Personality Flashcards
Consistency
the stability in a person’s behavior over time and across situations
Distinctiveness
the behavioral differences among people reacting to the same situation
What are the BIG FIVE trait theories and who developed them?
Openness to Experience - degree of curiosity & insight
Conscientiousness - thoughtfulness, goal-seeking
Extraversion - excitability, assertiveness
Agreeableness - Trust, altruism, kindness
Neuroticism - moodiness, emotional instability
Developed by McCrae & Costa
What are the 4 Perspectives on Personality
Psychodynamic - Frued, Jung, Adler
Behavioral - Skinner, Badura
Humanistic - Roger, Maslow
Biological - Eysencks
What is Frueds psychoanalytic theory?
our childhood experiences and unconscious desires shape our personality
What does Frued say about the unconscious mind
a reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories that are outside of conscious awareness
What are the three components of the structure of personality
Frued made this btw
Id
Ego
Superego
Id
primary process thinking
primal impulses
driven by the pleasure principle
Ego
Secondary process thinking
conscious controller
decision-maker
Superego
provides the moral standards
aware of what is right and wrong
What are the three levels of awareness
Consciousness
Preconscious
Unconscious
Consciousness
all things we are aware of
EX: being hungry rn
Preconscious
things we could pay conscious attention to if we wanted to
EX: remebering you have a middle name
Unconscious
things that are outside of conscious awareness, like memories
Unconscious conflict
Internal battle between the Id and Superego
Repression
Defense Mechanisms
Refusing to accept real events because they are unpleasent
EX: a traumatized soldier has no recollection of the details of a close brush with death.
Projection
Defense Mechanisms
Implying unacceptable desires to others
EX: a woman who dislikes her boss thinks she likes her boss but feels that the boss doesn’t like her.
Displacement
Defense Mechanisms
Taking out inappropriate behavior onto a less threatening target
EX: after a parental scolding, a young girl takes her anger out on her little brother.
Reaction Formation
Defense Mechanisms
Behaving in a way that is exactly the opposite of one’s true feelings
EX: a parent who unconsciously resents a child spoils the child with outlandish gifts.
Regression
Defense Mechanisms
reverting to immature patterns of behavior
EX: an adult has a temper tantrum when he doesn’t get his way.
Rationalization
Defense Mechanisms
Making certain behaviours seem okay by replacing acceptable reasons for less-acceptable real reasons
EX: A student failed their history course because they did not study or attend class, but they told their roomates that they failed because the professor doesn’t like them
Identification
Defense Mechanisms
boosting self-esteem by forming an imaginary or real alliance with some person or group
EX: an insecure young man joins a fraternity to boost his self-esteem.
Sublimation
Defense Mechanisms
Redirecting unacceptable desires through socially acceptable channels
EX: desire for revenge for a death of a loved one is channeled into a community support group for people who have lost loved ones.
Pleasure principle
the desire for immediate gratification
Reality Principle
focused on the long-term and more goal-oriented gratification
What are the five Psychosexual stages
Oral
Anal
Phallic
Latency
Genital
Oral
First year of life and pleasure is experienced through the mouth
biting, sucking, chewing
Anal
seconds year of life and pleasure is experienced through their bowel movements
expulsion or retention of feces
Phallic
third through fifth year and pleasure is experienced through their genitals
masturbating
Latency
fifth through puberty and sexual pleasure is repressed, expanding social contacts
school, friendships, hobbies, and sports
Genitals
puberty and beyond, sexual urges are resurfacing
being sexually intimate in intimate relationships
Oedipal Complex
This is for boys aged 3-6
boys becoming unconsciously sexually attached to his mother and increasingly hostile toward his father.
Electra complex
This is for girls aged 3-6
girls becoming unconsciously sexually attached to her father and increasingly hostile toward her mother.
Jungs Analytical Theory
The unconcious consists of two layers; the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious
Personal Unconscious
related to Frueds
Personal repressed memories that are outside of concious awareness
Collective Unconscious
shared unconscious memory that is inherited through our ancestors
Archetypes
emotionally charged images that are present in the collective unconscious and frequently show up in dreams
Adlers Individual Psychology
Our personalities are shaped by a drive to adapt and improve oneself
Striving for superiority
The one motivtion behind people’s behavior
Compensation
developing ones ability to make up for a weakness
What does Adler say about birth order
each child is differently depending on birth order and that these experiences are likely to affect their personalit
Skinner’s idea on personality
Argues that childhood does not play a huge part in shaping our personality, develops over our life
Response tendencies
Skinner
Personality is developed by behaviour that is learned through good or bad consequences
EX: When you tell a joke you can have a positive consequence (laughter) or a negative consequence (no laughter)
Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory
children imitate each other because they observe the actions of others and copy them
Self-concept
an individual’s knowledge of who he or she is.
Incongruence
a person’s self-concept is unreasonable from reality
Congruence
A person’s self-concept is reasonable from reality
Unconditional Love
showing complete support and acceptance of a person no matter what that person says or does.
Maslow’s theory of self actualization
when a person can do what they feel they are “meant” to do and be who they are “meant” to be
Hiearchy needs
physiological needs
safefty and security needs
love and belongingness needs
esteem needs
cognative needs
aesthetic needs
need for self-actualization
Bottom to top
Needs at the bottom need to be satisfied before moving up the pyramid
Eysenck’s Theory
Personality is shaped by your genes
Objective personality testing
a personality test is taken through a self-reporting system that measures personality traits on a yes or no scale.
MMPI - Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
NEO PI
Projective personality testing
a personality test in which subjects are shown ambiguous images and asked to interpret them.
Rorschach
TAT - Thematic Apperception Test
Sentence Completion
HTP - House-Tree-Person
