Survey of Personality Unit 2

Neopsychoanalysis

ego psychology

Ego psychology

Expand the functions of the ego

Emphasizes importance of interpersonal relationships as critical to development

Object Relations Theory

Provides structure for individuation

Family System Theory

Problems that are the result of failure of the family to individuate

Psychoanalytic Counseling

Freud’s theory based on early life experiences of an individual. Unconscious motives & conflict drive behavior. Goal is to make one aware of their unconscious desires

Free Association

in psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing

Blank Screen Behavior

the therapist remains as neutral, ambiguous as possible

Transference

in psychoanalysis, the patient's transfer to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships (such as love or hatred for a parent)

Counter-transference

In psychoanalysis, it occurs when the therapist experiences emotions in response to the patient's transference.

Interpretation

in psychoanalysis, the analyst's noting supposed dream meanings, resistances, and other significant behaviors and events in order to promote insight

Freudian Slip

a verbal mistake that is thought to reveal an unconscious belief, thought, or emotion

Research support is weak because hypothesis are difficult to test

Freudian theory

Inter-rater reliability

indicates how consistent scores are likely to be if the responses are scored by two or more raters using the same item, scale, or instrument

Validity

the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to

Subliminal Messaging

stimuli below our absolute threshold that can affect our behavior in subtle ways

Level 1

Denial

Denial

refusing to believe or even perceive painful realities

Level 2

Projection, Passive Aggression

Projection and Passive Aggression

immature defense mechanisms

Level 3

Intellectualization, reaction formation

Intellectualization

a coping mechanism in which the person analyzes a situation from an emotionally detached viewpoint

Level 4

Altruism

Altruism

a concern for others; generosity

Conscious coping strategies

purposeful behaviors aimed at making an unfamiliar situation into one that is predictable and controllable

Problem-focused strategy

solve the problem, seek social support, take assertive action

Emotion-focused strategy

managing the emotional impact of the situation

Mixed focused stragegy

Emotion-focused support and ideas of what to do to directly deal with situations

These types of strategies are more effective

Problem-focused strategies

This strategy is better when there's a problem that's out of your control.

Emotion-focused strategies

Seminal work (Mary Ainsworth, Erik Erikson)

Inspired other work, these two were inspired by Freud

Trait Psychology

Concerned with biological based, born predispositions to behaviors that occur throughout lifetime

Trait

A characteristic that an organism can pass on to its offspring through its genes. This is not functioning based just off of environment.

Momentary Anxiety

Differentiated from state, feelings that are not stable across time and situations

Trait Measurement

Define trait

Write items
select question/response format
Try out items
Item analysis: item-total correlation
Factor analysis
Statistical procedure to reduce data to a smaller number of factors
how many clusters are formed by looking at the inter-item correlation matrix
Replicate

Measurement Principles

Sample Characteristics and Size

Representativeness
Age
Gender
Ethnicity
Rural/urban/suburban
Socioeconomic status

Sample

part of a population

Content Validity

the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest

Criterion Validity

The extent to which a test correlates with independent criterion measures

Concurrent/Predictive

two types of criterion validity

Construct Validity

the extent to which variables measure what they are supposed to measure

Convergent/Discriminant

two types of construct validity

Reliability

consistency of measurement across time & items

Test-retest reliability

the consistency in results every time a measure is used

Split-half reliability

dividing the test into two equal halves and assessing how consistent the scores are, consistent across items

Coefficient Alpha

mean of all possible split halves

Social Desirability

A tendency to give socially approved answers to questions about oneself.

Deliberate Faking

either good or bad faking

Solution

Built-in "lie-scale"

A set of question items generally responded to by the population in a certain way

Extraversion

A personality dimension describing someone who is sociable, gregarious, and assertive

Individual Scoring high on E would:

Talk more and sooner when they meet someone

Engage in more eye contact with other people
Tend to be drawn to and to excel in occupations that involve dealing directly with other people
Tend to be more impulsive, and greater in thrill seeking, risk taking behaviors (gambling...sexual activity)
Report greater levels of positive affect (happier)
Less sensitive to environmental stimuli and pains
Work for loud music and bright lights as a reward
Show little or no salivation increase in response to lemon juice
Once an extrovert, always an extrovert
Relatively stable over time
Has biological bases

Reticular Activating System

the part of the brain that is involved in attention, sleep, and arousal

Behavior Approach System

the brain system involved in the pursuit of incentives or rewards

Neuroticism

degree of emotional instability or stability

Individuals scoring high on N would:

Report more nervousness, guilt, and inhibition (negative affect)

Report more health complaints particularly among men
Report more self-generated stressful events (create your own stressors)
Report more midlife crisis
Be criminal, socially inadequate type
Have difficulty in adjusting intimacy disclosure to meet situational demands
Seem to be highly internally-focused (oblivious to social cues, too much self-preoccupation)
Have more marriage difficulties
Have high risks of psychopathology
Very stable over time and situation
Also has biological bases

Hypothalamus and limbic system

emotional factors

Behavioral Inhibition System

the brain system that is sensitive to punishment and therefore inhibits behavior that might lead to danger or pain

Coping Strategies for high Extraversion

More effective:

• Escapist fantasy
  Hostile reaction
  Indecisiveness
  Passivity
  Sedation
  Self-blame
  Wishful thinking
  Wishful

Coping Strategies for high Neuroticism

Less effective:
Escapist fantasy
Hostile reaction
Indecisiveness
Passivity
Sedation
Self-blame
Wishful thinking
Wishful

Temperament

Subset of personality variable that is biologically determined, present at birth and stable/coherent across the lifespan

• Refers to the "how" and the "what" of behavior

Easy babies

babies who have a positive disposition; their body functions operate regularly, and they are adaptable, always happy

Difficult babies

babies who have negative moods and are slow to adapt to new situations; when confronted with a new situation, they tend to withdraw, intense emotional reactions, irregular eating and sleeping schedules

Slow-to-warm up babies

Somewhat difficult at first but become easier over time as they had repeated contact with new objects, people, and situations.

• Frequent negative moods, low intensity of reactions, tendency to avoid new situations