Psych Ch. 14 Flashcards
Define Personality
A characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaving that is unique to each individual, and remains relatively consistent over time and situations
Define trait
a characteristic of an individual, describing a habitual way of behaving, thinking, or feeling
Idiographic approach:
Creating detailed descriptions of a specific person’s unique personality characteristics in an attempt to understand that person better
What is a Nomothetic approach?
Examining personality in large groups of people, with the aim of making generalizations about personality structure
What is the main legacy from Freud?
He started psychotherapy (talk therapy) and a large amount of mental processes being subconcious
What is the unconscious mind?
A vast and powerful but inaccessible part of your consciousness, operating without your
conscious endorsement or will to influence and guide your behaviors
What is the conscious mind?
Your current awareness, containing everything you are aware of right now
What is the Id?
Represents a collection of basic biological drives, including those directed toward sex and aggression
What is Libido?
Operates on the pleasure principle: do what feels good
What is the superego?
Comprised of our values and moral standards
What is the ego?
The decision maker, frequently under tension,
trying to reconcile the opposing urges of the idand superego
What did Freud believe about personality and anxiety?
“Personality” emerges from the interplay of the id, superego, and ego
-Anxiety is produced when the components are imbalanced (e.g., when the id and superego are in conflict)
According to Freud, what are defense mechanisms?
Unconscious strategies the The ego uses to keep the Id’s impulses out of conscious awareness and balance the competing demands of pleasure, reality, and morality
Define Denial
when people refuse to admit something unpleasant is happening, that they have a
problem, or that they are feeling a forbidden emotion (defense mechansim)
What is reaction formation?
Behaving in a way that is exactly the opposite
of one’s true feelings (defense mechanism)
eg. Expressing feelings of purity when experiencing unconscious feelings about sex
What is rationalization?
creating false but plausible excuses to justify
unacceptable feelings or behaviors
Define repression
Keeping distressing desires or wishes from
conscious awareness by burying it in the unconscious
What is projection?
seeing one’s own traits in other people, especially if seeing that threatening trait in
others helps the individual to avoid recognizing it in their self
What is displacement?
Altering the target of one’s urges
* e.g. Angry at boss: come home and yell at children instead
What is identification?
Alleviate concerns about self-worth by unconsciously assuming the characteristics of
another person
* Can be good too!
* E.g., identification with one’s parents
results in the formation of the
superego
What is sublimation?
Transforming unacceptable impulses into
socially acceptable or even pro-social alternatives. (like turning aggression into playing sports)
What is the purpose of defense mechanism?
protect self esteem
What is a realistic idea of projection?
Attributing qualities you (or fear you) possess to others
What is the false consensus effect?
Overestimating how many people share your
traits, opinions, preferences, and motivations
similar to projection
More specifically Freud thinks personality comes from…
- Interplay of Id/Ego/Superego
- Contents of Id/Ego/Superego
- Which defense mechanisms your ego employs
How did personality develop according to Freud?
many of the problems that people have with
their personalities (e.g., the defense mechanisms they particularly like to employ) are due to unresolved issues from growing up
At each developmental stage, the ________ manifests in particular areas of
the body, characterized by certain ____________ conflicts that need to
be resolved
libido; psychological
What are Freud’s psychosexual stages?
oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital
What are the three characteristics of each psychosexual stage?
Physical, Psychological, and an adult character type
What is the physical focus?
where the child’s energy is concentrated
and their gratification obtained
What is the psychological theme in the psychosexual stages?
this is related to both the physical focus and the demands being made on the child by the outside world as he/she develops
What is the adult character type?
in the first three stages this adult character
type is related to being fixated or stuck at that stage
Define fixation in Freuds Psychosexual theory.
a pre-occupation with obtaining the pleasure associated with a particular stage
* Part of your psychological functioning doesn’t advance past that stage
* Results in rigid personality types or unhealthy habits
when does the oral stage take place?
0-18 months
aspects of the oral stage
Physical pleasure focus: Actions
of the mouth—Sucking, chewing,
swallowing
* Psychological theme: basic
dependence & trust
* “Oral character”
What are the two types of Oral Character?
- Oral Sadistic: envy (wanting
more), manipulation of
others (using the mouth to
hurt), and suspiciousness - Oral Dependent:
dependence, indulgence,
entitlement, immaturity
When does the anal stage take place?
18-36 months
Aspects of anal stage
- Physical: Bowel elimination & control
- Psychological: sense of control & competence
What are the two types of Anal character?
Anal retentive: Creates rigidity, inflexibility,
stinginess: An obsession with cleanliness, order and control
Anal Expulsive: Problem with “letting it out” - sloppiness and/or a general disregard for order
When does the Phallic stage take place?
3-6 years of age
What are the physical and psychological aspects of the phallic stage?
Physical: curiosity about one’s own body and others bodies (parents, siblings peers)
Psychological: Stage is necessary for moral identity and superego formation—identification with parents; internalization of parents values
What does the phallic stage create?
Penis envy: girls wonder why they don’t have a penis
Castration anxiety: Boys wonder how girls lost their penis
-oedipus complex?
What is the oedipus complex?
Erotic attachment to the parent of
opposite sex and feel some hostility to
same-sex parent
Why is castration anxiety such a big part of the oedipus complex?
-Boys are distressed that their
mother doesn’t have a penis and
assume that their father cut it off
-They fear that their father will cut
off their penis too
When does the oedipus complex end
When the child gives up on their opposite sex parent and identifies with the same sex parent
How does phallic character show itself in men
In men, someone who is vain or over-ambitious – they continue to be too focused on their self and self-pleasure
How does phallic character show itself in women
In women, someone who is overly dominant over men or unusually seductive – argued to be rooted in continued penis envy
What is the latent period?
The sexual and aggressive drives are less
active and there is little in the way of
psychosexual conflict. People associate with their own sex
When does the latent period take place?
6-puberty
When does the genital period take place?
puberty onward
What is the physical focus of the genital period?
Physical focus is on the genitals and
partnered intercourse
What is the psychological focus of the genital period?
maturity and the creation of life (intimacy)
The genital personality is not fixated at an earlier stage: This is the person who has worked it all out. True or false?
True!
What are the critisms of Freud’s psychosexual theory?
- Lack of testability (not falsifiable)
- Drawing universal principles from the
experiences of a few atypical patients - Basing theories of personality
development on retrospective
accounts of adults - Too much emphasis on parental
influence? - Sexist (women = penis envy)
What is Phrenology
Franz Joseph Gall thought bumps on the head = IQ
*Gall focused his attention upon the detailed configuration of the human head
What is the basis of the myers briggs test?
Based on Carl Jung’s writings: he argued that people have preferences about how they use their mental capacities. Took his 4 type categories and broke them down into pieces
What are the four “type categories” used by Carl Jung?
- Introverts vs. Extroverts
- Perceivers vs. Sensors
- Thinkers vs. Feelers
- People who prefer judging or intuition
What are the problems with the Myers briggs test?
- Lack of reliability
- Lack of validity
- Traits do not fall into
categories - Incomplete description of personality
What is the point the myers briggs test is missing when compared to the big five personality traits?
Neuroticsm
What is the Forer/Barnum effect?
The tendency to see ourselves in vague or general statements (results are usually positive)
How to avoid the barnum effect?
*Beware of all-purpose descriptions
that could apply to anyone
*Beware of your own selective
perceptions
*Resist flattery and emotional
reasoning
Trait theory stems from…
Behaviorism
Who was Gordon Allport
One of the most influential psychologists in the empirical study of personality
What is a personality trait?
A person’s habitual patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving
What are central traits?
aspects of personality that reflect a characteristic way of behaving, dealing with others, and reacting to new situations
What are secondary traits?
changeable aspects of personality
How did Allport study personality?
Factor alalysis
How many key personality traits did Raymond Cattel come up with?
16
What were Eyesnek’s three key factors and what did he call them?
-psychoticsm
-extraversion
-neuroticism
SUPERFACTORS
What is psychoticism?
Vulnerability to breaks from reality or for rule
breaking, and aggression
-more drug friendly, care less about hygiene and structure
What is extraversion
Tendency to be out-going. Energized by social interaction
Define Neuroticism
Negative emotionality
Eyesneck viewed the PEN model as being biological…
- Extraversion: level of arousal
- Neuroticism: activation
thresholds in sympathetic NS
(fight of flight) - Psychoticism: testosterone Levels
What are the big five?
Openness to experience
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticism
What is openness to experience
- Interested in trying new things,
curiosity, imagination - Associated with liberal (rather
than conservative) political
attitudes
What is conscientiousness?
- Disciplined, well-organized,
punctual, dependable - Associated with positive health-
related behaviors, longevity, and
high levels of achievement
(higher GPAs)
What is extraversion?
- Outgoing, sociable, upbeat, friendly, assertive, gregarious
- Linked with more happiness
What is aggreeableness
Sympathetic, trusting, cooperative, modest
* Associated with empathy
What is Neuroticsm?
Anxious, self-conscious, moodiness
* Associated with divorce
What is the H factor in HEXACO
honesty-humility
What is the problem with personality?
We all act different in different senarios
The personality is AT MOST r=
0.3 (not really correlated)
Who came up with social-cognitive theories?
Walter Mischel, Albert Bandura
Situations and social learning?
People display different behaviors in
different contexts
Social-cognitive theorists believe…
- Central personality traits are
acquired from learning history and
expectations/beliefs - Acknowledgement that people can
have a core set of traits and their
behavior can vary across situations
What is a state?
A temporary physical or psychological engagement that influences behavior
Stable parts of our personality are called …
Traits or disposition
parts of ourselves that change are …
states
What is traits self-esteem?
a more stable quality that describes people’s
general self-evaluations
What is state self-esteem
refers to how people feel in the moment, how they feel right now
Four aspects of situations that influence how personality traits are expressed:
-location
-association
-activities
-subjective states
What is reciprocal determinsm?
Describes the interaction and mutual
influence of behavior, internal personal factors, and environmental
factors; “personalities” are based on these interactions
Further about reciprocal determinsim…
- The two-way interaction between aspects of the environment and
aspects of the individual in the shaping of personality traits - Personality is not something “inside” the person, but rather exists
“between” the person (their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors) and
the environment
internal personal factors
interaction of individuals and environments
What is culture?
A program of shared rules that governs the behavior of members of a community or society and a set of
values, beliefs, and attitudes shared by
most members of that community
What is our WEIRD world
western, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic
One study discovered that WEIRD and non WEird people are actually quite
alike
are we more or less likely to assume we have our countries stereotypical behavior
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