Personality & the Self Flashcards
What is personality? What are personality theories?
an individuals unique relatively consistent patterns of thinking feeling, and behaving; define and describe personality: How to classify and compare individuals, explain how personality develop, how/if personality changes
How does the dispositional approach study and explain personality?
studies with the measurement of traits; traits influence our behaviours, leading us to do things in line with that trait
What are the 5 big traits according to trait theory and how do you define each?
OCEAN (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, neuroticism); O- tendency to be imaginative and artistic C- tendency to plan organize and carry out tasks. E- Seek out stimulation and company of others A- orientation towards others N- Experience negative emotions
How do the Big 5 traits vary across cultures?
Most traits have been detected in multiple different countries. Chinese model uses Chinese language and does not have O
What are the benefits and criticisms of the trait approach?
benefits: useful for research purposes
Criticisms: does not explain human personality, does not explain development of individual difference, does not address important personality issues.
What is the social-cognitive perspective and who discovered it?
behavior is influenced by an interaction between peoples traits and their social context ; discovered by Albert Bandura
What is reciprocal determinism?
personalities are shaped by the interaction of our personal traits our environment and our behavior. e
What is the psychodynamic approach? Why do people still study Freud?
all the theories in psychology that see human functioning based upon the interaction of drives and forces within the person, particularly unconscious, and between the different structures of the personality.; Pervasive cultural influence his work has influenced culture and it is important to understand what he said, historical importance
What are the Ego, Superego, and Id? What did Freud believe about the unconscious mind?
ID: irrational component, impulsive, ruled by “pleasure principal”
Ego: Rational component, meditation, ruled by “reality principal”,
Super ego: moralistic component, internalizing parental and societal rules “morality principal”;
ICE BERG - conscious, preconscious, unconscious
What is Freud’s theory of psychosexual stages?
people feel shame about the ID’s needs and can get fixated at one stage never resolving how to manage that zones needs
What were some of the problems with Freud’s scientific methods?
unfalsifiability, unrepresentative sampling and bias, current evidence, posts facto explanation rather than predictions
What is the humanistic approach and who founded this theory?
focusing on the conditions that support healthy personal growth: founders by Maslow and rogers
What is the person-centered perspective?
person is placed at the centre of the service and treated as a person first.
What are the pros and cons of the humanistic approach?
pros: outs person first
cons: Lack of impuricle evidence, naive and too optimistic
How does humanistic theory approach psychotherapy?
a humanistic psychotherapist will not tell you what to do but will help you figure out what you want, provides a supportive environment, help you understand who you are
