Psychology

Personality

An individual’s characteristics typical affect, behaviors and cognitions

Personality Traits

more specific pattern of thought, emotions, and behavior that is relatively constant over time and across situations

How do twin and adoption studies reveal more about this?

Studies suggests that 30-60% of personality is genetic.

• Twin studies: twins raised tg received more similar treatment than other siblings, which also explains personality similarities

• Adoptive studies: adoptive siblings ten to differ in personality despite sharing the same environment

Temperament

biologically based tendencies to feel or act in certain ways are evident from birth

• evidence of genetic influence on personality

• also influences the nurture aspect of a child’s life (does the crying baby get coddled more or does the quiet baby get more attention? - based on situations)

Trait Theories

focus on how individuals differ in disposition and describe behavioral tendencies

Big Five Theory

describes personality in terms of the big five personality traits and range of behavior

1. Open to Expression - imagination vs down to earth

2. Conscientiousness - organized vs disorganized (a mark of discipline)

3. Extraversion - social vs retiring (how social you are)

4. Agreeableness - softhearted vs ruthless (how compliant you are)

5. Neuroticism - worried vs calm

Biological Trait Theory

Traits have a biological basis with two dimensions

1. Introversion/extraversion - tendency towards either approach or avoidance

Humanistic

Emphasizes how people seek to reach their full potential for personal growth

Personal Narratives

the stories we tell about our lives

Rank-order Stability

people’s standing on a trait (high-low) relative to their peers tend to remain consistent

Person-Situation Debate

While situationism attributes to actions driven by context trait theory attributes actions to personality. In interactionism actions are attributed to both situational and behavior.

Life History Data

Using interview and biographical info and tries to understand the human life as a narrative

Behavioral Data

tracks behavior throughout the day —> the modern day method

Project Measures

ask respondents to interpret ambiguous stimuli —> very imprecise and largely not used no more

Self-schema

Cognitive framework of interconnected knowledge about oneself (organizes our sense of self)

Self-esteem

extent to which people feel worthy or unworthy (largely based on how you view other people viewing you)

Social Comparsion

How we figure out where we fall based on our peers

• upwards: can motivate us to improve

• downwards: make us feel better about ourselves

Circumplex Model

Characterizes emotions along valence and arousal

• valence - how negative or positive an emotions is

• arousal - how much the emotions excites physiological reactions or increased autonomic responses

Limbic Systems

Subcortical structures in the brains’s systems are associated with producing emotion

Insula

receives and integrates signals from body; associated with disgust, anger, guilt, anxiety

Amygdala

processes emotional significance of stimuli and generates emotional behavioral responses

Affect-as-Information Model

emotions offer clues to ourselves and others that inform/alert

James-Lange Theory

People experience bodily responses to changes in environment and intercept these physical responses as emotions (can evoke emotions by imitating it - put on a happy face).

Cannon-Bard Theory

Info about environmental stimuli sent simultaneously to cortex and body, resulting in emotional and bodily reactions respectively (mind reacts faster to emotions while body takes time to respond)

Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory

A label applied to physiological arousal results in the experience of an emotions (search for a cause of the emotion but it not always spot on)

How do emotions communicate info to other memebes of our species?

Facial expressions offer clues that allow us to predict others’ behavior and interpret their responses to us. This can largely be shaped by culture.

• some societies prefer different emotions (western - high-arousal, eastern - low-arousal)

Motivation + the fours qualities of motivational states

Process that energizes, guides, and maintains behavior towards a goal and relies on four qualities

1. energizing, stimulating - active behaviors

2. directive - guide behavior towards specific goals or needs

3. persistent - promotes continuing goal-directed behavior until goal is met

4. varied - differ in strength, depending on internal/external forces

Maslos’s Hierarchy

Organizes needs based on priority to survival— basic needs must be met before people can worry about satisfying higher needs

Yerkes-Dodson Law

Performance on challenging tasks increases with arousal up to moderate level, past which arousal impairs performance (STAY IN THE GREEN ZONE - Greg)

Extrinsic Motivation

Performing an activity because of external goal/incentive (studying hard to get a good grade)

Intrinsic Motivation

Performing and activity because of its value or pleasure to us, rather than for external reward (studying hard bc u find the topic interesting)

SMART Goals

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Realistic

Time-bound

Self-efficacy

expectations about whether your efforts will leas to success; low self-efficacy may discourage you from trying

Self-regulation

ability to alter behavior to attain goals; often requires delaying gratification for long-term goal

Cognitive Dissonance

Psychological discomfort that occurs when a thought or behavior conflicts with our beliefs and motivates us to …

• change the conflicted behavior to align with out beliefs OR

• change our beliefs to accommodate the behavior (self-affirm our actions)

Psychopathology + how treatment has changed over history

relating sicknesses and disorders of the mind —> historical explanations include imbalanced humors, demonic possession, and evil spirits

Criteria for Diagnosing Mental Disorders

• Deviance from cultural norms for acceptable behavior

• Maladaptiveness - disrupts a person’s ability to function in a day to day life

• Self-destructiveness

• Extent of others’ discomfort and concern, damage to social relationships

The DSM-5

A book that compares patient symptoms to diagnostic criteria for various disorders. —> criticisms are; takes a categorical/binary approach of diagnosis, doesn’t account for severity of symptoms, and cutoff between absence/presence of psychopathology isn’t clear out

Diathesis-Stress Model

Whether depression runs in your family or life experiences are rough stressful circumstances lead to a higher probability of depression or in some cases suicie.

Cognitive-Behavioral Approach

Views mental disorders as the result of learned patterns of maladaptive thoughts and beliefs —> treatment focuses on identifying and addressing distorted thoughts patterns and perceptions