Personality

Question 1

Repression

Answer 1

Pushing away threatening thoughts/feelings and memories into the unconscious mind. ‘Unconscious forgetting’

Ex: Not remembering a traumatic incident in which you witnessed/experienced a crime

Question 2

Regression

Answer 2

The retreat to an earlier level of development characterized by more immature, pleasurable behaviour.

Ex: Throwing a temper tantrum as an adult when you don’t get your way

Question 3

Displacement

Answer 3

Shifting/redirecting unacceptable thoughts/feelings from the original source to a less threatening object/source.

Ex: Taking your anger toward your boss out on your partner or children by yelling at them and not your boss.

Question 4

Denial

Answer 4

Refusing to believe or even perceive painful realities.

Ex: A husband may refuse to recognize obvious signs of his wife’s indidelity

Question 5

Sublimation

Answer 5

Redirection of unacceptable sexual or aggressive impulses into more socially acceptable behaviours.

Ex: Redirecting aggressive impulses into boxing

Question 6

Reaction Formation

Answer 6

Acting in a manner exactly opposite to our true feelings.

Ex: A woman who wants to be back at work but stays at home, showing her newborn with attention.

Question 7

Projection

Answer 7

Attributing one’s own unacceptable feelings and thoughts to others and not yourself.

Ex: Accusing your boyfriend of cheating on you because you have been cheating on him.

Question 8

Rationalization

Answer 8

Creating false excuses for one’s unacceptable feelings, thoughts or behaviour.

Ex: Justifying cheating on your AP exam by saying that the teacher was too lazy to be watching you the whole 60 minutes.

Question 9

Personality

Answer 9

A unique pattern of consistent feelings, thoughts, and behaviours that originate within the individual.

Question 10

Psychodynamic theory of personality

Answer 10

Views human behaviour as a dynamic interaction between the conscious and unconscious mind, including associated motivates and conflicts.

Question 11

Conscious mind

Answer 11

The part of our mind that we know about and are aware of… ‘tip of the iceberg’

Question 12

Preconscious mind

Answer 12

Is actually between the conscious and unconscious. It is not conscious awareness, but wishes, feelings and memories can be stored temporarily in this area to be retrieved for conscious thought. We may become aware of this information during dreaming…

Question 13

Unconscious mind

Answer 13

• Makes up most of our mind
• A vast storehouse of biological drives, wishes, feelings, memories and instincts that have a significant influence on our behaviour and personality.
• Also contains threatening and disturbing memories that have been repressed and forgotten.

Question 14

Humanistic psychologists

Answer 14

Regard personal growth as an essential part of what it is to be human.
An individual’s behavior is connected to his inner feelings and self-image

Question 15

Self-actualization

Answer 15

• What people strive for
• The desire to grow psychologically and fulfil one’s full potential - becoming what you are capable of.

Question 16

Unconditional positive regard

Answer 16

Showing complete support and acceptance of a person no matter what that person says or does.

Question 17

Conditional positive regard

Answer 17

Providing warmth, affection, acceptance, and the like when certain conditions, standards, and/or expectations are met.

Question 18

Projective tests

Answer 18

A personality test that asks participants to describe an ambiguous image or tell a story about it. Any hopes, desires or fears that the person describes are actually projections of their own inner feelings or conflicts.

Question 19

The id

Answer 19

A primitive part of our personality. It operates on the pleasure principle - the id gets what it wants and drives instincts. Only the id is present at birth. Throughout life, the id is entirely selfish and demands instant gratification of its needs.

Question 20

The ego

Answer 20

Works on the reality principle and is the mediator between the other two parts of the personality.
It developed around the age of 2 and its role is to reduce the conflict between the demands of the id and the superego. It manages this by employing a number of defence mechanisms.

Question 21

The superego

Answer 21

Is formed at around the age of 5. It is our internalized sense of right and wrong. Based on the morality principle it represents moral standards and punishes the ego for wrong-doing (through guilt)

Question 22

Trait

Answer 22

A relatively permanent characteristic of our personality that can be used to predict our behaviour.
Trait theory explains personality as a consequence of a person’s traits, rather than some deep underlying unconscious process or growth need.

Question 23

Self-esteem

Answer 23

one’s feelings of self-worth

Question 24

Self-efficiency

Answer 24

one’s sense of ability to complete the necessary steps to do something well

Question 25

Self-concept

Answer 25

• The way you see yourself
• Self-esteem and self-efficacy are both are important to self-concept

Question 26

Factor Analysis

Answer 26

A statistical procedure that identifies clusters of traits that are similar and make up your personality. Personality tests derive from this analysis.

Question 27

Personality inventories

Answer 27

Are often used to assess personality. These are questionnaires whereby people respond to items on a list. They respond using true/false or agree/disagree. E.g. ‘I am a confident person’

Question 28

Big Five Test

Answer 28

The most well-used personality test.
It defines human personality as the combination of 5 personality traits or factors – Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Extraversion and Neuroticism (making the acronym – OCEAN). Scores are related on a low to high scale for each dimension.

Question 29

Social learning

Answer 29

How we learn about our behaviour
- identification, observation and imitation

Question 30

Vicarious reinforcement

Answer 30

Limitations that only occur if the behaviour is seen to be rewarded (reinforced) rather than punished (the learner observes a behaviour but most importantly observes the consequences of a behaviour)

Question 31

Reciprocal determinism

Answer 31

A key concept within social-cognitive theory in which cognitive processes, behaviour, and the environment all interact; each simultaneously influencing and being influenced by the others. The interaction between all 3 factors shape self-concept and self-esteem and make up our self-concept. (Albert Bandura)

Question 32

Locus of Control

Answer 32

Describes how individuals view their relationship to the environment. Distinct from self-efficacy, which involves our belief in our own abilities, locus of control refers to our beliefs about the power we have over our lives, and is a cognitive factor that affects personality development.

Question 33

Internal locus of control

Answer 33

“I make things happen”

Question 34

External locus of control

Answer 34

“Things happen to me”