Introduction to Psychology (Exam 3)

Personality

an individual's characteristic style of behaving, thinking, and feeling

What is personality difference concerned with?

1. prior events that can shape a person's personality

2. anticipated events that can motivate a person to reveal particular personality characteristics

Prior events

Researchers study genes, brains, and other aspects of biological make-up, and they also delve into our subconscious and into our circumstances and interpersonal surrounds

Anticipated events

These emphasize the person's own, subjective perspective, and often seems intimate and personal in its reflection of the person's inner life (hopes, fears, and aspirations).

self-report

a method in which people provide subjective information about their own thoughts, feelings, or behaviors, typically via questionnaire or interview

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

Well researched, clinical questionnaire, used to assess personality and psychological problems

validity scales

used during MMPI tests to assess how a person feels about being tested and any tendency to distort answers

Projective tests

Tests designed to reveal inner aspects of individuals' personalities by analysis of their response to a standard stimuli

Rorschach Inkblot Test

A projective technique in which the respondents' inner thoughts and feelings are believed to be revealed by analysis of their responses to a set of unstructured inkblots

Thematic Apperception Test

A projective technique in which respondents' underlying motives, concerns, and the way they see the social world are believed to be revealed through analysis of the stories they make up ambiguous pictures of people

Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR)

This is an objective method of measurement because people can record snippets of actual conversations and analyze that

Trait

A relatively stable disposition to behave in a particular and consistent way

States

Temporary feelings or behaviors based on a person's situation or motive at the time

The Big Five

traits of the five factor personality model: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness (O.C.E.A.N)

Openness to Experience

High: Imaginative, variety, independent

Low: Down to earth, routine, conforming

Conscientiousness

High: Organized, careful, self-disciplined

Low: Disorganized, careless, weak-willed

Extraversion

High: Social, fun-loving, affectionate

Low: Retiring, sober, reserved

Agreeableness

High: Soft-hearted, trusting, helpful

Low: Ruthless, suspicious, uncooperative

Neuroticism

High: Worried, insecure, self-pitying

Low: calm, secure, self-satisfied

Heritability and Traits

The more genes you have in common with someone, the more similar your personalities will be.

Superego

This part of an individual relies on the social/moral values of a person. It balances the id and the super ego. (5/6 years)

ID

This part of an individual relies on the pleasure principle where people will commit acts that allows for immediate gratification. (Birth)

Ego

This part of an individual relies on the reality principle where people will commit acts that allow for practicality. (1/2 years)

Defense mechanisms

unconscious coping mechanisms that reduce anxiety generated by threats from unacceptable impulses

Denial

Distorts the cognition of reality and denies the existence of some emotionally significant part of reality

Rationalization

supplying reasonable-sounding explanation for unacceptable feelings and behavior to conceal one's underlying motives and feelings

Projections

attributing one's own threatening feelings, motives, impulses to another person or group

Reaction formation

unconsciously replacing threatening inner wishes and fantasies with an exaggerated version of their opposite

Displacement

shifting unacceptable wishes or drives to a neutral and less threatening alternative

Identification

helps deal with feelings of threat and anxiety by enabling us to unconsciously take on the characteristics of another person who seems more powerful or able to cope

Sublimation

channeling unacceptable sexual or aggressive drives into socially acceptable and culturally enhancing activities

Regression

the ego deals with internal conflict and perceived threat by reverting to an immature behavior or earlier stage of development

Oral Stage (0-8 months)

Talkative, dependent, addictive, needy

Anal Stage (2-3 years)

Orderly, controlling, disorganized, sloppy

Phallic Stage (3-5 years)

Flirtatious, vein, jealous, competitive

Genital (Adulthood)

Authentic investments in love and work: capacity for healthy adult relationships

Maslow's Hierarchy of needs

Physiological

Safety

Love/Belonging

Esteem

Self-Actualization

Humanistic-Existential Approach: Personality as Choice

Healthy choices create personality. Humanistic Psychologist promote positive characteristics and optimistic views. Existential psychologists focus on the individual as a responsible agent, negotiating the issue of meaning and reality of death.

Self-Attribution Theory

Internal Stable (Smart/Stupid)

External Stable (Easy/Hard)

Internal Unstable (Worked Hard or Didn't)

External Unstable (Lucky/Not Lucky)

Gender differences in Self-Attribution

Boys/Success: Internal/Stable

Boys/Failure: External/Unstable

Girls/Success: External/Unstable

Girls/Failure: Internal/Stable

Self-Concept

"I v. Me"

I: Your internal thoughts/feelings/opinions on things

Me: What you choose to display on social media (filtered)

Self-Schemas

Traits we came make up who we are

Self-Narrative

Stories we tell about ourselves

Self-Verification

Asking other people to confirm the stories we tell about our selves

Sense of self

How you feel other people see you

Self-esteem

How you feel about yourself and how other people feel about you

Frustration-Aggression Theory

When people hurt others because they cannot attain their goals

Instrumental Aggression

Motivations due to the desire to obtain a concrete goal, such as stealing another peer's toys (boys)

Relational Aggression

Harm others by damaging their peer relationships and reputation

The Prisoner's Dilemma

Both cooperation: Little punishment

If one person snitched: Sucker's payoff

Both snitched: Punishment

Ultimatum Game

You think you are playing a card game with someone that is real but they are not. If you feel cheated during the game, you would rather leave with nothing.

Group

A group of people who have something that distinguishes themselves from others

Prejudice

a positive or negative EVALUATION of another person based on their group membership

Discrimination

a positive or negative BEHAVIOR towards another person based on their group membership

Deindividuation

When immersion in a group causes people to become less aware of their individual value (People don't take responsibility)

Diffusion of Responsibility

The tendency for people to feel diminished responsibility for their actions when hey are surrounded by others who are acting the same way

The Big 5

Openness

Consciousness

Extraversion

Agreeableness

Neuroticism

Reciprocal Altruism

behavior that benefits another with the expectation that those benefits will be returned in the future

Kin Selection

the process by which evolution selects for individuals who cooperate with their relatives

Effects of Mob Size

1. Group polarization: the tendency for groups to make decisions that are more extreme than any member would have made alone

2. Groupthink: the tendency for groups to reach consensus in order to facilitate interpersonal harmony

3. Bystander intervention: act of helping strangers in a an emergency situation

More atrocities tend to happen when the mob to victim ration becomes larger

Hedonic Motive

experience pleasure and avoid pain

Approval Motive

to be accepted and avoid being rejected

Accuracy Motive

to believe what is right and avoid believing what is wrong

Normative Influence

A phenomenon that occurs when another person's behavior provides information about what is appropriate

Door-in-face

The persuader starts off with larger requests right off the bat, which will most likely end up being turned down. The persuader then proceed with smaller requests.

Conformity

the tendency to do what others do simply because others are doing it

Obedience

the tendency to what powerful authorities tell us to do

attitude

An enduring positive or negative evaluation of an object or event (tell us what we should do)

belief

An enduring piece of knowledge about an object or event (tell us how to do it)

Informational influence

A phenomenon that occurs when another person's behavior is provides information about what is true

Persuasion

A phenomenon that occurs when a person's attitudes or beliefs are influences by a communication by another person

Systematic Persuasion

The process by which attitudes or beliefs are changed by appeals to reason

Heuristic Persuasion

The process by which attitudes or beliefs are changed by appeals to habits and emotions

Foot-in-the-door

Social influence technique that involves making small requests before making larger requests

Cognitive Dissonance

an unpleasant state that arises when a person recognizes that inconsistency of his or her actions

Social cognition

the process by which people com to understand others

Stereotyping

the process by which people draw inferences about people based on their knowledge of the categories to which those people belong

Inaccurate Stereotypes

Some of the things we believe about groups simply aren't true

Overused Stereotypes

The inherent variability of human categories makes stereotypes less than they seem; We underestimate people who aren't like us and overestimate people who are

Automatic Stereotypes

It happens unconsciously

Self-Perpetuating Stereotypes

Stereotypes can bias our perceptions; Stereotypes can cause other people to behave in ways that actually do confirm stereotypes we hold about them

Self-fulfilling prophecy

tendency for people to behave as they are expected to leave

Perceptual Confirmation

the tendency for people to see what they expect to see

Stressors

specific events or chronic pressures that place demands on a person or threaten the person's well being

Stress

the physical and psychological response to internal or external stressors

Chronic Stress

source of stress that occurs continuously or repeatedly

Learned helplessness

The belief that one has no control over one's situation based on past experiences

Fight or Flight

An emotional response and physiological reaction to an emergency that increases readiness for action (Usually Male Response)

General Adaptation Syndrome

A three-stage physiological stress that appears regardless of the stressor that is encountered

Stress and Coronary Heart Disease

Chronic stress is a major contributor to coronary heart disease because prolonged stress-activated arousal of the sympathetic nervous system raises blood pressure and gradually damages the blood vessels.

Type A Behavior Pattern

The tendency toward easily aroused hostility, impatience, a sense of time urgency, and competitive achievement strivings

Immune System

A complex system that protects the body from bacteria, viruses, and other foreign substances.

Stress and Immune System

Stressors can cause hormones, such as glucocorticoids, to flood the brain, wearing down the immune system and making it less able to fight invaders.

Mind Management

The control of the mind when coping with stressful events that are magnified

Repressive Coping

Avoiding situations or thoughts that are reminders of a stressor maintaining an artificially positive viewpoint

Rational Coping

Facing the stressor and working to overcome it

1. Acceptance: Realizing the stressor exists and cannot be wished away

2. Exposure: Attending to the stressor, thinking about it and even seeking it out

3. Understanding: Working to find the meaning of the stressor in your life

Reframing

Finding a new or creative way to think about a stressor that reduces its threat

Body Management

The control of the body when coping with stressful events that are magnified

Meditation

The practice of intentional contemplation

Relaxation

A technique for reducing tension by consciously relaxing muscles of the body