Personality Flashcards
Define personality
“A relatively stable set of psychological characteristics that influences how a person interacts with his or her environment”
Give an example of how personality might change situationally
You act differently at a friends birthday party as compared to a funeral
What is a so called “Strong” and “Weak” situation
Strong Situation: Circumstances in which the rules of social engagement and behaviour are rigidly defined and well understood. The point is that your personality wont come through as much.
Weak Situation: Rules of social engagement are vague, unknown, or non existent. Then, personality might be more clearly observed as the principle driver of behaviour
Name the 3 main Personality Paradigms
Psychodynamic
Traits
Learning
Describe Freuds Structure of Personality
The personality is made of 3 elements: Ego, Superego, and Id.
The Id seeks pleasure, avoids pain. Impulsive and hedonistic, seeks to satisfy physical needs
The Superego is your moral compass and gut feeling, which learns what is socially appropriate
The Ego is your ‘reality principle’ which mediates and balances the opposite forces of Superego and Id
The Freudian Theory also encompasses Personality through Stages of learning
What are Freuds Personality Development Stages of Learning?
Oral, Anal, Phallic stages from birth to 6 years old.
Oral: year 1. Explores world with mouth. Id is developed. Failure to complete stage successfully leads to perpetual immaturity
Anal: up to 3 yrs old. The ego begins to learn and oppose the id. Learn cleanliness. Overlearning here means becoming an ‘anal’ person. Desiring over-orderliness. Underlearning leads to a slob
Phallic stage: up to 6 yrs. Learn gender differences and boundaries between people (physical). Learn social appropriateness. Develop Superego. Failure to learn here leads to defence mechanisms.
Name and explain 4 psychological defence mechanisms
Repression: Forced unawareness. Burying a memory to the point where it cannot be consciously recalled with ease.
Denial: Refusal to acknowledge something as true.
Projection: Imposing thoughts/feelings on someone else. The person projecting is usually not aware this is happening
Displacement: Example: worker angry at boss goes home and yells at kids instead
What is the Trait Personality Paradigm
The model of characterizing a persons personality as an amalgamation of character traits, and applying that to predict behaviour
What is the MBTI
Meyes-Briggs Temperament Indicator. Used by many companies to screen candidates.
-> 4 pairs of traits, one person being characterized by 4 traits, one from each pair. 16 possible outcomes.
NOT RELIABLE
Describe some reliability issues of the MBTI
Reliability: Test vs retest inconsistencies exist
Criterion related validity: traits and types do not predict work related outcomes
Construct Validity: Lack of comprehensiveness of traits
Categorization of Traits: continual vs orthogonal traits. (eg thinking and feeling)
What is the 5 Factor Model?
Describes personality with respect to a persons towards 5 traits (CANOE)
Conscientiousness-Degree to which a person is responsible and achievement-oriented
Agreeableness-Degree to which a person is friendly and approachable
Neuroticism-Degree to which a person has appropriate emotional control
Openness to experience-Degree to which a person thinks flexibly and is receptive to new ideas
Extraversion-Degree to which a person is outgoing vs. shy
How is the Big 5 Model known to be valid and reliable?
Studies of twins have shown that the traits are all considerable predetermined by ones genetics
Which Paradigm does Pavlovs Classical Conditioning fall under?
The Learning Personality paradigm
What is the basis behind Conditioning?
The notion that a body can be conditioned to have a response to a given stimulus which does not normally generate that response
What are the 4 modes of Operant Conditioning?
Reinforcement increases likelihood of behaviour
Punishment decreases type of behaviour
the 4 modes:
Positive Reinforcement- Give treat for good behaviour
Negative Reinforcement- Take away annoyance to rward good behaviour
Positive Punishment: Add annoyance as punishment
Negative Punishment: Take away treat as punishment
