Personality Flashcards
Who/What is the self?
A set of stable characteristics of how we interact with the world, interpret the world, and how we behave.
Early Approaches
Hippocrates, Galen, Gall, Kant
Hippocrates
medical model - Four temperaments based on four fluids, “humors”
humours (medical model)
- Sanguine 2. Phlegmatic 3. Melancholic 4. Choleric
1 social, eager and optimistic
2 Calm, reliable, thoughtful
3 reserved, unhappy
4 passionate, ambitious and bold
Galen
greek philosopher and physician
personality and disease are caused by imbalances in the humours
Gall
Phrenology
Brain would develop to lead to personality traits
(sections of the brain for different traits)
Kant
Traits added to humors
Melancholic - anxious, worried, unhappy, suspicious, serious, thoughtful
Phlegmatic resonable, principled, controlled, calm, persistant
Sanguine - playful, easygoing, sociable, hopefull
Choleric - excitable, egocentric, active, impulsive
The first comprehensive theory of personality
Freud
Triarchic Theory of personality
Triarchic Theory of personality
Id Ego Superego
Ego balances ID and superego
Imbalances lead to
Neurosis (tendency to experience negative emotions)
Anxiety disorders
Unhealthy behaviour
Overdevelop (triarchic theory)
Superego - experiences guilt, denies simple pleasures
Id - Narcissistic, impulsive
Id
unconscious
Primitive drives (food, water sex)
Pleasure principle: what I want, I want it now
Ego
unconscious/conscious
Reality principle: looks for id’s desires in reality
Rational part of our personality
Superego
unconscious/conscious
Moral compass (socialized)
Learned
Defense Mechanisms (Ego)
Egos attempt to restore balance to the system
Defense mechanisms are enacted by the unconscious mind
Unaware that we are using them
Protective function
Defense Mechanisms (list)
Denial
Displacement
Projection
Rationalization
Reaction Formation
Regression
Repression
Sublimation
Denial
refusing to accept real events because they are unpleasant
Displacement
displace your aggressive/unwanted thoughts onto something more socially acceptable
Projection
You project your feelings of anger unto the other person (as they are their feelings)
Rationalization
Justify your behavior by substituting unacceptable reasons or acceptable 1s
Reaction Formation
substitute negative emotions/ feeling with opposite (ex saying you like someone you don’t)
Regression
Revert to an early stage in life where things were simpler/ didn’t have to deal
Repression
Where the dark dark dark feelings are shoved into the deepest corners of your mind
Sublimation
When you channel your unwanted energy into something positive
Freud motivation stages
Oral Stage (0-18 months)
Libido focuses on mouth (biting, sucking, chewing)
Fixation: nail biting vs. dental hygiene
Anal Stage (18 - 36 months)
Libido focuses on bowel/bladder control
Fixation: uptight vs messy
Phallic Stage (3-6 years)
Genitals - cope with incestuous feeling
Fixation vain/overly ambitious
Latency Stage (6-puberty)
Dormant
Dormant: consolidate gender-role identity
Genital Stage (puberty onwards)
Behaviourists
Our personality is shaped by our environment
Through Learning principles of reinforcement/punishment
Personality develops across the lifespan
Personality is not fixed
One has to interact with a stimulus to directly experience the reinforcement
Proven not entirely accurate as you can learn from observation not just direct experience
Albert Bandure
Kids in front of tv
Teacher would interact with the doll in some way
Kids would mimic and expand on these behaviors
Put the children to watch teachers sometimes were scolded
Did not re create when those behaviors were punished
Social cognitive perspective
Our cognitions interact with behaviours and environments to each shape the other
Reciprocal determinism
Cognition -> Environment -> Behaviours _> reinforces cognition
Can go in any order
Our cognitions behaviours and environments all influence eachother
Our behaviours lead us to certain situations and to engage in certain behaviours , and these in turn reinforce our personality traits
Internal locaus of control
I believe I have the power over my life
I make things happen
Your effort anf your decisions determine your ooutcones
If something bad is in your life, you have the power to change it
Tend to be healthier study harder get better grades achieve more in career
External locus of control
Outcomes are beyond your control
Life happens to me
Luck and fate have more power over my outcomes than I do
(debated) give more lenient punishment for crimes
Trait theory (traits)
(1922) Allport
Cardianl traits
A dingle trait that describes their whole personality
Few people have these traits
Central traits:
Main ways in which we describe ourselves
Secondary traits:
Not obvious, do not regularly appear only in certain situations
Allports trait theory
Thorough description of personality
You have it or you dont
Catel and 16PF
Universal traits?
185 items - 16 personality dimensions
Traits not necessarily present or absent but along a continumum
The big five(traits)
Openness to new experiences
Conscientiousness
Extroversion
Agreeab;eness
Neuroticism
OCEAN
Extroversion (trait)
Outgoing and warm
Friendly
Like to meet people
Make friends easily
Recharge by making friends with others
More likely to report more friends and happiness
Not (Introvert)
Recharges spending time by themselves
Agreeablness (trait)
Easygoing polite friendly
More close friends enjoy working with other
Not
Uptight, rude, unfriendly\
Conscientious (trait)
Hardworking self disciplined, self directed
Less likely messy room, more likely to stick to deadlines
Not
Tardy and disorganized
Neuroticism (trait)
Negative mentions, stressed
Fewer friends, worse health, unhappier, stressed
Stable
Happier less negative focus
Opneness to new experiences (trait)
More creative, think more divergently, drink
New food, new people
Personality Genetics and Stability
Significate genetic component
Correlation of personality scores 30 years later
Room for change
Personalit a tree
Trunk (core) is there
Branches sway
Culture and Personality
(Culture) Beleifs, customs, art, traditions of a particular society
Transmitted througg language and socialization
Influence on personality (ie personality tests filled out in different languages produce different results)
How universal are the big 5?
Emerges most in western civilizations
Replicates across all cultures
Extraversion/Agreeable/conscientiousness
In other cultures:
6th factor, honesty or propriety
China: Harmony / dignity
Spanish: Good Natured / unconventional
Selective migration
Happier when a persons environment matches their personality
Evidence of personality clusters
People chose to live in places compatible with their personalities
The Person - Situation Controversy
Is behavior predicted by traits or by situational factors
Average correlation between trait and behavior
r = .30
Strong situations
Dictate behaviours
Same behaviour different traits
Weak situations
Does not dictate behaviour
Different behaviour different traits
Trait theory assumes
Traits are the true predictors of behaviour
