Personality

Question 1

What is personality?

Answer 1

A pattern of behavior and thinking that occurs across time and situations and differentiates one person from another

Question 2

Aspects of Psychodynamic Theory (Freud)

Answer 2

Unconscious mind: hidden thoughts and desires

Preconscious mind: easily brought to consciousness

Conscious mind: normal awareness

Question 3

What is the Id?

Answer 3

-present at birth
-home to sexual and aggressive drive
-governed by the pleasure principle

Question 4

What is the Superego?

Answer 4

-develops in childhood
-home to morality and conscience
-governed by the ego

Question 5

What is the Ego?

Answer 5

-develops in childhood
-acts as a referee between id and superego
-governed by the reality principle

Question 6

Freud’s Personality Development

Answer 6

-must pass through psychosexual stages successfully: each stage focusses on how we receive pleasure

-failure to pass through a stage leads to fixation: stress leads to regression that that stage

Question 7

Freud’s Developmental Stages

Answer 7

Oral stage (birth to 1.5 years)

Anal stage (1.5 to 3 years)

Phallic stage (3 to 6 years)
-Oedipus complex

Latency period (6 to puberty)

Genital stage (puberty onward)

Question 8

Freud’s Defense Mechanisms

Answer 8

Unconscious attempts to silence the id

-Projection
-Rationalization
-Repression
-Sublimation
-Conversion

Question 9

The process of recovery and analysis

Answer 9

Psychoanalysis: “the talking cure”

-Stream of consciousness
-Dream analysis
-Analysis of:
Freudian slips
Transference
Projection

Question 10

What is Trait Theory

Answer 10

People vary based on strengths of primary personality trait dimensions

Question 11

What is Trait view

Answer 11

We think and behave consistently across situations

Question 12

What is Situationist view

Answer 12

Our thoughts and behaviors change with the situation

Question 13

What is Interactionist view

Answer 13

Both traits and situations affect thoughts and behavior

Question 14

What are the Big Five Superfactors of Personality, and what are their extremes?

Answer 14

Extraversion
-Withdrawn vs Outgoing

Neuroticism
-Unstable vs Stable

Agreeableness
-Low vs High

Conscientiousness
-Undependable vs Dependable

Openness to experience
-Closed vs Open

Question 15

What are the three assumptions of the trait approach?

Answer 15

1. Personality characteristics and traits are relatively stable over time
2. Personality characteristics and traits predict behavior
3. Personality characteristics and traits are relatively stable over situations

Question 16

What is the correlation between person’s Big Five traits?

Answer 16

typically between .50 and .70

Question 17

Trait stability average correlations Across situations and within situations

Answer 17

Across situations: .13

Within situations: .65

Question 18

When are traits stable and when are they not?

Answer 18

Stable over time and can predict behavior

Unstable across situations