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Psych 101 > Personality > Flashcards

Personality Flashcards

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1
Q

What are the defining factors of personality?

A
  • enduring patterns of thought
  • feeling
  • motivation
  • behaviour
  • all of the above across various circumstances
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2
Q

What are 2 aims of psychologists studying personality when trying to construct theories?

A
  • structure of personality (organisation of personality processes)
  • individual differences (varying characteristics between individuals)
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3
Q

Who developed the first comprehensive theory of personality?

What was this theory?

A
  • Sigmund Freud

- Psychodynamic theory

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4
Q

What is the primary theory of Freud’s psychodynamic theory?

A
  • that there exists an un-conscious counter will, that overrides and inhibits our regularly consciousness from carrying out what it wishes
  • these wishes collide and conflict, and their balance results in the behaviour of a person
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5
Q

What are ‘psychodynamics’?

A

The psychological dynamics that are analogous to physical force dynamics

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6
Q

What is Carl Jung known for his work on?

A
  • collective unconscious
  • personality archetypes
  • developing the personality type concepts of introversion and extroversion
  • Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality measure is based on his work too
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7
Q

What was Freud’s first model?

A

-the Topographic Model

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8
Q

How does the topographic model work?

A

-divides mental processes into conscious, preconscious and unconscious

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9
Q

Describe the conscious mental process in the light of the topographic model

A

-the conscious mental process is the rational, goal-directed thoughts at the centre of awareness

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10
Q

Describe the preconscious mental process in the light of the topographic model

A

-the preconscious mental process is not in the conscious but could become it and come into it at any point

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11
Q

Describe the unconscious mental process in the light of the topographic model

A
  • the unconscious mental process is the irrational, repressed state, that is organised along associative lines
  • not able to access conscious state, but because is repressed, may accidentally leak through occasionally, e.g.: Freudian slips
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12
Q

What are the 2 primary factors affecting the mental state? Describe these

A
  • ambivalence -the conflict occurring between feelings and motives
  • conflict-the tension between opposing forces
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13
Q

What are compromise formations?

A

this is the balance achieved between conflicting motives that satisfies both as equally as possible
Eg. the compromise between viewing oneself accurately, while also self-enhancing for esteem

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14
Q

What was Freud’s second model?

A

The drive or instinct model, focussing on more animal features that drive human behaviour

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15
Q

What 2 factors are central to the drive/instinct model?

A
  • sexual drive (Libido-pleasure seeking)
  • aggression
  • we attempt to regulate and monitor these 2 factors in ourselves, and display them in socially acceptable ways
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16
Q

What was Freud’s third theory, developing from his ideas about sexual drive? What was central to this theory?

A

the Developmental model
-psychosexual stages (stages of personality, motivation and sexuality)
He believed libidinal drive influenced personality development

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17
Q

What are the 5 psychosexual stages?

A
  • Oral (0-18 months)
  • Anal (2-3 years)
  • Phallic (4-6 years)
  • Latency (7-11 years)
  • Genital (12+ years)
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18
Q

Describe the oral stage

A

dependency, need for nourishment, love and closeness, clingy

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19
Q

Describe the anal stage

A

compliance and defiance, order/disorder, giving/withholding, messiness/cleanliness

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20
Q

Describe the phallic stage

A

notice differences between sexes, identification particularly with same sex parent, idea of Oedipus complex (sexual relationship between a boy and his mum, a girl and her dad, leads to castration complex-boys fear of father castrating them for wanting a relationship with their mother, penis envy in girls as boys seem more interesting etc.)

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21
Q

Describe the latency stage

A

repress sexual desires, identify with same sex parent, channel drives in socially acceptable activities, may seem asexual

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22
Q

describe the genital stage

A

conscious sexual resurfaces, genital sex primary goal, mature

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23
Q

What is fixation?

A

conflicts that persist beyond their initial developmental stage, e.g.: remaining anally fixated beyond the usual age

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24
Q

What was Freud’s final model?

A

Structural Model-conflict between desires, and the constraints of reality

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25
Q

What are the three mental forces or structures in the structural model?

A
  • Id
  • Superego
  • Ego
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26
Q

Describe the Id structure

A

Id is the reservoir of drive energy (sexual and aggressive). -it is impulse driven
-characterised by Primary Process Thinking and the Pleasure Principle

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27
Q

What is Primary Process Thinking?

A

This is wishful, illogical and associative thought

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28
Q

What is the Pleasure Principle?

A

This is seeking immediate satisfaction and gratification without thinking about long term consequences

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29
Q

Describe the superego structure

A

This counterbalances the Id, as it acts like the conscience, providing ideals, morality and being the parental voice

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30
Q

Describe the ego structure

A

This is the balance of drive, passion, sexual/aggressive energy, reality, morality and conscience.

  • is capable of Secondary Process Thinking
  • obeys the Reality Principle
  • manages emotions and enacts problem solving
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31
Q

What is Secondary Process Thinking?

A

This is thinking that is logical, rational and goal-directed

32
Q

What is the Reality Principle?

A

the recognition and balance between the desire for immediate gratification and realising the consequences long term, that this could bring

33
Q

What are defence mechanisms?

A

These are problem solving solutions- unconscious mental processes that help protect against negative emotions and boost positive emotions

34
Q

Name 9 defence mechanisms

A
  • Repression (keeping threatening thoughts/memories out of awareness)
  • Denial (refusal to acknowledge external realities or emotions)
  • Projection (attributing unacknowledged feelings onto others, seeing fault in them rather than yourself)
  • Reaction Formation (failing to acknowledge unacceptable impulses and overemphasising opposites eg: overpraising despite being resentful)
  • Sublimation (converting sexual/aggressive drives into socially acceptable activities e.g.: sport)
  • Rationalisation (explaining actions in a logical way to justify/avoid uncomfortable feelings e.g.: guilt)
  • Displacement (directing emotions away from source and to a substitute)
  • Regression (reverting to an earlier stage of development when a situation becomes difficult e.g.: a 40yo name calling, when people become nasty)
  • Passive aggression (indirectly expressing anger)
35
Q

Which theory, evolving after Freud’s death, was a development on psychoanalytic theories?

A

-Object Relations Theories

36
Q

What do object relations theories try to account for?

A
  • inhibitions or difficulties of people to love and work, as per the other psychoanalytic theories
  • describe development as progression towards more mature relationships with others
37
Q

What does Object relations refer to?

A
  • to patterns of behaviour in intimate relationships
  • to motivational, cognitive and affective processes producing these patterns
  • about people’s relationships with others
38
Q

What does object relation theory explain about interpersonal problems?

A

-that these problems are the result of maladaptive personal problems laid down in the early years of life

39
Q

What are Relational Theories?

A
  • theories that argue that adaptation in relationships for individuals is primarily adaptation to other people
  • think that because relatedness is so central to humans, that we distort our personalities to maintain important relationships
40
Q

What do Life History Methods (understanding a person in the context of their life experiences) and Projective Tests (projecting meaning onto something ambiguous), like the Rorschach Inkblot Test and Thematic Apperception Test (making a story out of ambiguous drawings) try to measure?

A

The unconscious

41
Q

What are some limitations of the psychodynamic theory?

A
  • doesn’t have a firm basis in scientific observation
  • sexism (women being inferior to men)
  • While Freud founded this thinking, many have branched off and only some parts are still agreed with
42
Q

Which type of theory was the first alternative to psychodynamic theories?

A

Cognitive-social theories

43
Q

What did cognitive-social theories develop from?

A

-Behaviourist and cognitive concepts, like learning, conditioning, expectations and information and that these are central to personality

44
Q

What must be fulfilled in order for a behaviour to occur?

A
  • a person needs to encode a situation as relevant
  • value and meaning needs to be placed on the situation
  • belief about performing the behaviour needs to be present
  • ability to perform the behaviour
  • regulation of ongoing activity to achieve the goal
45
Q

What are personal constructs?

A

These are the mental representations of people, places, things etc. that are important to us
-encoding is linked to our personal constructs of things

46
Q

What is personal value?

A

This is the importance attached to outcomes or potential outcomes

47
Q

What are life tasks?

A

conscious, self-defined problems we attempt to solve

48
Q

What are behaviour -outcome expectancies?

A

the belief that a certain behaviour will lead to a certain outcome

49
Q

What are self-efficacy expectancies?

A

a person’s conviction that they can perform the actions necessary to produce the desired outcome

50
Q

What are competences?

A

These are the skills and abilities used for solving problems that one actually possesses.

51
Q

What is the term used to describe the setting of goals, evaluating of performances and adjusting of behaviour to achieve goals in the context of ongoing feedback?

A

Self-regulation

52
Q

What are some limitations of the cognitive-social theory?

A
  • tends to overemphasise rational and underemphasises emotional/motivational/irrational
  • assumption that people consciously know what they think, feel and want
53
Q

In Trait Theories, what are traits?

A

-emotional, cognitive and behavioural tendencies that constitute underlying attributes and tendencies in one’s personality, that indicates where they are different to others

54
Q

What are 2 meanings of traits?

A
  • a trait is an observable tendency to behave in a specific way
  • a trait is an underlying disposition that is the foundation of a behavioural tendency
55
Q

What did Cattell and his colleagues conclude about personality traits?

A
  • the development of two thirds are determined by the environment
  • one third is hereditary
56
Q

What did Eysenck identify in regards to personality traits?

A
  • the 3 overarching psychological types of:
  • extroversion (tendency to be sociable, active, risk-taking)
  • neuroticism (emotional stability or negative effect)
  • psychoticism (tendency to be aggressive, egocentric, impulsive and antisocial)
57
Q

What is the Behavioural Approach System (BAS)?

A

the structure that is attuned to rewards and leads people to seek out stimulation and arousal

58
Q

What is the Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS)?

A

the structure that is attuned to punishment and lead people to avoid potentially dangerous or painful experiences

59
Q

What is the Five Factor Model?

A

the five superordinate traits that many traits boil down to

-these traits have been found to be cross-cultural and include lower-level ‘facets’ or subtraits

60
Q

What is the OCEAN or five factors of the Five Factor Model?

A
  • Openness
  • Conscientiousness
  • Extroversion
  • Agreeableness
  • Neuroticism
61
Q

What are situational variables?

A

These are the circumstances in which people find themselves, which can influence their behaviour, or the manifestation of their behaviour

62
Q

Define temperament

A

Temperament is the basic personality disposition that is influenced heavily by genes

63
Q

What is the principle of aggregation?

A

-this is the term used to describe the range of behaviours over a range of situations which can indicate a trait and predict future behaviour in similar situations. It is not a trait which indicates how someone will be have in a particular situation

64
Q

What is the term used to describe how people express personality dispositions only under specific circumstances?

A

Person-by-situation-interactions

65
Q

What are some limitations of the trait theory?

A
  • it relies on self-reports
  • Barnum effect (general outcomes on personality tests that could apply to anyone and are thus accepted by people as fact)
  • doesn’t look at the dynamic nature of personality
  • depends on items that are included in tests etc.
  • while similarities exist across cultures, traits mean different things to different cultures
66
Q

What is the focus of humanistic theories?

A

-focus on human aspects of personality, finding meaning and being true to oneself

67
Q

The most widely used humanistic personality theory by Carl Rogers centres around what?

A

-the person-centred approach, focusses on understanding an individual’s phenomenal experience, which is the way they conceive reality and experience themselves in the world, through empathy (the capacity to understand another’s experience both cognitively and emotionally)

68
Q

What are the two types of ‘selves’ that humanists postulate we have?

A
  • True self (the core aspect of being, untainted by demands of others)
  • False self (the disguise worn over their true self that is mistaken as their true self, to please others, meet criteria etc.)
69
Q

According to Rogers, what defines the ‘self’ or ‘self-concept’?

A
  • organised pattern of thought and perception about oneself
  • if this diverges too much from one’s ideal self )view of what they should be like), they may distort their behaviour/personality
70
Q

What is the actualising tendency?

A

-desire to fulfil the full range of needs humans experience

71
Q

What do existentialist theorists believe?

A
  • individuals are alone in life and must decide which values to embrace
  • people have no fixed nature and need to create themselves
  • meaning may come from commitments, but recognition must come that these commitments have no intrinsic meaning
72
Q

what is the term used to describe the recognition of life having no absolute value or meaning and death impends?

A

Existential dread

73
Q

What are some limitations of humanist theory?

A
  • doesn’t offer a comprehensive theory of personality

- hasn’t produced testable hypothesis

74
Q

What do genetic views of personality suggest?

A

That personality traits are inherited, and this depends on the variance of that trait genetically

75
Q

What is the culture pattern approach?

A

-this approach sees culture as an organised set of beliefs, rituals and institutions that shape individuals to suit their patterns

76
Q

What are Interactionist Approaches?

A

these view causality as multidirectional, with personality, economics and culture all influences one another

Psych 101 (10 decks)

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