Personality Flashcards
what are state differences?
temporary differences in people’s psychology
what are trait differences?
enduring differences in people’s psychology
what is the trait approach to personality?
personality is a set of universal gene/environment interactions
what is the social-cognitive approach?
personality is a product of learned reward and punishment from social situations
what is the psychodynamic approach?
personality is the product of unconscious efforts
what is the humanistic/existential approach?
personality is the product of how people find meaning and purpose in life
what are the problems with self-reports?
people often don’t fully know themselves and are unaware of aspects of their personality, and desirability biases lead people to underreport ‘bad’ and overreport ‘good’ traits and behaviours
what is the Forer effect?
people perceive general descriptions to be highly specific to their personality
what are some strategies to improve self-reports?
indirect self-reports, catch items, and converging self-report and observations by others
what is the MMPI?
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, a clinical questionnaire used to assess personality and psychological problems
what is the Five Factor Theory/Big 5 Model of personality?
personality is structured into five universal factors that everybody has; today is the most widely accepted theory of personality; every person’s personality is thought to be fully captured, on a continuum
what is Openness?
curiosity for experiencing new and varied things, related to intellect and imagination/creativity
“i have a vivid imagination”, “i am full of ideas”
what is characteristic of people high in Openness?
often described as creative, dreamers, and idealists, with a need to learn
what is characteristic of people low in Openness?
prefer concrete facts rather than ideals, they are traditional, down-to-earth, practical, and prefer routines
what is Conscientiousness?
degree of thoughtfulness, organization, and responsibility; related to orderliness and industriousness
“i like order”, “i follow a schedule”
what is characteristic of people high in Conscientiousness?
typically do very well in school and are described as self-disciplined, exacting, focused, and responsible
what is characteristic of people low in Conscientiousness?
more laid back, and less goal and success oriented
what is Extraversion?
for social activities, feeling energized from interacting with others; related to enthusiasm for and assertiveness in social situations
“i am the life of the party”, “i start conversations”
what is characteristic of people high in Extraversion?
“recharge” by hanging out with others, described as social and fun-loving
what is characteristic of people low in Extraversion?
not low in social skills, but instead “recharge” by being themselves
what is Agreeableness?
degree of kindness and need for social harmony as opposed to conflict; related to one’s compassion, empathy, and politeness
what is characteristic of people high in Agreeableness?
considerate, kind, empathetic, and willing to compromise for others
what is characteristic of people low in Agreeableness?
typically skeptical and distrustful of other people and their motives, and are not compromising in social situations
what is Neuroticism?
tendency to have negative, pessimistic, or unstable emotions; related to emotional volatility and social withdrawal
“i change my mood a lot”, “i get upset easily”, “i worry about things”
what is characteristic of people high in Neuroticism?
experience a lot of anxiety and stress, and are usually very self-conscious and shy
what is characteristic of people low in Neuroticism?
typically emotionally stable and not as affected by stressful situations
what is self-esteem?
the extent to which an individual likes, values, and accepts the self
what is characteristic of individuals high in self-esteem?
live happier and healthier lives, cope better with stress, more likely to persist in difficult tasks
what is characteristic of individuals low in self-esteem?
perceive rejection from ambiguous feedback, and be more likely to develop eating disorders
what is a self-serving bias?
people tend to take credit for their successes but downplay responsibility for their failures
what is narcissism?
a grandiose view of the self, combined with a tendency to seek admiration from and exploit others
what is the trait approach to personality?
there are universal/core traits of personality likely set by evolutionary pressures, mixed with biological factors, and cultural/personal experience further sets these in
how does evolutionary psychology explain the source of adaptations?
natural selection and sexual selection
what is natural selection?
selection of traits that support adaptive survival and procreation
what is sexual selection?
selection of traits that promote adaptive reproduction by advertising a mate as eligible and unique
what are just-so stories?
an unfalsifiable narrative explanation
what was the method of the silver fox experiment?
wild foxes were domesticated within eight generations by allowing only those with a calm personality to have cubs, tame fox embryos were also transplanted into wombs of aggressive mothers and yet remained tame when raised (and vice-versa)
what is the evidence for biological factors impacting personality traits?
- twin studies showing identical twins more similar in personality than fraternal
- identical twins raised apart correlate in personality more than fraternal raised apart
- negative temperament: a child’s tendency towards being fussy, emotional, and not adaptable; shows correlations with later life personality traits
what are individualistic cultures?
cultures in which the uniqueness of each individual person is highly esteemed (e.g. Canada, Western Europe, USA)
what are collectivist cultures?
cultures in which social harmony outweighs the importance of each individual person (e.g. China, India, Brazil)
what is characteristic of typical psychology experiment participants?
WEIRD
Western
Educated
Industrialized
Rich
Democratic
what is the social-cognitive approach to personality?
personality is based on expected reward and punishment, which likely changes over time
what are outcome expectancies?
expectations about reward and punishment in a specific social situation
what is the locus of control?
the tendency to perceive outcomes of a situation as internal (controlled by you) or external (not controlled by you)
what is characteristic of people with a high internal locus of control?
tend to be more organized, friendly, healthy, and social (i.e. high conscientiousness and agreeableness)
what is characteristic of people with high external locus of control?
anxiety (high neuroticism)
what is the person-situation controversy?
the question of whether behaviour is caused more by personality or by situational factors
what is the self-actualizing tendency?
the human motive towards realizing our inner potential (ex: pursuit of knowledge, expressing creativity, seeking spiritual enlightenment)
what is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?
needs are arranged in priority, and basic physiological and safety needs must be met before a person can afford to focus on higher-level psychological needs and move towards self-actualization
what is flow?
engagement in tasks that match one’s abilities creates a mental state of energized focus
what is the existential approach to personality?
a school of thought that regards personality as being governed by an individual’s ongoing choices and decisions in the context of the realities of life and death
what is the psychodynamic approach to personality?
regards personality as formed by needs, strivings, and desires largely operating outside of awareness - motives that can produce emotional disorders
what is unconscious cognition?
automatic parts of psychology that we have no conscious awareness of
what did Freud think of unconscious cognition?
it is richer than we think, and that it is the true cause of most behaviour
what is the Id?
the unconscious system present at birth that is the source of our bodily needs, desires, and impulses (especially aggression and sex)
what is the Superego?
the unconscious system that develops through punishment and cultural experience and guilts and shames us about our impulses (develops at the end of the phallic stage)
what is the ego?
the semi-conscious system that is in contact with reality and tries to find a balance between the Id’s wants and the superego’s rules
what are Freud’s psychosexual stages
oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital
every person goes through all the stages in the same order
what happens if a psychosexual stage is delayed or incomplete?
a fixation: a slowing down of development and obsession with receiving pleasure through that body area
what is the oral stage?
the first psychosexual stage that focuses on pleasures of the mouth
at the start, only the Id exists, but the ego will emerge before it is complete
not enough oral pleasure leads to an oral fixation (binge eating, thumb sucking, smoking, constant need for affection, etc.)
what is the anal stage?
the second psychosexual stage that focuses on pleasures of the anus (i.e. toilet training)
only Id and ego exist
not getting enough pleasure results in an anal fixation (rigid and controlling personality, obsessed with material possessions)
what is the phallic stage?
the third psychosexual stage, focusing on the phallic genital region (i.e. the child’s penis, or lack thereof), boy discovers he has penis or girl realizes she doesn’t :(
superego develops by the end of this stage
what is the Oedipus stage?
a developmental experience during the phallic stage in which the (male) child experiences love towards their mother and fear of their father
boy wants mother, Id and ego are in conflict, boy identifies with father’s rules, develops superego, complex resolved
what is the Electra complex?
a developmental experience during the phallic stage in which the (female) child experiences desire for having a penis (”penis envy”)
since they cannot have one, they become attached to their fathers (a surrogate penis for the Id), act like their mother to gain father’s love, internalize her as the superego, then later generalize their desire from their father onto other men
what occurs if the phallic stage is delayed?
mother/father fixations, lifelong fear, distrust, or dislike of one’s same-sex parent and deep love for the opposite-sex parent
what is the latency stage?
the fourth psychosexual stage in which the child’s repressed conflicts lead to seeking friendship in non-erotic activities developing intellectual, creative, and interpersonal skill
what is the genital stage
the fifth and final psychosexual stage in which the adult, mature personality emerges; people become capable of love and friendship and sexual desire, and become capable of dealing with the repressed conflicts of their childhood
what are defense mechanisms?
unconscious tactics the ego uses to cope and reduce anxiety
what is repression?
purposefully forgetting something (e.g. that you were once in love with your mother)
what is reaction formation?
replacing your desire with strongly opposite feeling (e.g., yelling at somebody you like).
what is projection?
attributing your shame or desires to somebody else (e.g., thinking somebody is attracted to you because you are actually and secretly attracted to them).
what is displacement?
shifting impulses to more neutral targets (e.g., yelling at your friend instead of your dad)
what is rationalization?
supplying a reasonable-sounding explanation for unacceptable feelings and behaviour to conceal (mostly from oneself) one’s underlying feelings
what is regression?
reverting to an immature behaviour or earlier stage of development to deal with internal conflict or perceived threat
what is identification?
dealing with feeling threatened or anxious by unconsciously taking on the characteristics of another person who seems more powerful or better able to cope
what is sublimation?
channeling unacceptable sexual or aggressive drives into socially acceptable and culturally enhancing activities
what are today’s opinions on Freud’s ideas?
no evidence of Id, ego, and superego
no psychosexual stages
poor cross-cultural effects (mostly representative of late 19th century Europe)
non-falsifiable (a SIN), because one can always claim that it’s our ego preventing us from seeing the truth
why study Freud?
he had significant historical impact and influence on clinical psychology, his focus on the importance of early childhood does have some relevance, and it is highly references in literature
what is Freud’s most important insight?
our conscious, rational self, is no “self” at all, and that we are richer and more interesting than we actually know
