Personality Flashcards
Personality
According to Kunkel, refers to the long standing trails and patterns that propel individuals to consistently think, and behave in specific ways; our personalities are thought to be long-term, stable, and not easily changed
Idiographic View
assumes that each person has a unique psychological structure and that some traits are possessed by only one person; and that there are times when it is impossible to compare one person with other. It tends to use case studies for information gathering
Nomothetic View
emphasizes comparability among individuals. This viewpoint sees traits as having the same psychological meaning in everyone
Type A
self driven, competitive
Type B
charismatic; easy-going
Type C
introverts; stress-pone
Type D
love routine; follow orders
Who studied personality first?
Hippocrates; personality has been studied for over 2000 years
What are the four fluids or “humors” of the body?
choleric temperament; melancholic temperament; sanguine temperament; phlegmatic temperament
Choleric Temperament
yellow bile from the liver
Melancholic Temperament
black bile from the kidneys
Sanguine Temperament
red blood from the heart
Phlegmatic Temperament
white phlegm from the lung
Alfred Alder
first major theorist to break away from Freud; founded school of psychology called individual psychology which focuses on our drive to compensate for feelings of inferiority; he proposed the concept of the inferiority complex
Inferiority Complex
refers to a person’s feelings that they lack worth and do not measure up to the standards of others or of society; Alder believed that feelings of inferiority in childhood are what drive people to attempt to gain superiority and that this striving is the force behind all of our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors
What are the fundamental social tasks that Alder said we all must experience?
occupation tasks (careers), societal tasks (friendship), and love tasks (finding an intimate partner for a long term relationship)
What was one of ALder’s major contributions to personality psychology?
the idea that our birth order shapes our personality
Erik Erikson
proposed a psychosocial theory of development, suggesting that an individuals personality develops throughout their lifespan (against freud); Erikson emphasized the social relationships that are important at each stage of personality development; said that there are eight stages and must successfully complete each task
Carl Jung
broke away from Freud, but still believed in the unconscious but thought it to be incomplete; focused on the collective unconscious; proposed two attitudes or approaches towards life: extroversion and introversion; also proposed the persona