unit 6 Flashcards
personality
individual’s unique constellation of consistent behavioural traits
personality trait
disposition to behave a certain way in a variety of situations
five-factor model of personality traits
from Robert McRae and Paul Costa:
neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness, extraversion
psychodynamic theories
focus on unconscious mental forces (Freud)
Id
primitive, instinctive, pleasure principle
pleasure principle
demands immediate gratification of urges
ego
decision making, reality principle
reality principle
delays gratification of id’s urges until appropriate outlets can be found
superego
moral, social standards about right and wrong
conscious
aware of at one point in time
preconscious
material just beneath the surface, easily retrieved
unconscious
material well below the surface of awareness, exert influence on behaviour still
defence mechanisms
unconscious reactions to protect from guilt and shame
rationalization
create false yet plausible excuses
repression
keeping thoughts buried in the unconscious
projection
say your own emotions are caused by someone else
displacement
divert other emotions onto someone else
reaction formation
behaving the opposite way of your feelings
regression
go back to immature behaviour
identification
bolstering self-esteem by forming an imaginary or real alliance with some person or group
sublimation
when unconscious, unacceptable urges are channeled into socially acceptable ones
psychosexual stages
developmental periods with a characteristic sexual focus, leaves mark on adult personality
fixation
failure to move forward from one psychosexual stage to another as expected. (excess gratification or fustration)
oral stage
mouth, biting, sucking, chewing, feeding. obsession can lead to smoking later in life
anal stage
bowel movements, toilet training
phallic stage
genitals, self-stimulation, age 4, Oedipal complex
latency stage
sexuality is repressed during ages 6 to puberty
Genital stage
with puberty, sexual urges reappear
Carl Jung
analytical psychology, personal unconscious and collective unconscious, introvert vs. extrovert
personal unconscious
houses material not within one’s conscious awareness because it has been repressed for too long
collective unconscious
stores latent memories of ancestral past, archetypes
archetypes
emotionally charged images that have universal meaning
introverts
preoccupied with the internal world of own thoughts, feelings, and experiences
extraverts
interested in the external world of people and things
Alfred Adler
individual psychology, humans are motivated by striving for superiority, adapt, overcome some feelings of inferiority, compensation, some overcompensate
striving for superiority
universal drive to adapt, improve oneself, and master life’s challenges
compensation
efforts to overcome imagined or real life inferiorities by developing one’s coping abilities
inferiority complex
exaggerated feelings of weakness and inadequacy
behaviourism
psychology should only study observable behaviour
Albert Bandura
social cognitive theory, reciprocal determinism, observational learning
reciprocal determinism
internal and external events and behaviour all influence each other
Skinner
behaviourism, operant conditioning
observational learning
organism’s response is influenced by a model
model
a person whose behaviour is observed by another
self-efficacy
confidence in oneself to perform and have desired outcomes
Walter Mischel
believes people will behave in a way that will lead to reinforcement in the situation at hand, people will behave very differently in various situations (people are not necessarily consistent in their behaviour!!!)
humanism
emphasizes unique qualities of humans, freedom, growth
phenomenological approach
we have to appreciate someone’s personal, subjective, experiences to truly understand their behaviour
Roger’s Person-Centred Theory
emphasized a person’s subjective point of view, self
self-concept
collection of beliefs about one’s own nature…typical behaviour
incongruence
gap between one’s self-concept and reality (vs. congruence), incongruence when a parent displays conditional love
Maslow’s theory of self-actualization
human motives have a hierarchy
hierarchy of needs
systematic arrangement of needs according to priority, basic needs first, complete satisfaction not necessary to activate needs on the next level
need for self-actualization
need to fulfill one’s potential, highest need in the hierarchy
self-actualizing persons
people with exceptionally healthy personalities, continued personal growth
Eysenck’s theory
biological perspective, personality is a hierarchy of traits, person’s genes allows them to be conditioned easier than others, intros more easily conditioned than extros
narcissism
inflated sense of importance, need for attention and admiration, sense of entitlement, tendency to exploit others
terror management theory
managing the love of life and knowing about death
mortality salience
the degree to which mortality is present in someone’s mind
self-enhancement
focusing on positive feedback from others, exaggeration one’s strengths, seeing oneself as above average
self-report inventories
personality tests, asks individuals to answer question about their characteristic behaviour
projective tests
participants respond to vague stimuli, shows their true feelings
