Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

Introduction to Psychology > Personality > Flashcards

Personality Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
Psychology 101 flashcards GRE® Psychology flashcards AP® Psychology flashcards
1
Q

Definition of personality

A

Set of behavioural, emotional and cognitive tendencies that people display over time and across situations, and that distinguish us from one another

This depends on states, traits and situations

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What is the “trait theory”?

A

There is a manageable set of underlying personality dimensions.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

How can we measure personality?

A

Through

  • Observation
  • Interview
  • Inventory/Questionnaire (factor analysis and big 5 personality dimensions)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What’s factor analysis?

A

Analyzes patterns of correlation to extract factors that underlie the correlations. Results in a big five personality inventory.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

List the big 5 labels

A 
(OCEAN)
Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticism
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

When is neuroticism high? Give examples

A

More attention towards threats in environment

More stress when negative surprises

Higher divorce rate

More susceptible to depression and anxiety

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

High extraversion. Give examples

A

Attends parties, more popular.

Identified as leader

Lives and works with more people

Less disturbed by sudden loud noises or intense stimuli

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Examples of high agreeableness

A

More willing to lend money

Higher school grades

Fewer arrests as an adult

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Examples of high openness

A

More likely to major in humanities

Change careers midlife

Perform better in job training programs

Play a musical instrument

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Examples of high conscientiousness

A

More sexually faithful to spouses

Higher job ratings

Smoke/drink less, drive more safely, less alzheimer’s risk

Play musical instrument

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What did twin studies show in the big five questionnaire?

A

For each big Five trait, the correlations for monozygotic twins were higher than for dizygotic twins. For monozygotic twins, it does not matter whether they are raised in the same/different families.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Name 3 ways to measure personality

A
  • Twin studies (nature/ nurture)
    Projective tests:
  • Rohrschach inkblots
  • Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)- story about pic
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What are some problems with projective tests?

A

Too often misclassify normal people as pathological

Not culturally fair/normed

Inter-rater reliability

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Who’s Sigmund Freud?

A
  • 1856-1939
  • Viennese Neurologist
  • Private practice to treat “nervous disorders”
  • main determinants of personaliry: Biological drives and childhood experiences
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Give 4 important lessons of Freud on this topic

A
  1. Psychodynamic approach (understanding psychological forces that drive behaviour)
  2. Personality tests
  3. Most influential theory on personality
  4. Iceberg
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Describe the 3 levels of awareness proposed by Freud

A
  1. Conscious: Actual awareness
  2. Preconscious: Easy to retrieve knowledge
  3. Unconscious: difficult to retrieve feeling and memories
17
Q

Describe our personality structure according to Freud

A
  1. Id (Raw biological urges, pleasure principle)
  2. Ego (Decision maker, reality principle/pragmatism)
  3. Superego (Moral component, ego ideal)
18
Q

Personality dynamics and conflicts

A

Id and Superego interfere and lead to a conflict, causing neurotic anxiety and defensive behaviour

19
Q

What’s defensive behaviour?

A

Satisfy the id to fool the superego. Examples:

  • Dreams
  • Freudian slips
  • Humor
  • Defense mechanism
20
Q

Name 7 Defense mechanisms

A
  1. Denial
  2. Repression (frightening memories, blocks or distorts memory)
  3. Projection (i desire you becomes you desire me, angry at others because angry at yourself)
  4. Reaction formation (doing exact opposite of what urges tell you)
  5. Displacement (boss yells at you, you can’t do the same cause he is older so you yell at your son, who is younger)
  6. Rationalisation (of stupid actions)
  7. Intellectualisation and isolation of affect (somebody dies you think of why this could be a good thing/distance yourself emotionally)
21
Q

Freud and psychotherapy

A

Resolves internal conflicts by bringing them to the surface.

22
Q

Psychodynamic vs social-cognitive theories

A

Psychodynamic: Instinctive, unconscious motives

Social-cognitive: General beliefs about the world. Learned from social environment, both conscious and unconscious. Predicting human behaviour, not global life choices.

23
Q

Describe Julian Rotter’s theory of “Belief viewed as personality traits”

A

Belief or luck affects behaviour and performance. (Work harder and improve vs did not work much and no improvement)

It is often unclear how much control we have in life (eg studying = good grade, or eating healthy and exercising = no heart attack)

Locus of control (internal vs external)

24
Q

Give 3 examples of locus of control

A
  1. There is rarely ever an “unfair test” for a well prepared student, OR many times exam questions are unrelated to course work, so that studying is really useless.
  2. Success is a matter of hard work, luck has nothing to do with it. OR Getting a job depends mainly on being in the right place at the right time.
  3. I am almost certain that I can make plans work OR it is not always wise to plan too far ahead because many things turn out to be a matter of luck.
25
Q

Effects of internal locus of control (5 examples)

A

When people try to control their own fate.

  • Preventive health care measures
  • Success in weight loss programs
  • Information for protection form tornado
  • Resist group pressure
  • Prefer skill-games over chance-games
26
Q

Self-efficacy (with example)

A

Belief about one’s ability to perform specific tasks.

Sense of ability vs will that ability do anything?

Example: Good self-efficacy in math but worthless because teacher hates you, OR bad self efficacy but you earn a lot of money by winning a tournament or becoming a maths teacher.

27
Q

Possibility of personal improvement through self-efficacy

A

Malleable belief/people can be taught to think of themselves and their brain as malleable: Embrace education, rebound from setbacks, seek challenges, improve personal relationships

28
Q

How does Personal improvement work with praise?

A

Person praise: Fixed

Process praise: Malleable

29
Q

List the aspects that help performance, well-being and positive thinking (3)

A

Internal locus of control

Self-efficacy

Malleable entity

30
Q

What was the Seligman questionnaire?

A

It assessed optimistic or pessimistic dealing with negative life events.

Eg with dispositional optimism: “In uncertain times, I usually expect the best”.

31
Q

What does positive thinking correlate with?

A

Positive outcomes. Recovery from coronary artery bypass surgery (because of devoting attention and energy to solving problems- quicker to sit up, walk, exercise and go back to work)

32
Q

How does optimism affect children?

A

They recognize talent in others, but always count themselves among the best. This increases self-efficacy and exploration in them. Higher verbal IQ and school grades.

33
Q

How does optimism affect children?

A

They recognize talent in others, but always count themselves among the best. This increases self-efficacy and exploration in them. Higher verbal IQ and school grades.

34
Q

When is optimism NOT adaptive (maladaptive)

A

Defensive optimism: Invulnerability to catastrophes

Inflated belief in academic abilities makes person blind for shortcomings (stops working on it)

Optimism may reduce anxiety by diverting thoughts away from scary outcomes (idea that everything will be alright outside of my control is dangerous)

35
Q

When is pessimism NOT maladaptive (adaptive)

A

Adaptive pessimism:
Belief that there is a good chance that they will not do well despite contradicting evidence. (But still work hard to prevent that. “I probably sucked but still gets A”)

OPTIMISTS ARE STILL BETTER OFF: Failure anxiety leads to focus on grades- Overjustification effect

Introduction to Psychology (12 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions