Other Theories of Personality

Question 1

What are the key assumptions of behaviourism?

Answer 1

• Evolutionary continuity
  
  • humans and animals are same simply different levels of complexity
• Reductionism
  
  • all behaviours ultimately understandable from nervous system
• Determinism
  
  • behaviour is caused (by environment/stimuli causing biochemical response)
• Empiricism
  
  • only phenomena that can be observed and measure is fit for psychology

Question 2

What was Watson’s behaviourism theory?

Answer 2

• Founder ‘Second force’ = behaviourism
  
  • Wanted to restore scientific standing of psychology
• Believed mental states exist but do not cause behaviour
• Personality = “sum of activity observed over a long time” the end product of “habit systems
• Relevent studies:
  
  • Pavlovs classical conditioning; watson extended to humans
  • Little Albert; Watson and Ragner,
    
    • limitations; 1 subject, insufficient assessment (just opinion)

Question 3

What were some issues with Watsons behaviourism?

Answer 3

• Ignores significant genetic components
  
  • We are not blank slates only to be conditioned
• Ignores Biological limits, innate dispositions and species specific behaviour
  
  • place ceiling on effectiveness of paradigm

Question 4

What was Skinners behaviourist theory?

Answer 4

• Learning is environmentally driven, thought exists but is secondary
• Interested in voluntary behaviour
  
  • Most behaviours are voluntary
  • Voluntary behaviour must occur before reinforcement
  • consequences of behaviour affect frequency of response
• Operant conditioning (not classical like watson)
  
  • Reinforcement needs to be contingent on response

Question 5

What are the main differences between Watson and Skinner’s behaviourism?

Answer 5

• Watson
  
  • radical behaviourism
    
    • no private events
  • environment ultimate cause
  • triggers automatic/involuntary behaviour
    
    • classical conditioning
• Skinner
  
  • contemporary behaviourism
    
    • private events
  • environment provides occasion
  • consequences of behaviour affect recurrence
    
    • operant conditioning

Question 6

What are the main differences between behaviourism and psychodynamics?

Answer 6

Question 7

Summarise Behaviourism in terms of refutability, human agency, causality and nomothetic characteristics

Answer 7

Question 8

What are the key characteristics of the humanist movement?

Answer 8

• The third wave
• Everyone has potential for healthy and creative growth
• Individuals make genuinely free choices
  
  • Self is in charge of own fate
• Personality develops as a pulling towards a goal
  
  • as opposed to a pushing by drives

Question 9

What was Maslows hierachy theory?

Answer 9

• Father of humanist psychology
• Developed hierarchy of needs; Before can satisfy higher needs must first meet lower needs
  
  1. Self Actualisation
  2. Esteem
  3. Love/Belonging
  4. Safety
  5. Physiological
• Assumptions
  
  • Only few ever reach self actualisation many try
  • The more lower needs are satisfied the more the next level demands
  • Can be simultaneously motivated across levels
  • Occasionally hierarchy reversed
  • Lack of satisfaction leads to pathology
  • Self-actualisation = full use of abilities

Question 10

What are the characteristics of maslows self-actualisation?

Answer 10

• Autonomy
• Acceptance of self, others and nature
• Creativity
• Efficient perception of reality
• Spontaneity and simplicity
• External problem-centered
• Need for privacy
• Continued fresh appreciation
• Peak experience
• Social interest in community
• Profound interpersonal relations
• Democratic character structure
• Discrimination between means and ends
• Philosophical sense of humour
• Resistance to enculturation

Question 11

Evaluate maslows hierachy

Answer 11

• Support:
  
  • Correlations with Personal Orientation Inventory (POI)
• Rowan proposed three amendments
  
  • Clearer distinction between esteem and self-esteem
  • Include ‘Need for Competence’ between safety and love
  • Eradicate pyramid

Question 12

What are the key factors of Roger’s Client Centred Therapy?

Answer 12

• Individual has vast resources for self understanding
  
  • Can alter self concept & behaviour if given right environment
• Six Conditions for Personality Change:
  
  1. Two people in psychological contact
  2. Client in state of incongruence
  3. Therapist is congruent
  4. Therapist has unconditional positive regard for client
  5. Therapist empathises and communicates empathy
  6. Communication is received
• Therapist requirements:
  
  1. Congruence
  2. Empathy
  3. Unconditional positive regard

Question 13

What are the assumptions of Person centred theory?

Answer 13

• Roger’s Self
  
  • Self emerges when experiences become personalised - ‘I’
  • Self-concept = aspects of one’s being in awareness
• The fully functioning person
• Formative tendency
  
  • mater evolves from simpler to more complex forms
• Actualising tendency
  
  • tendency to move towards fulfilment of potential
  • increasing self-directedness

Question 14

What are the similarities and differences between Maslow and Roger’s Humanism?

Answer 14

Question 15

Summarise Humanism in terms of Refutability, human agency, causal/teleology and nomelithic/ideographic characteristics

Answer 15

Question 16

What are the main assumptions of Banduras Social Cognitive Theory?

Answer 16

• Vicarious learning
  
  • we can learn through observation
• Cognition is important
  
  • People anticipate and evaluate reinforcement and consequences
  • beliefs and plans bring about desired outcome
• Reciprocal Determinism
  
  • behaviour (and personality) moulded by
    
    • personal factors (P)
    • environmental factors (E)
    • behaviour (B)
  • These 3 factors need not be of equal strength, relevant importance can be situational

Question 17

What 3 factors determine learning from a model (for Bandura)?

Answer 17

• Characteristics of model
  
  • status, competence, power
  • more likely to model people we admire
• Characteristics of observer
  
  • people lacking skill/status/power more likely to model
  • more likely to model people we identify with/are similar to
• Consequences of behaviour
  
  • more value on behaviour = more learning

Question 18

What is Banduras 5 step model of obsevational learning?

Answer 18

1. Attend to model
2. Remember what is seen or heard
3. Reproduce the memory through imitation
   
   • Factors imitated are value driven
4. Motivation because of reinforcement
   
   • of accurate performance of observed behaviour
5. The imitated action is a newly organised pattern of behaviour not previously done

Question 19

Describe the aggression research that relates to observational learning

Answer 19

• Bobo Doll experiment:
  
  • children watch an adult play aggressively with a doll (not normal/already known manner)
  • Aggression generalised in imitation from mallet to gun
  • controversy: mimickry just as strong for video as live action
    
    • meta analysis shows 10% affected by video violence, but included non reinforcing contingencies
• Moral judgement modelling:
  
  • modelling of higher order moral judgements in children isnt permanent but observed
  • limited by undeveloped P factor in children

Question 20

What is Bandura’s Self-System?

Answer 20

• The self system is at the heart of human functioning - our personality
• People are self reflectors and self regulators
• Set of cognitive structures:
  
  • perception, evaluation, regulation of behaviour
• Includes metacognitive thought
  
  • e.g. perceived self-efficacy

Question 21

What is Banduras concept of Self Efficacy?

Answer 21

• self-efficacy = belief in one’s abilities to achieve desired aims
  
  • perception involves appraisal of abilities
• perceived self-efficacy is a constituent and determinant of personality
  
  • High PSE = greater cognitive resourcefullness, flexibility
  • Low PSE = more anxiety, less adventurous, slower recovery from setback
• PSE vs Capability:
  
  • PSE = Capability : optimal
  • PSE < Capability: inhibited growth
  • PSE > Capability: frustration

Question 22

What are the four principle sources of self efficacy?

Answer 22

• Mastery experiences/performance accomplishments:
  
  • most influential
  • critical that mastery is attained in steps (from easy to hard)
  • failure reduces confidence but perserverence builds resilience
• Vicarious experiences
  
  • watching others similar to you succeed
• Social/verbal persuasion
  
  • being coached, persuaded that you can do it
• Physiological and emotional state
  
  • stress reduces effort –> less success –> lower SE
• Sources are weighted differently for each person and for each task
  
  • stress management is the greatest dietary aid

Question 23

What are some applications of Banduras Self Efficacy theory?

Answer 23

• students with high self-efficiacy and average ability manage their work superiorly
• practicing mastery is most powerful source of creating self-efficacy
• self efficacy is context specific
  
  • performance self-efficacy: largest correlate with GPA
  • coping self-efficacy: leads to post traumatic recovery
  • safe sex self-efficacy
  • memory self-efficacy
  • creative self-efficacy

Question 24

What is the role of fortuitous events according to Bandura?

Answer 24

• Events we have no control over can be the most important determinants of personality
• Minor events may have enduring impacts on life and personality

Question 25

Summarise Banduras Social-Cognitive Theory in terms of Refutability, Human agency, Causality and Idiograpgic/Nomothetic factors

Answer 25