Personality Processes (chapter 13) pt.1

Question 1

What are Personality Processes?

Answer 1

The mental activities of personality (perception, thought, motivation, and emotion)

Question 2

What is the definition of “learning” in a technical way?

Answer 2

A change in behaviour as a result of experience

Question 3

What is behaviorism?

Answer 3

A branch of psychology that focuses on basic mechanisms of learning

Question 4

What are the three basic kinds of learning?

Answer 4

Habituation, Classical conditioning and operant conditioning

Question 5

What is Habituation?

Answer 5

Habituation happens when an organism begins to “stop” responding to a stimulus as the stimulus is repeated.

Question 6

What is a negative consequence of habituation?

Answer 6

People can get “comfortably numb” to certain things that they continuously see like violence, porn, etc

Question 7

What is Learned helplessness?

Answer 7

The belief that nothing one does matters, the feeling of anxiety due to unpredictability

Question 7

What is Classic conditioning?

Answer 7

The process of learning what things or stimuli go together. When an unconditioned response (like salivating) that is naturally elicted by one stimulus (such as food) becomes elicted by also a new conditioned stimulus (like a bell)

Question 8

Experiments with animals such as rats and dogs and later humans suggest that recieving random rewards and punishments can lead to the belief that nothing one does really matters, this belief can lead to what?

Answer 8

Depression

Question 9

What is one long-recognized symptom of depression? and how does it relate to learned helplessness.

Answer 9

The “why bother/” syndrome. Where everything, including even sometimes getting out of bed, simply seens like too much trouble.
The learned helplessness syndrome is that this syndrome results from a history of unpredictable rewards and punishments, leading the person to act as if nothing they do will make any difference

Question 10

What is Operant Conditioning

Answer 10

Where one learns that certain behaviours usually lead to good outcomes, so you do them more, and other behaviours lead to bad outcomes, so you do them less.

Question 11

What did Wolfgang Kohler do?

Answer 11

He stiudied chimpanzees, He set up a puzzle where he hung out a banana that was out of reach and watched them figure out what to do.

The chimpanzees came to understand their situation (develop insight). They realized what behaviour would get them a banana, they used to tactic immediately.

Question 12

What is it called where you think your actions will determine the consequences in your life

Answer 12

an internal “locus of control”

Question 13

What are three different versions of the “social learning theory”

Answer 13

1) That people respond to frustration by becoming agressive

2) How people decide what to do on the basis of their udnerstanding of the likely consequences of their actions (lucus of control)

3) self-efficacy

Question 14

What is “Self-efficacy” and what is “Self-concept?”

Answer 14

Self-efficacy is ones belief on the degree to which they can accomplish a goal
Self-concept is a persons knowledge and opinions about themselves

Question 15

Bandura emphasized that the goal of psychotherapy should be to improve what?

Answer 15

Self-efficacy.

Question 16

Banduras perception for self-change follows what Moto?

Answer 16

If you are reluctant to do something you know you should do, force yourself to do it. it will be less difficult next time.

Question 17

One of the most influential aspects of Banduras theory has been its emphasis on Observational Learning, explain this concept.

Answer 17

Its basically learning behaviour by watching someone else do it.
Bandura demonstrated this process with a boo doll (a large plastic clown that bounces back when its hit). He showed that a child who watches an adult hit the doll is likely to later hit the doll as well

Question 18

Walter Mischel, who triggered the person-situation debate, offered a theory called “Cognitive-affective personality system (CAPS)” based on the social learning theory. Explain his new theory

Answer 18

Its a system that mediates how the indivdual selects, construes, and processes social information and generates social behaviours, a key aspect of “if….then” contingencies

Question 19

What are “if….then” contingencies?

Answer 19

The theory proposes that individual behaviours are determoned by specific situational cues and learned associations.
ex. a perso who is insulted might walk away. another person with a different if/then pattern might respond with a punch in the nose

Question 20

What is a Behavioural signature?

Answer 20

Each individual posesses a unique pattern of if/then contingencies, creating a distinctive behavioural signature

Question 21

Mischels goal was for if/then contigencies to repalce what?

Answer 21

Personality traits

Question 22

What is an advantage of the if/then idea

Answer 22

Its specificity when compared to personality traits, and its also more sensitive to the way people change their behaviour across situations

Question 23

Explain the BEATS (Beliefs, emotions, and actions tendancies) theory

Answer 23

This theory explains that perosnality emerges from an individuals mental represetnations of the beliefs, emotions, and action tendancies that are relevant to their most important goals

Question 24

The BEATS theory proposes that people have three basic needs, what are they?

Answer 24

1) to be accepted by others
2) know what will happen next
3) aquire the competence that is needed for the many tasks of life

Question 25

What is Cybernetics?

Answer 25

Its the study of systems that respond to changes in the environment.

Question 26

What is the Cybernetic Big 5 Theory?

Answer 26

It focuses on the basic traits in personality that is shaped by both genetics and experiences. These traits influence a persons goals and behaviours which in turn shape their environment and experiences (its a loop)

Question 27

What is an important aspect of the Cybernetic Big Five theory?

Answer 27

The conection between broad traits, behaviours, and goals