Social, Personality and Dev Flashcards
What is developmental Psychology?
Study of human development and scientific change.
What time do children begin to walk?
12-18 months.
What are the 3 goals of developmental psychology?
- Describe development.
>typical and atypical development - Explain development.
- Optimise development.
What is the lexical approach in personality psychology?
The lexical approach is based on the assumption that the most important personality traits are encoded as words in natural languages and that the analysis of the structure of those words may lead to a scientifically acceptable personality model.
Who was Gordon Allport?
Allport suggested that cardinal traits are rare, and dominate, usually developing later in life. They tend to define a person to such an extent that their names become synonymous with their personality.
Met Freud in Vienna; the experience convinced him psychoanalysis looks too deeply for the
roots of personality
How did Gordon Allport identify personality traits?
Although Allport is noted as being influential in many areas of psychology, he is particularly well known for his trait theory. Allport determined that every human being possesses hundreds of traits that exist on one of three levels:
Cardinal Trait: This characteristic is a person’s dominant trait and serves to mold a person’s identity, emotions, and behaviors.
Central Trait: These are seen as core traits. Although they are not dominant, they are inherent in most people and lay the foundation for our personalities and actions.
Secondary Trait: These traits are privately held, and often only revealed in confidence or under certain conditions.
Allport also identified the existence of what he termed genotypes and phenotypes—internal and external conditions that motivate a person’s behavior. He continued to develop the field of personality psychology while examining the nature of a person’s will, motivation, and determination
What is “proprium”?
n. a concept of the self—or that which is consistent, unique, and central in the individual—that was developed by Gordon W. Allport .
Similar to freuds conception of the ego
According to Allport, the proprium incorporates body sense, self-identity, self-esteem, self-extension, rational thinking, self-image, propriate striving, and knowing through 7 stages of development.
7 stages correspond with different ages of a persons development leading up to adulthood.
Who was Raymond Bernard Cattell? What did he propose?
He created a taxonomy of 16 different personality traits that could be used to describe and explain individual differences between people’s personalities which correspond with human behaviour.
Cattell analyzed the T-data and Q-data using a mathematical technique called factor analysis to look at which types of behavior tended to be grouped together in the same people. He identified 16 personality traits / factors common to all people.
Cattell made a distinction between source and surface traits. Surface traits are very obvious and can be easily identified by other people, whereas source traits are less visible to other people and appear to underlie several different aspects of behavior.
Cattell regarded source traits are more important in describing personality than surface traits.
What were the flaws in Catell’s 16 personality factor model?
Cattell’s Sixteen Personality Factor Model has been greatly criticized by many researchers, mainly because of the inability of replication. More than likely, during Cattell’s factor analysis errors in computation occurred resulting in skewed data, thus the inability to replicate.
Even cattell’s initial propositions were questionable as they were unable to be replicated.
What is factor analysis?
Factor analysis is a process used to determine a small number of
underlying factors which explain the relationship between a much
larger number of quantitative variables
such as items on a questionnaire
Unlike variables which can be directly measured such as speed, height,
weight, etc., some variables such as extraversion, creativity, happiness
and even IQ are not a single measurable entity.
Who was Robert Mcrae? What was the big 5?
Otherwise known as the ocean model.
DIFFERENT TO CATTELL’S 5 GLOBAL FACTORS!
O - Openness to imagination, new actions and new ideas;
High scorers: curious, wide range of interests, independent, imaginative, creative
Low scorers: Practical, conventional, prefers routine
C - Conscientiousness, self-discipline, thoughtfulness, pragmatism, goals
High scorers: Hardworking, goal oriented, organized, dependable,
Low scorers: Impulsive, careless, disorganized
E - Extroversion,
A - Agreeableness to cooperate, trustworthy and good natured
high scoring - helpful, trusting and empathetic
low scoring: critical uncooperative and suspicious
N - Neuroticism, tendency towards emotional instability
high scorers: anxious, unhappy, prone to negative emotions
low scorers: calm, even-tempered, secure
What is the Likert scale?
The traditional Likert scale asks people the extent to which they agree or disagree
with a statement on a 5-point scale. The scale ranges from “strongly agree” to
“strongly disagree.”
What is personality? What are the different forms of personality assessment?
What are the 2 approaches which can be taken when analysing a personality?
the combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual’s distinctive character, which are consistently observable over a period of time, but it depends on the model or framework used.
For example, gordon allport’s cardinal, central and secondary traits (trait theory)
Cattell’s 16 factor model reduced from factor analysis of over 170+ traits
or the finalized robert mcrae’s OCEAN 5 model
There are informal assessments which we make naturally, and there are fomral assessments which include statistical analysis and context.
Deductive - top down approach, testing hypothesis
Inductive -bottom up approach, data is already there and theories emerge from data
What are Gordon Allport’s criteria for a healthy adult?
- Extending sense of self into socialisation
- Respect and value other people
- Emotionally secure
- Realistic perception of environment and problems
- Insight into self (self awareness), humour, and seeing oneself how others do
- Strong conscience (may or may not be relgious)
Define psychoanalysis and what it often includes.
Psychoanalysis is the field of psychology proposed by sigmund freud.
Free association = revelation of subconscious mechanisms through analysing the immediate expressions of thought; saying what comes to mind immediately
Hypnosis = hypnotising the patient to reveal the hidings of their subconscious
Dream Analysis = analysing the content of dreams to reveal subconscious workings
Object relations theory = early experiences with caregivers during childhood shape outlook on others and ourselves; proper upbringing leads to spontaneous and confident selves
