Midterm 1 Flashcards
1
Q
What are some dictionary definitions of personality?
A
- State of being a person
- Characteristics and qualities that form a person’s distinctive character
- Sum total of a person’s physical, mental, emotional, and social characteristics
2
Q
Describe behaviour in terms of the person and the situation
A
- Both the situation and the person contribute to behavior
- Individual’s personality determines: how different they are from others and how they behave in the different situations
- To be able to predict how a person’s going to behave in a particular situation, we need a lot of info
- We may not even know how we’re going to behave in a particular situation
- Ex: Stanford prison experiment
- Power of the situation
- We need to know something about the situation to know how the person will behave
- If you’re only exposed to the person in one situation, you can’t tell very much about the person’s personality
- Because part of a person’s personality are the traits and characteristics that are stable across different situations
- The situation itself can influence that
- Someone that knows the person may recognize these traits across situations
- Sometimes there’s a trait-situation interaction -> ex: John has lots of patience except when dealing with his parents
3
Q
What’s the textbook definition of personality?
A
- Consistent behavior patterns and intrapersonal processes originating within the individual
- Consistent patterns of behavior: to an extent, individual behavior is consistent across time and situations
- Intrapersonal processes: emotional, motivational, and cognitive processes that influence individual’s feelings and actions
4
Q
What’s the psychological definition of personality?
A
- Unique and relatively enduring internal and external (what’s projected) aspects of a person’s character
- They influence behavior in different situations
- I might project confidence but I’m really not confident
- What the person projects isn’t necessarily congruent with what they are inside
5
Q
Why is description of personality complex?
A
Humans change according to different situations and people
6
Q
Describe the Five Factor Model by McRae and Costa
A
- The most important ways in which individuals differ in their enduring emotional, interpersonal, experiential, attitudinal, and motivational styles
- Big Five was a narrowing down of traits
- The psychologists that worked on Big Five came up with the most important inventory of personality
- They came up with 5 different factors which englobe different traits
- Most people are about in the middle of these traits
- Not very likely to have extremes in personality traits
- If you do have extremes in personality, that’s a bad indication (could indicate personality disorders)
- There’s no good or bad in these traits
7
Q
Describe the Big Five Personality Dimensions
A
- Extraversion (Low: quiet, withdrawn, unassertive) (High: outgoing, gregarious, energetic)
- Agreeableness (Low: aloof, easily irritated) (High: warm, considerate, good-natured)
- Conscientiousness (Low: impulsive, carefree) (High: responsible, dependable, goal-oriented)
- Emotional Stability (aka neuroticism) (Low: moody, tense, lower self-confidence) (High: stable, confident)
- Openness to Experience (Low: narrow field of interests, likes the tried-and-true -> don’t want to expand their zone of comfort) (High: imaginative, curious, open to new ideas)
8
Q
What’s an acronym for Big Five Personality Dimensions?
A
OCEAN
O: Openness to Experience
C: Conscientiousness
E: Extraversion
A: Agreeableness
N: Neuroticism/Emotional Stability
9
Q
How does sales performance relate to the Five Factor Model of Personality?
A
- Conscientiousness and Openness have a positive relationship (positively correlated) with sales performance
- Best sales person would score highest on conscientiousness
- Agreeableness has a negative relationship (negatively correlated) with sales performance
- Extraversion and Neuroticism have a significant relationship with sales performance
- The less neurotic you are, the better you’ll be
- Extraversion is positively correlated with sales performance -> but not most significant
10
Q
Extroversion vs Introversion
A
- Extraversion: someone that gets their energy from people
- Introversion: someone that gets their energy from within
11
Q
Describe the questionnaire used to assess personality on the Big-Five
A
- In the 2nd column, you have adjectives associated with these traits
- Q-sort items: items out on cards that are often associated with the traits
- Scales: different scales that people are measured on that are correlated with each trait
- This table serves a few purposes: you can learn your different categories on the scale, adjectives help to understand the traits, you can use it to get to know people
12
Q
What are the adjectives associated with Extraversion?
A
- Active
- Assertive
- Energetic
- Enthusiastic
- Outgoing
- Talkative
13
Q
What are the adjectives associated with Agreeableness?
A
- Appreciative
- Forgiving
- Generous
- Kind
- Sympathetic
- Trusting
14
Q
What are the adjectives associated with Conscientiousness?
A
- Efficient
- Organized
- Planful
- Reliable
- Responsible
- Thorough
15
Q
What are the adjectives associated with Neuroticism?
A
- Anxious
- Self-pitying
- Tense
- Toxicity
- Unstable
- Worrying
16
Q
What are the adjectives associated with Openness?
A
- Artistic
- Curious
- Imaginative
- Insightful
- Original
- Wide interests
17
Q
Describe social media and personality
A
- Social media isn’t harmful but what leads people to join social media is what’s harmful
- The idea that people present a virtual image of themselves on social media that’s not real or not them -> research shows this isn’t true
- People on social media tend to project/present exactly what/who they are (at least as accurate as face-to-face) -> much more comfortable because they don’t have the face-to-face interaction and don’t get real-life reactions
- People that are more introverted, neurotic, lonely, socially awkward might find it easier to present their true selves on social media
- Selfies -> are you making yourself more or less likeable?
- Personality includes how others see a person online
- Social media has a wide and a more instantly reachable audience
- Social media reflects personality (Back et al. study)
18
Q
Describe the German study on personality and social media
A
- Study shows that people show themselves as more emotionally stable
- In the study, people rated other people’s profiles
- Found an almost perfect correlation between how people rated them and how the people rated themselves
19
Q
Describe McDougall et al. study on selfies and personality
A
- This study considered the relation between selfies on Instagram and the personality and self-perception attributions made by unfamiliar perceivers based on those posts
- Phase 1 involved 30 undergraduates who completed self-report inventories and whose Instagram posts were coded and screenshoted for the 2nd phase
- Phase 2 included 119 undergraduates from a different university (perceivers) who rated Phase 1 participants (targets) on 13 attributes (ex: self-absorption, low self-esteem, extraversion, successfulness) based on these screenshots
- Targets who posted more selfies were rated more negatively (ex: more lonely, less successful)
- Although selfies on social media may not be clearly indicative of personality/self-perception, they may be cues for how the depicted person is perceived by others
- It doesn’t mean you are more lonely/depressed if you post selfies, it means that’s how other people perceive you
- True self vs projected self
20
Q
What are some findings on social media use and personality
A
- Found that spending excessive time on social media is correlated with anxiety and depression
- Excessive time on social media is correlated with perceived isolation, self-esteem, less healthy activity, disrupted concentration, sleep deprivation and depression
- Link to depression for those high in neuroticism but not for those high in agreeableness
- Found that people that are more isolated (ex: lonely, introverted) or have lower self-esteem may be gravitating toward social media because these people are correlated with spending excessive time on social media
21
Q
What are the different approaches to personality?
A
- Psychoanalytic: belief that the unconscious mind is responsible for important differences in behavior styles
- Trait: an individual lies along a continuum of various personality characteristics
- Biological: inherited predispositions and physiological processes contribute to differences in personality (ex: Eysenck) -> involves genetics, heritability
- Humanistic: personal responsibility and feelings of self-acceptance cause differences in personality (ex: Maslow and the Hierarchy of Human Needs)
- Behavioral/social learning: consistent behavior patterns are the result of conditioning and expectations
- Cognitive: people process information to explain differences in behavior
22
Q
What’s the APA definition of personality?
A
- The enduring configuration of characteristics and behavior that comprises an {individual’s unique adjustment to life, including major traits, interests, drives, values, self-concept, abilities, and emotional patterns}
- Generally viewed as a complex, dynamic integration or totality shaped by many forces, including hereditary and constitutional tendencies; physical maturation; early training; identification with significant individuals and groups; culturally conditioned values and roles; and critical experiences and relationships
- Various theories explain the structure and development of personality in different ways, but all agree that personality helps determine behavior
23
Q
What are traits?
A
Personality characteristics that determine a person’s behaviour or by which it can be explained
24
Q
What’s an interest?
A
- Something that’s significant to the individual or that arouses an individual’s attention
- Different from belief (ex: someone could be interested in religion but not believe in it)
25
What's drive?
- A ready state of action, motivating a person to attain a goal
- What gets you going, what motivates you, what’s rewarding to you (ex: motivating someone to help you move with tickets to something they like)
26
What's value?
- A moral principal for what's considered good or bad
- Ex: do you think education is good or bad? Do you value education? Do you value family?
27
What's self-concept?
- One’s description of oneself
- Ex: at a job interview (who are you? Tell me about yourself)
- Who you think you are
28
What's ability?
What someone is capable of doing
29
What are emotional patterns?
- Ways in which people react emotionally to events
- Ex: emotion regulation
30
What's self-efficacy?
- High self-efficacy: starting a new job and feeling like you’ll do well at it
- Self-efficacy is not constant in every sphere of life -> some parts you may have high self-efficacy and some you may have low
31
Describe Maslow's hierarchy of needs
- Physiological needs (ex: air, water, food, shelter, sleep, clothing, reproduction) (lowest)
- Safety needs (ex: personal security, employment, resources, health, property)
- Love and belonging (friendship, intimacy, family, sense of connection)
- Esteem (ex: respect, self-esteem, status, recognition, strength, freedom)
- Self-actualization (desire to become the most that one can be) (highest)
- Physiological needs and safety needs are the most basic needs (once you've satisfied these, then you’re ready to grow)
- If you can’t meet your basic needs then you can’t grow
- Maslow believed that before you move on to the next one, you have to fulfill the one below it
- Self-actualization can only be focused on if all needs below are satisfied
- Transcendence (ability to understand the world and meaning of life) was a need added by Maslow -> at the top
- Theory of needs, motivation, and personality
32
Describe Alfred Adler
- 1870-1937
- Middle child
- Developed the approach of individual psychology
- Contributions to understanding of personality:
- Notion of striving for superiority
- Role of parental influence on personality development
- Effects of birth order
- Adler disagreed with Freud on almost everything except for unconscious motives
- What led to striving for superiority according to Adler was fearing inferiority
- Adler had an illness when he was younger which led him to feel inferior
- His childhood was marked by illness, awareness of death, and intense jealousy of his older brother
- Compensated for weaknesses through persistence
- When his brother was born, all the attention was taken away from him and went towards his brother
- His idea that personality comes from feelings of inferiority
- What contributes to feelings of inferiority: getting pampered, having a sibling doing better than you, neglect
33
Adler vs Freud
- Mind is an integrated whole vs Mind viewed as consisting of warring factions
- Emphasis on conscious mind vs Emphasis on unconscious mind
- Future goals are an important source of motivation vs Future goals unimportant
- Optimistic about human existence vs Pessimistic about human experience
- Dreams important to learn about mistaken lifestyles vs Dreams analyzed to detect the contents of the unconscious mind
- Humans free to determine their own personality vs Personality determined by heredity and environmental factors
- Minimized importance of sex vs Maximized importance of sex
- Goal of therapy to encourage a lifestyle that includes social interest vs Goal of therapy to discovered repressed early thoughts
34
Describe Erik Erikson
- Believed that ego is a relatively powerful, independent part of personality
- Ego psychology
- Principal function of the ego is to establish and maintain a sense of identity
- Identity crisis: confusion and despair we feel when we lack a strong sense of who we are
- He didn’t study with Freud directly -> studied with Anna Freud (his daughter)
- Contrary to Freud, he didn’t think that a person’s personality was formed in the first years of life but he believed this was developed throughout a person’s life
- Psychosocial approach
- According to Erikson, the principle source of the ego was to develop an identity
- If you don’t develop an identity, then you’ll be confused and may develop an identity crisis
- Erikson’s stages of personality development continue from infancy to old age
- Saw crises as turning points encountered by people in personality development
- Provides 2 directions in which to proceed
- How a person resolves a crisis determines the direction of their personality development
35
Describe Erikson's theory of Personality Development Throughout the Life Cycle
1. Basic trust vs mistrust
- Infancy
- Child whose needs are met develops a sense of basic trust
- Infants who never receive the loving care they need develops a sense of basic mistrust
2. Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt
- Toddler
- Autonomy: allowing children to manipulate and control what they encounter
- People with a sense of autonomy are confident
- Over protection of children hinders development and lead to shame and doubt
- Children become dependent on others
3. Initiative vs Guilt
- Early childhood
- Children who organize and participate in social activities develop a sense of initiative
- Children with lack of initiative feel guilt and resignation
4. Industry vs Inferiority
- Elementary School Age
- 1st time that the child is evaluated by someone other than their parents -> away from parental bias
- Industry: belief in one’s strengths and abilities
- Develops when children experience success
- Inferiority: lack of appreciation for one’s talents and skills
- Develops when children encounter failure
5. Identity vs Role Confusion
- Adolescence
- People with a sense of identity make decisions about personal values and religious questions
- Failing to develop a strong sense of identity leads to role confusion (identity crisis)
- If you get older and haven’t developed this sense of identity, this can be difficult
6. Intimacy vs Isolation
- Young adulthood
- Young people search for special relationship to develop intimacy and grow emotionally
- People who fail to develop intimacy face emotional isolation
- Erickson believes it’s important to develop some intimacy -> debatable
7. Generativity vs Stagnation
- Adulthood -> middle aged individuals
- Develop a concern for guiding the next generation
- Parents raise their children
- Adults without children play an active role in raising nieces and nephews
- Adults who fail to develop sense of generativity suffer from a sense of stagnation
8. Ego Integrity vs Despair
- Old age
- Ultimate stage (last stage of life)
- People who look back on their lives with satisfaction develop a sense of integrity
- People who fail to develop a sense of integrity fall into despair (feel that they haven’t led a good life) and express contempt for others
36
Describe Eysenck’s Arousal hypothesis
- Proposes that extraverted individuals have a low arousability of the cortex (they show a rather small magnitude of phasic change of cortical activity due to stimulation)
- These individuals may also be characterized by low cortical arousal (low tonic cortical activity)
- According to this hypothesis, arousal level is related to the hedonic tone (pleasant vs. unpleasant), so a low level of arousal is associated with an unpleasant experience
- To reduce this inconvenient state, extroverts seek situations that may increase their arousal
- Thus, they engage in typically extraverted behaviours
37
Describe the Reward deficiency syndrome
- Proposed by pharmacologist Kenneth Blum in the 1990s
- Sensation seekers, because of their lower numbers of inherited D2 receptors (dopamine receptors), are constantly motivated by the search for more intense sources of rewards
- Dopamine is associated with the anticipation of pleasure
- If you have inherited lower levels of dopamine receptors, you don’t find arousal in things that arouse others -> you need more extreme behaviors
- Ex: amounts of alcohol that arouse others are too low for you, so you consume more
- High sensation seekers are more prone to having problems with self-control, drug abuse, risky sexual behaviour, and aggressive behaviour
38
Describe Pankseep's Affective Neuroscience Theory
- Says that personality is due to the differential contribution of people’s brain systems
- According to Pankseep, these are dimensions of personality
- He’s relating different dimensions of personality to different brain regions and systems
- He’s using a biological theory to explain personality
39
What are the affective prototypes in Pankseep's Affective Neuroscience Theory?
- Generalized motivational arousal - SEEKING
- RAGE (affective attack)
- FEAR
- LUST (sexuality)
- Nurturance/maternal CARE
- Seperation distress/PANIC (social bonding)
- PLAY/ (social joy & affection)
40
Describe the study linking individual differences in satisfaction with each of Maslow's needs to the Big Five personality traits
- In this study they asked people how important each of the needs were for them
- They asked people to rank them with regards to which one was most important to them
- Less than 100 people said belonging was of lowest importance
- Most people said belonging and physiological needs were one of the most important
- Safety and security had much less people considering it as the most important need -> indicates that people take this for granted
- Self esteem and self actualization were also rated as not as important
- Participants thought that the most important need was the need to belong
41
Describe the links between the Big-Five and Maslow’s needs
- Extraversion most strongly correlated with esteem
- Agreeableness most strongly correlated with belonging
- Conscientiousness most strongly correlated with self-actualization
- Openness most strongly correlated with self-actualization -> not safety and security
- Neuroticism strongly and negatively correlated with all of Maslow's need importance -> the strongest association was found for the esteem score
42
Describe the findings for linking individual differences in satisfaction with each of Maslow's needs to the Big Five personality traits and Panksepp's primary emotional systems
- Openness to Experience + SEEKING + Self-actualization
- Extraversion + PLAY + Love/belonging
- Agreeableness + high CARE/low ANGER + Love/belonging & Safety
- Neuroticism + high SADNESS/high FEAR/high ANGER + Safety
- Conscientiousness + no robust association with a primary emotional system + esteem & self-actualization
- Conscientiousness doesn’t have a motivating property, it’s just about self-knowledge
43
What's the humanistic approach's explanation for aggression?
- People are basically good
- Aggression arises when something interferes with natural growth process
- Inadequate basic needs, poor self-image
44
What's the behavioural/social approach's explanation for aggression?
- People learn to be aggressive
- Aggressive behavior that's rewarded will be repeated
45
What's the cognitive approach's explanation for aggression?
Certain cues in the environment trigger a network of aggressive thoughts and emotions
46
What's the psychoanalytic approach's explanation for depression?
- Depression is a result of holding unconscious feelings of anger and hostility
- Anger and hostility directed inward
47
What's the trait approach's explanation for depression?
- Focuses on identifying depression-prone individuals
- Person's general emotional level at present can indicate that person's emotions in the future
48
What's the Cognitive triad of depression?
Negative about the present, negative about the future, negative about the world -> these are thought processes
49
Describe the purpose of assessment in personality study
Assessments can be used for evaluation in the context of diagnosis, education, counselling, research, vocational purposes
50
What's the Dark Triad of personality?
- Machiavellianism
- Psychopathy
- Narcissism
- Tend to be associated
51
What are different types of personality assessment?
- Self-Report Inventories (Subjects answer questions about their behaviors and feelings)
- Ex: objective measure - Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), the Dark Triad the Dirty Dozen, The Short Dark Triad (SD3), International Personality Item Pool
- Online Test Administration
- Projective Tests (ex: Rorschach Inkblot Technique, Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), Word association and sentence completion) -> reliability and validity of these are low
52
Describe Jung's individuation hierarchy
- Individuation: Integration of all conscious and unconscious facets of personality
- How to Reach Fulfillment
- Confront the unconscious (lowest)
- Dethrone the persona
- Accept the dark side
- Accept the anima and animus
- Transcend (highest)
53
What are the 2 Attitudes of the Psyche according to Jung?
- Extraversion: orientation toward external world and others
- Intraversion: orientation towards one's own thoughts and feelings
54
What are the different psychological functions according to Jung?
- Sensing (irrational): detects the presence of objects. It indicates that something is there but does not indicate what it is.
- Thinking (rational): tells what an object is. It gives names to objects that are sensed.
- Feeling (rational): determines what an object is worth to the person. Pertains to liking and disliking.
- Intuiting (irrational): provides hunches when factual information is not available
- Jung said, “Whenever you have to deal with strange conditions where you have no established values or established concepts, you will depend upon the faculty of intuition”
