Psych Exam 11/18/22 Flashcards
personality
emotional responses and habitual ways in which an individual responds to the environment
trait theories
building blocks of personality
biological theories of personality
differ due to physiological differences
developmental personality theories
differ due to distinct early childhood experiences
humanist theories
differ in our choices and goals
trait
characteristics and stable pattern of thought, feeling or behavior
Big 5 (OCEAN)
Openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism
openness to experience
Imaginative vs down to earth
Variety vs routine
Independent vs conforming
conscientiousness
Organized vs disorganized
Careful vs careless
Self -disciplined vs weak-willed
extraversion
Social vs retiring
Fun-loving vs sober
Affectionate vs reserved
agreeableness
Softhearted vs ruthless
Trusting vs suspicious
Helpful vs uncooperative
neuroticism
Worried vs calm
Insecure vs secure
Self-pitying vs self-satisfied
analog
how we use the same dimensions to quickly describe someone’s appearance (ex height, weight, hair color)
temperament
differences in emotional responses that vary across individuals and have a biological basis, highly heritable
inhibited temperament
fear/shyness, activity/emotionality/sociability
stable (trait observations)
when measured in the womb, predict parent reports at 3 months, observations at age 4, and peer and teacher reports at age 8 and beyond
can change, inhibited can and do sometimes become uninhibited mostly because parents work hard at inhibited temperaments (trying to make a shy child confident)
Eysenck (extroverts vs introverts)
differences in extraversion vs introversion due to arousability - also thought to be primary factor in temperament
extroverts
low arousability, so they seek external stimulation (ex. lower heartrate reactivity to stimulation so they seek more
introverts
higher arousabiltiy, so they avoid external stimulation (ex higher responsiveness in heartrate to same stimulation so they seek less)
inherited traits (Gray)
differences due to behavior inhibition system and behavior activation system
BIS and BAS
extroverts - BAS > BIS (more sensitive to rewards than punishment)
introverts - BIS > BAS (more sensitive to punishment than rewards)
Freudian theory of personality
personality will be determined by how a child passes through early psychosexual stages, “fixations” occur when under stress, regress to problematic area
oral (Freudian theory of personality)
gains sensual gratification through the mouth
adults with an oral fixation may be prone to excessive eating/drinking
anal (Freudian theory of personality)
toilet training
adults any be compulsively neat and precise
phallic (Freudian theory of personality)
3-6 years old
Oedipal or Electra complex - fixation on opposite sex parents, gives way to identification with same-sex parent
attachment
bonds btw infant and caregiver will influence individual’s interaction with others throughout the lifespan
Self Letter test
B - secure: comfortable with relationships, easily formed (65% in US)
C - anxious: want relationships, but insecure (10-15%)
A - avoidant: dismissive of relationships (30-25%)
secure
warm responsive parenting
anxious
unreliably responsive parenting - parent warm when available but not always available
avoidant
parent unavailable/unresponsive - infant learns to self-soothe
Ainsworth’s strange situation test
give child interesting toys, mother leaves and then she comes back
3 stages - explore, separate, reunite
secure (Ainsworth’s strange situation test)
explore, upset when mother leaves, can easily and quickly be comforted
anxious (Ainsworth’s strange situation test)
clingy, upset when mother leaves, cannot be comforted easily
avoidant (Ainsworth’s strange situation test)
ignore, don’t act upset when mother leaves (but show increased HR), don’t greet upon return
Ainsworth follow-up study
original Ainsworth study kids studied as young adults in college (all female, brought boyfriends)
No differences in waiting rooms apparent until the stress of “pain” study (attachment patterns emerge primarily when under stress)
Stressor: giant machine with claws and sparks, told the women that it would cause pain but no damage
secure (Ainsworth follow-up study)
sought and received comfort
anxious (Ainsworth follow-up study)
clingy, not comforted
avoidant (Ainsworth follow-up study)
sat further away from partner, did not mention it
social learning theory
personality dispositions are shaped through development, prior experience from lasting habits and expectancies
environmental influences/observational learning (social learning theory)
modeling - children will imitate and internalize the behaviors of adults or peers that they like or that they see rewarded (having an optimistic or grateful mindset)
locus of control
extent to which believe influential forces lie within (internal) vs outside (external) the individual
parenting practices (locus of control)
parenting practices that are responsive to the child and encourage independent exploration encourage an internal locus of control, whereas those that control the child’s environment and schedule the child’s activities can lead to a more external locus of control (helicopter parenting)
self-efficacy (locus of control)
beliefs about the self’s own ability and competence can be domain-specific (ex athletics or academics)
high self-efficacy → greater persistence on challenging tasks
young children who are sheltered from failure/mistakes have lower efficacy in those domains
humanistic theories
don’t emphasize early development, free will + growth
individual plays major role in shaping own personality, we differ in what we strive for
self-actualizing motive (humanistic theory)
process by which people strive to fulfill their individual potential for personal growth through greater self-understanding (top of Maslow’s pyramid)
seeking self-congruity (humanistic theory)
ideal self: who one hopes to be
ought self: who one thinks one should be
actual self: who one is right now
ideal-actual incongruity can lead to depression
ought-actual incongruity can lead to anxiety
situationism
theory that situational norms determine behavior at any specific time point more than personality traits
strong situations
most likely to determine behavior (funerals, job interviews, classrooms) because the social norms of how to behave in that situation are strong
weak situations
fewer norms, so people can behave freely and naturally (parties, parks, hanging out) - personality can often predict behavior in weak situations
situational change
situations change across time, but personality remains relatively stable - personality predicts behavioral patterns across time but for any single instance of behavior the prediction is made by social situation
social psychology
study of how our thoughts, feelings and behaviors are influenced by the real, implied or imagined presence of others
social brain theory
keeping track of who is a friend/can be trusted
reading social cues and adapting one’s behavior accordingly
animals who live in social groups are more intelligent than “loners” (social Meerkats are much more intelligent than their relative, the more solitary Slender mongoose)
even within social groups, animals who live in larger groups require larger brains