Personality part 2 Flashcards

Question 1

Q

How humanism came about

Answer

A

Moving into the 40s, 50s, 60s now

Humanists are in between Freudians and Behaviourists

Question 2

Q

humanistic perspective

Answer

A

Doesn’t have a strong experimental focus rather more interested in the black box.
- What’s going on mentally, how people are feeling/thinking, what motivates people, how to get us to be the best we can.

Focus on phenomenology (fancy word for how you perceive what’s happening in your mind.)

‘the study of conscious experience as it exists for the person, without any attempt to reduce, divide, or compartmentalise it in any way.’
Just how you experience the world. Not you tell me how my world is supposed to be.

Question 3

Q

Defining characteristics

Answer

A

Focus on phenomenology
Believe in free will
○ ‘i have to…’ NO, actually you don’t
Believe meaning is important
○ Influenced by existential philosophers
○ Find a meaning and reason for life
Emphasise uniqueness of each individual
Personal growth
Enjoying the ‘here and now’
Hippies loved this period –> living in the moment etc.

Question 4

Q

A kinder and more human view on people

Answer

A

By nature, humans are quite good
○ Not all evil, want to kill mothers, not born a blank slate

Optimistic about the future and humanity (vs pessimism) –> solve all our problems

Very pro personality change –> for the better (unlike behaviourists)

Question 5

Q

Carl Rogers

Answer

A

sees culture as steering us in the wrong way. Culture is keeping us from being the best people that we can be. We humans are potentially all born good.

Question 6

Q

Effects of culture on personality

Answer

A

- E.g. 
		○ What our bodies should look like. 
		○ How much money we should have
		○ Gender roles
		○ What we should eat/drink

Rogers says a lot of culture is bad, taking us in the wrong direction.
Without culture, we would all grow up in a state of utopia.

Question 7

Q

Effects of culture on personality: Case study of materialism

Answer

A

Money: happier people earn more money
People in higher-income countries tend to be happier
○ On average yes –> richer countries like Australia are
happier than poorer countries like Lithuania
BUT once you’re in a wealthier country you’ve kind of ‘made it’ already
They found that richest Americans rate their happiness the same as Pennsylvania Amish
Its more the strong social ties that makes people happy.
Reasons for why people in rich countries are happier than poor bc:
○ There are low levels of corruption
○ Don’t need to worry about education
○ We have good healthcare
○ Generally things that make us happy are things that
can be obtained through money
○ Increase in wealth does not mean increase in
happiness. (look at graph)
LOOK AT PIC

○ Another example of how increase in wealth doesn’t affect happiness is in Japan after WWII. The US gave them a lot of money but their ‘satisfaction’ always remained the same.

MORAL: money is necessary but not sufficient to be happy
○ Humanists say that humans have needs and money is not one of them.
Just culture steering us the wrong way.

Question 8

Q

The Elements of Roger’s Theory of Personality

Actualizing tendency

Answer

A

Built in motivation to develop its potential to the fullest extent possible
E.g. a tree will want to be the best it can be
We all want to be the best person that we can be IF WE SHAKE OFF CULTURE

Question 9

Q

The Elements of Roger’s Theory of Personality

Organismic Valuing Process

Answer

A

Subconscious guide that attracts people to growth-producing experiences and away from growth-inhibiting experiences
E.g. the marketing of Maccas attracts us to it (unhealthy stuff) contrasting with healthy fruit and vegetables
○ Steer towards the good choices
○ Steering away from things we don’t need and
towards things we do need to be the best person
we can be.

Question 10

Q

The Elements of Roger’s Theory of Personality

Positive regard

Answer

A

Experiencing love, affection, attention, nurturance and so on
Something the Freudians and behaviourists wouldn’t have cared about
We all need to feel loved and nurtured etc.

Question 11

Q

The Elements of Roger’s Theory of Personality

Positive self-regard

Answer

A

Self-esteem, self-worth, a positive self-image

Achieved through parental unconditional positive regard: when parents let you know that they love you no matter what.

Question 12

Q

Conditional positive regard

Answer

A

Instead of actualizing tendency: now listening to what society is telling us (culture is the root of all evil)

Conditional positive regard: only cool/good person if you do what society tells you e.g. own the best car etc.
○ Problem is no one can live up to all those conditions

Conditional positive self-regard: internalise these conditions and are only happy with ourselves if we meet the societal conditions (which we can never meet)
○ Trying to be an ideal self
○ Stuck in an incongruence with real self and ideal self which causes psychological problems
○ Can never live up to the ideal self which causes the incongruence
LOOK AT PIC

Question 13

Q

The fully functioning person (described by Rogers)

Answer

A

Openness to experience
○ Receptive to the objective and subjective
happenings of life
○ Expanded consciousness
○ Able to tolerate ambiguity
Existential living
○ Living fully in each moment e.g. mindfulness
○ What the hippies mindset was like
○ Humanists were critiqued in this part of their theory
bc if you only did what felt right in the moment-
what if its bad, like road rage etc.
Organismic trusting
○ Allowing ourselves to be guided by the organismic
valuing process
○ Shouldn’t feel good to hurt others, feel angry etc.
Experiential freedom
○ We feel free when we have choices
○ There is no ‘I have to do this’
Creativity
○ Adapting to new situations
○ Creative expression
○ Solving problems and coming up with a solution to
something

Question 14

Q

Roger’s creative environment

Answer

A

Facilitates openness to experience (aware of subjective/objective environment)

Facilitates internal locus of evaluation
○ Real and ideal self
○ Putting judgement of worth of the idea on yourself
(don’t think about what society/others say)
○ Provides the ability to toy with conceptual elements
and ideas

Question 15

Q

Creativity experiment (Fodor& Steinrotter, 1998)

Answer

A

IV = leadership style

Rogerian style: ‘water problem is an exploration into your ideas on problem solving’ (openness to experience situation, really no wrong answer, whatever idea counts)
Structured: ‘pay careful attention to instructions’ (follow instructions)
Considerate: they just had a rlly friendly experimenter

Problem: design a method of releasing water to the family dog while on holiday

DV=creativity ratings on the solutions

Results: they found that the Rogerian style people were more creative
LOOK AT PIC

Question 16

Q

Rogers developed Client centred therapy

Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for Psychotherapeutic Change

Answer

A

Therapist Congruence

Being genuine and honest with the client
The general case for the good clinical psychologists these days

Empathetic understanding

Try to experience in their own mind what you might be going through
To help them help you

Unconditional Positive regard

No matter what you tell them, ITS OKAY
They won’t judge you, laugh, scoff etc.
Unless you tell them about something like dead body in their attic

Question 17

Q

Maslow’s Theory

Maslow’s Three types of Needs

Answer

A

This is the beginning of the positive psychology movement.

Zeitgeist (spirit of the time)- Great Depression Era

High rates of unemployment
Many basic needs were unmet
When basic needs are unmet when younger, it can influence you when you’re older.

Question 18

Q

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Answer

A

Start at the bottom and once its fulfilled, you keep going up the ranks in the hierarchy.
Very few people make it to self actualisation.
This is due to society and culture which stops people from getting up there.

Physiological needs

Need for food, water, air etc.
Most ‘prepotent’ needs
One function of civilisation is to satisfy these needs so we can focus on the higher ones (what separates us from other animals)

Safety Needs

Safety, order, security, health, employment etc.
Focused on after physiological needs met
Seen in some mental disorders (e.g. OCD, Anxiety, dependent personality disorder)
E.g. children in the Syria war don’t have safety needs met and this will effect them when they get older.

Belongingness and Love Needs

Need for affiliation, friends, supportive family, group identification, intimate relationships
This is often not satisfied even in affluent countries E.g. in US young people have high rates of loneliness
These needs being unfulfilled may be at the root of many mental disturbances (depression, Borderline personality disorder)
Need to receive AND to give love

Esteem Needs

Need to be held in high regard by self and others (not just self-esteem but also others)
Comes from mastery, achievement, adequacy feeling of competence, confidence and independence (need to be good at things)
Ideally this need is met by the deserved respect of others (you’ve earned it)

Self Actualisation needs
- Maslow estimated 10% of population satisfies these needs
- A person must actualise what exists inside them as a potential
- 90% of people never get to be the best that they can be
- Most other theorists wouldn’t see this as a need
○ Freud wouldn’t see this as a need and would
predict people would stop at lower needs

Question 19

Q

Specific needs of self-actualised people

Answer

A

Truth (not dishonest)
- Goodness (not evil)
- Completion
- Justice/order
- Beauty
- ETC.

Question 20

Q

Characteristics of self-actualised people

Answer

A

Efficient
- Acceptance
- Problem-centred
- Peak experiences
- Humility/respect
- Sense of humour
- Creativity
- ETC.

Question 21

Q

Maslow had a look at Sources of Neuroses

Answer

A

E.g. Someone who has gone through war

They may have experienced war as a child
When they are older (and no longer experiencing war conditions), they may think about the safety/needs that they didn’t have when they were younger.
This may cause things like anxiety/depression in their current lives.
LOOK AT PICS
So its these developmental periods which can go wrong. If needs aren’t met in these periods, it may lead to mental illness later on.

Other e.g.
- Parents got divorced early in child’s life.
○ Later on in life, the child may have difficulty being
intimate with others

Question 22

Q

Exceptions to the Hierarchy

Answer

A

Esteem taking precedence over love

The needs don’t always go in that order
E.g. person who ignores and ruins relationships in order to achieve

People not striving after physiological & safety needs met
- The ‘psychopath’ who seems not to desire love
○ Could be bc they were deprived of love when they
were young
○ OR they have the need met in abundance (too
much love)

More extreme reversals
- Artists who have produced their greatest works in times of dire safety, belongingness, and physical need
○ E.g. Van Gogh
○ Art is like the self actualised creativity
○ People working at the top of the pyramid when they
don’t even have the base.
- People who sacrifice their safety and lives for a value or ideal
○ Martyrs
○ E.g. Joan of Arc

Question 23

Q

The Humanistic Formula for Happiness:

Need Satisfaction

Answer

A

Self determination theory proposes three universal needs (if we fulfill them we should be pretty happy)

Autonomy: needs some control over actions/behaviour/day/other people (can’t just be a victim), doing what you want to do.
○ Sense of choice/freedom in things you undertake
○ Decisions reflect what you want
○ Choices express who you are
○ Doing what really interests you

Relatedness: we need social connections, positive relationships, well respected, experience love from others
○ People you care about also care about you
○ Connection with people who care for me/who I care for
○ Close and connected with other people who are important to me
○ Experience a warm feeling with people I spend time with

Competence: we need to be good at something 
○ Confident that you can do things well
○ Capable at what you do
○ Competent to achieve goals
○ Successfully complete difficult tasks

Ideally these three things work together.
This theory is a modern humanistic theory of motivation and personality.
This is what drives us to be the best/happiest person we can be.

Chen et al (2014) found that fulfilment of all three universal needs positively predicted sense of well being in Belgium, China, USA and Peru. (all v different countries)
Suggests these needs are universal and all humans value them

Question 24

Q

The Humanistic Formula for Happiness:

Flow

Answer

A

Happiness = taking personal responsibility for finding meaning and enjoyment in our ongoing experiences. (sense of free will)

Flow state: (usually from something like a hobby)

Engaging in activity that is challenging and requires skill
Ones attention is completely absorbed by the activity
Activity has a clear goal
There is a clear feedback
Can concentrate only on task at hand
Achieves a sense of personal control
Loses self-consciousness
Loses sense of time.

Question 25

Q

The Humanistic Formula for Happiness:

Humanism’s Lasting Impact

Answer

A

Positive psychology (making people happier)
○ Self determination theory

Client centred therapy

Promoting job satisfaction by fulfilling higher needs

Child rearing
○ Unconditional positive regard

Give positive environment and they will grow up to be good kids

Question 26

Q

Criticisms

Answer

A

Free will versus determinism
○ Hard to study free will scientifically so tbh not sure if free will exists or not

Poorly defined concepts (kind of fuzzy)

Some unscientific methods
○ Maslow selected ‘self actualized’ people based on his intuition

Humanistic therapy may not work for severe mental disorders (e.g. psychopathy)

Question 27

Q

Nature vs Nurture

Answer

A

Tbh people talk about Nature AND Nurture now (grouped together instead of one or the other)
- We are born with genes (nature) which prepares us for the environment (nurture)

Personality will change as a result of genes AND our environment we encounter

Our genes can turn on/off due to the environmental encounters

Studying the effects of biology on personality is more informative.

Question 28

Q

Interactionism: Molecular Genetics

Answer

A

Genes –> life path (modified by environmental encounters)
○ E.g. mental disorders like schizophrenia, alcoholism, antisocial behaviour, bipolar disorder etc.
○ E.g. MAOA ‘aggression/warrior gene’
§ This gene is related to aggression, violence,
criminality usually ONLY when you have had child
abuse growing up
§ So modification due to environmental factors

Question 29

Q

Twin Studies

Sir Francis Galton (1869)

Answer

A

Emphasis on heritability (and proposed the notion of twin studies)

‘eminence’ runs in families
E.g. rich white people were businessmen, active in navy, government/politics etc. And their offspring often were active in those endeavours too. (inheriting family business)

He developed the notion of ‘eugenics’ (forced sterilisation for people with ‘inferior’ genes)
- He was racist and sexist

Question 30

Q

Twin Studies

Twin study methodology

Answer

A

Consists of Monzygotic (MZ: identical) vs Dizygotic (DZ: fraternal)
Heritability estimate (% of variance due to genetics in any given trait)
Later on in life you can administer/observe people and see how nervous, happy, aggressive the twins are and see what % is heritable.

LOOK AT PIC

Take bunch of identical and fraternal twin pairs
Then calculate a correlation between identical pair
Also calculate correlation between fraternal pair
Difference multiplied by 2 = heritability
Larger the number the more heritable the trait is
FIRST, we must see if the DZ and MZ twins are treated similarly
○ If they are treated differently, that’s an
environmental influence that we don’t want in the
data
○ If DZ twins are treated differently and MZ are
treated same, that could explain the results

Question 31

Q

Twin Studies

Adoption approach:

Answer

A

MZ twins reared apart (separated at birth) vs MZ reared together

To see whether heredity is really important

If heredity was important, then the MZ twins reared apart would still be similar to MZ twins reared together.

15-50% of variance in personality characteristics is genetically influenced

Question 32

Q

Social Darwinism

Answer

A

‘survival of the fittest’
○ And they misinterpreted as ‘weak should not survive’

They took this to the group level and said societies/cultures compete for survival
○ See which culture is the strongest e.g. white British were the best
○ Immigration laws limited to Northern/Western Europe
○ White only Australian policy
○ Biased testing (where they kept Chinese immigrants out. Gave the Chinese immigrants English tests when they arrived and told them to leave)
○ Eugenics: Preservation and purification of gene pool of the ‘elite’
§ E.g. Stolen generation (aboriginal people)
§ Encourage reproduction among genetically
‘advantaged’
□ ‘advantaged’ was open to interpretation of the
time/culture
§ Lower reproduction among genetically
‘disadvantaged’ (e.g. abortion/sterilization)
□ Alexander Graham Bell: married a death
woman. And lived in an area with many death
people. Thus he concluded that it must be
genetics and must sterilize all death people.
(shows how strong this eugenic thinking was)

Question 33

Q

Genocide in the name of Eugenics

Answer

A

Ethnics/Religious ‘cleansing’
○ Nazi Germany: jews, roma, gay people, disabled people, mental disability
○ Iraq: Sunni vs Shia vs Kurds
○ Rwanda: Tutsi vs Hutu
○ Darfur: Janjaweed nomadic Arab tribes killing and raping Darfuri and Sudanese people

Question 34

Q

Eugenics Today

Answer

A

In the case of IQ (48% of intelligence is inheritable)
(Basically want smart people to breed and stupid pple to not breed)
Minnesota twin studies
○ Identical twins reared apart or together have higher IQ concordance than biological siblings

2009 Harvard PhD thesis (Richwine)
Only immigrants with the highest IQ’s should be let in and that Hispanics (latinos), their children and grandchildren were destined to lesser intellect.

The Bell Curve (Herrnstein & Murray, 1994)
Asian Americans had higher IQ scores than white Americans
White Americans had higher IQ scores than African Americans
Concluded that white and Asian should have more kids than Africans.

However, this argument is wrong! As intelligence varies with:
Socio-economic status (SES)
○ Black people tend to have lower SES than white people
○ Increasing SES also increases IQ
○ If black people are raised by white people, they have the same IQ

Education
○ You get a 2.7 IQ point advantage for each year of schooling
○ And you get a 5 IQ point decrease for each year of delay
○ So its good to get into school

Question 35

Q

Implications of eugenics

Answer

A

Be alert for eugenicist arguments and be critical of them

Question 36

Q

Trait Perspectives- Early history/theories

Answer

A

Ancient Greece: Idea that we have 4 fluids/humours in our body that relate to different personality types
- Sanguine (blood): vigorous and energetic
- Choleric (yellow bile): angry and aggressive
- Melancholic (black bile): depressed
- Phlegmatic (phlegm): lazy
None of this is true or valid.

1700s (French people) Phrenology: looking for bumps/depressions for various traits
	- Aspiring
	- Conscientiousness
	- Sublimity
	- Constructiveness
	- Language ETC. 
Again, none of this is true/valid

1940s: Tell about personality due to body type
- Endomorphy: fat one
- Mesomorphy: athletic one
- Ectomorphy: skinny one
Not valid! Bc for example sumo wrestlers are very fit.

Question 37

Q

Trait Theories

Answer

A

Very few people in extremes
We are all quite similar
LOOK AT PIC

Question 38

Q

The Big Five Super traits (Costa & McCrae; Digman; Goldberg)

Answer

A

Idea: Personality can be reduced to 5 broad trait dimensions
There is 50 years of evidence supporting this model
Crosses culture and language (usually but not always)
May be present in animals (usually have everything except consciousness)
- But chimpanzees have conscientiousness

Openness to experience: knowledgeable, perceptive, imaginative
Conscientiousness: neat, planful, careful
Extraversion: gregarious, outspoken, energetic
Agreeableness: considerate, nice, complaining (reverse)
Neuroticism: nervous, tense, fearful
NOTE: good way to rmbr these is OCEAN

Question 39

Q

Does the Big 5 predict behaviour?

Answer

A

YES!

Openness
		○ Desire artistic expression
		○ Devalue traditional marriage
		○ More arrests (more willing to try new things) 
Conscientiousness
		○ More likely to ban household smoking
		○ Avoid unsafe sex
		○ Responsive parent
		○ Live longer (not wreck less)
Extraversion
		○ Greater prominence in groups
		○ Greater peer acceptance in adolescents
		○ Firm handshake
		○ Less cooperative (bc they are more dominant)
		○ More satisfied with life 
Agreeableness
		○ More empathic parents
		○ Less revenge seeking
		○ Greater control of negative emotions 
		○ They don't steal friend's romantic partners 
Neuroticism
	○ Less satisfied with life
	○ Increased anxiety and depression
	○ Among youth, troubled relationships with parents 
	○ Lower status among men only 
	○ Poor romantic relationship quality

These traits are all unrelated to each other.

Question 40

Q

Is personality stable over a lifespan?

Answer

A

Roberts et al. (2006)
94 longitudinal studies
Median= 6 years time interval
Age range from 10-101
DV: modified Big 5
- Extraversion was split into ‘social vitality’ (energetic/outgoing component) and ‘social dominance’
- Results:
□ social vitality peak is about 20s (many friends)
□ Social dominance peaks about 30s (high status in
work maybe)
□ As you get older, you get more agreeable and
conscientious
□ As you get older, you become less neurotic (more
emotional stability)
□ Personality becomes fixed at about 30s

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Personality part 2 Flashcards

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