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Personality Flashcards

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1
Q

How does Judith Harris define personality?

A

The development during childhood of chronic patterns of behaviour that differ from one individual to another.

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2
Q

How does the book define personality?

A

THe relatively consistent patterns of thought, feeling and behaviour that characterize each person as a unique individual.

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3
Q

What is a trait?

A

A relatively stable predisposition to behave in a certain way

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4
Q

Differentiate between a state and a trait

A

Someone can be in a state of anger while not being an aggressive person (trait.) While a person might have a certain trait this may not manifest in their behaviour until they experience a cue or trigger in the environment.

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5
Q

What do trait theories of personality attempt?

A

Specify a manageable set of distinct personality dimensions that can be used to summarize the fundamental psychological differences among individuals.

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6
Q

What is factor analysis, what is its use in studying personality?

A

A method of analyzing patterns of correlations in order to extract mathematically defined factors, which underlie and help make sense of those patterns. This is used to distill all trait terms of everyday language into a manageable number of meaningful, different dimensions of personality.

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7
Q

What is the steps of factor analysis are used for personality traits

A
  1. Participants are asked to rate themselves on various personality traits from 1-5.
  2. The results are the checked to determine the correlation between the various traits.
  3. Factor extraction is then used to determine which traits correlate strongly with each other. These are placed in a ‘dimension’ and a lable is placed on them such as ‘agreeableness.’
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8
Q

How did Raymond Cattell create the first personality test?

A

First he condensed all 17,953 english adjectives for personality down to 170 which he considered to be logically different from one another. He then identified 16 basic trait dimensions and created a questionaire called the 16 PF Questionaire to measure them. The questionaire contained about 200 statements.

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9
Q

What is the five factor modal? Name these five factors.

A

A test which efficiently describes a subjects personality in terms of their score on each of five relatively independant global trait dimensions: Neuroticism (vulnerability to emotional upset, Extraversion, Openness to experience and conscientiousness. (OCEAN.)

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10
Q

What is argued to be a possible sixth trait in the 5 domain personality test?

A

Honesty- Humility

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11
Q

What is grit in terms of personality? What are the factors?

A

Perseverance and passion for long term goals, the factors are perseverance of effort and consistency of interest.

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12
Q

Briefly describe the grit personality test

A

Originally 12 item,now 8 item test where subjects rate how much they agree to a statement such as ‘I finish everything I start’ from one to five. It has decent predictability for success in careers and other fields.

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13
Q

What of the 5 factors correlate strongly with the grit test?

A

Consciousness

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14
Q

What does the dark triad consist of

A

Narcissism, machiavellianism (manipulative/Deceptive) and psychopathy.

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15
Q

What do you call the exam used to measure the Big Five Traits?

A

NEO Personality Inventory (newest version- NEO-PI-3)

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16
Q

Name one problem with most personality questionnaires

A

They are quite transparent

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17
Q

How is the NEO-PI tested for validity?

A

If it correlates positively with the persons real world behaviour.

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18
Q

What real world behaviours is neuroticism correlated with?

A

People who score high on neuroticism tend to pay more attention to threats and other unpleasant information, manifest more distress in response to a math test, experience less marital satisfaction and be more susceptible to mental disorders.

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19
Q

What real world behaviours is extraversion correlated with?

A

People who score high on extraversion attend more parties, be rated as more popular, be seen as leaders, live and work with more people, mimic the behaviour of others, be less disturbed by loud noises.

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20
Q

What real world behaviours is openness to experience correlated with?

A

Enrolling in a liberal arts programme, change careers, Perform better in jobs training, more likely to play an instrument, more tolerant, exhibit less prejudice.

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21
Q

What real world behaviours is agreeableness correlated with?

A

More willing to lend money,have fewer behavioural problems during childhood, manifest les alcoholism or arrests in adulthood, more successful in the workplace, more satisfying marriages.

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22
Q

What real world behaviours is conscientiousness correlated with?

A

More faithful, higher ratings of job performance, put more effort into academic studies that are uninteresting, smoke less,drink less, drive more safely, healthier diets and live longer.

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23
Q

When are a person’s traits most apparent

A

In novel, ambiguous, stressful situations when cues as to which actions are appropriate are weak.

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24
Q

Comment on the stability of personality

A

There is a .50 to .70 correlation in test retest between adults on the NEO-PI. This tends to increase with age

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25
Q

What generally changes about personality with age?

A

Neuroticism and openness decline while conscientiousness and agreeableness tend to increase.

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26
Q

What percentage of personality is attributed to genetics?

A

50%

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27
Q

What specific genes are linked to traits and how so?

A

The gene 5-HTTLLPR is linked to neuroticism as well as the release of serotonin. Those homozygous for the l allele (as opposed to the s) score lower in neuroticism.
There is a relationship between the trait novelt seeking (a more assertive form of openness) and the alleles that alter the action of the neurotransmitter dopamine.
Such affects are relatively small.

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28
Q

Differentiate between a distal and proximate explanation

A

A proximate explanation focuses on causal mechanisms that operate in the lifetime of an individual to produce the phenomenon in question (genes + experiences) while distal explanations focuses on function or evolutionary survival value.

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29
Q

What could be the evolutionary benefit of varying personalities?

A

Producing organisms with a range of cognitive and behavioural disposition that may be adaptive for the range of environments it may encounter. These different personality types could be seen as different approaches to problem solving.

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30
Q

Describe a trait which is associated with change as opposed to stability

A

Differential susceptibility to environmental influence; Shy and anxious children are more sensitive to parenting techniques than other children both positively and negatively. These are also known as orchid children as opposed to dandelion children.

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31
Q

What does RSA measure?

A

Makes inferences on biological stress reactivity based on variances of heart rate.

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32
Q

What does a highly sensitive personality reflect

A

How easily the environment influences your personality.

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33
Q

What is meant by sibling contrast?

A

within family emphasis on the difference between siblings. Siblings tend to accentuate these differences through their own behavioral choices.

34
Q

What is meant by split parent identification? What function could this and sibling contrast serve?

A

When two siblings identify with a different one of their two parents. This could prevent sibling rivalry

35
Q

What evidence supports sibling contrast and split parent identification preventing sibling rivalry?

A

Siblings who are the same sex, adjacent to each other in birth order and close in age show the strongest link with these phenomenon.

36
Q

What differences in personality is there between sexes as shown by the NEO-ID?

A

Women score higher in agreeableness, developing positive social relationships, higher levels of anxiety and feelings of vulnerability and conscientiousness. They score higher on warmth and gregariousness of extraversion but not the excitement seeking facet. They score higher on he feelings and aesthetic facets of openness to experience but not the other facets; fantasy, actions ideas and values.

37
Q

How does different personality traits affect genders differently?

A

Shyness correlates positively with emotional distress in boys but not with girls. Competitiveness in women is linked with low self esteem while the opposite is true for men. Neuroticism is viewed more negatively in women than men.

38
Q

Briefly describe the possible effect of evolution on the difference in personality between men and women.

A

Women’s role as caregivers and possible need for cooperation with other adults in the past may have led them to develop more agreeable and nurturing traits while men may have had to develop competitive and aggressive traits to compete with other males. This is displayed by the different responses to stress; males with aggression and females with nurturing.These differences can also be attributed to hormones.

39
Q

Briefly describe the possible effect of cultural foundations on the difference in personality between men and women.

A

Social forces encourage nurturing in girls and aggressiveness in boys. This is shown by changes in personality tests from 1930 in sync with changes in culture.

40
Q

What name did Freud coin for his methods of treatment and theories of personality?

A

Psychoanalysis

41
Q

What are psychodynamic theories

A

Personality theories that emphasize the interplay of mental forces

42
Q

What are the two guiding premises of psychodynamic theories?

A

We are not aware of our motives and processes called defense mechanisms work within the mind to keep unacceptable or anxiety producing motives and thoughts out of consciousness.

43
Q

What is an erogenous zone?

A

Specific body zones centred on pleasure according to Freud

44
Q

Name Freud’s 5 psychosexual stages of development

A

Oral (1 year) , Anal (1-3 years), Phallic stage (3-5 years) (Oedipus and electra complex,) Latency stage (5-puberty) (conflict between child’s sexual drives and parents wish to socialise them, children actively repressing memories from these years,) Genital stage (Adolescence - Adulthood.)

45
Q

How did Freud explain personality?

A

Our individual forms of disguised manifestations of sex and aggression.

46
Q

What was Freuds approach to social drives?

A

He believed we are asocial beings and live in societies as a necessity more than by choice.

47
Q

What did Alfred Adler suggest regarding social drives?

A

Alfred’s theories centred on people’s need to feel competent. He claimed this stemmed from being a helpless child. He claimed that you could either develop an inferiorty complex, going through life feeling incompetent and dependent, or a superiority complex, going through life trying to prove you are better than others to mask your inferiority.

48
Q

Explain Erik Erikson’s psyhosocial theory

A

Erik believed that society placed demands on people and how people resond to these demands shapes their personality. Erikson proposed 8 stages of development and how they respond to one stage will affect how the deal with another stage.

49
Q

Name Erikson’s 6 stages of psychodevelopment

A 
Basic trust vs mistrust (birth- 1)
Autonomy vs shame and doubt (1-3)
Initiative vs guilt (3-6)
Industry vs Inferiority (6- puberty)
Identity vs Identity Confusion (12 - 18)
Intimacy vs Isolation (young adulthood)
Generativity vs stagnation (middle adulthood)
Integrity vs despair (late adulthood.)
50
Q

What is meant by repression?

A

The process by which anxiety-producing thoughts are pushed out or kept out of te conscious mind.

51
Q

What is displacement?

A

When an unconscious wish or dive is that would be unacceptable to the unconscious mind is redirected to a more acceptable alternative. (lollipop)

52
Q

What is sublimation?

A

When displacement is used to turn an undesired thought or motive into activities which are particularly valued by society (aggressiveness- Competitive sportsman.)

53
Q

What is reaction formation?

A

The conversion of a frightening wish into its safer opposite. (homophobia)

54
Q

What is projection?

A

When a person consciously experiences a conscious wish or drive as though it were someone else’s.

55
Q

What is rationalization?

A

Rationalization is the use of conscious reasoning to explain away anxiety- provoking thoughts or feelings.

56
Q

What are repressor’s

A

People who regularly repress the emotions that accompany disturbing events in their lives. When asked to recall fearful experiences or describe their least desirable traits they report less stress but measuring physiological indices shows they manifest more stress than nonrepressors.

57
Q

What are the pros and cons of repression?

A

Repressors can generally cope with stress a lot better than non repressors and dwell on pleasant rather than unpleasant thoughts. They do not allow anxiety causing thoughts to operate in their working memory. However they suffer more health problems and experience more chronic pain.

58
Q

Distinguish between the three levels of defenses during the Harvard experiment

A

Immature defenses were those which distorted reality the most and lead to most ineffective actions (Projection.) Intermediate defenses were less distorting and moderately effective (repression and reaction formation.) Mature defenses were the least distorting and most adaptive behaviors (Humor and suppression, the conscious avoidance of negative thinking.)

59
Q

What were the results on the Harvard experiment on defenses

A

The mature defenses were the most successful in love and work and those who used them self reported as happier. With age the maturity of the defenses grew.

60
Q

What do humanistic theories emphasize?

A

People’s conscious understanding of themselves and their capacity to choose their own paths to fulfilment.

61
Q

What is a phenomenological reality?

A

Each person’s conscious understanding of his or her world.

62
Q

What is a self concept?

A

A person’s understanding of who he or she is

63
Q

What does self actualisation refer to?

A

The process of one becoming their real selves- realizing one’s dreams and capabilities.

64
Q

What consecutive 5 sets of needs did humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow suggest are needed for self actualisation?

A

1) Physiological needs
2) Safety needs
3) attachment needs
4) esteem needs
5) self actualisation needs

65
Q

What do social-cognitive theorists emphasize about personality?

A

The roles of ones general believe about the world, which are acquired through one’s experiences in their social environment. These may be conscious or ingrained and automatic.

66
Q

What did Rotter conclude through watching people play cards?

A

That they acted different depending on whether they believed it was luck or skill that contributed. Therefore people’s behaviour depends not just on the objective relationship between the responses and rewards but also on their subjective beliefs on that relationship.

67
Q

What is meant by the locus of control?

A

People tend to behave according to a generalised disposition acquired from past experiences to believe that rewards either are or not usually controllable by people’s own efforts. This effects them when making decisions on what is worth putting effort into.

68
Q

Distinguish between internal and external locus of control

A

People who have a belief that individuals control their own rewards are said to have an internal locus of control while those who believe that rewards are obtained by external factors are said to have an external locus of control.

69
Q

What was Albert Bandura’s social cognitive perspective of personality? (Self efficacy)

A

People’s beliefs about their own abilities to perform specific tasks. People who expect they can perform a specific task are said to have high self-efficacy about the task.

70
Q

What effect can efficacy have on performance?

A

A high efficacy has been shown to improve performance

71
Q

What is meant by malleability in regards to personality?

A

Some people believe that they have a set intelligence, athleticism and personality traits while others have a rather malleable view of themselves, they can see them qualities changing or improving at any given point in their lives.

72
Q

What is dispositional optism?

A

The belief in a rosy future

73
Q

What is the effect of an optimistic outlook in life?

A

They are generally happier and cope better with life’s stressors. People undergoing the same surgeries and scored higher on an optimism test made quicker recoveries. This could be due to seeing problems as solvable and devoting attention and energy to them.

74
Q

What is the purpose of optimism in children?

A

Tendencies to overestimate their abilities can enhance their self efficacy and give them confidence to try things.

75
Q

What are the dangers of self delusional forms of optimism?

A

Self delusional forms of optimism can result in a subconscious belief that they are invulnerable to such catastrophes such as aids, drug addiction or car crashes.

76
Q

What is defensive optimism?

A

inflated beliefs of their academic ability blinds people to their own shortcomings and prevents improvement, this is known as defensive optimism. While this can reduce anxiety it can lead you to expect success without participation which can lead to dangerously imprudent behaviours.

77
Q

What is an adaptive form of pessimism? Name a downside to this.

A

The belief that they won’t do well so they work hard to avoid failure. However it is found that this anxiety about failure led them to focus too narrowly on grades and lose the intrinsic pleasure of academic work.

78
Q

According to Walter Mischel what are the shortcomings of global traits?

A

They don’t factor in the situational context. (Aggressiveness in children at a camp.)

79
Q

How did David Faunder describe the dimensions of situations?

A

The eight DIAMONDS dimensions of situations;
Duty:Does something need to be done?
Intellect: is deep info being processed?
Adversity: is someone being threatened?
Mating: sexual/romantic?
pOsitivity: is the situation positive?
Negativity: do negative things taint the situation?
Deception: is someone being deceptive?
Sociality: does it involve social interaction?

80
Q

Distinguish between collectivist and individualist orientations

A

Collectivist cultures are those that emphasise the interdependence of people and the duties people have to their family and community. Individualistic cultures in contrast place relatively more emphasis on individual freedom and rights.

81
Q

What is the difference on the outlook of personality between individualistic and collectivist cultures?

A

People in individualistic cultures put more emphasis on personality and are more likely to attribute something to someone’s personality than the situation. In collectivist cultures people see personality as more malleable.

82
Q

Name three traits which are seen as important in China and not as much in western culture.

A

Harmony (inner peace and harmonious way of interacting with others,) face (maintaining dignity and rep with others,) and ten quing (mutual exchange of favours.)

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