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