
-empathy
-Require ability to evaluate the self (“I” self evaluates the “me” self)
Where does the self-concept come from?
charles Cooley “Looking glass self”- the self comes from others
Self is socially constructed
Multiple selves
we see ourselves differently in each social role, we portray ourselves differently to different people
unitary selves
our role is consistent across contexts
People who had Multiple selves ->
lower well being and lower self esteem
a highly differentiated self-concept reflects psychological fragmentation and lack of an integrated core self
Measuring Self-esteem
Similarity between actual and ideal self
self-report scale
Observer report
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale
Rating on a scale of 1-5 on statements about self-esteem
Cross-sectional Internet Study
Findings: most people say they have high self-esteem
Limitations with internet study
sample selectivity
-cross sectional design(data collected only at 1 point of time):
cohort effects, selective mortality
test data
assessing individuals abilities,cogniton,motivations etc by observing their performance in a test situation
-the DV is a test score or test result which has meaning only because it was assigned that meaning by the research prior to the test
Kinds of test data
questionnaire test: meaning comes from score
experimental test: meaning comes from performance
Example of experimental test:Megargee study of dominance
does trait dominance or gender predict leadership
DV= whoever takes control indicates leadership
results:high dom female, low dom male the male was still the leader
information derived from test data
physiological data, projective techniques
Test data advantages
allow measurment of charactersitcs not easily observable
disadvantages of test data
must infer that the test measure what you think it measures (validity issue)
Case studies (Life history)
intensive examination of a single person or group
case study method
comes from life history records(school grades, crime record)
Case study pro
rich source of hypotheses, allows for studies of rare behavior
case study cons
observer bias, difficult to generalize, difficult to reconstruct causes of past events
LOTS of data
life history,observable,test,self-report
Dorm room study
which traits are easiest to observe from a dorm room:
openness to experience
conscientiousness
extraversion
relaibility
test-retest, interrater, internal consisitency
validity
face validity, predictive validity, convergent validity, construct validity (measures all of the above)
validity is high only if
reiliabilty is high
Incentives structure
published research is important for being viewed favorably, getting a job, getting tenure, and as a result scientists publish as much as they can
balancing act: need to stay truthful to psych science, but also publish
sometimes researchers take shortcuts or fake data
other problematic practices don’t constitute fraud
-QRPS(questionable research practices)
-decisions in design,analysis, reporting that increase likelihood of achieving a pos result
False Positive psych
QRPS: using small sample, collecting additional dv, peeking at data, dropping experimental condition
-this increases likelihood of sig. result
what should researchers do about QRPS?
-increase disclosure in methods, results, and hypothesis presentation
-pre-register hypotheses and studies
-share data
Center for Open Science
open science framework founded to increase openness,integrity, and reproducibility of scientific research
-open source software platform for pre-registering hypotheses, archiving study materials, depositing data and syntax
What is good research
good research is open research
-good research features experimental methods that are strong and isolate a question of interest
-good research is adequately “powered” research
-data collection, plans, analyses, and hypotheses are pre-registered and posted in an online repository
power(ability to detect an effect)
most psych effects are small, so you need lots of participants
-power usually set at 80%, meaning 80% chance of finding an effect
sigmund freud
-founder of psychoanalysis
origins of freudian theory
-Viennese neurologist
-worked with Dr.Breur where they developed the talking cure
-Breur and Freud both picked up on work of Charcot
Mental illness in late 19th century
Charcot’s Hysteria
Case of Anna O
Patient of Dr.Breuer
-numerous symptoms after nursing her father who had TB
-symptoms include:coughing, hallucination,refusal to drink water, partial paralysis
-no physical cause
-breur would talk with anna and found her symptoms to improve the next day
-anna called their talk “chimney sweeping”
-anna refused to drink for weeks because she saw a dog drinking from her glass
the talking cure
-solves physical symptoms with no physical origin
The cure
step 1:hypnotize patient, or allow for free association
step 2:talk with patient to reveal psychological anxiety
step 3:patient has “catharsis”- an insight into psychological problem
step 4:physical symptom disspaears
current study in hysteria
now called conversion disorder
Woman who was paralyzed in left leg
there was no identifiable physical source, when she moved the left leg, the motor cortex didn’t activate but orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortex(emotional brain areas) did
-emotional areas may surpress movement in the left
cause of hysteria
emotional centers of the brain activated
-inhibit motor centers of brain from coordination movement
-there is basis in biology to explain hysteria
Freudian psychoanalytic theory
1)psychological determinism
2)importance of unconsciousness
3)defense mechansism
4)importance of early childhood experiences
psychological determinism-basic instincts
life-self preservation, sex
death-aggression, destruction
-WW1 led Freud to view death and destruction as instinctual aspects of human nature
-all behavior are caused by internal drives
importance of unconsciousness
levels of consciousness:
1)pre consciousness(easily retrieved, but not on your mind currently)(what you had for breakfast)
2)consciousness(what you thinking abt now)
3)unconscious(seething cauldron, repressed contents,libido(sexual), aggressiveness)
Carl Jung unconsciousness
stated that personal unconscious is Freud’s unconscious but… proposed:
Collective unconscious: contents of unconscious shared by all humanity, passed down from ancestors
-stereotype of mother=good
dark=evil
Freud’s Unconscious (Iceberg )
conscious mind:ego
unconcsious mind: superego and id
Id
-infancy
-drives and urges
-pleasure principle(immediate gratification)
-primary process thinking is illogical (dreams, not bound by reality)
Ego
-develops at age 2
-constrains id to reality
-reality principle:direct expression of id impulse can lead to problems, we need to avoid,redirect, postpone id impulses
-secondary process thinking (logical): strategies for solving problems in an acceptable way
Superego
develops at age 5
-internalized values, morality of parents and society
-promotes self conscious emotions(shame,guilt)
-like the id, not bound by reality instead sets higher standard(hence the “super”ego)
Conflict
-our lives are a constant negotiations of opposing impulses
-id, ego, and superego are constantly battling to control our behavior
-such conflicts produce anxiety
How to cope with anxiety?
defense mechanisms used to reduce anxiety(usually responsbile by ego)
-distort reality in some way
-must operate unconsciously
repression
traumatic memories pushed out of awareness to avoid associated anxiety
-freud:often sexal desires
-today:more about childhood trauma
Defense mechanisms
denial
rationalization
displacement
reaction formation
projection
sublimation (best choice)
