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.
Cognitive-Social Theory: Contributors (1) and limitations (2)
Contributions:
• provided emphasis on the role of thought and memory in personality
Limitations:
• overemphasis of rational side of personality
• avoidance of explanations of unconscious processes in personality
Trait theories of personality
- trait definition
- how to measure
- how many traits required
- example of Eysenck’s theory (levels of people’s personality -4)
Trait refers to emotional, cognitive and behavioural tendencies that constitute underlying personality dimensions on which individuals can vary.
Traits can be measured by asking the self or others to rate the self.
Allport noted some 18,000 traits
Cat tell argued for 16 distinct traits
Example of Eysenck’s Theory:
SUPERTRAIT: extroversion
TRAITS: sociable, lively, active, sensation-seeking.
HABITS: for each trait
SPECIFIC BEHAVIOURS: for each habit
The 5 Factor Model
N, E, A, C, O
Neuroticism, extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness.
need more info on this
Types of consistency in personality (2)
Consistency across situations: Mischel argues that situational variables largely determine behaviour.
Consistency across time: a basic personality disposition is heavily influenced on genes (temperament)
^ person by person interaction
Principle of aggregation
Class of behaviours over a range of situations
Trait theories contributions (2) and limitations (5)
Contributions:
• traits can be empirically measured
• assume individual differences
Limitations:
• depend on self report
• statistical analyses may govern outcomes
• do not explain how and why traits emerge
• traits may have different cultural meanings
• Barnum effect (accepting information like horoscopes as true)
Humanistic theories
Humanistic personality theorists reject the behaviourist and psychodynamic notions of personality
Humanists emphasise the notion that each person has a potential for creative growth
The intent is to assist people in developing to their maximal potential
Rogers’ Perosn Centred Approach
(Type of humanistic Theory)
What is it?
3 selves?
Human beings are good by nature but personality becomes distorted by interpersonal experiences; phenomenal experience.
Each person has multiple selves:
• true self: core concept of being, unattained.
• false self: the self that is created by distortions from interpersonal experiences, conditions of worth.
Existential approaches:
- what is existentialism
- key issues with it (4)
Existentialism: people have no fixed nature and must create themselves.
Key issues: • importance of subjective experience • central quest for the meaning of life • danger of losing touch with feelings • danger of conceiving oneself as thing like rather than as changing, ever-forming, and the creative source of will and action.
Mortality salience
Existential dread: ultimately we all
Face death of ourself and loved ones.
To avoid anxiety over this, cultural values and beliefs symbolically deny death and allow hope in the face of mortality.
Humanistic Theory - contributions (1) and limitations (2)
Contributions:
• focus on how humans strive to determine the meaning of life
Limitations:
• humanistic approach is not a complete theoretical account of personality
• the approach has not generated a body of testable hypotheses and research
Genetics and personality:
Heritability meaning
Evidence for heritability
Heritability refers for the proportion of variance in a particular trait that is due to genetic influences.
Supporting evidence for heritability has come from twin studies.
Studies suggest that most personality variables are 15 - 50% heritable.
Personality and culture:
Freuds view
And
2 cultural approaches to personality
Freud views cultural phenomena as reflections of individual psychodynamics.
CULTURE PATTERN APPROACH: sees culture as an organised set of beliefs, rituals and institutions that shape individuals to fit it’s patterns.
INTERACTIONIST APPROACH: suggests that personality, economics and culture mutually influence one another.
