Personality

Question 1

How do twin and adoption studies show genetic and environmental influences on personality

Answer 1

Personality traits are inheritable
Nonshared environment has influence, shared environment does not

Question 2

Core assumptions of psychoanalytic theory (Freud)

Answer 2

Psychic determinism - all psychological events have a cause
Symbolic meaning - no action is meaningless
Unconscious motivation- we rarely understand why we do what we do (iceberg)

Question 3

Freuds theory of unconscious motivation

Answer 3

ID- unconscious, basic instincts, pleasure
Superego- sense of morality
Ego- principle decision maker

Question 4

Freuds stages of psychosexual development (controversial)

Answer 4

Oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital

Question 5

Criticisms of psychoanalytic theory

Answer 5

Untestability, failed predictions, questionable conception of the unconscious, lack of evidence, flawed assumption of shared environmental influences

Question 6

Neo-Freudian theories

Answer 6

Share emphasis on unconscious influences and importance of early experience, less emphasis on sexuality

Question 7

Core assumptions of behavioural and social learning theories of personality

Answer 7

Behaviourist- personality is controlled by genetic factors and contingencies in environment (reinforced and punishment). Determinism
Social- thinking is a central role in personality, how we interpret environment affects how we react to it, observation

Question 8

Social learning theory - locus of control

Answer 8

Internal locus of control - life events are due to their own efforts and characteristics
External- Luck or chance or fate

Question 9

Criticisms of behavioural and social learning approaches

Answer 9

• too far in exclusion of thinking as a cause of personality
• studies show that shared environment has little to no influence on adult personality

Question 10

Self actualisation and its role in humanistic models

Answer 10

The drive to develop our innate potential to the fullest possible extent
Carl Roger’s: personality consists of 3 major components. Organism, self and conditions of worth
Organism is genetic blueprint
Self is beliefs about who we are
Conditions of worth is expectations we place on ourselves for appropriate and inappropriate behaviour

Question 11

Criticisms of humanistic approach

Answer 11

Naive about human nature
Difficult to falsify

Question 12

Trait models of personality including big 5

Answer 12

Trait theory uses factor analysis to identify groups of personality features that correlate. The groups correspond to broader traits e.g. extroversion

Question 13

Big 5 (OCEAN)

Answer 13

Big 5: extroversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness

Question 14

Criticism of traitors models

Answer 14

Don’t predict isolated behaviours with high accuracy
Descriptive rather than explanatory

Question 15

Describe structured personality tests e.g. MMPI2 and their methods of construction

Answer 15

Consists of questions that people can answer in only one of a few mixed ways (t or f or 1-5)
MMPI2 is 10 basic scales that assess personality disorders. Empirical (data based)

Question 16

Describe projective tests (Rorschach) and their strengths and weaknesses

Answer 16

Ask examiners to interpret ambiguous stimuli (ink blots)
Lack reliability, validity

Question 17

Common pitfalls in personality assessment

Answer 17

P.T Barnum effect: people accept descriptions that can apply to almost anyone
illusory correlation
Need for scientific methods as safeguard against human error