personality Flashcards
Freud
developed the first psychodynamic theory, most contemporary psychologists are skeptical of his beliefs
Psychodynamic theory
a theory relating personality to the inter play of conflicting forces, including unconscious ones, within the individual
Freud’s psychosexual stages
oral stage: birth to 1 year
erogenous zone: mouth
anal stage: 1 to 3 year
erogenous zone: bowel and bladder control
phallic stage: 3 to 6 year
erogenous zone: genitals
latent stage: 6 to puberty
libido inactive
genital stage: puberty to death
maturing sexual interests
Id
doing what you want to do, ex: “I need to eat right this second!”
ego
negotiations between Id and superego
superego
behaving a certain way due to societal norms, ex: “You can’t do that because you’re in the middle of an important meeting.”
ego defense mechanisms
repression: removal of something to the unconscious
denial: refusal to believe unpleasant information
rationalization: attempt to show that actions are justifiable
displacement: diverting a behavior or thought away from its natural target and toward a less threatening target
regression: return to a more immature level of functioning
projection: attributing one’s own undesirable characteristics to others
reaction formation: presenting as the opposite of you true self
sublimation: transforming sexual/aggressive energies into culturally acceptable behaviors
Jung
-1875-1961
-follower of Freud
-collective unconscious
-certain concepts relating to humanity are innate, process of learning
collective unconscious
the cumulative experience of the preceding generation
Adler
-1870-1937
-believed that Freud overemphasized the sex drive
-founded individual psychology
-major contribution = inferiority complex
individual psychology
a psychology of the person as a whole rather than parts such as id/ego/superego
inferiority complex
an exaggerated feeling of weakness, inadequacy, and helplessness
learning approach
much of what we think of as personality is actually the result of social learning
humanistic psychology
-deals with consciousness, values, and abstract beliefs
-personality depends on beliefs and perceptions of the world (if you believe something was meaningful, then it was!)
Rogers
-1902-1987
-most influential humanistic psychologist
His ideas:
-we evaluate ourselves/our actions, beginning in childhood
-we develop a self-concept
-we develop an ideal self
-psychologists can help people to improve their self-concepts and/or revise their ideal selves
self-concept
an image of who we really are
ideal self
an image of who we want to be
traits
consistent tendencies in behavior, such as shyness, hostility, or talkativeness
states
temporary activations of a particular behavior (ex: being annoyed, waking up on the wrong side of the bed, or being hungover)
trait approach to personality
people have consistent characteristics in their behavior
The Big 5
Openness- how open you are to trying new things
Conscientiousness- how organized, neat, clean, and meticulous you are
Extraversion- how outgoing and social you are
Agreeableness- getting along with others easily/often. being a people person
Neuroticism- proneness of experiencing anxiety and depression which is something everyone experiences as some point in their lives
*all of these are in a spectrum from low to high
origins of personality
-clearly, there is a genetic component
-what gene(s) control personality? answers to this question is very complicated/poorly understood!
MMPI
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
-devised empirically (i.e. based on evidence rather than theory)
-mainly used to identify clinical problems
-example items: I have chest pains several times a week (hypochondria), There are evil people trying to influence my mind (paranoia), I see, hear, ans smell things that no one else known about (schizophrenia).
NEO-PI-R
NEO Personality Inventory-Revised
-mainly used to assess normal aspects of personality
-example items: am the life of the party (extraversion), sympathize with others’ feelings (agreeableness), get chores done right away (conscientiousness)
