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SP MCAT Psych/Soc > Personality > Flashcards

Personality Flashcards

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1
Q

Personality

A

describes the set of thoughts, feelings, traits, and behaviors that are characteristic of an individual across time and different locations

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2
Q

What are the 4 categories that personality theories fall into?

A
  • psychoanalytic (psychodynamic)
  • humanistic (phenomenological)
  • type and trait
  • behaviorist
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3
Q

Psychoanalytic Perspective of Personality

A
  • share common assumption of unconscious internal states that motivate the overt actions of individuals and determine personality
  • includes theories from: Freud, Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, Karen Horney
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4
Q

Freud’s Theory

A
  • Behavior is motivated by inborn instincts*

- theory of personality included 3 major entities: id, ego, superego

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5
Q

Id

A
  • consists of all the basic + primal + inborn urges to survive and reproduce
  • functions according to pleasure principle – aim is to achieve immediate gratification to relieve any pent-up tension
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6
Q

Primary Process

A
  • id’s response to frustration

- decides if going to obtain satisfaction now or later

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7
Q

Wish Fulfillment

A
  • part of Id

- mental imagery (daydreaming, fantasy) that fulfills the need for satisfaction

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8
Q

Ego

A
  • helps reduce tension on a permanent basis
  • organizer of the mind – receives its power from the id
  • responsible for moderating the desires of the superego
  • operates according to the reality principle – takes objective reality into account to guide the activity of the id
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9
Q

Secondary Process

A
  • part of ego

- postpones the pleasure principle until satisfaction can be obtained

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10
Q

Superego

A
  • ideal self, personality’s perfectionist
  • judging actions and responding with pride at accomplishments and guilt at failures
  • divided into 2 subsystems
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11
Q

What are the two subsystems of the superego?

A
  • conscious: collection of improper actions for which a child is punished
  • ego-ideal: proper actions for which a child is rewarded
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12
Q

What are the 3 categories that the id, ego, and superego fall into?

A
  1. conscious: thoughts to which we have conscious access
  2. preconscious: thoughts we aren’t currently aware of
  3. unconscious: thoughts that have been repressed
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13
Q

Instincts

A
  • innate psychological representation of a biological need

- propelling aspects of Freud’s theory of personality and fall into 2 categories

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14
Q

What are Freud’s two categories of instinct?

A
  1. Eros: life instincts that promote individuals quest for survival
  2. Thanatos: death instincts that represent unconscious wish for death and destruction
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15
Q

Defense Mechanisms

A
  • ego’s recourse for relieving anxiety caused by the clash of the id and superego
  • all share 2 common characteristics: deny/falsify/distort reality, operate unconsciously
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16
Q

What are Freud’s 8 defense mechanisms?

A
  • repression
  • suppression
  • regression
  • reaction formation
  • projection
  • rationalization
  • displacement
  • sublimation
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17
Q

Repression

A
  • unconsciously removing an idea or feeling from consciousness
  • Ex. man survived 6 months in concentration camp but cannot recall anything about his life during that period
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18
Q

Suppression

A
  • consciously removing an idea or feeling from consciousness
  • Ex. terminally ill cancer patient puts aside his anxiety to enjoy time with family
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19
Q

Regression

A
  • returning to an earlier stage of development

- Ex. husband speaks to wife in a baby talk when telling her bad news

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20
Q

Reaction Formation

A
  • an unacceptable impulse is transformed into its opposite
  • Ex. two coworkers fight all the time because they are actually very attracted to each other; a man who is secretly gay acts extremely homophobic when he is with others
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21
Q

Projection

A
  • attribution of wishes, desires, thoughts, or emotions to someone else
  • Ex. man who committed adultery is convinced his wife i cheating on him despite no evidence
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22
Q

Rationalization

A
  • justification of attitudes, beliefs or behaviors

- Ex. murderer claims that while killing is wrong, his victim deserved it

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23
Q

Displacement

A
  • changing the target of an emotion, while the feelings remain the same
  • Ex. child sent to his room as a punishment and begins to kick his pillow
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24
Q

Sublimation

A
  • channeling of an unacceptable impulse in a socially acceptable direction
  • managing your urges by doing something productive
  • Ex. boss who is attracted to his employee becomes her mentor and advisor; sports put our emotions (ex. aggression) into something constructive
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25
Q

Carl Jung

A
  • Person’s conduct is governed by inborn archetypes*
  • emphasized interpersonal, sociological, and cultural influences while maintaining their link with psychoanalytic tradition
  • identified the ego as the conscious mind and dived the unconscious mind into two types
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26
Q

What are Carl Jung’s two types of unconscious?

A
  • personal unconscious: like Freud’s unconscious

- collective unconscious: residue of the experiences of early ancestors

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27
Q

Archetypes

A
  • underlying forms/concepts that give rise to archetypal images which may differ between cultures
  • includes: persona, anima, animus, shadow
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28
Q

Persona

A
  • the aspect of our personality that we present to the world

- adaptive to social interactions

29
Q

Anima

A
  • feminine behaviors in men

- a man’s “inner woman”

30
Q

Animus

A
  • masculine behaviors in women

- a woman’s “inner man”

31
Q

Shadow

A

responsible for appearance of unpleasant and socially reprehensible thoughts/feelings/actions in our consciousness

32
Q

Self

A
  • part of Jung’s theory
  • point of intersection between the collective conscious, personal unconscious, and conscious mind
  • reconciler of opposites and promoter of harmony
33
Q

What are Jung’s 3 dichotomies of personality?

A
  • extraversion vs intraversion
  • sensing (obtaining objective information about the world) vs intuiting (working with information abstractly)
  • thinking vs feeling
34
Q

What did Jung’s work lay the foundation for?

A

-Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (contains Jung’s 3 dichotomies of personality in addition to judging vs perceiving)

35
Q

Alfred Adler

A
  • Striving for superiority drives personality*

- theory focused on immediate social imperatives of family and society and their effects on unconscious factors

36
Q

Inferiority Compelx

A
  • part of Adler’s theory

- individual’s sense of incompleteness/imperfection/inferiority both physically and socially

37
Q

Creative Self

A
  • part of Adler’s theory

- force by which each individual shapes their uniqueness and establishes their personality

38
Q

Style of Life

A
  • part of Adler’s theory

- represents manifestations of the creative self and describes a person’s unique way of achieving superiority

39
Q

Fictional Finalism

A
  • part of Adler’s theory
  • human goals are based on the subjective/fictional estimate of life’s values rather than objective data from the past
  • “Life would be perfect if only…”
40
Q

Karen Horney

A

personality is a result of interpersonal relationships

41
Q

Neurotic Needs

A
  • part of Horney’s theory
  • there are 10 needs that govern individuals with neurotic personalities (people with this personality have mood disorders)
  • directed towards making life and interactions bearable
42
Q

Basic Anxiety

A
  • Horney’s primary concept

- inadequate parenting causes vulnerability and helplessness

43
Q

Basic Hostility

A
  • one of Horney’s concepts

- created when parents neglect and reject child

44
Q

Object Relations Theory

A
  • falls under realm of psychodynamic theories of personality
  • object refers to representation of parents/caregivers based on subjective experiences during early infancy
  • objects persist into adulthood and impact our interactions with others
45
Q

Humanistic Perspective of Personality

A
  • perspective that focuses on the value of individuals and takes a person-centered approach
  • personality is the result of the conscious feelings we have for ourselves as we attempt to attain our needs/goals
46
Q

Gestalt Therapy

A
  • comes from humanistic perspective
  • practitioners take a holistic view of the self and see each individual as a complete person not just their behaviors/drives
47
Q

Kurt Lewin’s Force Field Theory

A
  • humanistic perspective
  • doesn’t focus on constraints in personalities (fixed traits, habits, structures) or the past/future, but instead focused on situations in the present
  • defined the field as one’s current state of mind which was the sum of the forces on the individual at that time
48
Q

What perspective does Maslow fall under?

A

humanistic perspective

49
Q

Peak Experiences

A
  • defined by Maslow
  • found in individuals that are self-actualized
  • profound and deeply moving experiences in a person’s life that have important and lasting effects to that individual
50
Q

George Kelly’s Personal Construct Psychology

A
  • humanistic perspective
  • set aside traditional concepts of motivation, unconscious emotion, and reinforcement
  • though of individual as a scientist –person who devises and tests predictions about the behavior of significant people in their life
  • said an anxious person has difficulty constructing and understanding variables in the environment
  • believed psychotherapy was a processes where an individual acquires new constructs that will allow them to predict troublesome events
51
Q

Carl Roger’s Person-Centered/Nondirective Therapy

A
  • humanistic perspective
  • believed people have freedom to control their own behavior and are not slaves to the unconscious nor subjects of faulty learning
  • therapist helps client reflect on problems, make choices, generate solutions, take positive action and determine their own destiny
  • pioneered the concept of unconditional positive regard
52
Q

Unconditional Positive Regard

A
  • pioneered by Carl Roger
  • therapeutic technique by which the therapist accepts the client completely and expresses empathy in order to promote a positive environment
53
Q

Type Theorists Perspective of Personality

A

-attempt to create a taxonomy of personality

54
Q

Trait Theorists Perspective of Personality

A
  • describe individual personality as the sum of a person’s characteristic behaviors
  • use clusters of behaviors to describe individuals
55
Q

Ancient Greek Personality Types

A
  • personality types based on humors (body fluids)
  • each humor was correlated with an element, an imbalance could lead to different personalities: blood (impulsive and charismatic), bile (aggressive and dominant), black bile (depressive and cautious), phlegm (relaxed and affectionate)
56
Q

What personality perspective does the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory fall under?

A

type theory

57
Q

Eysencks PEN Model

A
  • falls under trait theory
  • grouped behaviors into 3 groups (PEN):
    (1) Psychoticism: measure of nonconformity of social deviance
    (2) Extraversion: measure of tolerance for social interaction/stimulation
    (3) Neuroticism: measure of emotional arousal in stressful situations
58
Q

What are the Big Five Traits of Personality?

A
  • OCEAN*
  • Openness
  • Conscientiousness
  • Extraversion
  • Agreeableness
  • Neuroticism
59
Q

Gordon Allport

A
  • trait theorist

- listed 3 basic types of traits: cardinal, central, secondary

60
Q

Cardinal Traits

A
  • traits around which a person organizes their life

- Ex. mother teresa’s cardinal trait would be self-sacrifice

61
Q

Central Traits

A
  • represent major characteristics of the personality that are easy to infer
  • Ex. honesty, charisma
62
Q

Secondary Traits

A
  • other personal characteristics that are more limited in occurrence
  • aspects of one’s personality that only appear in close groups or specific social situations
63
Q

Functional Autonomy

A
  • major part of Allport’s theory
  • behavior continues despite satisfaction of the drive that originally created the behavior
  • Ex. hunter began hunting to obtain food to eat but even when there was enough food the hunter continued to hunt for the enjoyment of it – that which began as a means to obtain a goal became the goal itself
64
Q

David McClelland

A
  • identified a personality trait that is referred to as the need for achievement (N-Ach)
  • people with high N-Ach are concerned with achievement and have pride in their accomplishments; they avoid high risks and low risks; set realistic goals
65
Q

Behaviorist Perspective of Personality

A
  • championed by B.F. Skinner
  • based heavily on concepts of operant conditioning
  • personality is a reflection of behaviors that have been reinforced over time
  • therapy focuses on learning skills and changing behaviors via operant conditioning
  • use of token economies during therapy (exchange tokens for prize)
66
Q

Social Cognitive Perspective of Personality

A
  • focuses on how our environment influences behavior and on how we interact with that environment
  • central idea to this perspective is Reciprocal Determinism
  • locus of control is another important concept of this theory
67
Q

Reciprocal Determinism

A
  • the idea that our thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and environment interact with each other to determine our actions in a given situation
  • people choose environments that suit their personalities and their personalities determine how they will feel about/react to events in that environment
68
Q

What is a social cognitive theorist’s best predictor of future behavior?

A

past behavior in similar situations

69
Q

Biological Perspective of Personality

A
  • personality is explained as a result of genetic expression in the brain
  • closely linked to trait perspectives –believe many traits can be shown to result from genes or differences in brain anatomy

SP MCAT Psych/Soc (29 decks)

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