personality Flashcards
what is personality
Personality is psychological in nature, fall outside the intellectual domain, are enduring dispositions rather than transient states, and form relatively broad or generalised patterns.
nomothetic focus of personality
emphasises the development of generalisation & laws & behaviours
looking at patterns and trends of a large group
idiographic focus of persoality
emphasises intensive analysis of the individual’s uniqueness
looking at the individual
personality through history
Hypocrisies - personality was determined by balance of fluid
greek theater - person is a character
why is it difficult to define psychology
elusive & a psychological construct
personality expressions
what you express based on aspects of personality
- aggression
- optimism/pessimism
- mental health
personality determinants
factors that determine your personality
- environments
- biological (hormones, age)
- genetics
the topographic model of psychoanalytic
levels of awareness
everything in the mind has a specific cause
conscious
- stream of thought
- events recalled
- everyday life
preconscious
- below the level of immediate conscious where the mind can recall memories & emotions that have not been repressed
unconscious
- Freud thought caused a significant portion of our mental life
- repressed thoughts
The structural model of psychoanalysis
id - irrational and emotional (pleasure principle)
Ego - rational & decision making (reality principle)
superego - the moral part of the mind
note: there is overlap between topographic & structural models
psychic conflict in the structural model
tug of war between id and superego for sexual or aggressive impulses
ego is anxious about the id (bad actions) and superego (gulit) getting out of control
defense mechanisms protect from anxiety & guilt
defense mechanisms
mechanisms to cope with psychic conflict & find appropriate solutions
- repression
- projections
- displacement (take it out on someone else)
- transference (taking a relationship with one person and applying it to every person similar)
- reaction formation
- rationalization
mental energy motives in psychoanalytic
lobido
- life drive, sexual drive
- motive towards procreation, reproductivity & growth
thanatos (death)
- destruction, disorder
- ultimately death
The genetic model of psychoanalysis
oral (0-1)
- mouth (sucking, biting)
- weaning from breast
- fixation: sadistic
anal (2-3)
- anus (expelling & retaining feces)
- toilet training
- fixation: messy or neat
phallic (4-5)
- genitals (masturbating)
- identifying with adult role models coping with oedipal crisis (son rejected by mother affecting every subsequent relationship)
- regression: flirtatious & macho aggressive
latency (6-12)
- none (sexually repressed)
- expanding social contacts
Genital puberty onward
- genitals (being sexually intimate)
- establishing intimate relationships & contributing to society through working
fixation: a failure to move forward from one stage to another due to excessive gratification or frustration of needs at a particular stage
contributions of psychoanalytic theories
- first to propose existence of unconscious processes
- first to explain effects of early development
- major contributions to treatment of anxiety & mood disorders
criticisms of psychoanalytic theories
- not falsifiable
- poor external validity
- inadequate empirical evidence
- sexism
- functions of philosophies
behaviourism and personality
- personality is the sum of behaviours
- causes of our behaviours is found in the environment
- behaviourists perform functional analysis
personality and conditioning
classical (association)
- skinner using unconditional and conditional stimuli
operant (learning through reinforcement or punishment)
- positive & negative reinforcement & punishment
social (learning through imitation)
- same behaviour (similar response)
- matched-dependant (mimicking)
- copying (self-efficacy, complex behaviour)
contributions of behaviourists
- first truly at being truely objective & scientific in personality
- understand major effects of environment
- treatment of phobias, substance abuse, mood disorders
criticism of behaviourists
- denying existence of free will (we are passive)
- overdependence on animal research
- simplistic
- didn’t propose a personality structure
issues behaviourists had with psychoanalysts
- clinical approach (no generalisation)
- theoretical approach (no scientific validity)
key theorists of humanism
- Maslow
- Rogers
key concepts of humanism (5)
1 Personal growth
- motivation to develop & achieve constantly
- realise and utilise means to reach goals
- encourage self-exploration
2 Personal experience
- valuing subjective experiences
- uniqueness of own experience (sense of self)
3 Now and Here
- prioritise present moment awareness
- being present leads to greater growth & wellbeing
4 Personal responsibility
- person’s role in actively shaping their life & experiences
- autonomy, self-determination, goals
5 Inherent goodness of people
- innate capacity for growth, compassion, self-improvement
Maslow’s heirarchy of needs
self actualisation
d levels
- esteem needs
- belongingness and love needs
- safety needs
- physiological needs
differences between humanism & existentialism
existentialism took a more leveled approach
- focuses on good & bad
assumptions of humanism & existentialism (becoming mentally ill in a model that rejects mental illness)
incongruence
- medical disorders when there is discrepancy between one’s experiences & their self-concept
- d needs are not met
terror management (awareness & response to death)
- awareness of mortality makes us free & not managing our mortality creates anxiety
contributions of humanism & existentialism
- holistic personality theories
- first theories to look at free will & choice
- first non-deterministic theories
- gave rise to a positive psychology
- contributions to social care systems & treatment of substance abuse
criticisms of humanism & existentialism
- why is society bad (oversimplify)
- unfalsifiable
- function best as life guides rather than a scientific framework
- downplay significance of culture
assumptions of the trait approach
personality….
- exists
- probabilistic & dynamic
personality is an interplay between
- cognition
- temperament characteristic (biologically based)
- constitution or physiology (genetics)
- environment
what determines personality traits approach
- 40% genetics
- 10% shared environment
- 50% nonshared environment
What are traits
building blocks of personality
general dispositions that people possess that uniquely influence their personality
- outgoing, impulsive, empathetic etc
traits are probabilistic and everyone possesses traits to different degrees
relatively stable over time & situation
hierarchy arranged
what is the difference between traits & states?
Traits - stable over time enduring patterns
states - temporary fleeting emotions
hierarchy of traits
going from less stable, simpler, more dimensions to more stable, complex, fewer dimensions
- situational responses
- habitual responses
- temperament (biologically based)
- traits
- personality dimensions
dimensions in the trait approach
personality space is made up of dimensions
- openness, extraversion, agreeableness etc
dimensions are linear & independent, finite &
measured by factor analysis
lexical taxonomy trait typology (big 5)
neuroticism: stability
extraversion: degree of social impact
agreeableness quality of social impact
conscientiousness: responsibility, will to change
openness: artistic tendencies, interlect
psychobiological taxonomy trait typology (big 3)
neuroticism (emotionality)
- predisposition to mood & anxiety disorders
extraversion (activity)
- predisposition to accidents & substance abuse
- mediates effects of other two dimensions
psychoticism (tough vs tender mindedness)
- predisposition to psychiatric disorders
contributions of trait approach
- evidence based
- reliable predictions
- testable & probalbists
- cross-cultural & gender & age validity
- direct applications
- foundation of clinical psychology
criticisms of trait approach
- no agreement on how many traits or dimensions
- heavily dependent on statistics
- impractical as a medical method
- do they even exist??????
performance based personality assessment
- reveal/assess of internal mental states of a person
issue with ecological validity
eg raven’s progressive matrices test
behaviour observations personality assessment
assessment of typical manifestations of an attribute within a specific context
- semi-unstructured interviews
- participant-observations (ethnography)
past behaviour is valid predictor of future behaviour
problem of replicability & morality (potentially)
self (peer) reports (most common)
self report & informant report
assessment of one’s own or peers feelings, attitudes, beliefs, values etc
- personality test, clinical interview
problem of dishonesty & response bias
psychophysiological assessment
measuring biological functions that relate to personality
- eg fMRI, EEG, PET scans, gene sequencing
problem of reductionism & practicality
concerns with interpreting results
are observed attitudes real
- cultural test bias
- dishonest
- leading questions
are observed attributes important
do tests help or hurt
- labeling
