Personality - Test #2 Flashcards
Delay of Gratification
refers to a person’s ability to resist the temptation of a smaller reward in order to get a larger reward later.
- appears to be stable.
Personality
an individual’s characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behaviour, together with the biological, psychological and social mechanisms behind those patterns.
Study on Delay gratification
- showed that the ability for young children to delay gratification predicts life outcomes many years later
ex: SAT scores and behaviour problems, i.e drug abuse.
Freud
- argues that the mind consists of an unconscious dimension that houses distressing and taboo urges.
- the manner by which the individual relates to these impulses determines one’s personality.
- his theories cannot be falsified.
Glove Anaesthesia
- people report that they cannot feel anything below a certain point on their arm.
- Freud suggested psychological treatment (hypnotized them and let them talk).
- this resolved hysteria in many cases.
Unconscious mind (Freud)
- contains primitive, irrational activity.
- can be inferred through interpreting dreams.
Hysteria
physician finds physical symptoms, such as loss of sensation in a part of the body but no physical cause
Freudian Slips
- unconscious mental content can involuntarily leak out through verbal slips of the tongue.
- not accidental
Examples of unconscious desire
Oedipus complex: male attraction towards mother.
Electra complex: female attraction towards father.
Freud’s Legacy
- brought unconscious mind into mainstream psychological & public discourse.
- highlighted the role of childhood experiences in psychological development.
Factor Analysis
a type of statistical procedure that is conducted to identify groups of related items
ex: the big 5
The Big Five
- ) Openness
- ) Conscientiousness
- ) Extraversion
- ) Agreeableness
- ) Neuroticism
Openness
- is original
- is curious
- is a deep thinker
- has an active imagination
- doesn’t need routine
- has artistic interest
Conscientiousness
- does things efficiently
- is a reliable worker
- make plans and follows through
- is not careless
- is organized
Extraversion
- sociability
- activity
- liveliness
- excitability
Agreeableness
- helpful and unselfish
- forgiving nature
- generally trusting
- likes to cooperate with others
Neuroticism (emotional stability)
- is depressed
- can be tense
- worries a lot
- can be moody
- gets nervous easily
Personality & Obedience
study found that people who are conscientious & agreeable were most likely to deliver final shock in Millgram’s experiment.
Personality & Politics
liberal = openness to experience
conservative = conscientiousness
Is personality hereditary?
identical twins have greater similarity in a specific trait than fraternal twin who share 50% of genes.
Heritability
the percent of variance in individual difference that are due to genetic differences.
Parental Investment Theory
the larger the difference in parental investment between the sexes, the greater the difference in sexual selectivity.
- women will be more picky about their sexual partners than men (because there is more risk).
Different types of behaviours within love
- ) attraction
- ) attachment
- ) maintenance
“Attraction is Average” hypothesis
argues that faces which are mathematically close to the average are generally more attractive than the individual faces that constructed the average.
One explanation for “Attraction is Average” hypothesis
mere exposure effect —> simply being more exposed to a stimulus leads to increased liking.
Research on “Attraction is Average” hypothesis & mere exposure
shows that neural measures of arousal to facial attractiveness tends to increase with repeated presentations of faces.
Natural Selection and Attraction
males —> attracted to cues of female fertility. (can identify when females are at peak fertility)
females —> attracted to good genes and mates who will help rear offspring.
Dual- mating strategy
argues that women tend to shift their preferences for mates across the ovulation cycle.
- when women approach peak fertility they show greater preference for stereotypically masculine traits.
Basics of Evolution
- ) variation
- ) competition
- ) heredity
Attachment Styles theory
theory that one’s interactions with caregivers in childhood helps establish mental models of relationships that influence romantic attachment patterns later in life.
What do women want?
- ) find a mate with good genes (survival/reproduction ability).
- ) Find a mate who can help raise offspring (willingness to invest).
Passionate love
finding comfort in a person.
Companiate love
knowing a person intimately/deeply.
Secure attachment style
characterized by trust, a lack of concern over being abandoned, and the view that one is worthy and well-liked.
Anxious/ambivalent attachment style
characterized by a concern that others will not reciprocate one’s desire for intimacy, resulting in higher than average levels of anxiety .
Avoidant attachment style
characterized by a suppression of attachment needs, because attempts to be intimate have been rebuffed in the past.
Prairie Voles
- monogamous
- rare in animal kingdom
Montane/meadow voles
polygamous
Partner Preference Test
- two animals mate for a short period of time.
- one partner is led to choose between spending time with the former mating partner, a new partner, or alone.
- proportion of time that an animal decides to spend with the former partner (vs other scenarios) measures attachment.
Prairie vs Montane in PPT
- prairie spends most of the time with partner huddling.
- montane spends most of the time alone.
Vasopressin
involved in male-typical behaviour such as scent marking of territory, paternal care and psychical aggression.
Injecting vasopressin
- accelerates pair-bonding in male prairie roles.
- injecting vasopressin antagonists prevent pair-bonding.
Dopamine
- almost no difference in dopamine levels between prairies and montanes.
- greater density of vasopressin receptors in the dopamine-reward pathway in monogamous roles.
- blocking dopamine signalling reduces pair-bond formation.
Parental Investment
the amount of investment a parent makes in offspring.
