PERSONALITY Flashcards
What is personality?
The unique pattern of enduring thoughts, feelings and actions that characterize a person
How do we explain personality?
We use theories such as
- Psychodynamic
- Humanistic
- Trait
- Social-cognitive
What are the four aspects of Sigmund frueds theory of Psychodynamics?
Topographic Model (levels of conciousness)
Psychosexual development (Developemental model)
Structural Model of personality
Defense Mechanisms
freud
What are the defense mechanisms?
Repression: preventing painful or dangerous thoughts or memories from entering consciousness
Projection: transferring unacceptable thoughts or impulses onto others
Sublimation: channeling acceptable impulses into constructive/socially acceptable activities
What is the structural Model?
There are 3 sets of mental forces (or structures): ID, ego and superego
ID:
-this is the reservoir of sexual and aggressive energy
~ primary process thinking (wishful and illogical)
~ pleasure principle
SUPER EGO:
-conscious and source of ideals
~ parental voice within a person
~its positive aspirations and ideals represent one’s idealized self-image, or “ego ideal.
EGO:
- is the organized, realistic part that mediates between the desires of the id and the super-ego
~When ego fails to do task we feel anxious which kicks in our defense mechanisms (repression)
The ID says lets hurt someone, the super ego says no we must behave morally. The ego hurts someone than justifies on moral grounds saying but we did this.
What is the topographic model?
Used a spatial metaphor that divided mental processes into 3 types: conscious, precocious and unconscious
Conscious: are rational, goal directed thoughts at the center of awareness
Precociousness: are not conscious but could become conscious at any point
~may effect behaviour in weird way
Unconscious: irrational, organised along with associative lines rather than by logical
~have been repressed to avoid emotional distress
What is the Developmental Model (theory of psycho sexual stages)?
The development of the libidinal drive the key to personality development. Each characteristic by a conflict centered on an erogenous zone, conflicts not resolved cause fixation
ORAL (0-18months)
-explore the world through mouths
-Prime avenue for social nourishment- warmth and closeness
-develop wishes and expectations about dependence they are totally dependent on caregivers
~difficulties can lead to fixation (clingy/dependent) over need for approval
ANAL (2-3yo)
- compliance and defiance (conflicts over toilet training)
- Conflicts form the basis of attitudes toward order and disorder, giving and withholding and messiness and cleanness
PHALLIC STAGE (4-6)
-Children enjoy pleasure they can obtain from touching their gentalia
-Child identifies with significant other especially from same sex parent
~Identification: making another person apart of oneself: intimation person beliefs ect
-Oedipus Complex: kids want relationship with opposite sex parent
~Castration Complex: fear dad will castrate them for desires so repress oedipal wishes and identifies with dad
- Penis Envy: the belief girls are inferior as they lack penis
~that society boys actives are more interesting and valued
LATENCY (7-11)
- repress sexual desires and identify same sex parents
- learn to channel there sexual and aggression into social acceptable activities (sport, art)
GENITAL (12PLUS)
- conscious sexual resurfaces after years of repression and genital sex becomes primary goal of sexual activity
- capable of love at a mature level
What is the humanistic approach to personality?
Focus on aspects of personality that are distinctly human, and not shared by any other animals
Carl Rogers person-centred approach
Abraham Maslow
What is carl rogers person-centred approach?
-people are innately free and compassionate to their fellows but through the effect of living in modern society become trapped by convention
-humans have one basic motive, that is the tendency to self-actualize - i.e. to fulfill one’s potential and achieve the highest level of ‘human-beingness’ we can.
-Conditions of worth: learn to be loved they must met certain standards
~ Change behaviors to met standards
Thus personality = Self actualization + conditions of worth
What is maslows hierarchy of needs?
five motivational needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid
TOP TO BOTTOM: SELF ACTUALIZATION ESTEEM NEEDS BELONGING AND LOVE SAFETY PHYSIOLOGICALLY
Limitations of humanistic approaches?
Naïve, romantic, unrealistic and limited in
scope.
Genetics, situational/environmental factors?
Concepts like free will and self-actualization are
vague. Difficult to examine empirically
What is trait approach to personality?
Identifying and describing the combination of characteristics that accounts for the consistencies within us, and the differences between us.
-Trait: emotional, cognitive, and behavioral tendency that constitute underlying personality dimensions on which individual vary
GORDON ALLPORT
EYSENCK THEORY
FIVE FACTOR MODEL (COSTA)
Gordon Allport? t
your personality is made up of the traits you possess. A trait is a personal characteristic we have which stays generally the same overtime and is resistant to changing.
Cardinal: a basic and dominant characteristic, as greed or ambition
Central: refer to general characteristics that are present to some degree in almost everyone
Secondary: re characteristics that surface only in certain situations. Some examples could be shyness, irritability, or anxiety
What was eysencks theory t
Eysenck’s theory of personality focused on two dimensions of higher-order traits, extraversion vs. introversion and emotional stability vs. neuroticism
Individuals produce specific behaviors some of which are frequent or habituial, habits tend to have other habits that contribute to sets of traits that come to equal a super trait
The super traits are:
Extraversion: Tendency to be sociable, active and willing to take risk
Neuroticism: a long-term tendency to be in a negative emotional state. People with neuroticism tend to have more depressed mood
Psychoticism: aggressiveness and interpersonal hostility.
What is the five factor model?
The five broad personality traits described by the theory are extroversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness and neuroticism.
Openness: to Experience Artistic, curious, imaginative, insightful, original, wild interests, unusual thought processes, intellectual interests.
Conscientiousness: Efficient, organized, playful, reliable, thorough, dependable, ethical, productive.
Extraversion Active, assertive, energetic, outgoing, talkative, gestural expressive, gregarious.
Agreeableness: Appreciative, forgiving, generous, kind, trusting, noncritical, warm, compassionate, considerate,
straightforward.
Neuroticism: Anxious, self-pitying, tense, emotionally
unstable, impulsive, vulnerable, touchy, worrying.
