Week7/8/9-Unit 6

Question 1

Personality

Answer 1

Individuals characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and acting

Question 2

1 of 5 Personality Theories:

Pyschoanalytic Theory?

Answer 2

SIGMUND FREUD

Personality theory that emphasizes unconscious conflicts stemming from childhood sexuality and relationships with parents

Question 3

Pyschoanalysis

Answer 3

techniques to expose and interpret unconscious intentions and treat psychological disorders

Freud’s theory of personality: thoughts and feelings and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts

WORDS popularized by Freud: Libido, Oedipus Complex, Anal Retentive, Neurosis, Denial, Penis Envy, Id/Ego/Superego, Projection, Castration Anxiety, Repression, the Unconscious.

psychoanalytic perspective: popularized by Salvador Dali & Woody Allen

Question 4

Freuds Depth Model ?

Answer 4

3 regions in mind:
The unconscious (bottom) section holds the sexual & aggressive parts of ourselves – we have strangulators or censors in-place to keep this info buried or else we’d have extreme anxiety from these thoughts. These are located in the preconscious section (middle).

Progression of Excitation: unconscious thoughts come to the conscious, experienced as an internal stimulus.

Regression of Excitation : with repeated censoring by the censors though, a piece of threatening info may ‘burst’ through into the conscious, experienced as an external stimulus, such as a hallucination.

Question 5

Freud’s Topographical Model?

Answer 5

Id = primitive, instincts. PLEASURE PRINCIPLE (seek out pleasure to avoid pain, and immediate gratification of sexual/aggressive urges). Engages in primary-process thinking which is primitive, illogical, irrational, fantasy- based. “I want it now!”

Ego = executive, decision-making, in the conscious primarily (with a bit in the other 2 centres). REALITY PRINCIPLE (delays gratification of id’s urges until appropriate outlets and situations can be found). Engages in secondary-process thinking which is rational, realistic, problem-solving. “the negotiator between external world, SuperEgo, and Id”

SuperEgo = moral component, resides in unconscious (with a bit in the other two centres). MORAL PRINCIPLE (social standards about right/wrong, how we should behave. “You can never have it!”

Has conscious set of ideas – pattern that someone tries to consciously adapt their life.

Has unconscious set of prohibitions – pattern that someone attempts to prevent the Id expressions and impulses.

ex: if virtuous yet guilt-ridden, then strong superego
ex: if self-indulgent and remorseless, then weak superego.

Question 6

Freud’s 3 tyrannical masters?

Answer 6

Each pressure the Ego to do it’s bidding, and subsequently, create anxieties:

1. External World : creates realistic objective anxiety (because this is a real threat to well-being)
   ex: anxiety before test, before battle, before moving.
2. Id : creates neurotic anxiety(because stems from unacceptable Id impulses that threaten to go to conscious)
   ex: sexual feeling to someone not married to, violent thoughts towards one’s parents.
3. SuperEgo : creates moral anxiety (because not living up to standards of conduct embodied by SuperEgo)
   ex: when a religious person breaks a commandment, if an exercise addict misses a day of exercise, telling a boss a lie to get off early.

THERFORE, the Ego has created ‘defense mechanisms’ tp protect itself.

Question 7

Freud’s Defence Mechanisms ?

Carl Rogers ALSO believed in these DF’s

Answer 7

1. Repression : (aka denial) burying distressing thoughts and feelings in unconscious (putting on a fake smile). Carl Rogers thought we do this to keep our self-concept consistent.
   ex : soldier doesn’t remember traumatic events of near-death experience
2. Identification : taking on identifying characteristics of another person or group as his own
   ex : teenager who joins goth group and starts dressing/acting like them
3. Projection : attributing one’s own thoughts, feelings, motives to another
   ex: strongly dislike someone but claim to like them…but claims it’s them that dislikes you
4. Rationalization : (aka distorted symbolization, an interpretation) creating false but plausible excuses to justify unacceptable behaviour
   ex : student watches TV when should be studying, but says studying won’t help anyways.
5. Reaction Formation : behaving in a way exactly opposite of your true feelings
   ex : girl acts like she hates a boy, but really does like him
6. Displacement : process of diverting negative feelings from their original source to another target
   ex: someone gets scolded. takes out anger on someone else.
7. Sublimation : transforming unacceptable behaviours into socially acceptable behaviours
   ex: aggressive feelings into abstract art
8. Denial - the refusal to believe in some upsetting reality
   ex : denial of spouse having an affair, despite there being evidence

Question 8

Answer 8

Question 9

Answer 9

Question 10

Answer 10

Question 11

Freud’s Concepts of Instincts?

Answer 11

1. Basic Instinct : arises from bodily source (like genitals) to satisfy a need (reproduction), and it exerts a pressure towards some object (a spouse), then a need is attained (reproduction)
   – return to homeostatis. Basis of PLEASURE PRINCIPLE (aim is pleasure, for the Id)
2. Life & Death Instincts : oppositional instincts, life (Eros) is for basic survival, sex, cooperation, love, and the death (Thanatos) is for self-destructive behaviours, suicide, violence, aggression.

Question 12

What is Cathexis?

Answer 12

to enter, fill-up, occupy, to explian this psychic energy might work to motivate behaviour (the energy of the death instincts)

Question 13

Answer 13

Question 14

Answer 14

Question 15

PsychoSexual development in kids (Freudian View)

Answer 15

The 5 stages of development:

Question 16

What is (Freud’s) libido view?

Answer 16

the ‘life force’ or ‘psychic energy’ that drives human behaviour

At each of the 5 stages, libido is focused on a specific area of the body, erogenous or pleasure zones. Child must learn to deal with these issues in childhood, or will become fixed to the erogenous zone. Personality doesn’t fully develop then. Adult personality will reflect on this fixed part.

ex: Orally fixated man – turns to drinking in difficulty
ex: Orally fixated woman – turns to ending relationships early with any difficulty because learned earlier that others were undependable
ex: anally fixated teenager – lashes out with any provocation

Question 17

Oedipus & Electra Complex?

Phallic Stage (3-6 yrs)

Answer 17

Focus on genitals. Dealing with incestuous feelings.

OEDIPUS COMPLEX: Boy desires mother. Develops castration anxiety (dad will cut his penis off). Boy learns to repress feelings and identifies with Dad, develops sexual feelings for women later on.

ELECTRA COMPLEX : girl develops penis envy, desires Dad. Sees mother as rival. Learns to repress these feelings. Desire for a baby replaces desire for a penis. Identifies with mother instead.

Failure to resolve leads to identity crisis and relationship problems

Question 18

Freud’s followers:
* Yes to Id, Ego, SuperEgo
* Yes to importance of Unconscious
* Yes to shaping of personality in childhood
* Yes to defense and fear mechanisms

Answer 18

Alfred Adler, Karen Horney, Carl Jung

Freud’s followers:
* No to sex and aggression being all consuming motivators
* Unconscious being more important than Conscious mind

WHY IS PSYCHOANALSIS STILL VERY IMPORTANT?
1. Psychoanalytic ideas strongly influence psychotherapy
2. His ideas shape research (unconscious & defence mechanisms)
3. Continue to shape theory in Psychology (personality, stages of growth, concepts of mind)
4. Still** socially and culturally **relevant, especially on artists Dali and Woody Allen.

WHY IS PSYCHOANALYSIS CRITICISED?
1. Evidence comes from too few research studies (wealthy, highly educated, highly verbal woman)
2. Aspects of theory haven’t held up to further scrutiny
3. These shortcoming does not directly inform modern research (historical value only)

Question 19

What has changed with Freud’s initial concepts of development?

Answer 19

Freud thought == personality fixed
Reality is that yes, personality stable, but continues to slightly change over time

Freud thought == parental shaping most important factor for personality development
Reality is that yes, important, but peer influence is on par with importance.

Freud thought == dreams reflect wish fulfillment
Reality is that there are many potential reasons for dreaming

Freud thought == ‘verbal slips’ (freudian slips) - “please don’t give me any more bills. I can’t swallow any more”
Reality is that could be competition between different verbal choices - words that sound or look the same.

Freud thought == suppressed sexuality leads to psychological disorders
Reality yes, sexual inhibition has decreased, psychological disorders haven’t.

Freud Thought == gender identity forms as a child resolves Oedipus complex at age 5-6 yrs.
Reality is yes, gender identity may form before 5-6 yrs, and become strongly feminine or masculine even without a same-sex parent

Freud Thought == mind unconscious filled with sexual and aggressive urges
Reality is yes, consists of this and many other unconscious thoughts that are dealt with outside of the conscious awareness

Question 20

2 of 5 Personality Theory:

Humanistic Theory?

Answer 20

MASLOW & CARL ROGERS

Definition: focuses on a person’s conscious experience of the self (self-concept) and the natural progression toward achieving one’s full potential (self-actualization)

Focus is on how healthy people strive for self-determination and self-realization, instead of pessimistic view from psychoanalysts & behaviourists.

Maslow & Carl Rogers

Question 21

Humanistic:

Carl Roger’s ‘Organismic Self & Self-Concept’?

Maslow & Carl Rogers

Answer 21

A)ORGANISMIC SELF : raw perceptions, thoughts, feelings, wishes, intuitions, gut reactions. OUR ‘REAL’ SELF.

B)SELF-CONCEPT : the way in which a person thinks about himself and the kind of person he is. WHO WE ‘THINK’ WE ARE.

There can be incongruencies between these two concepts! TO RESOLVE THIS ‘TENSION’ IN US, DEFENSE MECHANISMS ARE PUT UP.

PHENOMENAL FIELD : consists of all that we are aware of, including mental processes (sensations, perception, thoughts, images) and bodily processes (feelings, bodily fxns, values)

CHARACTERISTICS:
Open to new experiences
Enjoy diversity & novelty
Trust themselves, feelings, their own judgements
Centred in the Present (not in the past, nor the future)
Accountable to themselves
Set their own responsibilities

Question 22

Humanistic:

Carl Roger’s ‘Organismic Enhancement’?

Answer 22

All organisms strive for this enhancment, in order to maintain, further & actualize their experience.

Seek to enhance their ‘phenomenal field’ : includes mental processes (sensations, perceptions, thoughts, images) and bodily processes (feelings, bodily functions, values). basically everything we are aware of, people and objects, AND our own thoughts/feelings

Question 23

Humanistic:

Carl Roger on the use of Defense Mechanisms:

Answer 23

We live by a distorted perception of ourselves and rely on these defenses:

1. External Locus of Evaluation – living by values of others
2. Internal Locus of Evaluation – living by values of our organismic experience

Question 24

Humanistic:

Carl Rogers: What is the ‘fully functioning’ person?

Answer 24

we need to turn to our FEELINGS, TO BE HONEST WITH OURSELVES, & SYMBOLIZE (interpret) THEM ACCURATELY

This is an ‘organic process’. To be psychologically adjusted, self-concept & organismic self need to be in congruence. Also, positive self-regard, self-worthiness, feel as ourselves without regret, have ‘conditional positive regard’. Therefore, we try to keep our self-concept & organismic self in harmony and fail to be fully functioning, and therefore, not self actualizing. What do we need then? Unconditional Positive Regard from parents/others/friends where others accept who we are, not who they wished we were (feelings + thoughts).

Empathy: a process not a state of being, that takes time to achieve

Question 25

Humanistic:

Client-centred Therapy?

CARL ROGERS

Answer 25

Form of therapy created by CARL ROGERS whereby focus is on creating conditions that enables client to explore themselves and become fully functioning (Rogerian principles)

The ‘therapeutic alliance’ is critical for therapeutic outcomes.

Question 26

Criticisms of HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE?

• it’s vague, subjective, lack of scientific basis
• individualism encouraged can lead to self-indulgence, selfishness, erosion of moral restraints
• fails to appreciate capacity of evil we can do

Question 27

3 of 5 Personality Theories:

Psychodynamic Theory?

Answer 27

CARL JUNG, KAREN HORNEY, ALFRED ADLER

Personality theory that builds on Freud’s ideas and focuses on the conscious and unconscious foces that control behaviour

Kept basic ideas from Freud, but shifted emphasis away from sexuality to child’s entire social world.

Adler proposed the idea that an inferiority complex based on childhood insecurities can influence adult behavior.

Jung proposed that humanity shared dream images flow from a collective unconscious, shaped by early humans.

Question 28

4 of 5 Personality Theory:

Trait Theory?

THE BIG ‘5’

Answer 28

GORDON ALLPORT, HENRY ODBERT, HANS EYSENCK, PAUL COSTA, ROBERT MCRAE

Personality theory that emphasizes enduring characteristics of a person’s bahaviour, thoughts, emotions across situations called TRAITS.

The ‘Big 5’ (5-Factor Model of Personality):
1. Extraversion
2. Agreeableness
3. Neuroticism
4. Openness
5. Conscientiousness

Gorden Allport was the 1st to determine that -certain consistencies in a person’s behaviour may reflect some sort of inner psychological quality.

Question 29

Trait Theory:

Fundamental Lexical Hypothesis?

Answer 29

“The most important individual differences in human transactions will come to be encoded as single terms in some or all of the world’s languages”

The idea is that the trait terms that exist, due so because we want to make sense of ourselves and others.

Language is good place to start to study traits that differentiate people. We have 17,953 personality words in the Webster’s dictionary! Even with removing the fluff and unnecessary terms, there are still 4504 terms that refer to the stable traits that objectively describe people.

Question 30

Trait Theory:

RAYMOND CATTELL: the 16 Source Traits

Answer 30

He took all the 4504 words and reduced them to ‘clusters’ – 12 in all. Then added another 4 clusters, and today there are 16 personality clusters

Question 31

Trait Theory:

TUPES & CHRISTAL: Air Force Base research psychologists in the 50’s

Five-Factor Model

Answer 31

They reanalyzed the data and reduced it down to 5 FACTOR clusters Then others came in and came to the same conclusion and that’s how the Big Five came about

1. SURGENCY
2. AGREEABLENESS
3. DEPENDABILITY
4. EMOTIONAL STABLITY
5. CULTURE

Big Five Model = Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, EMOTIONAL STABILITY, INTELLECT
Has 45 facets (more detailed measurements)

Five-Factor Model = O.C.E.A.N.( OPENNESS, concientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, NEUROTICISM
Has 30 facets.

Five-Factor Model (Acronym: O.C.E.A.N.)

Question 32

Trait Theory:

Answer 32

The Big Five have been shown to be quite valid. Along with IQ, the Big Five and their ‘facets’ are some of the best predictors of life outcomes we have. See below for predictions:

Question 33

Trait Theory:

Factor Analysis?

Answer 33

to examine intercorrelations among various measures (scores on traits)

Clusters of measures that are found to be highly correlated are assumed to be measuring the same characteristic or factor AND to be different from others.

Question 34

Trait Theory:

What is Neuroticism?

Answer 34

Personality tendency toward negative emotionality (anger, anxiety, depession), emotional instability, along with an inability to cope with stress.

Question 35

trait Theory

Answer 35

Represents a ‘continuum’ with (+) traits at one end and (-) traits at the other.

the Neurotiscism trait is undesirable though, so is referred to as the emotional stability factor

Question 36

Trait Theory:

Answer 36

Question 37

On-going debates with the Trait Theory?

Answer 37

1. Should there be more than 5 traits?
2. Does it give a complete picture of our personality?
3. Only describes personality, doesn‘t explain it.
4. underestimates power of a situation to shape behaviour

Think of personality traits as AVERAGE tendencies to behave in certain ways. If a kid cheats on every test, it doesn’t mean they cheat on everything else in life. – very situational.

“Studies find that though traits may be fairly stable within situations, they are not very stable across situations”

Question 38

5 of 5 Personality Theory:

Social-Cognitive Theory?

Answer 38

GEORGE KELLY, ALBERT BANDURA, WALTER MISCHEL

Emphasizes the interaction between a person’s individual characteristic and the social environment

Reciprocal Determinism: our personal tendencies/thinking interact with the enviroment to produce behaviour….then behaviour changes our environment.

This MEANS our personality is FLEXIBLE.

Question 39

To measure Narcissism…

Answer 39

Scientists use the

NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY INVENTORY

Question 40

social-cog theory:

GEORGE KELLY’S Personal Construct Theory?

Answer 40

All human beings are motivated to understand their circumstances. To find meaning in life. AND to predict circumstances in the future.

(started cognitive tradition within personality psychology)

We make constructs to do this : words to summarize a set of observations. They convey meaning to those observations.

We use our personal constructs to construe (interpret and predict events). WE ALL HAVE DIFFERENT CONSTRUCTS, so we all view the world differently

Person 1: rich-poor construct
Person 2: smart-dumb

ex: shy , smart, outgoing, dependable, crazy etc.

Question 41

social-cog theory:

Difference between peripheral & core constructs

Answer 41

1. PERIPHERAL: we use these constructs generally to make sense of events
2. CORE : most significant to us & define us

Ex: if we primarily see the world as poor vs rich, dumb vs smart, these are core constructs.

Question 42

Soc-Cog Theory:

GEORGE KELLY’s Fundamental Postulate?

Answer 42

Person’s processes are psychologically channelled by the way they anticipate events

ex: a war victim will see the world as hostile

Question 43

Soc-Cog Theory:

GEORGE KELLY’s Constructive Alternativism?

AND PSYCHO-PATHOLOGY?

Answer 43

Many ways to construe an event and many constructs to construe an event.

Which construct we choose to view the world, determines our experience of the event.

Has 3 things::
1. ANXIETY : construct can’t understand something
2. GUILT : acting in a way that is not in alignment with construct
3. HOSTILITY : person tries to change outcome that wasn’t predicted by construct (ex: even though person meets mostly friendly person, he will still view them with hostile construct. So he will try to ‘rationalize’ away these outcomes. Maladaptive = Changing data to suit their construct! (see below)

PSYCHOPATHOLOGY: “any personal construction that is used repeatedly in spite of consistent invalidation”

KELLY believed that changing Personal Construct system, we can change our personality, so we change our interpretation of events (learn from experiences and update…to be more accurate in our lives)

Question 44

Soc-Cog Theory:

GEORGE KELLY still: Role Construct Repertory Test?

Answer 44

a system used by psychologists to better understand how a patient sees the world.

– asks patient to choose 2 things that are similar. Then pick a 3rd thing that is opposite of the first 2 things. The words the person uses will tell the doctor how they see the world. “Oh, these two people were hard-working, but the 3rd person was lazy” HARDWORKING — LAZY. (the construct)

Question 45

Soc-Cog Theory:

2nd man: ALBERT BANDURA : Reciprocal Determinism?

CANADIAN PSYCHOLOGIST

Answer 45

Behaviourists viewed all behavior as being determined by environment. (you tell a joke, ppl laugh, you tell more jokes)

Bandura believed:
1. Behaviour Factor: our actions
2. Environment : the norms (inappropriate/appropriate behaviours) and rewards & punishments
3. Person Factor : biologically based personality traits, BUT emphasizes COGNITION (memories, thinking, reasoning, values, beliefs)

Question 46

Soc-Cog Theory:

BANDURA : Self-Efficacy?

Answer 46

belief that individuals can influence outcomes

“Peoples beliefs about their abilities have a profound effect on those abilities. Ability is not a fixed property”

Question 47

Soc-Cog Theory:

3rd man : WALTER MISCHEL : Cognitive-Affective Personality System?

CAPS

Answer 47

He was an early/outspoke proponent of SITUATIONISM – situations are stronger determinants of behaviour than are traits.

He still recognized Person + Situation = behaviour and this led to CAPS

CAPS = a system with constructs for making sense of people, events and yourself, moods, emotions, affects, goals, values, scripts for actions. Like IF this occurs, THEN this will occur…

Remember these 7 traits from Unit 5?

Question 48

Heritability?
Environmentality?

Answer 48

HERITABILITY : the proportion of variation of a phenotypic trait in a population that is due to genetic variation (between individuals in a whole population)

ENVIRONMENTALITY : the proportion of variation in a phenotypic trait in a population that is due to environmental variation between individuals in a whole population.

1. refers to populations, not just 1 individual
2. heritablity estimates are changeable
3. heritablity is just an estimate, not precise calculations

Question 49

Shared and Non-Shared environmental Influences?

Answer 49

If two kids have shared (same experiences, same parents, same schools, etc) and non-shared (unique experiences, different friends, different sports, different music),

BUT the shared environment has little influence on them, this means their environment had little influence on their personality.

THEREFORE, non-shared environmental influences are most important for shaping personality

…and what would these be?…chance, unpredictable events. but they don’t always have long-lasting effects.

Question 50

MAOA gene?

Answer 50

located on X chromosome. Encodes MAOA enzyme, which metabolizes neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine, serotonin, dopamine, rendering them inactive.

If there is a mutation, aggression is observed.

Maltreatment as a child + high MAOA = less likelyhood of antisocial behaviour

Maltreatment as a child + low MAOA = more antisocial

(Results were consistent with boys, but not girls) SO ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR IS BOTH NATURE + NURTURE!

Question 51

EPIGENETICS?

Answer 51

Epigenetic molecules alter gene expression

If we get bad drugs in prenatal environment, get maltreatment from parents as babies, have poor nutrition, these actions affect genes later on for gene expression.