Personality Flashcards
Personality
Refers to enduring patterns of thought, feeling, motivation and behaviour that are expressed in different circumstances.
Aim of personality research (2)
Construct general theories that describe the structure of personality
Assess individual differences in personality (the way people vary)
Psychodynamic views of personality
- topographical model
Frued emphasised the role of unconscious processes in the control of the behaviour.
Topographical model: suggests 3 levels of consciousness
1. Conscious, pre conscious and unconscious
- conflict occurs between the different aspects of consciousness (opposing motives)
- successful resolution of conflict requires compromise formation
Freud’s Drive (instinct) Model
Based on Darwin’s work, Freud suggested human behaviour is motivated by 2 drives (or instincts)
- aggressive drive
- sexual (libido) drive
(Libido refers to pleasure seeking, sensuality and love, as well as a desire for intercourse)
Freud’s Developmental Model
Libido follows a development course during childhood.
- stages of psychosexual developmental
- fixed progression of change from stage to stage
- notion of fixation at a particular libidinal stage
Freud’s Psychosexual Stages - Developmental model
What is it? 5 stages
Reflect the child’s evolving quest for pleasure and growing realisation of the social limitations of the quest.
Stages - Age - Conflicts and concerns
- Oral: 0 - 18 months: dependency.
- Anal: 2 - 3 years: orderliness, cleanliness, control, compliance.
- Phallic: 4 - 6 years: identification with parents (especially same sex) and others, Oedipus complex, establishment of conscience.
- Latency: 7 - 11 years: sublimation of sexual and aggressive impulses.
- Genital: 12+ years: mature sexuality and relationships.
Freud’s structural model of personality
And it’s 3 forces + example of the 3 forces working together
Conflict seen between 3 “forces”. Conflict among various forces leads to a compromise forged by ego.
ID: reservoir of sexual and aggressive energy, unconscious and driven by impulse
SUPEREGO: counterbalance of ID, source of conscience and ideals
EGO: must balance ID and Superego, obeys reality principle.
Eg.
Superego (behave morally) + ID (hurt associate) = Ego (hurt associate but justify it on moral grounds)
Defense mechanisms
(What are they? 9 types)
hint: R, D, P, R, S, R, D, R, P
Unconscious mental processes that protect a conscious person from unpleasant emotions.
REPRESSIONS: evoking thoughts that are kept unconscious.
DENIAL: refusal to recognise reality.
PROJECTION: attribution of own acceptable impulses to others.
REACTION FORMATION: person converts an unacceptable impulse into the opposite impulse.
SUBLIMINATION: person converts an unacceptable impulse into a socially acceptable activity.
RATIONALISATION: person explains away actions to reduce anxiety.
DISPLACEMENT: person directs their emotions from the real target to a substitute.
REGRESSION: person reverts back to an earlier stage of psychosexual development.
PASSIVE AGGRESSION: an indirect expression of anger towards others.
Object relations & types of object relation theories (2)
Object relations refers to enduring patterns of behaviour in intimate relationships and to the motivational, cognitive and affective processes that produce those patterns.
Object relation theories: focus on interpersonal disturbances and capacity for relatedness to others.
Relational theories: argue that adaptation is primarily adaption to others.
How unconscious patterns of behaviour can be assessed.(2)
Life history method: understand the person in the context of life experiences.
Projective tests: persons presented with a vague stimulus that will ‘project’ their own impulses and desires into a description of the stimulus.
E.g. - Rodschach ink blot test
Or thematic apperception test (TAT)
Contributions (3) and limitations (3) of psychodynamic theory:
Contributions:
• emphasis on unconscious processes
• identification of conflict and compromise
• importance of childhood experiences in shaping adult personality
Limitations:
• not solidly based on scientific observation
• emphasis on drives (sex and aggression)
• gender bias
Cognitive-Social personality theory
What does the theory place emphasis on?
What people must encode and believe?
Places emphasis on learned aspects of personality as well as expectations and beliefs of the person.
Person must encode the situation as relevant
Situation must have personal meaning
Person must believe in their ability to carry out behaviour
Personal constructs
Mental representations of significant people, places and things.
Cognitive social model of behaviour.
(6 steps + 2 contributors to 4th step)
Steps = S, E, PV, BP, B, SR
STIMULUS»_space;»
ENCODING: categorising the event»_space;»
PERSONAL VALUE: relevance of the event for goals»_space;»
BEHAVIOURAL PLAN: formulation a plan of action.
• Contributors = Behavioural outcome expectancy: expectation that behaviour will produce desired outcome AND Self efficacy expectancy: belief in ability to execute behaviour.»_space;»
BEHAVIOUR: execution of plan
• Contributors = Competences: skills required for executing the behaviour»_space;»
SELF REGULATION: monitoring and adjusting behaviours and goals. (Self regulation cycles back to behaviour and behavioural plan)
Cognitive-social theories
\+ (4) types of contributors • behaviour outcome expectancies • self efficacy expectancies • competencies • self regulation
Whether people carry out an action depends on EXPECTANCIES and COMPETENCIES.
- Behaviour-outcome expectancies: belief that a behaviour will lead to an outcome
- Self-efficacy expectancies: belief that a person can perform the behaviour
- Competencies: skills used for problem solving
- Self Regulation: setting goals, evaluating performance, and responding to feedback.
