Personality Flashcards
Define Personality.
Enduring patterns of thought, feeling, motivation and behaviour that are expressed in different circumstances.
It gives distinctiveness (unique), consistency and behaviour.
What is personality?
Often conceptualised as a cluster of traits; relatively stable and long lasting tendencies that influence behaviour across environments.
Similar across lifespan; but it has actually been found that it changes more than we originally thought.
What are the two broad areas that personality focuses on?
Nomothetic: understanding individual differences in particular personality characteristics (how they vary in responses)
Ideographic: understanding how the various parts of a person come together as a whole (how varying traits interact together)
What are the 3 core assumptions of Freud’s Psychodynamic approach?
- Psychic Determinism: we are at the mercy of our underlying drives and conflicts.
- Symbolic meaning: all actions (even minor) reveal our underlying drives.
- Unconscious motivation: we are mostly unaware of our motivations.
FREUD
What are freudian slips?
It can be defined a psychological conflict bubbling to the surface; they are repressed and then unconsciously released.
A type of freudian slip is parapraxis:
includes error in speech, memory or physical action. In Freudian terms believed to be caused by the unconscious mind.
FREUD
What are the 3 types of mental processes?
Conscious: rational, goal directed, centre of awareness.
Preconscious: could become conscience at any given time
Unconscious: irrational, not based on logic, repressed and this inaccessible
they influence personality
FREUD
What is Freud’s Drive (instinct) model?
Based on Darwin’s work, Freud suggested human behaviour is motivated by two drives:
Aggressive & sexual drives
What is a structural model?
A change in Freud's thinking morality governs behaviour. Includes ID (our basic desires and drives), ego (interacts with the real world and makes decisions) and superego (sense of right and wrong, directing us to behave morally).
DEFENCE MECHANISMS
What are defence mechanisms?
People regulate their emotions and deal with conflicts by employing defence mechanisms. Unconscious aim is to strengthen or reinforce positive emotion & protect from negative or unpleasant emotion.
DEFENCE MECHANISMS
What is repression?
memories or thoughts kept out of awareness
DEFENCE MECHANISMS
What is denial?
refusal to acknowledge external reality.
DEFENCE MECHANISMS
What is displacement?
Emotions directed towards a substitute target.
DEFENCE MECHANISMS
What is regression?
Return to an earlier stage of psychosexual development. As we age, sexual gratification comes form different parts of the body.
DEFENCE MECHANISMS
What is reaction formulation?
Unacceptable feelings or impulses turned into opposites.
DEFENCE MECHANISMS
What is rationalisation?
Actions explained away to avoid uncomfortable feelings.
NEO-FREUDIANS
What are neo-freudians?
Shifted focus from sexual to social drives. It was suggested that personality was more malleable and could change over time. Thinking more broadly than Freud did.
NEO-FREUDIANS
Who is Alfred Adler?
Primary motive is not sex or aggression but to strive for superiority.
Origin of the phrase ‘inferiority complex’.
NEO-FREUDIANS
Who is Carl Jung?
Collective unconscious ancestral memory that explains similarities in beliefs across cultures.
Shared historical experiences.
NEO-FREUDIANS
Who is Karen Horney?
Feminist perspective. Penis envy and oedipal complex are the symptom of women’s enforced dependency on men.
NEO-FREUDIANS
Who is Erich Fromm?
Escape from freedom; increasing tech, means humans are able to live independently of others but what we crave is closer connection
What were the contributions and limitations of Freudian perspective?
Acknowledgement of unconscious forces and their potential influence on behaviour.
Importance of childhood experience in determining adult personality.
Human thought and action
Inadequate scientific base and poor testability
Sexism
What are behavioural approaches?
Differences in our personalities stem largely from our learning histories.
Personality are bundles of habits acquired by classical and operant conditioning.
Personality is controlled by genes and contingencies. It argues that personality is what we have learnt.
What are cognitive-social theories?
The way people encode, process and think about information determines their personality (slightly more interactive process engaging with environment)
Several necessary conditions for a behaviours:
1. Situation encoded as relevant and meaningful
2. Belief in own ability and actual ability
3. self regulation of ongoing activity
BANDURA
What is the social learning theory?
We learn to be the person we are by watching other people and seeing who/what get rewarded and who/what does not (learn who we are through watching people (if no reward we might be less likely to develop)
A child who sees others involved in helping and being rewarded will emulate this behaviour
BANDURA
What is reciprocal Determinism?
Personality is a constant interplay between environment, behaviour and our beliefs.
Other factors besides ourselves determine personality
What is locus of control?
Internal:
life outcomes are under personal control, positively correlated with self esteem. Internals use more problem focused coping.
External:
Luck, chance, and powerful others control behaviour
What is behaviour outcome expectancies?
Belief that a certain behaviour will lead to a certain outcome.
What is self efficacy expectancy?
Individual conviction that necessary actions can be performed to produce the desired outcome.
What are competencies?
Possession of skills and abilities for solving particular problems.
What is self regulation?
Setting goals, evaluating performance and adjusting behaviour. Used to monitor what is happening.
What are the contributions and limitations of social cognitive approach?
Focus on the role of though and memory in personality
Readily testable. Cognitive functions will shape personality.
Emphasises rationality at the expense of emotion. Assumes people consciously know what they think, feel and want. Not all of us are as self aware as others.
HUMANISTIC APPROACHES
What are they?
Emerged as an alternative to psychoanalysis and behaviourism. Focus on the aspects are distinctly human (trying to find meaning in life, being true to the self).
HUMANISTIC APPROACHES
What is Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs?
All people look for the meaning in life. To find own meaning is to become self-actualised which is at the peak of the hierarchy. The motivation for positive growth is innate, sometimes circumstances block growth.
HUMANISTIC APPROACHES
What is self-actualisation?
Maslow said that self actualised people tend to be creative, spontaneous and accepting of themselves and others.
Can come off as difficult to work with; prone to peak experiences. They won’t interact or listen to feedback due to being happy with themselves.
HUMANISTIC APPROACHES
Why is Carl Rogers significant?
He rejected the notion of determinism and embrace free will. Proposed self actualisation as a core motive in personality.
HUMANISTIC APPROACHES
What was Roger’s Model?
Stated there were 3 major components of personality:
- The organism (innate, genetic blueprint).
- The self (set out beliefs about who we are)
- Conditions of worth (expectations we place ourselves - can result in incongruence)
HUMANISTIC APPROACHES
What is Roger’s Person centred approach?
Attempt understanding of individuals’ phenomenological experience- the way they conceive of reality and think about the world.
Fundamental tool of the psychologist is empathy. The capacity to understand another person’s experience.
What are traits?
A fundamental concept in personality. Psychometrician’s were first to introduce the concepts of traits.
Allport suggests a trait is two things:
- An observed tendency to behave in a certain way.
- An inferred underlying disposition that results in this behavioural tendency.
TRAIT THEORIES
What was Hippocrates theory?
Greek proposed the 4 humors (temperaments), based on excess of specific bodily fluids. Sanguine Choleric Melancholic Phlegmatic.
TRAIT THEORIES
Describe each proposed temperament.
Sanguine - good natured, sociable, easy-going. Too much = insensitive/vague
Choleric- quick tempered, decisive, fast thinking. Too much = bouts of rage.
Melancholic- intellectual, pragmatic, contemplative. Too much = depression and antisocial behavior.
Phlegmatic- calm, stable, rational. Too much = apathetic, lack of drive.
this has been disproven but terms are still heard of
TRAIT THEORIES
What was the First Modern Trait Theory?
Two Factor trait theory of personality/ Hans and Sybil Eysenck use two primary personality factors as axes for describing personality variation.
Stable vs. Unstable
Introvert vs Extrovert
TRAIT THEORIES
What is Eysenck?
It is a four level hierarchy of behavioural organisation.
- Specific responses: specific acts and cognitions.
- Habits: must be reasonably reliable and consistent.
- Traits: formed by several habitual responses
- Types: superfactors, supertraits; made up of several interrelated traits
Hierarchical approach which determine underlying characteristics.
TRAIT THEORIES
What are the 3 supertraits?
Psychoticism
Extraversion
Neuroticism.
What is the Lexical Approach to Personality?
Guiding scientific theory in personality psychology.
2 assumptions
1. Important personality characteristics become part of the language. (if we see a behaviour enough there will be a word to describe it)
2. More important personality characteristics will be defined by a single word.
It was a major foundation for the Big5 and Cattell & 16PF.
What is the significance of Gordon Allport and Henry Odbert?
Influential trait theorists throughout 1900’s. People have some fundamental traits that influence most aspects of their behaviour.
Cardinal (highest), central, secondary traits.
Identified some 4500 traits
What is the significance of Raymond Cattell?
Reduced Allport’s list from 4500 to 171. He argued for 3 types of data (life, experimental and questionnaire) which is important to gather a range of info.
What is the 16PF?
Distinguished traits in a number of ways; common vs. unique traits. He was the first to use factor analysis.
Identified 16 source traits using factor analysis. Measured these using self-report survey called the 16PF
What are surface traits?
Obvious individual characteristics easily identifiable.
What are source traits?
Deep, less obvious mental structures which give rise to surface traits.
What are the 16 traits?
- Warmth. 9. Vigilance
- Reasoning 10. Abstractness
- Emotional stability 11. Privateness
- dominance 12. Apprehension
- Liveliness 13. Openness to change
- Rule conscious 14. Self reliance
- social boldness 15. perfectionism
- sensitivity 16. tension
THE BIG 5
What is the big 5?
The 5 factor model comprises 5 personality dimensions. The factors are dimensions, not types of personality. Factors are stable during adulthood and are culturally universal. Specific facets are believed to be heritable, at least in part.
Currently the dominant conceptualisation of personality structure.
THE BIG 5
What are the Big 5?
Openness to experience
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticism.
OCEAN
THE BIG 5
What is openness to experience?
curious, creative, imaginative, independent in judgement. Often referred to as intellect.
THE BIG 5
What is conscientiousness?
Habitually reliable, careful, hard working, well-organised, sometimes referred to as constraint. Opposite pole of undirectedness.
THE BIG 5
What is extraversion?
Sociable, talkative and open with others. Introverts are withdrawn, discrete, cautious.
THE BIG 5
What is agreeableness?
Friendly, understanding, caring, empathetic. Opposite pole of antagonism.
THE BIG 5
What is neuroticism?
Nervous, sad, hostile, insecure. Sometimes referred to as emotional stability
THE BIG 5
How does culture relate to the Big 5?
Factors are generally universal.
May be universal for 4 of 5 traits (extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism and conscientiousness)
But openness is not supported in some asian countries.
THE BIG 5
How does gender relate to the Big 5?
Women tend to be somewhat higher then men in C,E,A & N.
Most consistent difference throughout a number of countries was increased N.
HEXACO
What is it?
a 6 dimensional model consisting of
Honesty-humility
emotionality
eXtraversion
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness
Openness to experience.
HEXACO
Is it the Big 5 + 1?
Not quite Extraversion, conscientiousness and openess are very similar.
DARK PERSONALITY
What is the dark triad?
A constellation of negatively viewed characteristics. They include Narcissim, Machiavellianism and psychopathy. Sadism has recently been added.
DARK PERSONALITY
What is narcissism?
They think they are much more important than anyone. Have a sense of entitlement, superiority, dominance.
DARK PERSONALITY
What is Machiavellianism?
Strategic, if they want it, they don’t care how they get it. They are cynical, unprincipled and manipulative.
DARK PERSONALITY
What is psychopathy?
They have a need to do extreme things. They are impulsive, thrill seeking and have low empathy.
DARK PERSONALITY
What is sadism?
They enjoy seeking discomfort; they may cause or initiate it. Gain pleasure or satisfaction from other’s misfortune/suffering and/or engaging in behaviour that harms others.
DARK PERSONALITY
What sort of behaviour is it associated with?
Reduced empathy
Sexual harassment
Bullying/cyberbullying
Prejudice
Agression
DARK PERSONALITY
Is psychopathy evident in the workplace?
Those high in psychopathy often engage in behaviours that will promote their own success at the expense of other in the workplace.
They claim credit for others word, take advantage of other, superficially pleasant, don’t mind firing making ruthless decisions.
EVALUATING TRAIT THEORY
Is it able to describe personality?
Cross cultrual human studies find good agreement for the Big 5 model in many cultures. Appear to be highly correlated in adulthood, childhood and even late preschoolers.
EVALUATING TRAIT THEORY
What are the contributions and limitations of trait theory?
Easily measured and testable
Allows for individuality in trait expression
Provides a categorisation toll for personality attributes.
Heavy reliance on self report
Analyses may govern outcome
Does not examine the process of personality.
What are the goals of behavioural genetics?
Determine the percentage of individual differences in a trait that can be attributed to genetic or environmental differences.
Determine how which genes and environment interact to produce individual differences
Determine where in the environment environmental effects exists
What are the misconceptions about heritability?
Heritability cannot be applied to single individual
Heritability is not constant or immutable
Heritability is not a precise statistic.
What are the behavioural genetics methods?
- selective breeding.
- family studies
- twin studies
- adoption studies
What are the cultural differences in self concept?
- communion or interdependence:
concerns how you are affiliated with, attached to, or engaged in the large group of which you are a member. - agency or independence: how you differentiate yourself from a larger group.
Non-western asian cultures are more focused on interdependence whereas western cultures are focused on independences.
What are the beliefs about personality of men and women?
Men = more active, loud, adventurous, obnoxious, aggressive, opinionated, arrogant, coarse, and conceited.
Women= affectionate, modest, nervous, appreciative, patient, changeable, charming and fearful
