Personality Flashcards
What is personality
Blend of characteristics that make someone unique
Predispose how you think, feel and behave
What is the personality structure
Psychological core
– the real you
– most consistent
– holds attitudes, beliefs, values, interests and self worth
Typical response
– how you usually act in a situation
Role related behaviour
–how you act based on social situations
– open to change
– enviro has huge impact
What are the 4 theories
- The Psychodynamic Approach – Sigmund Freud
- Trait approach - Eysenck
- The situation approach
- The interactionist approach
The Psychodynamic Approach
States that personality is a set off processes that are constantly changing and conflict with one and other
The imbalance between them explains peoples personality
There are 3 unconscious determents of behaviour
What are the 3 unconscious determinants of behaviour
- The id - pleasure seeking part, instinctive drive
- The ego - logical and conscious part
- The superego - what makes you behave morally
Strengths of the psychodynamic approach
- Recognises that not all behaviours are under conscious control
- That leads to it having a major effect on clinical approaches and explains peoples behaviour
Weaknesses of the psychodynamic approach
- Doesn’t take into account the environment ( all internally focused)
- Difficult to measure unconscious determents
- Cant test it cause you cant measure it
- Based on case studies and clinical observations not scientific research ( could be unreliable)
The trait approach
Believes that traits are stable, enduring and consistent across situations
Traits are thought to predispose how people behave regardless of the situation
e.g. a competitive trait means an athlete will give it there all in every situation regardless of circumstances
Type vs trait
Type based
- categorises people into one type of personality
- restricts or limits them
Trait based
- places people on a continuum
- allows for interpretation
- allows for uniqueness and a blend of characteristics = personality
The big 5 model
Proposes 5 major personality dimensions :
(The most important characteristics)
- Neuroticism vs. emotional stability
- Extraversion vs. introversion
- Openness to experience
- Agreeableness
- Conscientiousness
What is the neuroticism vs. emotionally stable dimension
- Emotional reactions
- Traits = anxiety, anger, irrational
What is the extroversion vs. introversion dimension
- The quality and intensity of social interaction
- Traits = out going, sociable, shy, sheltered
What is the openness to experience dimension
- Tendency to seek out new experiences
- Traits = curiosity, creativity, shy, like consistency/ one dimensional
What is the agreeableness dimension
- How likely to cooperate
- Traits = helpful, trustworthy, rebelling
The situation approach
States that behaviour is determined largely by the situation and environment
Stems from Banduras social learning theory (we model behaviour from observation)
The environment influences and reenforces behaviour
If the environmental influence is strong enough then personality traits will be minimum
e.g. footballer may be shy off field but the game requires them to act aggressively
