Unit 12: Personality Flashcards
Personality
An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.
Psychodynamic Perspective
Freud’s perspective
Believed that every problem had an unconscious motive (the person was unaware of it).
The goal was to tap into the unconscious mind and make people realize what was causing them problems.
Exploring the Unconscious
A reservoir (unconscious mind) of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. Freud asked patients to say whatever came to their minds (free association) in order to tap into the unconscious.
Manifest Content
The actual dream
Latent Content
What the meaning of the dream is
Psychoanalysis
The entire process of using free association to tap into the unconscious and make people better.
Id
unconscious part of the personality that does what you want, and does not worry about what others think.
Superego
Part of the personality that worries about what others think, and acts based on the expectations of society and others.
Ego
Known as the “executive”, is the mediator between the ID and Superego and decides which one to act on.
Defense Mechanisms:
Repression
Something causes you anxiety so you…
unconsciously block the memory out of your brain (forget it)
Defense Mechanisms:
Regression
Something causes you anxiety so you…
act like a person of a younger age
Defense Mechanisms:
Reaction Formation
Something causes you anxiety so you…
tell people you feel the exact opposite of how you actually feel
Defense Mechanisms:
Projection
Something causes you anxiety so you…
point out the unwanted trait in others
Defense Mechanisms:
Rationalization
Something causes you anxiety so you…
state your problem in a way that sounds better, rather than stating it how it actually is
Defense Mechanisms:
Displacement
Something causes you anxiety so you…
take out your frustration on someone who doesn’t deserve it
Defense Mechanisms:
Sublimation
Something causes you anxiety so you…
transfer unacceptable impulses into socially acceptable behaviors
Defense Mechanisms:
Denial
Something causes you anxiety so you…
refuse to believe painful realities.
The Neo-Freudians:
Carl Jung
Term: Collective Unconscious
Theory: We are born with a vast knowledge of our world already stored in our unconscious mind. We just don’t know how to access it at birth.
The Neo-Freudians:
Alfred Adler
Term: Inferiority Complex
Theory: Children weren’t moody because of sexual frustrations, they were moody and temperamental because they wanted to be adults and they weren’t allowed to be.
The Neo-Freudians:
Karen Horney
Term: Disproved Penis Envy
Theory: Worked to disprove Freud’s idea of Penis Envy. Freud believed that women were frustrated because they wanted to be men. Horney worked to show that there was no research to back this up.
Projective Tests
(not personality test)
Evaluating personality from an unconscious mind’s perspective would require a psychological instrument (projective tests) that would reveal the hidden unconscious mind.
Rorschach Inkblot Test
Stare at an inkblot and say the first thing that comes to your mind.
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Look at an ambiguous (unclear) picture and create a story around it.
Projective Tests: Criticisms
Critics argue that projective tests potentially lack both reliability and validity.
When evaluating the same patient, even trained raters come up with different interpretations (reliability).
Projective tests may misdiagnose a normal individual as pathological (validity).
What we believe about the Psychoanalytic Theory today:
-There is an unconscious mind. Most psychologists buy into the idea of defense mechanisms (with the possible exception of repression).
-Many buy into the idea of the id, ego, and superego.
What Freud is Criticized For:
1.) Personality develops throughout life and is not fixed in childhood like Freud thought.
2.) Freud looked too much at the family and not enough at peers (friends) on development.
3.)Freud thought that your gender identity was fully formed at age 5 or 6, that may not be so.
4.) Freud’s dream theories are often criticized.
5.) Freud is criticized for overstressing the importance of sexual motivation on decision-making and problems.
In the end:
Freud is often criticized for what he got wrong, but he is revered in the Psychological community for his insight (whether right or wrong) and new way of thinking.
An example is Terror Management Theory where thinking about your own death provokes defense mechanism:
-Aggression toward rivals
-Heighten self esteem for yourself
-More religious
-Etc.
Humanistic Perspective
Unlike Freud, who viewed the personality as negative, Humanistic Psychologists Maslow and Rogers viewed the personality as a positive thing.
Self-Actualizing Person
Maslow is best known for saying that the goal of your life is to reach the top of his pyramid and be the best person you could possibly be, known as Self-Actualization.
He even hypothesized that there may be a higher level called Self Transcendence where you strive above even your own potential.
Growth and Fulfillment
Carl Rogers believed that to be the best, you must accept others no matter what they do to you, this is known as Unconditional Positive Regard.
Assessing the Self
Rogers also stated that people had two selves. The “ideal self”, which was who they wanted to be. And the “real self”, which was who they actually were. If the two were close the person felt great about themselves, if they weren’t, they’d feel depressed/angry.
Evaluating the Humanistic Perspective
1.) Many psychologists use the Humanistic Perspective today.
2.)One big criticism is that its ideas lack scientific proof.
3.)It’s too selfish, often just focuses on individuals’ needs.
4.)Is it too naive? Are people negative by nature?
The Trait Perspective
Your personality isn’t one thing, it’s made up of many personality traits. This perspective was created by Gordon Allport.
Examples of Traits:
Honest
Dependable
Moody
Impulsive
Exploring Traits
Cattell used factor analysis to determine that your personality was made up of 16 traits, which he called the 16PF (Personality Factors).
Personality Dimensions
Hans and Sybil Eysenck suggested that personality could be reduced down to two polar dimensions, extraversion-introversion and emotional stability-instability.
Assessing Traits
Personality inventories are questionnaires (often with true-false or agree-disagree items) designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors assessing several traits at once.
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI):
The most widely used personality test today. It was previously used just to diagnose mental disorders, now it is used on everyone.
The MMPI was developed by empirically testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminated between diagnostic groups.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator:
Personality test, used today, that only gives results that are positive.
Empirically Derived Tests
These tests are empirically derived. Which means questions are picked that can differentiate between groups.
Today most Trait Psychologists believe you have 5 personality traits.
- Conscientiousness:
How organized, careful, and disciplined you are. - Agreeableness: How willing you are to cooperate or go along with others.
- Neuroticism (Opposite is Emotional Stability: How often you show negative emotions
- Openness: How willing you are to try new experiences or go out of your comfort zone.
- Extraversion: How loud and outgoing you are
-These traits are stable into adulthood, but can change.
-50% Nature, 50% Nurture
-These traits exist in every culture around the world
-These traits can help predict people’s behavior in situations
The Person-Situation Controversy/Criticism
Trait Psychologists pay too much attention to who someone is, and not enough attention to the situation they’ve been placed in.
Social-Cognitive Perspective
Perspective that combines thinking and your situation in helping to shape your personality.
Albert Bandura was one of the founding members of this perspective.
Reciprocal Determinism
Three factors: behavior, cognition, and environment, each affect each other in a continual cycle.
personal control
Social-cognitive psychologists emphasize our sense of personal control, whether we control the environment or the environment controls us.
Internal Locus of Control:
You believe you have control over your own future/destiny.
External Locus of Control:
You believe your future or destiny is out of your control.
Learned Helplessness
When unable to avoid repeated adverse events an animal or human learns helplessness.
optimistic
Looking at the same event/situation positively
pessimistic
Looking at the same event/situation negatively
Evaluating the Social-Cognitive Perspective
Critics say that social-cognitive psychologists pay too much attention to the situation, and not enough attention on who the person
Exploring the Self
The self is the center of your personality, the organizer of your thoughts, feelings, and actions.
Spotlight Effect:
We overestimate how much people notice us, or care what we do.
Self-Reference Effect:
It is easier to recall something if you are directly involved in the memory.
Self-Serving Bias:
Defensive Self-Esteem:
High Self-Esteem created by putting others down.
Self-Serving Bias:
Secure Self-Esteem:
High Self-Esteem that is less fragile because it is not created at the expense of others.
Self Efficacy
A belief in yourself and your abilities.
