chapter 11 psych

What is personality?

Personality refers to the long-standing traits and patterns that propel individuals to consistently think, feel, and behave in specific ways.

What are Hippocrates' four temperaments?

• Choleric (Yellow Bile): Passionate, ambitious, and bold.

• Melancholic (Black Bile): Reserved, anxious, and unhappy.

• Sanguine (Blood): Joyful, eager, and optimistic.

• Phlegmatic (Phlegm): Calm, reliable, and thoughtful.

Who proposed phrenology, and what does it involve?

Franz Gall proposed phrenology, which is the pseudoscience of measuring the bumps on a person's skull to determine personality traits.

How did Immanuel Kant and Wilhelm Wundt contribute to personality theory?

• Kant: Proposed that everyone fits into one of the four temperaments with distinct traits.

• Wundt: Suggested two axes for describing personality: emotional/nonemotional and changeable/unchangeable.

What is Sigmund Freud's psychodynamic theory of personality?

Freud's theory suggests that unconscious drives, influenced by sex and aggression, along with childhood experiences, shape our personality.

What are the three components of personality according to Freud?

• Id: Unconscious, pleasure-seeking part that demands immediate gratification.

• Superego: Moral compass, upholds rules and values.

• Ego: Rational part that mediates between the id and superego using the reality principle.

What are defense mechanisms according to Freud?

Defense mechanisms are unconscious protective behaviors that the ego uses to reduce anxiety by distorting reality.

What are some examples of defense mechanisms?

• Repression: Keeping distressing thoughts buried in the unconscious.

• Denial: Refusing to acknowledge reality.

• Projection: Attributing one's own unacceptable desires to others.

What are Freud's psychosexual stages?

1. Oral (0–1 year): Pleasure centers on the mouth.

2. Anal (1–3 years): Focus on controlling bladder/bowel movements.

3. Phallic (3–6 years): Pleasure

What were the two major disagreements that led to Jung’s split from Freud?

(1) Jung did not accept that sexual drive was the primary motivator in mental life. (2) Jung believed in a collective unconscious in addition to Freud’s personal unconscious.

What is the collective unconscious according to Jung?

A universal version of the personal unconscious that holds mental patterns or memory traces common to all humans, called archetypes.

What are archetypes?

Universal themes in literature, art, and dreams that represent common experiences of all people, such as facing death, becoming independent, and striving for mastery.

Name some of the archetypes Jung believed are common across cultures.

The hero, the maiden, the sage, and the trickster.

What are Jung's two attitudes or approaches toward life?

Extroversion (energized by being with others) and Introversion (energized by being alone or internal psychic activity).

According to Jung, what best serves the goal of self-realization?

A balance between extroversion and introversion.

What is the persona according to Jung?

A mask we adopt, which is a compromise between who we really are and what society expects us to be.

How does Jung's concept of the collective unconscious relate to modern genetics?

There is no evidence that archetypes are biologically based or encoded in the genome. Today, they are seen as emerging from both innate and environmental influences.

What did Karen Horney believe about psychoanalysis?

It should focus on moving toward a healthy self rather than exploring early childhood patterns of dysfunction.

How did Horney's view of penis envy differ from Freud’s?

Horney believed jealousy between the sexes is culturally based, not biologically based, and proposed that men may experience womb envy.

What are Horney's three coping styles in dealing with anxiety?

(1) Moving toward people (seeking attention and affection), (2) Moving against people (aggression and manipulation), (3) Moving away from people (detachment and isolation).

How do behaviorists like Skinner view personality development?

Personality is shaped by reinforcements and consequences from the environment, not inborn traits.

What is reciprocal determinism according to Bandura?

The interaction of cognitive processes, behavior, and context, where each factor influences and is influenced by the others.

What is observational learning in Bandura’s theory?

Learning by observing the behavior of others and its consequences, which influences the development of personality.

What is self-efficacy according to Bandura?

A person’s belief in their ability to succeed in specific situations, which affects how they approach challenges and goals.

What is locus of control as proposed by Julian Rotter?

The belief about the power one has over their life, where an internal locus of control believes in personal control, and an external locus of control sees life as controlled by external factors like luck or others.

Locus of Control

• Definition: The extent to which individuals believe they can control events affecting them.

• Internal Locus: Belief that one controls their own destiny.

• External Locus: Belief that external forces or fate determine life outcomes.

Walter Mischel's Person-Situation Debate

• Finding: Personality traits do not consistently predict behavior across different situations.

• Behavior Consistency: People tend to behave similarly in similar situations, not across all different ones.

Self-Regulation (Willpower)

• Definition: The process of identifying goals and using internal and external feedback to achieve them.

• Example: Delaying immediate gratification for long-term rewards (like in the marshmallow test).

The Marshmallow Test

• Study: Children were given a choice between one marshmallow now or two later.

• Findings: Children with better self-control had more successful outcomes in life, such as higher SAT scores and better peer relationships.

Humanistic Psychology

• Key Figures: Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers.

• Focus: How healthy people develop, emphasizing personal growth, self-actualization, and individual choices.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

• Highest Need: Self-actualization (achieving one's fullest potential).

• Focus: Motivates people to grow and reach fulfillment rather than just fulfilling deficiencies.

Carl Rogers - Self-Concept

• Ideal Self: Who you would like to be.

• Real Self: Who you actually are.

• Congruence: Alignment between real and ideal self leads to greater well-being.

Biological Approaches to Personality

• Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart: Found that identical twins raised apart had similar personalities.

• Conclusion: Some aspects of personality are largely influenced by genetics.

Temperament

• Reactivity: How a person responds to new stimuli.

• Self-Regulation: The ability to control one's responses to stimuli.

Trait Theory (Gordon Allport)

• Cardinal Traits: Dominate an individual’s entire personality (e.g., Mother Theresa's altruism).

• Central Traits: Major characteristics that shape personality (e.g., loyalty, kindness).

• Secondary Traits: Present only in specific situations.

Raymond Cattell's 16PF

• Number of Traits: Cattell identified 16 personality factors.

• Example Factors: Warmth, Emotional Stability, Sensitivity.

Hans and Sybil Eysenck's Dimensions of Personality

• Dimensions:

  • Extroversion vs. Introversion: Sociable vs. reserved.

  • Neuroticism vs. Stability: Prone to stress vs. emotionally stable.

• Belief: Personality is governed largely by biological factors.

Hans and Sybil Eysenck's Personality Dimensions

• Dimensions:

  • Extroversion vs. Introversion: Sociable and outgoing vs. solitary and reserved.

  • Neuroticism vs. Stability: Anxious and emotionally unstable vs. calm and emotionally stable.

Eysencks' Third Dimension

• Psychoticism vs. Superego Control:

  • Psychoticism: Independent thinkers, nonconformist, impulsive, antisocial.

  • Superego Control: High impulse control, empathetic, cooperative, conventional.

Four Temperaments

The Eysencks' quadrants based on their personality dimensions are compared to the four Greek temperaments:

• Melancholic: Introverted and neurotic.

• Choleric: Extroverted and neurotic.

• Phlegmatic: Introverted and emotionally stable.

• Sanguine: Extroverted and emotionally stable.

Five Factor Model (Big Five Personality Traits)

• OCEAN Mnemonic for Big Five Factors:

  1. Openness: Imagination, curiosity.

  2. Conscientiousness: Dependability, self-discipline.

  3. Extroversion: Sociability, assertiveness.

  4. Agreeableness: Cooperativeness, trustworthiness.

  5. Neuroticism: Emotional instability, anxiety.

Cultural Variations in Personality

• Individualist Cultures: Value independence, competition, personal achievement (e.g., USA, UK, Australia).

• Collectivist Cultures: Value social harmony, respectfulness, group needs over individual needs (e.g., Asia, Africa, South America).

Regional Personality Clusters in the U.S.

• Cluster 1: Friendly and conventional (Upper Midwest, Deep South).

• Cluster 2: Relaxed, emotionally stable, creative (West).

• Cluster 3: Stressed, irritable, depressed (Northeast).

Selective Migration

• Concept: People choose to live in areas compatible with their personality traits.

  • Example: High agreeableness = prefers living near family and friends; High openness = prefers diverse, innovative areas (e.g., California).

Personality Assessments

• Self-Report Inventories: Objective tests using Likert scales (e.g., 1-5 scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree).

• Example: Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), with clinical and validity scales.

MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory)

• First Version: Published in 1943, 504 true/false questions.

• MMPI-2: Updated version with 567 questions.

• MMPI-2-RF: Newest version, takes half the time to complete with 338 questions.

• Used for: Diagnosing psychological disorders, occupational screening, counseling.

Validity and Reliability Scales in MMPI

• Lie Scale: Detects if a respondent is "faking good" (e.g., responding "yes" to unrealistically positive items like "I have never told a lie").

• Reliability Scales: Ensure consistency over time (e.g., similar scores on retest after several years).

What defense mechanism do projective tests rely on to assess unconscious processes?

Projection

What type of stimuli are used in projective tests?

Ambiguous stimuli (such as cards, images, or sentences)

Name two characteristics that projective tests can help assess.

Unusual thoughts and anxiety

What is one advantage of projective tests over self-report inventories?

They are less subject to intentional distortion (harder to "fake" answers)

What is the name of the system that standardizes scoring of the Rorschach Inkblot Test?

The Exner system

Who developed the Rorschach Inkblot Test, and when?

Hermann Rorschach in 1921

What does the Rorschach Inkblot Test measure?

Depression, psychosis, and anxiety

What does the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) require the test-taker to do?

Tell a story about ambiguous pictures

What kinds of insights does the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) provide?

Insights into the person's social world, hopes, fears, interests, and goals

Who created the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), and when?

Henry Murray and Christiana Morgan in the 1930s

What projective test requires individuals to complete 40 incomplete sentences?

Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank (RISB)

What are the three age-specific forms of the Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank (RISB)?

School form, college form, and adult form

What culturally relevant projective test was designed specifically for African Americans?

Contemporized-Themes Concerning Blacks Test (C-TCB)

Who developed the Contemporized-Themes Concerning Blacks Test (C-TCB), and when?

Robert Williams in 1972

What is the TEMAS test, and who is it designed for?

The TEMAS (Tell-Me-A-Story) is a multicultural projective test designed for minority groups, especially Hispanic youths