Personality, Motivation, and Emotion

Question 1

Personality

Answer 1

Essentially the individuals pattern of thinking, feeling, and behavior associated with each person.

Question 2

What are the various theories and perspectives on personality?

Answer 2

1. Psychoanalytic Perspective
2. Humanistic Perspective
3. Behaviorist Perspective
4. Social-Cognitive Perspective
5. Trait Perspective
6. Biological Perspective

Question 3

Which theories and perspectives are most used in the treatment of personalities disorders?

Answer 3

1. Psychoanalytic Therapy
2. Humanistic (or person-centered) Therapy
3. Behavioral Therapy
4. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Question 4

Psychoanalytic Theory

Answer 4

Personality (made up of patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors) is shaped by a persons unconscious thoughts, feelings, and memories that are derived from past experiences, particularly from interactions with primary early caregivers.

Developed by Sigmund Freud

Question 5

What are the two instinctual drives that motivate human behavior as described by classical psychoanalytic theory?

Answer 5

1. Libido/Life Instinct: drives behavior focused on survival, growth, creativity, pain avoidance, and pleasure
2. Death Instinct: drives aggressive behaviors fueled by an unconscious wish to die or to hurt oneself or others

Question 6

According to Freud, psychic energy is distributed by three personality components. Describe each.

Answer 6

1. Id: (conscious level)
   - The source of energy and instincts.
   - Ruled by the Pleasure Principle, the id seeks to reduce tensions, avoid pain, and gain pleasure.
   - It does not use logical or moral reasoning, and it does not distinguish mental images from external objects
   - According to Freud, young children function almost entirely off the id
2. Ego: (preconscious level)
   - Ruled by the Reality Principle
   - Uses logical thinking and planning to control consciousness and the id.
   - The ego tries to find realistic ways to satisfy the id’s desire for pleasure.
3. Superego: (unconscious level)
   - Inhibits the id and influences the ego to follow moralistic and idealistic goals rather than just realistic goals
   - Strives for a “higher purpose”
   - Based on values learned from parents, the superego makes judgments of right and wrong and strives for perfection
   - Superego seeks to gain psychological rewards such as feelings of pride and self-love, and to avoid feelings of punishment such as guilt and inferiority.

Question 7

Ego Defense Mechanisms

Answer 7

According to Freud, in order to cope with things like anxiety and to protect the ego, all people develop these mechanisms that unconsciously deny or distort reality.

They are normal and become unhealthy only when taken to extremes

Question 8

Name the most common defense mechanisms and describe them.

Answer 8

Repression: lack of recall of an emotionally painful memory

Denial: forceful refusal to acknowledge an emotionally painful memory

Reaction Formation: expressing the opposite of what one really feels, when it would feel to dangerous to express the real feeling (such as acting hateful toward someone to whom one is sexually attracted to)

Projection: attributing ones own unacceptable thoughts or feelings to another person (e.g, “I’m not angry, you are”)

Displacement: redirecting aggressive or sexual impulses from a forbidden action or object onto a less dangerous one (as when a person goes home and kicks the dog instead of expressing anger at your boss)

Rationalization: explaining and intellectually justifying ones own impulsive behavior

Regression: reverting to an earlier, less sophisticated behavior (as when a child reverts to bedwetting after a trauma)

Sublimation: channeling aggressive or sexual energy into positive, constructive activities, such as producing art.

Question 9

Psychoanalytic Theory

Answer 9

At each developmental stage throughout the life span, certain needs and tasks must be satisfied. When these needs and tasks are not met, a person harbors unresolved unconscious conflicts that lead to psychological dysfunction.

Question 10

Freuds 5 Psychosexual Stages of Development

Answer 10

1. Oral Stage: The child seeks sensual please through oral activities such as sucking and chewing
2. Anal Stage: The child seeks sensual pleasure through control of elimination
3. Phallic Stage: The child seeks sensual pleasure through genitals. At this stage, the child is both sexually attracted to the opposite-sex parent and hostile towards the same-sex parent who is seen as a rival. (known as the Oedipus complex in a boy, and the Electra complex in a girl)
4. Latency Stage: Sexual interests subside and are replaced by other interests in other areas such as school, friends, and sports
5. Genital Stage: Begins in adolescence, when sexual themes resurface and a persons life/sexual energy fuels activities such as friendships, arts, sports, and careers.

According to psychoanalytic theory, at each developmental stage throughout the lifespan, certain needs and tasks must be satisfied. If these needs and tasks are not satisfied, a person harbors unresolved unconscious conflicts that lead to psychological dysfunction.

According to Freud, each of these stages must be met.

Question 11

Erik Erikson’s 8 Psychosocial Stages

Answer 11

1. Trust versus Mistrust
2. Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt
3. Initiative versus Guilt
4. Industry versus Inferiority
5. Identity versus Role Confusion
6. Intimacy versus Isolation
7. Generativity versus Stagnation
8. Integrity versus Despair

Question 12

Goals and Methods of Psychoanalytic Therapy

Answer 12

Psychoanalytic therapy, also known as “talk-therapy” uses various methods to help a patient become aware of his/her unconscious motives and to gain insight into the emotional issues and conflicts that are presenting difficulties.

A goal of psychoanalytic therapy is to strengthen the ego, so that choices can be based on reality rather than on instincts (id) or guilt (superego)

Other techniques of psychoanalytic therapy is free-association, role-playing, and dream interpretation.

Question 13

Humanistic Theory

Answer 13

Focuses on healthy development and developed by Carl Rogers. According to this theory, humans are seen as inherently good and as having free will, rather than having their behavior determined by their early relation ship. In other words, the self-concept is made up of the Childs conscious, subjective perceptions and him or herself.

Question 14

Actualizing Tendency and Self-Actualization

Answer 14

Actualizing Tendency: the most basic motive of all people; the innate drive to maintain and enhance the organism

Self-Actualization: (a person will grow to this); realizing his or her human potential, as long as no obstacle intervenes.

Question 15

Incongruence

Answer 15

People choose behavior consistent with their self-concepts, and if they encounter experiences in life that contradict their self-concepts, uncomfortable (incongruence)

Question 16

Goals and Elements of Humanistic Therapy

Answer 16

Also known as person-centered therapy, its goal is to provide an environment that will help clients trust and accept themselves, and their emotional reactions, so they can learn and grow from their experiences.

Elements of Humanistic Therapy:

• Therapists trust in their client
• Therapist communicate genuineness (congruence)
• Unconditional positive regard
• Empathetic understanding to the client.

Question 17

Behaviorist Perspective

Answer 17

Personality is a result of learned behavior based on a persons environment.

Behaviorism is deterministic, proposing that people begin as blank slates, and that environmental reinforcement and punishment completely determine an individuals subsequent behavior and personalities.

According to behaviorism, learning (thus the development of personality) occurs through two forms of conditioning.

Question 18

What are the two forms of conditioning in behaviorism and define them.

Answer 18

Classical Conditioning: a person acquires a certain response to a stimulus after that stimulus is repeatedly paired with a second, different stimulus that already produces the desired response. (associational learning)

Operant Conditioning: behaviors are influences by the consequences that follow them.

Question 19

Difference between reinforcement and punishments: (what is the operant)

Answer 19

Consequences are either:
Reinforcements, which make it more likely the operant will be repeated
Punishments, which make it less likely that an operant will be repeated.

The operant is a persons action or behavior that operates on the environment and produces consequences

Question 20

Methods of Behavioral Therapy

Answer 20

Behavioral therapy uses the ABC model, where the therapist performs a functional assessment codetermine the antecedents (A) and consequences (C) of the behavior (B).

Behavioral therapy includes relaxation training and systematic desensitization to help clients manage fear and anxiety

Question 21

Systematic Desensitization

Answer 21

The client is helped to relax while repeatedly being exposed to or imagining the situation that provokes anxiety which allows the client to experience the problematic situation without experiencing any adverse consequences.

Question 22

Social-Cognitive Perspective

Answer 22

Personality is formed by a reciprocal interaction among behavioral, cognitive, and environmental factors.

Question 23

Observational Learning

Answer 23

Also known as vicarious learning, occurs when a person watches another person’s behavior and its consequences, thereby learning rules, strategies, and expected outcomes in different situation.

Question 24

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Goals

Answer 24

From the cognitive perspective, a persons feelings and behaviors are seen as reactions not to actual events, but to the persons thoughts about those events. Many of these thoughts are formed in childhood. Also from the cognitive perspective, the roots of psychopathology are irrational or dysfunctional thoughts.

The goal of cognitional psychotherapy is to help the client become aware of these irrational or dysfunctional thoughts and substitute rational or accurate beliefs, which will lead to more functional feelings and behaviors.

Question 25

Personality Trait and the Trait Perspective

Answer 25

A generally subtle predisposition toward a certain behavior.

Trait theories of personality focus on identifying, measuring, describing, and comparing individual differences and similarities with respect to such traits

Question 26

Surface Traits and Source Traits

Answer 26

Surface Traits: evident from a persons behavior (e.g; talkative, exuberant)

Source Traits: are the factors underlying human personality and behavior; source traits are fewer and more abstract (e.g; extroversion and introversion)

Question 27

Biological Perspective

Answer 27

States that much of what we call personality is at least partly due to innate biological differences among people.

Question 28

Hans Eysenck

Answer 28

Proposed that a persons level of extroversion is based on individual differences in the reticular formation (which mediates arousal and consciousness) and a persons level of neuroticism is based on individual differences in the limbic system (which mediates emotion and memory)

Question 29

Jeffery Alan Gray

Answer 29

Proposed that personality is governed by interactions between 3 brain systems that respond to rewarding and punishing stimuli.

Fearfulness and avoidance = “fight-or-flight” sympathetic nervous system
Worry and anxiety = behavioral inhibition
Optimism and impulsivity = behavioral approach system

Question 30

C. Robert Cloninger

Answer 30

Proposed that personality is linked to the level of activity of certain neurotransmitters in 3 interacting systems.

Low dopamine = higher impulsivity and novelty
Low epinephrine = high approval seeking and reward dependence
Low serotonin = risk avoidance

Question 31

Person-Situation Controversy

Answer 31

(also known as trait versus state controversy) considers the degree to which a persons reaction in a given situation is due to their personality (trait) or is due to the situation (state)

Question 32

Traits versus States

Answer 32

Traits are considered to be internal, stable, and enduring aspects of personality that should be consistent across most situations.

States are situational; they are unstable, temporary, and variable aspects of personality that are influences by the external environment.

Question 33

Social Cues

Answer 33

In unfamiliar situations, people tend to modify their behavior based on social cues (verbal or nonverbal hints that guide social interactions); therefore specific traits may remain hidden.

Question 34

What are the factors that influence motivation?

Answer 34

Instints, drives/negative feedback systems, arousal, and needs.

Question 35

Instincts

Answer 35

Behaviors that are unlearned and present in fixed patterns throughout a species.

Question 36

Drives and Negative Feedback

Answer 36

Drive: an urge originating from a physiological discomfort such as hunger, thirst, or sleepiness (good for altering n organism that is no longer in a state of homeostasis). Drives work through negative feedback systems.

Negative Feedback: works by maintaining stability or homeostasis; a system produces a product or end result, which feeds back to stop the system and maintain the product or end result within tightly controlled boundaries.

Question 37

Drive-Reduction Theory

Answer 37

Suggests that a physiological need creates an aroused state that drives the organism to reduce that need by engaging in some behavior. (drives are internal physiological needs)

Need (for food or water)—->Drive (hunger, thirst)—>Drive-Reducing Behavior (eating, drinking)

Question 38

Incentive Theory

Answer 38

incentives are objects and events in the environment that either induce of discourage certain behaviors. They can be positive or negative. (incentives are external stimuli)

Question 39

Attitude

Answer 39

Refers to a person’s feelings and beliefs about other people or events around them, and their tendency to react behaviorally based on those underlying evaluations

Question 40

Components of Attitude:

Answer 40

(ABC)
Affect (emotion)
Behavior tendencies
Cognition (thought)

Question 41

What are some situations in which attitude influence (or better predict) behaviors?

Answer 41

1. When social influences are reduced
2. When general patterns of behavior, rather than specific behaviors are observed
3. When specific, rather than general, attitudes are considered
4. When attitudes are made more powerful through self-reflection

(see notebook for exact definitions of each situation)

Question 42

What are some situations in which behavior is likely to influence attitudes

Answer 42

1. Role-playing
2. Public Declarations
3. Justification of Effort (aka foot-in-the-door phenomenon)

Question 43

Cognitive-Dissonance Theory

Answer 43

Seeks to explain why self-justification is such a powerful influence on attitude modification. It explains that we feel tension (“dissonance”) whenever we hold two thoughts or beliefs (“cognitions”) that are incompatible, or when attitudes and behaviors don’t match up. (you may feel like a hypocrite when this happens)

This theory explains that in order to reduce this unpleasant feeling of tension, we make our views of the world match how we feel or what we’ve done.

This theory can explain peoples reactions to situations in which there is insufficient justification for an action, people are likely to experience dissonance and thus, match their beliefs to what they’ve done (attitude modification)

Question 44

What are the three components of emotion?

Answer 44

A physiological (body) component: excitation of the body's internal state
A behavioral (action) component: some kind of expressive behavior 
A cognitive (mind) component: involves appraisal or interpretation of the situation

Question 45

Universal Emotions

Answer 45

Darwin assumed that emotions had a strong biological basis in which emotions should be experiences and expressed similarly across cultures, which was found to be true.
The six universal emotions include: happiness, sadness, surprise, fear, disgust, and anger.

Question 46

Yerkes-Dodson Law

Answer 46

Shows the relationship between performance and arousal is a U-shaped correlation: people perform best when moderately aroused.

Question 47

In addition to moderating performance, what are the other adaptive roles that emotion has?

Answer 47

It enhances survival by serving a useful guide to making quick decisions.

Emotions may play a role in influencing individual behaviors within a social context (allows for cooperative interactions)

Emotions are a large part of our everyday lives, our choices often require consideration of our emotions.

Question 48

James-Lange Theory

Answer 48

Proposed that we experience a physiological response and then we experience the emotion. It suggests that autonomic activity induced by emotional stimuli generate the feelings of emotion, not the other way around

Question 49

Walter Cannon criticized the James-Lange theory by suggesting that:

Answer 49

1. ) in order for the James-Lange theory to adequately describe the process of emotion, there must be different physiological responses corresponding to each emotion and;
2. ) that physiological experience do not appear to differ from each other to the extent that would be essential to discriminate one emotion from another based on only our bodily reactions

Question 50

Cannon-Bard Theory

Answer 50

Walter Cannon and his student conducted experiments on cats to come up with their theory that suggest:

that after a stimulus, the physiological response and the experience of emotion occur simultaneously and independently of each other. It is able to explain the overlap in physiological states between fear and sexual arousal, because the cognitive labelling is independent form the physiological, rather than directly caused by it.

Question 51

Schachter-Singer Theory

Answer 51

Suggests that once we experience physiological arousal, we make a conscious cognitive interpretation based on out circumstances, which allows us to identify the emotion that we are experiencing.