Week 5 Flashcards
1
Q
Define Personality
A
“Individual patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that tend to persist across time and contexts”
Lilienfeld et al., 2015
- The mind and how it interacts with the world
- Generally fixed through a lifetime
- Persists - Personality is fairly stable
- Abstract psychological constructs that can’t be measured
*
2
Q
Key points of Personality
A
- Distinctive - each person has a unique personality
- Consistent - Fairly stable in relation to our behaviours
*
3
Q
Two Methods to Study Personality
A
- Nomothetic
- Idiographic
4
Q
Nomothetic Personality
A
- Attempts to understand personality through general laws
- These governed across all individuals
5
Q
Idiographic Personality
A
Understand Personallity by finding unique blend of characteristics and experiences of single individuals.
6
Q
Why Study Personality?
A
Understand individual differences in characteristics
Understand how a persons parts come together holistically
Can we predict what we might expect someone to do in certain situations
7
Q
Psychic Determination
A
- All psychological constructs have a cause and this will determine behaviour
- Freud developed models to understand cause of behaviour
* Topographic model
* Structural model
* Developmental model
* Drive Model
8
Q
Freud - Psychoanalytic Approach
A
- Infulence is considered historical
- no longer relevant and outdated
- He developed the first theory of personality
9
Q
Psychic Determination - Topographic Model
A
- Conscious
- Centre of Awareness
- Rational and Goal Driven
- Preconscious
- Could become conscious at any time
- Tip of the toungue concept
- But is tip of thebrain
- Unconscious
- Bulk of our mental processes
- These thoughts are irrational
- Play important role in governing behaviour
10
Q
Freud Ambivalence
A
- Conscious and unconscious are often in conflict
- Different motives from different levels of topographic iceberg
- This can cause ambivalence
- When Id, Ego & Superego are in conflict
11
Q
Compromise Formations
A
- Resolve ambivalence by fulfilment from conflicting motives
- Address and appease both kinds of thoughts
- This can be negative such as in mental illness
- Or positive such as working hard to acheive a goal
12
Q
Freudian Slips
A
- When you accidently say one thing and mean another
- Error in speech, memory, or physical action
- Thought to be reflective of the unconscious
13
Q
Assessing Unconscious Topographic Patterns
A
- Life History Methods
- Freud observed many case studies to try to work out why people behaved the way they did.
- Not a really able to back up scientifically
- Try to understand the whole person
- Review in context of life experiences
e.g. case studies
14
Q
Drive or Instinct Model
A
- Based on Darwin’s work
- Human Behaviour is motivated by two drives
1. Aggressive Drive
2. Sexual/Libido Drive - Libido is about pleasure seeking and sensuality as well as sex.
- Hedonistic drive
- All psychic energy originates in the unconscious
15
Q
Structural Model
A
- exists on top oof the structural model
- Id, Ego & Superego
- run across unsconscious, preconscious and consciousness
*
16
Q
Id
A
- Mostly unconscious
- Pleasure principle
- Assessed by perception test
- Seeks all different kinds of pleasure, not just sexual.
17
Q
Ego
A
- Primarily in our conscious
- Decision maker
- Bound by reality principle
- Decides what we can and can’t do
18
Q
Superego
A
- covers breadth of our awareness
- In preconscious and unconscious
- Concerned with our sense of morality
19
Q
Defence Mechanisms
A
- Ego engages these defences to resolve stress
- attempts to reinforce positive emotion
- attempts to protect from negative or threatening emotion
- Temporary coping mechanisms
20
Q
10 Defence Mechansims
A
- Repression
- Denial
- Projection
- Reaction Formation
- Sublimation
- Rationalisation
- Displacement
- Regression
- Identification
- Intellectualisation
21
Q
Repression
A
- Keeps memories or thoughts apart from conscious awareness
- Blocking out traumatic memories or events
22
Q
Denial
A
- Refusal to acknowledge external reality
- Existence of disruptive thoughts, memories or feelings
23
Q
Projection
A
- Attribution of our own feelings and impulses on to others
- We do not acknowledge them in ourselves
24
Q
Reaction Formation
A
- Turning unacceptable feelings or impules into their opposites
e.g when a parent unconsciouls resents their child and spoils them in response
25
Q
Sublimation
A
Converting sexual or aggressive impulses into more socially acceptable activities
e.g. a person with anger issues takes up boxing
26
Q
Rationalisation
A
- Avoiding uncomfortable feelings by explaining them away
- Unconscious attempt to avoid bad feelings by using reasons or excuses
- Logical reasons given to justify innapropriate behaviour
27
Q
Displacement
A
Directing negative emotions to a substitute target
e.g. when angry with partner, mother lashes out on their child
28
Q
Regression
A
- Returning to an earlier stage of psycho sexual development
e.g. an adult having a temper tantrum, or “I don’t want to talk about this any more”
29
Q
Identification
A
Identifying with a threatening person or group to become accepted or boost self esteem
30
Q
Intellectualisation
A
- Focus on abstract or impersonal ideas to avoid anxiety provoking situations
- Allows memories to move through conscious and unconscious analysis
- uses abstract thinking to detach oneself from feelings
31
Q
Fairness to Freud
A
- Tried to base his work on observation
- Tried to find an explanation for what he saw
- However his psychosexual theories don’t hold up
32
Q
PsychoSexual Theory
A
- Based on primary drives of aggression and libido
- These drives influence individuals in different ways according to their development
- Appropriate progress through these stages leads to balanced id, ego & superego.
- Imbalance through one stage inhibits progress to the next and causes incongruence, fixation at that stage and regression in the future.
33
Q
Psychosexual Stages - Oral
A
- lasts for the first 12-18 mths
- Conflict - Dependancy
- Key experience - Breast Feeding
- Regression - Over dependence, passive gullible personality
34
Q
Psychosexual Stages - Anal
A
- Approx aged 2-3 years
- Key Experience - Toilet Training
- Conflict - Orderliness, cleanliness, compliance
- Regression - overly neat and pedantic or compulsive personality
35
Q
Psychosexual Stages - Phallic
A
- Approx 4-6 years old
- Focuses on genitalia
- Key experience - Is complicated
* Children identify with their opposite sex parent
* For boys results in Oedipus Complex, For girls is Electra Complex (Jung)
*
36
Q
Oedipus/Electra Complex
A
- Perception complexes with same sex parent
- Same sex competition to possess the opposite sex parent
- Says this is the stage where freud said girls develop penis envy because everybody wants a penis
37
Q
Psychosexual Stages - Latency
A
- Approx 7-11 years
- the calm after the storm of the phallic stage
- Consolidation of previous stages
- Demonstrated by managing aggresive drive and sublimating sexual drives
- Learn to play well with others - school, sports & Play
38
Q
Psychosexual Stages - Genital
A
- 12+ years
- Sexual Maturity and relationships
- This is the stage that is most criticised by modern psychology
39
Q
Neo-Freudians
A
- Alfred Adler - Inferiority Complex
- Karen Honey - Feminist: Signs of Regression
- Erich Fromm - Crave clost Connection, Questionable decisions, Increasing technology Increases Independence
- Carl Jung - Collective Unconscious
40
Q
Neo-Freudian Principles
A
- Generally share emphasis on Unconscious behaviour
- Identify the importance of early experience
- Determinisim - Early experiences shape how we behave as adults
41
Q
Neo-Freudian Principles - Different from Freud
A
- Place less importance on sexuality as a driving force
- Optimistic about personality development through lifespan
42
Q
Alfred Adler
A
- Adler believed aggression and sex were not primary drives but superiority
- Origin of Inferiority Complex -
43
Q
Inferiority Complex
A
- People who can’t acheive superiority behave in ways to try and accomodate
- Unrealistic sense of inadequacy
- Sometimes marked by aggresive behaviour in compensation
44
Q
Carl Jung
A
- Early protege of Freud
- Developed Theory of Collective Unconsciousness
- Strongly disagreed with Freud’s thinking
- Beleived in share inaccessible ancestral memory
- Explains Similarites of beleifs across cultures
- We have unconscious understanding of the world that gets passed on
45
Q
Karen Horney
A
- Reviserd psychoanalytic theory highlighting Inheritied differences of men and women
- Traced differences to society & culture not biology
- Said idea of genetic differences was a sign of represion of women
- Became critical of Freud and his thoeories
46
Q
Eric Frohm
A
- We crave close connections
- Increasing technology increases independence
- Can lead to questionable decisions
47
Q
Neo-Freudian Ideas
A
- Objects Relations Theory
- Relational Psychoanalysis
48
Q
Object Relations Theory
A
- Modern refinement of psychoanalytic thoery
- Focused on childhood experiences framing adult personality
- Positive or negative experiences become objects - or objectified
- Stored in unconscious and predict adult behaviour and social interactions
49
Q
Object Relations Theory
A
- Modern refinement of psychoanalytic theory
- Focused on childhood experiences framing adult personality
- Positive or negative experiences become objects - or objectified
- Stored in unconscious and predict adult behaviour and social interactions
50
Q
Relational Psychoanalysis
A
- Focuses on the relationship between the Therapist and the Client
51
Q
Life History Methods
A
- Unconscious mind is a motivator that drives our behaviour
- Focus on drawing out the unconscious patterns
- Aim to understand the wholeperson through their experience
- Identify consistent pattersn in drivers
- Uses case studies
*
52
Q
Projective Tests
A
- Assumes persons presented with vague stimulus will project their own desires into the stimulus
- Rorschach Inkblot Test
- Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
- Reliability and Validity have been found to be low for Projective Tests
53
Q
Psychoanalytic Theory Limitations
A
- Unfalsifiable - Not Testable
- Sexism - Penis Envy, study focuses on males
- Questionable concept of unsconcscious - Can we measure what we don’t know?
- Unrepresentative samples and unreliable data
- Limited External Validity
54
Q
Psychoanalytic Theory Contributions
A
- Supports the impact of unconscious on behaviour
- Childhood Experiences
- Human thought and action has meaning
- Inspired a drive for testable reasonable thoeries of personalitay
55
Q
Behaviorist Approach to Personality
A
- Personality is a bundle of habits
- Controlled by genes and contingencies
- Deterministic - Experiences can predict behaviour
- is cause and effect related and we can’t deviate from that
56
Q
Internal Vs External Forces Motivate Behaviour
A
- Recognises External Forces as well as Internal Forces affect behaviour
- External forces can be rewards & punishments
- Intrnal Forces can be instinct or unsconscious
57
Q
Albert Bandura
A
- Reciprocal Determinism
- Social Environment and Cognitivist ways of learning
- Classical and Operant condtioning are socially and cognitively mediated
- We become who we are by watching and seeing what behaviour gets rewarded or punished
- Constant interaction between behaviours, environment and reactions
58
Q
Vicarious Learning
A
- We learn by watching as well as by doing
59
Q
Locus of Control
A
- Introduced by Julian Rotter 1966
- How much do individuals beleive that outcomes are within their control
- Reinforcers can lie inside or outside of our control
- Not two separate personality types
- On a continuum and people vary on that continuum throughout life
60
Q
External Locus of Control
A
- Life outcomes are not under presonal control
- Luck, chance and powerful others control outcomes
- Negative and positive outcomes are out of their control so it makes learning from experience more difficult
- Usually associated with distress
e.g. Many people have miserable lives because of their parents
You can be successful just by being at the right place at the right time
61
Q
Internal Locus of Control
A
- Life outcomes are under personal control
- Positively correlate with self esteem
- Use more problem focussed coping skills
- Negative outcomes seem like punishments and positive ones seem like rewards
e.g. If you set realistic goals you can succeed no matter what
If I study hard enough, I can pass any exam
62
Q
Self Efficacy
A
- A belief that we are able to acheive things
- related to Locus of Control and often considered the same thing
63
Q
Cognitive Social Model of Behaviour
A
Analogy that there is a black box in mind
* Attempt to understand how black box process input (stimulus) & output (response)
* George Kelly 1955
64
Q
Process for Cogntitive Social Model
A
- Encoding - Catergorising Personal Constructs that are significant; Schemas
- Personal Value - Relevance of the event for goals; what will happen if we put effort or reduce effortwith construct
- Self-Efficacy - do we beleive we cna affect outcomes
- Competencies - do we have the skills required to execute this outcome
- Behaviour Outcome Expectancy - Expectancy that the behaviour will produce the desired result
- Behavioural Plan - Construct a plan of action if we beleive we can succeed
- Behaviour - Execute the Plan
- Self Regulation - Evaluate our performance and adjust behaviour and set new goals
65
Q
Information Processing Theory
A
- Cognitive development studies that aims to explain how information is encoded into memory
- Humans process the information they receive, rather than merely responding to stimuli
- Cantor and Kihlstrom 1988
- Personal Constructs is key to who we are
- How we perceive ourselves, experiences and constructs is our personality
66
Q
Social Cognitive Learning Limitations
A
- Discount emotional experiences
- Assume conscious awarense of motivating factors
- People act when they know what they think, feel and want
- Rationalise behaviour at the expense of emotion
- Does not allow for experiences that are context dependant
67
Q
Social Cognitive Learning Contributions
A
- Focus on the role of Thought and Memory in personality
- Is testable - Measure factors in applied settings
- Brought new understanding of behaviour and personality - not just output
68
Q
Cognitve Agency
A
- The ability to use experience in our behaviour
- Not just unconscious reactions
- Not just reactive responses
- Factors have a sya in how we behave
69
Q
Humanistic Approach to Personality
A
- Alternative to psychoanalysis and behavioursim
- Focus on aspects of life that are distinctly humean
- Find Meaning in Life
- Being “True” to the Self
- Embrace Free Will in contrast to determinism
70
Q
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
A
- Physiological
- Safety
- Love/Belonging
- Esteem
- Self Actualisation
71
Q
Maslow Self Actualisation
A
- Maslow started with people who he thought achieved acutalisation
- Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mother Theresa - Said these people were creative, spontaneous and acceptinig of self and others
- Can also be difficult to work with due to aloof and driven nature
72
Q
Peak Experiences
A
- Actualised people were prone to experiences that displayed their full potential
- Euphoric moments of clarity
73
Q
Carl Rogers - Person Centred Approach
A
- Rejected Determinism and embraced Free will
- Self Actualisation is a core human motive
- Devised a person centred approach to therapy
- Crucial tool for Therapy is Empathy and ability to undertand anothers experience.
74
Q
Person Centred Approach - 3 Main Components of Personality
A
- Organism
- Self
- Conditions of Worth
Then - Incongruence
75
Q
Person Centred Approach - The Organism
A
- Innate genetic blueprint of each individual
- We then surround ourselves with factors
