Personality Psychology Flashcards
What is personality psychology?
Relatively (subject to change) enduring predispositions (traits) that influence behavior across different situations
What is temperament?
Hereditary aspects of personality, including sensitivity, moods, irritability and adaptability
What is personality trait?
stable qualities that a person shows in most situations
What is personality type?
people who have several traits in common
What is attitude?
Set of emotions, beliefs and behavior towards other people, events, places, etc
ABC Components of Attitude
- Affective - how the object, person, issue, or event makes you feel
- Behavioral - how attitude influences your behavior
- Cognitive - your thoughts and beliefs about the subject
What is character?
Personal characteristics that have been judged or evaluated
2 Ways of Studying Behavior
Nomothetic and Idiographic
Nomothetic Approach
- Identify general laws
- Drive principles
- Generalization
Idiographic Approach
- Identify unique configuration of characteristics
- Limited generalizability
State vs Trait
State: temporary
Trait: more stable and enduring
Causes of Personality
- Genetic factors (temperament)
- Shared environmental factors (experiences between family)
- Nonshared environmental factors (experiences that make individuals with a family different)
Carl Jung on introverts and extroverts
Introvert: attention inward
Extrovert: attention outward
Self-concept
your ideas, perceptions, and feelings about who you are
Self esteem
self-evaluation
Personality Theory
systems of concepts, assumptions, ideas, and principles proposed to explain personality
What are the personality theories (5)?
- Trait
- Psychoanalytic
- Behavioral
- Social Learning
- Humanistic
Proponents of Trait Theory
Gordon Allport, Costa and McRae
Trait Theory involves
Traits make up personality and how they relate to behavior;
Psychology of the Individual, Big 5 Theory and 16PF
Big 5 Theory
OCEAN
openness
conscientiousness
extraversion
agreeableness
neuroticism
Psychoanalytic Theory involves…
Develop in stages (psychosexual stages of development); majority of personality formed before 7; levels of awareness, provinces of mind and defense mechanisms
Fixation
unresolved conflict or emotional hang-up caused by overindulgence or frustration
Psychosexual Stages of Development
Oral
Anal
Phallic
Latency
Genital
Oral Stage
- Birth to 1 year
- sucking, swallowing, biting
- Effects of fixation: concern on dependence and independence and pleasre from oral activites (eating, drinking)
Phallic Stage
- 3-5/6 years
- Touching penis or clitoris; Oedipus complex
- Effects of Fixation: difficulty feeling closeness
Latency Period
- 5/6-puberty
- sexual interests suppressed
Genital Stage
- puberty onward
- sexual contact with other people
Levels of Awareness
Unconscious
Conscious
Preconscious
Unconscious
Repressed memories and emotions
ID’s instinctual drives
Conscious
Awareness at given moment
Preconscious
Material easily brought to awareness
Provinces of mind
ID
EGO
SUPEREGO
ID
Innate biological instincts
self serving, irrational
Pleasure principle (wish to be satisfied now)
EGO
Partially conscious and unconscious
Directs ID energies
Reality Principle (rational)
SUPEREGO
Judge or censor thoughts and actions of the ego
Moral Principle
SUPEREGO
Judge or censor thoughts and actions of the ego
Moral Principle
Neurotic anxiety caused by
ID impulses ego can barely control
Moral anxiety caused by
Threats of punishment from superego
Defense mechanisms
Habitual and unconscious (in most cases) psychological processes designed to reduce anxiety
5 Defense Mechanisms
Denial
Repression
Projection
Rationalization
Reaction Formation
addict denies addiction due to the ability to function properly at work or home
Denial
witnesses a crime but unable to remember
Repression
someone who is cheating is under the impression that their partner is cheating on them
Projection
stealing from a store and justifying the theft by saying “they make millions in profit so it does not matter”
Rationalization
someone is romantically attracted to someone but adamantly claims they dislike that person
reaction formation
Behavioral Theory
External environment and on effects of conditioning and learning
Proponents of Behavioral Theory
BF Skinner, Pavlov, Dollar and Miller
Behavioral Theory involves
External environment and on effects of conditioning and learning; Classical conditioning, behavioral analysis, Dollar and Miller’s theory
Dollard and Miller’s Theory states
habits relfect personality
Habits governed by (4)
Drive - stimulus
Cue -signals
Response - behavior
Reward - positive reinforcement
Social Learning Theory involves
Attribute differences in perspectives of socialization, expectations, and mental processes; Social Learning Theory, SLT-Locus of Control
Proponent of Social Learning Theory
Bandura and Rotter
Social Learning Theory - Alburt Bandura
Emphasizes the importance of observing, modeling and imitation the behaviors, attitudes and emotional reactions of others
SLT-Locus of Control - Julian Rotter
Learning principles ✕ cognition ✕ effects of social relationships
Humanistic Theory involves
Private, subjective experience and personal growth: Human experience, Problems, Potentials and deals; Person Centered Theory, Hierarchy of Needs
Person Centered Theory
Carl Rogers
Fully functioning person lives in harmony with deepest feelings and impulses
Involves self, self image, empathy
congruence
incongruence, ideal self, positive self regard and unconditional positive regard
Self
flexible and changing perception of body and personality
Self image
total subjective perception of body and personality
Empathy
understanding sensitively and accurately one’s experience eand feelings in the here and now
Congruence
real, open, integrated and authentic, internal and external experiences are one in the same
Incongruence
exists when there is a discrepancy between ideal self, true self and self-image
Self esteem occurs when
large difference between ideal self image and self image
Anxiety and defensiveness occurs when
self image does not match true self
Ideal self
idealized image of oneself
Positive self regard
thinking of oneself as good, loveable and worthwhile
Unconditional positive regard
unshakeable love and approval
Hierarchy of Needs
Abraham Maslow
1. Self actualization - achieve full potential (self-fulfillment needs)
2. Esteem needs - prestige and feeling of accomplishment
3. Belongingness and love needs - intimate relationships
^psychological needs
4. Safety needs - security and safety
5. Physiological Needs - food, water, warmth, rest
^basic needs
Goals of Personality Assessment
Describes current functioning: cognition, clinical, disturbance, daily functioning
Identify therapeutic needs (clinical)
Monitor treatment over time (clinical)
Prove skilled feedback (clinical | career)
Guide in making decisions (career | education)
Types of Personality Assessments
Self Report Inventories
Projective Tests
Behavioral Reports
Self Report Inventories
Paper-pencil / digital
questionnaires
widely used but debatable
MBTI, MPPI, NEO-PR
Projective Tests
Ambiguous / unstructured stimuli
Rorschach Technique, TAT
Behavioral Reports
Direct observation
Interview (structured and unsctructured)
Adherence to Trait factor theory, social learning and humanistic perspectives to describe personality is what kind of approach?
Nomothetic
As examples of what might be required as parts of specific projective tests, the _______________ asks clients to look at a picture and tell a story, while the ____________ asks clients to report everything they see in an ambiguous figure.
Thematic apperception test (TAT); Rorschach
Problems with Freud theory
Psychoanalytic concepts like the unconscious, id, and ego are difficult to test.
Abraham Maslow believed that in the hierarchic theory of motivation, you don’t have to go through all levels to reach self-actualization (T/F)
False
