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PSYC 102 > Personality > Flashcards

Personality Flashcards

1
Q

What do you call temporary differences (e.g.: hunger, anger) in people’s psychology?

A

State Differences

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2
Q

What do you call permanent and enduring differences (e.g.: shyness, friendliness) between people’s psychology?

A

Trait Differences

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3
Q

Define Personality

A

A person’s characteristic and enduring style of behaving, thinking, and feeling. Personality is about traits, not states.

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4
Q

In measuring personality, what is self-report? What are the problems that go with this?

A

Self-report is when a person is asked a set of questions regarding his/her personality. The problems with this is that the reports can be dishonest, and the problem of desirability.

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5
Q

In measuring personality, what is observation? What are the problems that go with this?

A

Observation is when a person is being watched/observed. The problem with this is that there can be biased measuring (done by the observer) and that there is no guarantee that the person is being honest with their behaviour.

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6
Q

What are the four theories that describe where distinct personalities come from?

A
  1. Heredity and Evolution: personality is a primarily genetic trait that makes humans adaptive to change in the environment
  2. Early developmental experiences: personality comes from positive and negative experiences we have in our childhood and youth
  3. Social-Cognitive Approach: personality comes form our history of reward and punishment in various social situations (varies by person and culture)
  4. Humanistic Approach: personality comes about as we try to maximize our well-being and autonomy
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7
Q

What are self-report measures?

A

Any test in which a person is asked to evaluate themselves on questions, which often rank on scales from “not at all like me” to “very much like me”

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8
Q

What makes indirect self-report different from direct self-report?

A

Indirect measures ask questions about personality without overtly signaling what they are interested in
example: asking about leadership, storytelling, and attractiveness to actually measure narcissism

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9
Q

What are “catch items” used for?

A

Used to tell psychologists if a participant is likely to be telling the truth or not (if not, the results are disregarded) in order to measure the tendency to lie

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10
Q

How do you make a “good test”?

A

By converging multiple methods by comparing the self-report measure to observable behaviour, asking friends and family, and other objective measurements

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11
Q

What is the common phenomenon whereby people take general descriptions to be highly specific to them (and their personality)?

A

The Barnum/Forer Effect

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12
Q

What is the gold-standard for personality assesments?

A

Self-reports

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13
Q

What is the “Big Five”?

A

Psychological theory of the underlying core traits/factors of personality that predict behaviour in almost every situation

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14
Q

The factor that describes a person’s curiosity for experiencing new and varied things. It is strongly related to one’s intellect and imagination/creativity. People high in this factor are creative, dreamers, idealists, with a need to learn. People low in this factor prefer concrete facts rather than ideals, are traditional, down-to-earth, practical, and prefer routines.

A

Openness to Experience

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15
Q

The factor that describes a person’s degree of thoughtfulness, organization, and responsibility. It is strongly related to orderliness and industriousness. People high in this typically do very well in school and are described as self-disciplined, exacting, focused, and responsible. People low in this are more laid-back, and less goal and success-oriented.

A

Conscientiousness

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16
Q

The factor that describes a person’s preference for social activities, including feeling energized from interacting with others. It is related to both enthusiasm for social situations and to assertiveness in social situations. People high in this “recharge” by hanging out with others, are social and fun-loving. People low in this are not shy or anti-social and “recharge” by being by themselves, and tend to be more reserved around others.

A

Extraversion

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17
Q

The factor that describes a person’s degree of kindness and need for social harmony as opposed to conflict. It is related to one’s compassion, empathy, and politeness. People high in this are considerate, kind, empathetic, and willing to compromise for others. People low in this are typically sceptical and distrustful of other people and their motives, and are not compromising in social situations.

A

Agreeableness

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18
Q

The factor that describes a person’s tendency to have negative, pessimistic, or unstable emotions. It is related to emotional volatility and social withdrawal. People high in this experience a lot of anxiety and stress, are usually self-conscious and shy. People low in this are typically emotionally stable and not as affected by stressful situations.

A

Neuroticism

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19
Q

The “Big Five” is widely accepted today because of its very high predictive validity on:

A
  1. Job and school outcomes (high conscientiousness and agreeableness)
  2. Heart disease (low agreeableness)
  3. Politics (low openness for conservatives and high openness for liberals)
  4. Behaviour on Social Media (high extraversion for more friends and posts)
  5. Preference for cats or dogs (extraverts prefer dogs and people who have high openness prefer cats)
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20
Q

An approach to studying psychological processes by understanding why and how they might be universal adaptations shaped by principles of evolution to solve problems faced by our ancestors

A

Evolutionary Psychology (EP)

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21
Q

Selection of traits that support adaptive survival and procreation

A

Natural Selection

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22
Q

Selection of traits that promote adaptive procreation by advertising a mate as eligible and unique

A

Sexual selection

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23
Q

What are the three major challenges of Evolutionary Psychology?

A
  1. Adaptations can exist even without evolutionary pressures (ex: a trait can be universal/adaptive but that doesn’t mean it’s genetic/encoded for by natural/sexual selection)
  2. The environment is not static (ex: evolution, comparing our ancestor’s environment to our environment now is dramatically different)
  3. Just-So Stories (ex: explanations that may sound plausible such as the one about people’s fear of spiders)
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24
Q

If genes naturally bias organisms towards one type of personality or another, we should generally expect:

A
  1. Heritability (ex: high correlations in personality for identical vs. fraternal twins)
  2. Manipulate Genes (ex: personality should be changed by genetic manipulations)
  3. Manipulate Environment (ex: environment in which you grow up should not change your personality very much)
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25
Q

Though not as strong as intelligence, studies suggest that, at least for extraversion and neuroticism, good evidence shows that genes play a _______ role

A

Answer: moderate
(Though not as strong as intelligence, studies suggest that, at least for extraversion and neuroticism, good evidence shows that genes play a moderate role)

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26
Q

How does the Silver Fox Experiment show 1: Manipulating Genes and 2: Manipulating Environment?

A
  1. Manipulating genes: only the “calmest” foxes were bred and after generations, there were “cuddly” cubs
  2. Manipulating environment: tame foxes were embryonically implanted into wombs of aggressive mothers, yet when born and raised, they (tame foxes) remained calm and vice versa
    (this shows that behaviours/personality of the foxes are genetic)
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27
Q

A radically different conceptualization of personality that argues that the way people act is dependent on one’s self-perception and history of rewards and punishments. Under this view, personality may shift throughout one’s life, especially when the environments we are in suddenly change our perception of our attainment of rewards

A

Social-Cognitive Approach to Personality

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28
Q

Our expectations about the consequences that will happen because of some actions

A

Outcome Expectancies

29
Q

The tendency to perceive outcomes of a situation as internal (controlled by yourself) or external (not controlled by you)

A

Locus of Control

30
Q

True or False: People with an internal locus of control are more self-reflective of their actions.

A

True. These types of people tend to acknowledge that they have control in a given situation. They tend to be more organized, friendly, healthy and social. They have high conscientiousness and agreeableness.

31
Q

True or False: People with an external locus of control are highly neurotic.

A

True. These people often blame external factors in a given situation. Them having external locus of control often leads to anxiety.

32
Q

A subfield of psychology concerned with documenting similarities and differences in psychology in people from different cultures

A

Cross-Cultural Psychology

33
Q

Why is cross-cultural research very difficult to perform?

A

With globalization making cultures become increasingly similar, translating tasks across different cultures is hard to do.

34
Q

What does the acronym WEIRD stand for?

A

Western (participants from Europe, Canada, USA)
Educated (12-16 years of schooling)
Industrialized (city-dwelling, non-traditional occupations)
Rich (easy access to healthcare, roads, etc.)
Democratic (valuing individual expression)

35
Q

Cultures in which the uniqueness of each individual person in strongly esteemed; individuals of this society feel that they, first and foremost, belong to themselves and can live and act in any way that they see fit

A

Individualistic Cultures

36
Q

Cultures in which social harmony outweighs the importance of each individual person; individuals of this society feel that they, first and foremost, belong to a group to which they must contribute to and compromise for.

A

Collectivist Cultures

37
Q

Members of individualistic cultures are more likely to attribute to people an enduring and unchanging personality that is characteristic of ________

A

Answer: a person
(Members of individualistic cultures are more likely to attribute to people an enduring and unchanging personality that is characteristic of a person)

38
Q

Members of collectivist cultures are more likely to evaluate the social situation in which the person found themselves, and hence the personality is characteristic of __________

A

Answer: the situation
(Members of collectivist cultures are more likely to evaluate the social situation in which the person found themselves, and hence the personality is characteristic of the situation)

39
Q

A story we tell about ourselves (to ourselves and others) by both assimilating and contrasting to others

A

Self-Narrative

40
Q

The extent to which a person likes, values, and accepts themselves

A

Self-Esteem

41
Q

What are the two ways of protecting self-esteem (especially in individualistic cultures)?

A
  1. Self-Verification: we pay more attention to events that confirm our positive self-narrative than to those that deny it
  2. Downward-Comparison: act of comparing yourself to somebody you believe is doing worse or is worse off than you
42
Q

What are the “Dark Triad Personalities”?

A

A group of three personalities that are though to be highly negative and malicious

43
Q

A personality trait marked by a grandiose sense of self combined with a need for approval by others

A

Narcissism

44
Q

A personality trait associated with a willingness to manipulate others for your own gain

A

Machiavellianism

45
Q

A personality trait characterized by a lack of empathy or regard for others, lack of inhibitory control, and persistent antisocial behaviour

A

Psychopathy

46
Q

Aspects of our cognition that are automatic and that we have no awareness of

A

Unconscious Cognition

47
Q

What are the two radical ideas Freud has on the Unconscious Cognition?

A

Unconscious cognition is richer than we think - it actively learns, feels, wants
Unconscious cognition drives all behaviour - most of what we are aware of is just a byproduct of what happens in our unconscious

48
Q

What are the three separate systems that work independently and according to their own special set of rules as described by Freud?

A

The Id, Superego, and Ego. They are not rational processes.

49
Q

What is the Id?

A

Present at birth that is the source of our bodily needs, desires, and impulses especially aggression and sex

50
Q

What is the Superego?

A

Develops through punishment and cultural experience and tells us what we cannot do, operating primarily through guilt

51
Q

What is the Ego?

A

The only system we have conscious access to. Balances the Id’s wants and the Superego’s rules

52
Q

Developmental stages that form personality, in each stage, the child experiences pleasure for specific body areas and caregivers either provide or interfere with those pleasures

A

Psychosexual Stages

53
Q

What does an incomplete stage result in according to the Psychosexual Stages by Freud?

A

Fixation

54
Q

What is the Oral Stage and what does it result to if it is not completed?

A

It’s the first psychosexual stage that focuses on pleasures of the mouth such as sucking and chewing. Only the Id exists and the ego slowly develops. Failure of this stage results in oral fixation such as too much eating, thumb sucking, smoking, or constant need for affection.

55
Q

What is the Anal Stage and what does it result to if it is not completed?

A

It’s the second psychosexual stage that focuses on pleasures of the anus such as toilet training and there’s still no superego for this stage. Failure to complete this stage results in an anal fixation, which includes overly rigid and controlling personality, and obssession with material possessions.

56
Q

What is the Phallic Stage and what does it result to if it is not completed?

A

It is the third psychosexual stage that focuses on the phallic-genital region. During this stage, the superego develops. This is also the stage the boy discovers he has a penis and wants to receive pleasure from his mother. This is when the Oedipus Complex is experienced.

57
Q

What is the Latency Stage and what does it result to if it is not completed?

A

It is the fourth psychosexual stage in which the child’s repressed conflicts lead to seeking friendship in non-erotic activities developing intellectual, creative, and interpersonal skills. This stage cannot be failed, though previously manifested fixations can continue occuring.

58
Q

What is the Genital Stage and what does it result to if it is not completed?

A

It is the fifth and final psychosexual stage in which the adult, mature personality emerges, people become capable of love and friendship, and sexual desire. In this stage, people become capable of dealing with the repressed conflicts of their childhood.

59
Q

How is a girl’s case different when going through the psychosexual stages according to Freud?

A

A girl goes through the oral and anal stages normally and then reaches the phallic stage. She then discover that she doesn’t have a penis and she consider it the worst day of her life.

60
Q

What is the Electra Complex?

A

Because the Id deeply desires a penis (“penis envy”), girls become strongly attracted to their father and very angry at their mother, who they see as weak for lacking a penis. In an effort for their father to love them, the girls act more like their mothers, developing a superego and entering the latency stage. Once done, they generalize their desire for their father onto men in general.

61
Q

True or False: Even after you are in genital stage, both the Id and the Superego remain and are infexible, uncompromising, demanding, and loud.

A

True. The Id has desires that are sometimes inappropriate and the superego has overly strict rules that make you feel ashamed and awful about yourself. If the ego fails to control these two, then you either have inappropriate impulses or feel deeply ashamed.

62
Q

Unconscious ways of coping that reduce anxiety and allow the ego to control inappropriate impulses from the Id or shaming from the superego

A

Defense Mechanisms

63
Q

Purposefully forgetting something

A

Repression

64
Q

Replacing your desire with the strongly opposite feeling

A

Reaction Formation

65
Q

Attributing your shame or desires to somebody else (ex: thinking somebody is attracted to you because you are actually and secretly attracted to them)

A

Projection

66
Q

Shifting impulses to more neutral targets

A

Displacement

67
Q

According to Freud, your personality emerges from:

A
  1. The perpetual unconscious conflict between your id, ego, and superego
  2. Any incomplete psychosexual stages and their related fixations
  3. From defense mechanisms that emerge when your ego is trying to prevent shame or impulses from reaching your consciousness

In other words, personality is the consequence of things going wrong.

68
Q

What do psychologists agree on when it comes to the incorrect details in Freud’s theory?

A
  1. No id, ego, and superego
  2. No psychosexual stages
  3. Cross-culturally poor effects
  4. Non-falsifiable

PSYC 102 (3 decks)

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