AP Psych: Personality, Motivation, and Emotion (Unit 4 Parts 2, 3, and 4)

personality

Psychological qualities that bring a consistency to an individual's thoughts and behaviors in different situations and at different times. Shaped by our individual needs and cognitions and by external pressures from the social environment.

psychodynamic theory

a theory that calls attention to motivation, especially unconscious motives, and the influence of our past experiences (focuses on how your past affects your thoughts and feelings today)

humanistic theory

a theory that emphasizes the present, subjective reality-what we believe is important now, what we think of ourselves in relation to others is important now (even if someone did something really awful, they are still a person)

social-cognitive theory

a theory based on the idea that personality is a result of learning, perception and social interaction (our community and interactions influence our personality)

trait perspective

a theory that focuses on the end result, which are the characteristics (traits) themselves (what are your traits that make up your personality?)

freud

the person that came up with the psychodynamic theory

what freud believed personality was based on

unconscious desires​, relationship with parents​, defense mechanisms​, use of projective tests designed to probe the preconscious and unconscious mind​

freud's 3 levels of consciousness

conscious, preconscious, and unconscious

conscious

this is the part of the mind that holds what we are aware of; we can verbalize our conscious experiences and can think about them in a logical fashion (awareness, things we are thinking about and know what's going on)

preconscious

ordinary memory; although things stored here aren't in the conscious, they can be readily brought into the conscious (you have to dig down to find it, right under the surface)

unconscious

this part of the mind is not directly accessible to awareness; a dump box for urges, feelings and ideas that are tied to anxiety, conflict and pain; these feelings and thoughts have not disappeared and are exerting influence on our actions and our conscious awareness(way down that you might not be able to get to)

id

wants whatever feels good at the time, with no consideration for the reality of the situation; pleasure principle

ego

understands that other people have needs and desires and that sometimes being impulsive or selfish is not good; the ego wants to meet the needs of the id, but within reason; reality principle

superego

it dictates our belief of right and wrong; the moral part of us and develops (mostly) due to the morals and ethics of our parents

defense mechanisms

Freudian processes that operate at unconscious levels and that use self-deception or untrue explanations to protect the ego from being overwhelmed by anxiety (function indirectly and unconsciously)

anxiety/nueroticism

an uncomfortable feeling that results from inner conflicts between the primitive desires of the id and moral goals of the superego​

8 defense mechanisms

denial, displacement, projection, rationalization, reaction formation, regression, repression, sublimation

denial

arguing against an anxiety provoking stimuli by stating it doesn't exist (ex: denying that your physician's diagnosis of cancer is correct and seeking a second opinion)

displacement

taking out impulses on a less threatening target (ex: yelling at your spouse after an argument with your boss)

projection

placing unacceptable impulses in yourself onto someone else (ex: when losing an argument, you state "You're just stupid")

rationalization

supplying a logical or rational reason as opposed to the real reason (ex: stating that you were fired because you didn't kiss up the to boss, when the real reason was your poor performance)

reaction formation

taking the opposite belief because the true belief causes anxiety (ex: having a bias against a particular race or culture and then embracing that race or culture to the extreme)

regression

returning to a previous stage of development (ex: sitting in a corner and crying after hearing bad news; throwing a temper tantrum when you don't get your way)

repression

pulling into the unconscious (ex: forgetting sexual abuse from your childhood due to the trauma and anxiety)

sublimation

acting out unacceptable impulses in a socially acceptable way (ex: sublimating your aggressive impulses toward a career as a boxer; becoming a surgeon because of your desire to cut; lifting weights to release 'pent up' energy)

thematic apperception test (TAT)

First developed in 1935 by psychologist Henry Murray & his colleagues; Projective test that uses 20 pictures of people in ambiguous situations as the visual stimuli; People express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes

rorschach inkblot test

the most widely used projective test; a set of 10 inkblots designed by Hermann Rorschach; seeks to identify people's inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots

personality according to humanistic perspective

driven by needs to adapt and learn, rather than unconscious conflicts or defense mechanisms against anxiety​; unconditional positive regard and self-actualizing tendency

unconditional positive regard

made by Rodgers; treating patients positively and with kindness no matter what negative things they have done

self-actualizing tendency

created by Rodgers and Maslow; living up to our full potential and knowing who we are and what we stand for and acting accordingly

personality according to the social-cognitive perspective

influenced by personal factors and a person's interaction with the social environment

self-efficacy

you know that you can control your environment

self-concept

the development of an image of oneself; based on what people are told by others and how the sense of self is reflected in the words and actions of important people in one's life​; can be positive or negative

real self

one's actual perception of characteristics, traits, and abilities that form the basis of the striving for self-actualization​

ideal self

the perception of what one should be or would like to be

trait theory

measuring and identifying differences among personalities​; personality is a combination of our traits

motivation

A desire that energizes the start of a behavior, & directs & maintains physical and psychological abilities to attain the goal

what motivation does

Connects observable behavior to internal states​, Accounts for variability in behavior​, Creates perseverance despite adversity​, Motives relate biology to behavior

drive reduction theory

The idea that a physiological need creates an aroused tension state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy that need; the psychological aim of this is homestasis

homeostasis

body's tendency to maintain balanced or constant internal state; regulation of hormones, water level in cells, and blood sugar levels

optimal arousal theory

We each have our own sense of appropriate/optimal arousal and we act in ways to remain at a comfortable level

Yerkes-Dodson Law

predicts that there is a relationship between the difficulty of a task, our level of arousal, and the eventual outcome; A degree of psychological arousal helps performance, but only to a certain point (For easy tasks, need a higher levels of arousal; For difficult tasks, need moderate levels work best)

self-determination theory

A framework for understanding human motivation that emphasizes the importance of intrinsic motivation and the role of 3 basic psychological needs: ​autonomy​, competence, and relatedness

intrinsic motivation

Rewards we get internally; results in higher achievement than extrinsic motivation (ex: enjoyment or satisfaction)

extrinsic motivation

rewards outside ourselves (ex: grades, money, etc.)

incentive theory

Revolves around external stimuli/extrinsic rewards; Proposes that people are pulled toward behaviors that lead to rewards and pushed away from actions that might lead to negative consequences

instinct theory

For non-human animals, motivation comes from natural selection/natural instincts; made by William James

sensation-seeking theory

Sometimes we do not seek homeostasis but instead seek arousal or excitement from varied or novel experiences; can be dangerous

types of sensation-seeking

Experience seeking​, Thrill or adventure seeking​, Disinhibition (impulsive, sometimes inappropriate behavior like rude remarks)​, Boredom susceptibility (seek to limit repeated, routine behaviors)

lewin's motivational conflicts theory

Proposes that choices create conflicts one must resolve as the basis of motivation; approach-approach, approach-avoidance, and avoidance-avoidance

approach-approach

conflict between two things you want to approach

approach-avoidance

conflict between one thing you want to approach and one thing you want to avoid

avoidance-avoidance

conflict between two things you want to avoid

hunger motivation-biological basis of hunger

Hunger comes from the brain, specifically the hypothalamus via the pituitary gland

glucose (simple sugar)

form of sugar that circulates throughout the body​; major source of body's energy​; running low makes you hungry

insulin (hormone)

hormone that allows our cells to use glucose for energy or convert it to fat​; this goes up, glucose goes down

leptin (hormone)

protein produced by bloated fat cells, which send "stop eating" message​; obesity = insensitivity to this

ghrelin (hormone)

appetite increaser, is released primarily in the stomach and is thought to signal hunger to the brain

orexin (hormone)

hunger-triggering hormone produced by hypothalamus; glucose levels drop, orexin levels rise, making us hungry

external incentives

Sight, sound, and smell of food affects eating habits

availability of food

if food is available, people are more likely to eat

learned habits

if people develop food habits, they will stick to those habits

culture

Affects taste​ (Dislike foods we have not been exposed to; Repeated exposure to new food increases our desire to try new foods) and people view obesity in different ways

biological factors that influence eating behavior

mid-hypothalamic centers in the brain monitoring appetite, appetite hormones, stomach pangs, set/settling point weight, universal attraction to sweet and salty, adaptive wariness toward novel foods

psychological factors that influence eating behavior

sight and smell of a variety of tasty foods, memory of time elapsed since last meal, mood

social-cultural factors that influence eating behavior

culturally learned taste preferences, learned restraint in cultures idealizing thinness

the limbic system

the emotional control center of the brain

amygdala

plays an especially important role in both extreme positive and negative emotions (mostly extreme fear and anger)

emotions

automatic reactions that are difficult to regulate; experienced both physiologically and cognitively

autonomic nervous system (ANS)

We know that emotions involve bodily response; Some of these response are easy to notice (butterflies in stomach when fear arises), but others are more difficult discern (neurons activated in the brain)

James-Lange

you feel the physiological response first, then the emotional

Cannon-Bard

you experience both physiological and emotional responses at the same time

Schachter-Singer

physical response and cognitive appraisal (knowing it's a danger), then emotion

Lazarus

first you have cognitive appraisal, then you feel body work up and emotion at the same time

facial feedback hypothesis

Facial expressions provide feedback to the brain concerning the emotion being expressed, which in turn causes and intensifies the emotion (ex. studies show the more one smiles, the happier one feels)

the broaden-and-build theory of emotion

Positive emotions and experiences tend to broaden awareness and encourage new actions and thoughts.​ Negative emotions and experiences tend to reduce awareness and narrow thinking and action.

universality of emotions (ekman)

Suggests humans can recognize 7 basic emotions across cultures: sadness, fear, anger, disgust, contempt, happiness and surprise​. Each basic emotion is associated with a unique facial expression that is consistent across cultures.

anger

eyebrows down and together, eyes glare, narrowing of the lips

disgust

nose wrinkling, upper lip raised

contempt

lip corner tightened and raised on only one side of the face

fear

eyebrows raised and together, raised upper eyelids, tensed lower eyelids, lips slightly stretched horizontally back to ears

hapiness

crow's feet wrinkles, pushed up cheeks, movement from muscle that orbits the eye

sadness

drooping upper eyelids, losing focus in eyes, slight pulling down of lip corners

surprise

eyebrows raised, eyes widened, mouth open

biology and culture

two factors that may be the reason women are viewed as far more emotional than men

women

Better at detecting emotions ​(especially nonverbal cues​), Smile more​, Gesture with more expression​, More expressive faces​, More readily talk about emotion

men

Express anger more readily