Study unit 5.2 Perspectives on personality

Question 1

Personality

Answer 1

An individual’s unique set of consistent behavioral traits across a variety of situations.

There is stability in a person’s behavior over time and across situations (consistency), and the behavior differs among people reacting to the same situation (distinctiveness).

Question 2

Personality trait

Answer 2

A durable disposition to behave in a particular way in a variety of situations.

Question 3

Factor analysis

Answer 3

Correlations among many variables are analyzed to identify closely related clusters of variables.

If the measurement of a number of variables correlate highly with one another, the assumption is that a single factor is influencing all of them.

Question 4

Robert McCrae & Paul Costa

Answer 4

Five-factor model of personality traits

Question 5

Extraversion (FF model)

Answer 5

Outgoing, sociable, upbeat, friendly, assertive, and gregarious. More positive outlooks on life and are motivated to pursue social contact, intimacy, and interdependence.

Question 6

Neuroticism (FF model)

Answer 6

Anxious, hostile, self-conscious, insecure, and vulnerable. Exhibit more impulsiveness and emotional instability.

Question 7

Openness to experience (FF model)

Answer 7

Curiosity, flexibility, imaginativeness, intellectual pursuits, interests in new ideas, and unconventional attitudes. Tolerant of ambiguity.

Question 8

Agreeableness (FF model)

Answer 8

Sympathetic, trusting, cooperative, modest, and straightforward. Empathy and helping behavior.

Question 9

Conscientiousness (FF model)

Answer 9

Diligent, well-organized, punctual, and dependable. Strong self-discipline and the ability to regulate oneself effectively.

Question 10

Freud’s psychoanalytic theory

Answer 10

Attempts to explain personality by focusing on the influence of early childhood experiences, unconscious conflicts, and sexual urges.

Question 11

id

Answer 11

Primitive, instinctive component of personality that operates according to the pleasure principle. A reservoir of energy, it houses the raw biological urges that energize human behavior.

Question 12

Pleasure principle

Answer 12

Demands immediate gratification of its urges

Question 13

Ego

Answer 13

Decision-making component of personality that operates according to the reality principe. It mediates between the id and the external social world, with its expectations and norms regarding suitable behavior. It considers social realities - society’s norms, etiquette, rules and customs - in deciding how to behave.

Question 14

Reality principle

Answer 14

Seeks to delay gratification of the id’s urges until appropriate outlets and situations can be found.

Question 15

Superego

Answer 15

Moral component of personality that incorporates social standards about what represents right and wrong.

Question 16

Conscious

Answer 16

Whatever one is aware of at a particular point in time

Question 17

Preconscious

Answer 17

Material just beneath the surface of awareness that can easily be retrieved.

Question 18

Unconscious

Answer 18

Thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the surface of conscious awareness, but that nonetheless exert great influence on behavior.

Question 19

Defense mechanisms

Answer 19

Largely unconscious reactions that protect a person from unpleasant emotions, such as anxiety and guilt.

Question 20

Rationalization

Answer 20

Creating false but plausable excuses to justify unacceptable behavior.

Question 21

Repression

Answer 21

Keeping distressing thoughts and feelings buried in the unconscious

Question 22

Projection

Answer 22

Attributing one’s own thoughts, feelings, or motives to another.

Question 23

Displacement

Answer 23

Diverting emotional feelings from their original source to a substitute target.

Question 24

Reaction formation

Answer 24

Behaving in a way that’s exactly the opposite of one’s true feelings.

Question 25

Regression

Answer 25

Reversion to immature patterns of behavior (bragging)

Question 26

Identification

Answer 26

Bolstering self-esteem by forming an imaginary or real alliance with some person or group

Question 27

Psychosexual stages

Answer 27

Developmental periods with a characteristic sexual focus that leave their mark on adult personality.

Each stage has its own developmental challenges and the way they are handled supposedly shapes personality.

Question 28

Fixation

Answer 28

A failure to move forward from one stage to another, as expected, through excessive gratification or excessive frustration of needs at that stage.

Question 29

Oral stage

Answer 29

0-1. Erotic focus is the mouth (sucking, bitting). Key tasks are weaning. Form basis for obsessive eating or smoking.

Question 30

Anal stage

Answer 30

2-3. Erotic focus is the anus (expelling or retaining feces). Key tasks are toilet training. Excessive punishment might produce a latent feeling of hostility toward the “trainer”, generalizing to women as a class. Heavy reliance on punitive measures could lead to an association between genital concerns and the anxiety that the punishment arouses, leading to anxiety about sexual activities.

Question 31

Phallic stage

Answer 31

4-5. Erotic focus is on the genitals (masturbating). Key experience is identifying with adult role models and coping with oedipal crisis.

Question 32

Oedipal complex

Answer 32

Children manifest erotically tinged desires for their opposite-sex parent, accompanied by feelings of hostility toward their same-sex parent.

Question 33

Latency stage

Answer 33

6-12. Sexuality repressed. Key events center on expanding social contacts beyond the immediate family.

Question 34

Genital stage

Answer 34

Puberty onward. Sexual urges reappear and sexual energy is normally channeled toward peers of the opposite sex.

Question 35

Carl Jung’s Analytical Psychology

Answer 35

The unconscious consists of two layers, the personal unconscious, and the collective unconscious.

Question 36

Personal unconscious

Answer 36

Houses material that is not within one’s conscious awareness because it has been repressed.

Question 37

Collective unconscious

Answer 37

A storehouse of latent memory traces inherited from people’s ancestral past

Question 38

Archetypes

Answer 38

Ancestral memories that are not memories of actual, personal experiences. They are emotionally charged images and thought forms that have universal meaning. Frequently show up in dreams and are often manifested in a culture’s use of symbols in art, literature and religion.

Question 39

Alfred Adler’s Individual Psychology

Answer 39

The foremost source of human motivation is striving for superiority. It is a universal drive to adapt, improve oneself, and master life’s challenges. Early inferiority motivates one to acquire new skills and develop new talents.

Question 40

Compensation

Answer 40

Efforts to overcome imagines or real inferiorities by developing one’s abilities.

Question 41

Inferiority complex

Answer 41

Exaggerated feelings of weakness and inadequacy, through either parental pampering or neglect.

Question 42

Overcompensation

Answer 42

To conceal feelings of inferiority, even for themselves. These people work to acquire status, power and the trappings of success.

Question 43

Behaviorism

Answer 43

Theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific psychology should study only observable behavior.

Question 44

Skinner’s personality structure

Answer 44

Behavior is fully determined by environmental stimuli. People show consistent patterns of behavior because they have some stable response tendencies that they have acquired through experience, and may change in future due to new experiences.

An individual’s personality is a collection of repsonse tendencies that are tied to various stimulus situations.

Question 45

Skinner’s personality development as a product of conditioning

Answer 45

When responses are followed by favorable consequences, they are strengthened. If they lead to negative consequences they are weakened. Response tendencies are constantly being strengthened or weakened by new experiences.

Question 46

Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive theory

Answer 46

He believes that personality is largely shaped through learning, however, conditioning is not a mechanical process in which people are passive participants. People actively seek out and process information about their environment to maximize favorable outcomes.

Question 47

Observational learning

Answer 47

An organism’s responding is influenced by the observation of others. Both classical and operant conditioning occur indirectly when one person observes another’s conditioning. People’s characteristic patterns of behavior are shaped by models.

Question 48

Self-Efficacy

Answer 48

One’s belief about one’s ability to perform behaviors that should lead to expected outcomes.

When it is high, individuals feel confident that they can execute the response necessary to earn reinforcers. When it is low, individuals worry that the necessary responses may be beyond their abilities. It is subjective and specific to certain kinds of tasks.

Question 49

Walter Mischel’s Person-Situation Controversy

Answer 49

People make responses they think will lead to reinforcement in the situation at hand. People will behave differently in different situations.

Question 50

Humanism

Answer 50

A theoretical orientation that emphasizes the unique qualities of humans, especially their freedom and potential for growth.

Question 51

Carl Roger’s self-concept

Answer 51

A collection of beliefs about one’s own nature, unique qualities, and typical behavior or a collection of self perceptions and may not be entirely consistent with one’s experiences.

Question 52

Incongruence

Answer 52

The degree of disparity between one’s self-concept and one’s actual experience. If it is reasonably accurate it is congruent.

Question 53

Carl Roger’s development of the self

Answer 53

Conditional affection depends on a child behaving well and living up to expectations, children often block out their self-concept. Unconditional affection makes children have less of a need to block out unworthy experiences because of reassurance that they are worthy no matter what.

Question 54

Roger’s anxiety and defense

Answer 54

Experiences that threaten people’s personal view of themselves are the principal cause of anxiety. Individuals often behave defensively in an effort to reinterpret their experience so that it appears consistent with their self-concept.

Question 55

Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Answer 55

A systematic arrangement of needs, according to priority, in which basic needs must be met before less basic needs are aroused

Question 56

Kenrick’s revised hierarchy

Answer 56

The upper levels are filled with needs related to reproductive fitness - passing on one’s genes. The need to find a mate, retain a mate, and successfully parent offspring.

Question 57

Self-actualizers

Answer 57

Commitment to continued personal growth. They are at peace with themselves and are open and spontaneous and retain a fresh appreciation of the world around them. They’re sensitive to others’ needs and enjoy rewarding interpersonal relations. They are not dependant on others for approval or uncomfortable with solitude. They thrive on their work and they enjoy their sense of humor. They have profound emotional highs and strike a nice balance between many polarities in personality.