unit 7b - personality Flashcards
personality
an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting
psychoanalysis
freud’s theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts
free association
a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person says whatever comes to mind
three levels of mind
conscious, preconscious, and unconscious
conscious
all our thoughts and perceptions of which we are currently aware
preconscious
a level of mental activity that is not currently conscious, but can easily become conscious (ex. memories, stored knowledge)
unconscious
region of the mind that contains acceptable thoughts, desires, feelings, and painful memories (ex. immoral urges, fears, violent motives)
freud’s dream theory
we dream to fulfill unconscious, socially unacceptable urges. includes manifest and latent content
manifest content
the part of the dream we remember. the plotline and literal meaning of the dream
latent content
the true hidden meaning of the dream, can only be discovered through dream interpretation and analyzing symbols
3 parts of personality
id, ego, superego. the 3 parts overlap and should not be analyzed separately. one is an outgrowth of the other
id
the part of the personality that emerges first. infants are almost all id. includes the pleasure principle
ego
the largely conscious “executive” part of personality that mediates between id, superego, and reality. includes the reality principle
reality principle
satisfying the id’s desires in realistically and socially acceptable ways
superego
the part of personality that represents morals and provides standards for judgement (conscious) and for future aspirations. starts at age 4-5, strives for perfection
stages of development
freud believed that an individual develops through a series of 5 psychosexual stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital
oral stage
from birth-18 months. pleasure comes from the mouth–sucking, biting chewing
anal stage
18 month-3 years old. pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder function; the child must cope with demands for control. involves fixation, anal retentive, and anal expulsive
fixation
being stuck in a psychosexual stage due to unresolved conflicts. can occur from too much or too little pleasure
anal retentive
the anal retentive person is neat, orderly, organized, and overly concerned with control. caused by too strict of training and too little pleasure
anal expulsive
the anal expulsive person is messy and disorganized. caused by too lax toilet training and too much pleasure
phallic stage
3-6 years. the pleasure zone is the genitals; the child must cope with incestuous feelings. includes, the oedipus complex, electra complex, and identification
oedipus & electra complex
oedipus - a pattern described by freud in which a boy has sexual desire for his mother and wants to eliminate his father’s competition for her attention
electra - parallel for girls
latency stage
6 years-puberty. during this stage, sexual impulses stay in the background and school, same-sex peer play, and developing social skills becomes the focus
genital stage
puberty-death. it is during this stage the sexual impulses appear at the conscious level
psychodynamic theory
view of personality that focuses on the unconscious and importance of childhood experiences. descended from freud’s psychoanalytic theory
neo-freudians
followers of freud who kept the main points of his theory but proposed changes: alfred adler, karen horney, carl jung
alfred adler
proposed individual psychology. believed social tensions were more important than sexual tensions. motivated by striving for superiority which is triggered by feelings of inferiority
karen horney
believed we are driven by feelings of basic anxiety. these feelings arise out of parental indifference and inconsistency. claims that while women have “penis envy”, men have “womb envy”
carl jung
analytical psychologist. believed in the importance of the unconscious and in a collective unconscious. first used the terms “introvert” and “extrovert”
collective unconscious
a shared, inherited reservoir of images or archetypes from our history
projected tests
methods of studying personality by providing someone with a situation to which they will respond according to what the situation means to them. techniques are “response-free”
thematic apperception test (TAT)
a popular projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interest through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes
rorschach inkblot test
the most widely used projective test, a set of 10 inkblots. created by hermann rorschach and seeks to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots.
carl rogers
person-centered perspective. believed in fully functioning people (FFP), unconditional positive regard, self-concept
fully functioning person (FFP)
a person has an innate tendency toward realizing his/her potentialities. genuineness, acceptance, and empathy enable people to fully grow and achieve.
unconditional positive regard
an attitude of total acceptance and understanding toward another person
assessing the self
assessed personality through questionnaires and evaluate their self-concept
factor analysis
a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of behaviors that tend to appear together. mainly studied by hans and sybil eysenck
hans and sybil eysenck
focused on two personality dimensions: extraversion-introversion and emotional stability-instability
personality inventories
questionnaires designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors. used to assess selected personality traits
mmpi
minnesota multiphasic personality inventory. the most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests. developed to identify emotional disorders but is now used for screening purposes
empirically derived test
a test (like MMPI) that is developed by testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups
the big five factors
created by paul costa, robert mccrae, and others. describes the 5 essential traits that serve as the building block of personality. openness (imaginative, independent), conscientiousness (organized, disciplined), extraversion (sociable, fun-loving), agreeableness (trusting, helpful), and neuroticism (anxiety, insecure)
person-situation controversy
debate about behavior caused by personality or different situations
social-cognitive perspective
focuses on how we and the environment react. created by alfred bandura, and advanced by walter michel
reciprocal determinism
personality is shaped by the interaction of 3 forces: environment, behavior, and personal factors/cognition
external locus of control
the perception that chance or outside forces beyond one’s personal control determines one’s fate. created by julian rotter
internal locus of control
the perception that one controls one’s own life. these people tend to achieve more in school, are more independent, have more success and feel less depressed. created by julian rotter
what is the best way to assess behavior?
by analyzing the person’s past behavior in similar situations
spotlight effect
overestimating others’ noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunders
self-efficacy
one’s sense of competence and effectiveness
self-serving bias
a readiness to perceive oneself favorably
