Personality psychology

Question 1

define personality

Answer 1

it is the characteristic ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that make a person an individual

Question 2

define trait

Answer 2

a relativley permanant characterstic

Question 3

Allport believed?

Answer 3

that personality was an individual difference. Introduced trait as a neuropyschic system that could make environmental simuli similar and that could initaiate and guide consistancy

Question 4

central traits

Answer 4

are the building blocks of personality

Question 5

cardinal traits

Answer 5

are the core traits that are regarded s the basic building blocks for personality development

Question 6

secondary traits

Answer 6

perferances and attituides that can change according to a particular situation

Question 7

what does eysenck believe

Answer 7

personality is developed through the amount of cortical arousal. Eysenck created the dimensions of personality:

Question 8

what are the dimensions of personality

Answer 8

• extraversion (sociable, outgoing, active, optimistic)
• introversion (unsociable, passive, careful, reserved)
• psychoticism (recklessness, disregard)
• neuroticism (touchy, moody, restless, anxious, rigid)

Question 9

McCrae and Costa the big 5

Answer 9

Openess to experience: outgoing liberal, and interested in new things to reserved, conservative and traditional
Conscientiousness: organised, careful, determined to careless and weak willed
Extroversion: outgoing, social activites to solitude, small groups
Agreeableness: extremes of stubborn to wasy going
Neuroticism: instability of emotions to reserved, calm and unemotional

Question 10

Strengths of trait theory

Answer 10

• objectivity

- easy of use and understanding

Question 11

Criticisms to trait theory

Answer 11

• poor predictor of future behaviour
• does not address development
• no means of change

Question 12

how can personality traits be measured

Answer 12

• projective tests (ink blot test, thematic apperanece test)

- self report (questionnaires)

Question 13

Humanistic theory researchers

Answer 13

• maslow

- rodgers

Question 14

Humanstis hold the following beliefs

Answer 14

• the present is the most important aspect of the person and therefore humanists focus on the here and now rather than looking at the past of trying to predict the future
• is reality based and healthy people must take responsability for themselves
• the individual posses an inherent worth
• the goal of life should always be to achieve personal growth and understanding

Question 15

maslows heirachy of needs

Answer 15

1- physiological needs: need for food, water, shelter
2- safety needs: need for saftey and secruity
3- belonging and love needs: need for love, acceptance and belonging
4- esteem needs: need for achievement, education, competance, and respect
5- need for self actualisation: need to realize our fullest potential

Question 16

maslow believed

Answer 16

that people are born good and try and achieve their potential in life later in life. People grew up psychologically from withing and are motivated to do so. The drive towards groth, self expression, creativity and the achievement of ones highest unique potential

Question 17

carl roger and the client centered approach

Answer 17

1- unconditonal postive regard
2- non judgemental attitude
3- disclosure
4- reflection

Question 18

how to measure humanistic theory

Answer 18

q-sort: aims to determine where a person lies on qualties at the beginning of treatement and then to re asses at various intervals and a the end to determine progress

Question 19

Strengths of humanstic theory

Answer 19

• focuses on the positive nature of humankind and the free will associated with change
• ease of use and understanding

Question 20

weakenesses of humanistic theory

Answer 20

• lack of concrete treatement approaches aimed at specific issues
• falls short in the ability to help those with a sever personality or mental health pathology

Question 21

What does Bandura believe (self cognitive approach)

Answer 21

human behaviour as an interaction between cognitive factors, environmental factors, and the behaviours themselves.

Question 22

Model of recipriocal determinism - banduara

Answer 22

cognitive factors, enviornmental factors, behavioural factors all affect each other

Question 23

self efficency

Answer 23

the degree to which an indivudual believes in their own abilities and capabilities to manage and perform in a situation.

Question 24

Mischel believed (self cogntive approach)

Answer 24

that peoples behaviour from situation to situation was variable and depended on the situational ciumstances

Question 25

people on the side of personailty argue that

Answer 25

• peronsality is a strong predictor of behaviour across all situation, but is not a strong predictor at a specfifc time in a specific situation
• people choose their situations and these choices reflect personality
• there are no psychological variables that predict behaviour more strongly than personality