Unit 4.4-4.5 Flashcards
Psychodynamic perspective
Developed by Sigmund Freud, the psychodynamic theory of personality emphasizes the role of unconscious processes, early childhood experiences, and inner conflicts in shaping behavior and personality. According to Freud, personality consists of three main components: the id, ego, and superego, which interact to influence thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
Unconscious processes
Ego defense mechanisms
are unconscious strategies the ego uses to manage anxiety and internal conflicts between the id and superego. These mechanisms distort or deny reality to protect the individual from uncomfortable thoughts and feelings.
Denial
Refuse to acknowledge
This involves refusing to acknowledge an unpleasant reality. It’s the difference between not remembering an event and distorting its perception.
Displacement
Redirect impulse to something less bad
A mechanism where strong emotions, typically anger, are redirected from the primary source to a safer target. For example, yelling at someone else after a bad day at work.
Projection
Accuse someone else of your feelings/behavior
involves attributing one’s own unacceptable thoughts or feelings to others, making them external rather than internal. A person who is unfaithful to their partner might accuse their partner of cheating, projecting their own behavior onto them.
Rationalization
Justification
Here, we try to justify our actions with seemingly logical reasons, even if they’re not the real cause. For instance, claiming a test was unfair when one doesn’t perform well.
Reaction formation
Act opposite
An interesting mechanism where anxiety-inducing thoughts are converted into their polar opposites. So, love might manifest as hatred, and vice versa.
Regression
Revert to childlike behavior
Ever noticed someone reverting to childlike behaviors when stressed? That’s regression—returning to primitive behaviors to combat anxiety.
Repression
No conscious awareness
A method our psyche uses to block out distressing memories or feelings. However, there’s a debate surrounding this concept. Notably, Allen Esterson highlights the controversy behind Freud’s idea of repression, especially regarding memories related to traumatic events like the Holocaust. Recent studies suggest that such memories might not be repressed as previously believed.
Sublimation
Redirect to positive
involves channeling unacceptable impulses into socially acceptable or constructive activities. Someone with aggressive tendencies might take up a sport like boxing to channel their aggression into a socially acceptable activity.
Projective tests
are psychological assessment tools that present ambiguous stimuli to individuals, encouraging them to project their unconscious thoughts, feelings, and desires onto these stimuli. The rationale behind projective tests is rooted in psychoanalytic theory, which posits that individuals may reveal aspects of their personality and internal conflicts through their responses to ambiguous prompts. Common projective tests include the Rorschach Inkblot Test and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT).
Unconditional (positive) regard
Acceptance and nonjudgmental behavior
Acceptance and nonjudgmental behavior from the therapist allows the space the client needs throughout the exploration process.
A general definition is the attitude of complete acceptance and love, whether for yourself or for someone else. When you have unconditional positive regard for someone, nothing they can do could give you a reason to stop seeing them as inherently human and inherently lovable. It does not mean that you accept each and every action taken by the person, but that you accept who they are at a level much deeper than surface behavior (Rogers, 1951).
In therapy, the idea is much the same, although with a more specific purpose: to build a positive, trusting relationship between the therapist and the client.
It is a defining feature of client-centered therapy (and an important feature in many other forms of therapy), in which the client is accepted and supported by the therapist no matter what they say or do (Rogers, 2001).
Unconditional positive regard is not about liking a client or accepting everything they have done; it’s about respecting the client as a human being with his or her own free will and operating under the assumption that he or she is doing the best they can.
Having this attitude toward a client can encourage them to share their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors more openly with the therapist.
Humanistic perspective/psychology
Free will
Unconditional positive regard
Self-actualizing tendency
is a psychological perspective that emphasizes the study of the whole person and the uniqueness of each individual. It focuses on human potential, self-fulfillment, and personal growth. Humanistic psychologists believe that people are inherently good and have an innate drive to make themselves and the world better. In therapy, humanistic approaches like person-centered therapy (developed by Carl Rogers) focus on creating a supportive environment where clients can explore their feelings and thoughts without judgment. This helps individuals achieve greater self-awareness and personal growth.
Self-actualizing tendency
Desire to reach full potential
a motivational force that drives people to improve themselves and become the best version of themselves
The basic idea of the actualizing tendency is straightforward. It is a desire present in all living things that pushes the organism toward growth. In the case of humans, we all want to express ourselves creatively and reach our full potential.
Rogers offered the analogy of a potato when explaining this tendency. Have you ever left a potato in your pantry only to discover later that it has grown sprouts? The sprouts are little white nubs taking advantage of the small amount of light available beneath and around the door frame.
Every time you open the door, some light enters, encouraging the seedling to fight for survival. If you were to plant that potato in the soil in the spring, you would soon find green sprouts fighting through the surface, followed by bushy green leaves.
We can see this desire to lean toward growth in everyone, and Rogers believed it true of every organism (Goodreads, n.d.). Organisms have an innate motivation to live in accordance with their true nature. When the organism cannot do this, it experiences incongruence but continues to push toward actualizing (the white nubs) even though the environment is more complicated.
We see this when flowers shoot up between cracks in concrete, when corn stalks grow between road grates, and when a tree grows inside of the stump of another tree. We also see this when people struggle to define who they are amidst being told who they are. Often, it is this struggle that leads a person to seek out therapy.
Just like those flowers growing between the cracks, the actualizing tendency cannot be destroyed unless the organism is destroyed.
Social-cognitive theory
Social-cognitive perspective
Traits + Situation= behavior
Thinking + Environment= behavior
primarily developed by Albert Bandura, emphasizes the interaction between individuals and their environment. It posits that learning occurs in a social context and can happen through observation, imitation, and modeling. Key components of this theory include observational learning, reciprocal determinism, and self-regulation. A teenager who observes their parents handling stressful situations with calmness and problem-solving strategies is likely to adopt similar behaviors. This observational learning shapes their personality to be more resilient and composed under pressure.
Reciprocal determinism
is a key concept in social-cognitive theory, proposing that behavior, personal factors (including cognition), and environmental influences all interact and influence each other bidirectionally. In a classroom setting, a student’s enthusiasm for learning (personal factor) can lead them to participate actively (behavior), which can encourage teachers to provide more engaging materials (environment), further enhancing the student’s motivation and learning experience.
Self-efficacy
Perception of capabilities
refers to an individual’s belief in their ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish tasks. It is a critical component of the social-cognitive theory and influences how people think, feel, and act. An employee with high self-efficacy in public speaking is more likely to volunteer for presentations, seek out opportunities to speak, and perform well, leading to career advancement and increased job satisfaction.
Self-esteem
Degree to which self-concept is perceived to be positive
is the overall sense of self-worth or personal value. While self-efficacy is task-specific, self-esteem is a broader evaluation of oneself. A student with high self-esteem is more likely to participate in class, take on leadership roles, and bounce back from academic setbacks. Conversely, low self-esteem can result in social withdrawal and reluctance to take risks.
Self-concept
Rogers believed that the central feature of our personality is our self concept (Our perception of our abilities, behaviors, and characteristics. If our self-concept is positive, we tend to act in a positive way. If negative, we tend to act and see the world in a negative way). Competence
In an effort to assess personality, Rogers asked people to describe themselves as they would like to be (ideal) and as they actually are (real). If the two descriptions were close, the individual had a positive self-concept. (All of our thoughts and feelings about ourselves in an answer to the question “Who am I?” refers to self-concept.)
Trait theories
of personality focus on identifying and measuring individual personality characteristics, known as traits. These theories propose that traits are relatively stable over time and influence behavior.
Describing rather than explaining
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
Labels people as types
Pros and Cons of Personality Testing?
Blind Date Example (3 traits)
Big 5 theory of personality (OCEAN)
Openness to experience: (inventive/curious vs. consistent/cautious)
Conscientiousness: (efficient/organized vs. extravagant/careless)
Extraversion: (outgoing/energetic vs. solitary/reserved)
Agreeableness: (friendly/compassionate vs. critical/judgmental)
Emotional stability: (resilient/confident vs. sensitive/nervous)
Personality inventories
General: Used to assess traits. Questionnaires on which people respond to a wide variety of items, covering feelings and behaviors
Most tests of personality are self-report inventories. The assumption behind a questionnaire that asks respondents what they are like is that people have a pretty good idea of how they typically think, feel, and behave. Therefore, if clear, direct questions are written about people’s personality, and the people answer honestly, researchers can learn a lot.
People have a lot of information about themselves because they have seen themselves in many different situations over many years.
ii. People have direct access to their own thoughts and feelings.
iii. Self-reports also have the important advantage of being a convenient way to measure personality because researchers don’t need the help of anyone other than the person whose personality they want to measure.
e. Weaknesses of self-report questionnaires
i. People may not always tell the truth, especially when a lot is at stake, like in a job interview.
ii. People may not always know the truth about themselves, especially for aspects of personality that are desirable or undesirable, like intelligence or rudeness.
Factor analysis
reduce variations to
common factors
