Psy 201 Final Flashcards
IQ tests are more commonly used in (Western/Eastern) cultures
Western
Are IQ tests valid?
May primarily relate to school achievement and the number of years of schooling; may also be different types of “intelligences”
Is intelligence inherited or due to the environment?
Both
Flynn effect
over about the last 50 years, the average intelligence score has gone up (don’t know why)
Are there cultural differences in intelligence?
Yes - field of corn analogy: differences due to environment (soil) and within the environment due to heredity (seeds)
IQ ranges are due to ?, but the measured IQ is shaped by both ? and ?
heredity (range might be 115-145); heredity and environment (you score a 125)
two important components of personality
consistency of behavior (how likely the person responds similarly across a variety of situations) and distinctiveness (act in a characteristic way - “he would never do that”)
personality refers to
an individual’s unique collection of consistent behavioral traits
personality trait
a durable disposition to behave in a particular way in a variety of situations
Gordon Allport
identified 4500 personality traits before it was decided that there must be a smaller group of more comprehensive traits (which is the basis of a lot of personality tests)
5 factor model for personality
agreeableness neuroticism (negative emotionality) extraversion (positive emotionality) openness to experience conscientiousness (constraint)
Freud’s psychoanalytic theory
psychoanalysis as therapy for client’s psychological problems; uncover repressed childhood memories, unconscious motivations, and defense mechanisms
hysteria-conversion reaction
psychological problem; person believes they have lost function in some body part, typically more common for females and due to the brutality of war
Freud’s personality structure
iceberg analogy: conscious (ego and superego), preconscious (ego and superego), unconscious (ego, superego, and id)
conscious
contact with outside world
preconscious
material just beneath the surface of awareness
unconscious
difficult to retrieve material; well below surface of awareness
ego
reality principle, secondary-process thinking
superego
moral imperatives, conscience
id
pleasure principle, primary-process thinking
according to Freud, ? is the hallmark of existence, and it results from ? and may lead to ?
conflict; the interactions of the three personality structures (ego, superego, id); anxiety
defense mechanisms (DMs)
used to rid people of anxiety, primarily thought to be used by the ego to mediate the conflict between the id and the superego
(DM) rationalization
creating false but plausible excuses to justify unacceptable behavior
(DM) repression
keeping distressing thoughts and feelings buried in the unconscious
(DM) projection
attributing one’s own faults to others
(DM) displacement
diverting emotional feelings to a substitute (“Go home and kick the dog”)
(DM) reaction formation
behaving opposite to real feelings
(DM) regression
reversion to an immature pattern of behavior
(DM) identification
building up self-esteem by identifying with a powerful group
(DM) sublimation
channeling aggressive or disturbing feelings into a more socially-acceptable activity
psychosexual stages of development
developmental periods with a characteristic sexual focus that leaves its mark on adult personality; can get fixated at a stage (excessive conflict b/w id and ego or overgratification)
Psychosexual stage: oral
ages 0-1
erotic focus: mouth (sucking, biting)
key tasks and experiences: weaning (from breast/bottle)
Psychosexual stage: anal
ages 2-3
erotic focus: anus (expelling/retaining feces)
key tasks and experiences: toilet training
Psychosexual stage: phallic
ages 4-5
erotic focus: genitals (masturbating - play with, be aware of)
key tasks and experiences: identifying with adult role models; coping with Oedipal crisis
Psychosexual stage: latency
ages 6-12
erotic focus: none (sexually repressed)
key tasks and experiences: expanding social contacts
Psychosexual stage: genital
age: puberty on
erotic focus: genitals (being sexually intimate)
key tasks and experiences: establishing intimate relationships; contributing to society through working
Carl Jung
was a close colleague of Freud’s for many years, but eventually split to escape Freud’s dogmatic adherence to psychoanalysis; wanted people to come up with their own ideas and do their own thinking; used dreams extensively as a window to the unconscious
Carl Jung believed in Freud’s notion of the unconscious, but
called it the personal unconscious; also a deeper level he called the collective unconscious (contains memories called archetypes - not specific memories, but forms that have universal meanings across cultures)
examples of archetypes
irrational fear of snakes, being drawn to fire and to the ocean, certain common spiritual beliefs, the great mother, the wise old man, the hero
Alfred Adler
originally a colleague of Freud’s, but had a bitter breakup due to his feeling that Freud put too much emphasis on sexual conflicts; believed people strive for superiority over life’s challenges; was much more aware of environmental influences on personality than Freud or Jung (e.g. believed that birth order could influence personality development)
compensation (Adler)
we all have to work hard to overcome our feelings of inadequacy; Adler also coined the phrase “inferiority complex,” which were exaggerated feelings of inferiority
problems with psychodynamic theories
poor testability, inadequate evidence, sexism
Behavioral Perspectives: Skinner
world operates on you; personality traits are just a product of conditioning; behavior appears to be consistent and enduring b/c of reinforcement history, no reason to look inside the person
Behavioral Perspectives: Albert Bandura
people operate on the world; social cognitive theory - people are conscious, thinking, and feeling beings who are able to seek out and process information in the environment; importance of observational learning and exposure to models
? emphasized self-efficacy, which is ?
Albert Bandura; the belief about one’s ability to perform behaviors that should lead to expected outcomes (differs depending on task)
Behavioral Perspectives: Walter Mischel
people are able to discriminate among different situations and therefore act differently depending on which situation they are in (behave differently if reinforcement potential is high than when it is low); emphasis on the situation controlling behavior
self-regulation
children who are able to wait longer for the better of two treats is predictive of later SAT scores
Humanistic Perspectives: Carl Rogers
person-cecntered theory: the self; self-concept is a collection of beliefs about one’s own nature, unique qualities, and typical behavior
congruence (Rogers)
self-concept meshes well with actual experience (some incongruence is probably unavoidable)
incongruence (Rogers)
self-concept does not mesh well with actual experience - generates anxiety