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
Collective Unconscious
a universal version of the personal unconscious, holding mental patterns, or memory traces, which are common to all of us; these ancestral memories (which Jung called archetypes) are represented by universal themes in various cultures, as expressed throughout literature, art, and dreams. Jung said these themes reflect common experiences of people all over the world face such as facing death, becoming independent, and striving for mastery
Extrovert
you are a person who is energized by being outgoing and socially oriented: you derive your energy from being around others
Introvert
you are a person who may be quiet and reserved, or you may be social, but your energy is derived from your inner psychic activity
Persona
a mask that we adopt; according to Jung we consciously create this person; however it is derived from both our conscious experiences and our collective unconscious; Jung believed that it is a compromise between who we really are (our true self) and what society expects us to be; we hide parts of ourselves that are not aligned with society’s expectations
The Behavioral Perspective of Personality
behaviorists do not believe in biological determinism: they do not see personality traits as inborn; instead they view personality as significantly shaped by reinforcements and consequences outside of the organism; Skinner believed that environment was solely responsible for all behavior, including the enduring, consistent behavior patterns studied by personality theorists