AP Psych 4.4-4.8

Personality

A set of enduring characteristics that lead to your typical responses to stimuli

Model of the mind

Most of your motivations are hidden “underwater” - you aren’’t even aware of them

• from the psychodynamic theory

Psychodynamic theory

Created by Freud, unconscious processes drive your personality

• shown by the model of the mind

Id

unconsciously strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives, operating on the pleasure principle. Avoid pain and receive instant gratification.

• part of ego

• works on the pleasure principle

Ego

Functions as the “executive” decision making component and mediates the demands of the id and superego. Develops after the Id.

• Works on the reality principle

Superego

The moral component, provides standards for judgement (the conscience), social standards and future aspirations. Some people can have an irrationally demanding superego that results in excessive feelings of guild- anxiety and perfectionism.

• Last to develop

• part of ego

What are some of Fruds defense mechanisms?

• Denial

• Displacement

• Projection

• Rationalization

• Reaction formation

• Regression

• Repression

• Sublimation

Denial

Refusing to acknowledge a painful reality or truth

ex) Insisting you don’t have a phone addiction while your screen time is 12 hours a day

Displacement

Shifting sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person.

ex) Yelling at your younger brother because you are actually mad at your teacher

Projection

Disguising ones own threatening impulses by attributing them to others

ex) accusing your friend of being “jealous” when you are the one who is actually jealous

Rationalization

Offering self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening unconscious reasons for ones actions

ex) I failed the test because the questions where worded weird not because I barely studied

Reaction formation

Switching unacceptable impulses into their opposite

ex) Overly friendly to someone you don’t like

Repression

The basic mechanism that banished anxiety arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness.

ex) Forgetting your trama

Regression

Retreating to more infantile or younger psychosexual stage

ex) A teenager slamming the door and crying when not getting their way

Sublimation

Channeling socially unacceptable impulses into socially admirable or constructive activities

ex) Doing football to channel your anger

Psychoanalitics

Freuds theory of personality and the associated treatment techniques

Free association

In Psychoanalisis, a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embersing.

Unconscious mind

Unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories

• subconscious information processing

Collective unconscious

Carl Jung’s concept of shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species history

Terror management therory

explores peoples emotional and behavioral responses to reminders of their impending death

Thematic apprehension test (TAT)

A projective test where people express their inner feelings and stories they make up

Projective test

Use ambiguous images to reveal unconscious thoughts

• very subjective- lack reliability

Rorschach inkblot test

a specific projective test unsing 10 inkblots where people say what they see

What are freud’s psychosexual stages?

• Oral- (0-18 months) pleasure centers on the mouth- sucking, biting, chewing

• Anal- (18-36 months) pleasure focuses on bowel and blatter elimination- coping with demands for control

• Phallic (3-6 years) Pleasure zone is the genitals, coping with incestuous sexual feelings

• Latency (6-puberty) A phase of dormant sexual feelings

• Genital (puberty on) maturation of sexual interests

Humanistic theorists

view personality with a focus on the potential for healthy personal growth

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

A way of visualizing the levels of basic human needs. With the needs on the base needing to be fulfilled first.

Unconditional positive response

A caring, accepting, non-judgmental attitude which Carl Rodgers believes helps people develop self-awareness and self acceptance

→ Humanism

Self-concept

Answering the question “Who am I?”

Traits

peoples characteristic behaviors and conscious motives

What are some ways people categorize traits?

1) Biology- checking brain arousal

2) Personality inventories

3) Factor analysis

4) Empirically derived

Empirically derived

a test (such as the MMP) created by selecting from a pool of items that discriminate between two groups

Personality inventories

longer questionnaires covering a wide range of feelings and behaviors- asses multiple traits at once

ex) the Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory (MMPI)

Factor analysis

a statistical procedure that identifies clusters (factors) of test items that tap basic components of a trait

• the big 5 factors

What are the big 5 factors?

1) Openness

2) Conscientiousness

3) Extroversion

4) Agreeableness

5) Neuroticism

Think of the acronym ocean

Define openness from the big 5 factors

How much you are into new ideas and trying new things. Are you adventurous and curious or more traditional?

Define conscientiousness from the big 5 factors

how organized and responsible you are. Are you organized and reliable ore messy and impulsive?

Define extroversion from the big 5 factors

how social and energetic you are around people. Do people energize you, or drain you?

Define agreeableness from the big 5 factors

how nice, friendly, and cooperative you are. Are you more compassionate and trusting or competitive and blunt?

Define neuroticism from the big 5 factors

how much you experience negative emotions. Do you get stressed easily or remain pretty calm?

Carl Jung

• Psychodynamic perspective

• collective unconscious theory

•  He emphasized personal growth and balance, with the goal of induction.

•  He also introduced personality types like introversion and extraversion.

• His Three Archetypes where Anima (feminine),Animus (masculine), and Persona (public mask)

Alfred Adler

• psychodynamic (and psychoanalytic) perspective

• believed children work to overcome the feeling of inferiority

• “Individual Psychology” Theory, focuses on development being caused by inferiority and the strive to superiority

• Believes personality is shaped by social interactions and personal goals

B.F. Skinner

• radical behaviorism perspective

• “Theory of operant conditioning” → Behavior is shaped, maintained, or extinguished, by its consequences.

• Focused on observable behavior

• Believed actions are controlled by external factors and past experiences

Albert Bandura

• social (or behaviorist) perspective

• his theory involved the social-cognitive theory. He believed that personality comes from the interaction from your behavior, internal cognition (thoughts, beliefs, attitudes), and environment, which is called reciprocal determinism

• Believed people learn by observing others’ behaviors, attitudes, and outcomes

Walter Mischel

• social-cognitive perspective

• Believed interactions between our environment and past experiences come together to impact how we behave. →Situational and cognitive variables interaction

• Behaviors arent fixed, they change with situations

• He didn’t believe in personality, just traits

Carl Rogers

• humanistic perspective

• Believed in self-actualization- people are good and want to grow and reach their fullest potential

• Believed that a driving factor of a person's personality was their self-concept.

•  importance of being in an environment with acceptance, being surrounded by people offering unconditional positive regard, genuineness, when people are open with their feelings, and empathy, when people are understanding of your feelings.

Abraham Maslow

• Humanistic perspective

• established the hierarchy of needs

• He believed that personality develops through his hierarchy of needs and each level shapes how a person acts and thinks.

• He believed that personality is caused by a desire to grow. He also believed that everyone can be the best version of themselves. 

Hans Eysnec

• Biological perspective

• Personality is based on biology

• Structured personality into different categories: using the PEN Model (Psychoticism, extraversion, and neuroticism)

Self

the organizer of our thoughts, feelings, and actions

• occupies the center of personality

Possible selves

The versions of yourself you dream or fear of becoming

Spotlight effect

overestimating other’s noticing/ evaluating our appearance, performance, and flaws. We stand out less than we think

ex) everyone notices the stain on my sleeve

Self esteem

or feelings of high or low self worth (defensive vs. secure)

Self efficacy

our sense of competence on a test

Self serving bias

a readiness to perceive ourselves favorably

Narcissim

excessive self love and self absorption.

Humility

no matter your accomplishments, you are not entitled

Motivations

a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior

What are the 4 perspectives of what motivates behavior?

1) Instinct theory/ evolutionary perspective

2) Drive reduction theory

3) Arousal theory

4) Abraham Maslows hierarchy of needs

Instinct

a complex behavior that is rigidly patterned throughout a species and is unlearned

• mart of instinct theory/ evolutionary perspective

ex) babies rooting

Drive reduction theory

The act to push our body back to its “steady state” or “balance”

• Homeostasis

Arousal theory

We don't just want "zero" drive; we want the right amount of excitement.

Yerkes-Dodson law- a principle that performance increases with arousal only up to a point, beyond which performance decreases.

ex) When test taking you want to be alert but not shaking with nervousness

affiliation need

the need to build and maintain relationships and to feel part of a group →needing to belong

Self-determination theory

we feel motivated to satisfy our needs for understanding, personal control , and comunity

Intrinsically motivated

the desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake → usually self-determined

ex) I do art because I enjoy it and through art I have found community

Estrinsically motivated

the desire to perform a behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment

ex) I am making art for my art class in hopes I will get a good grade

Self disclosure

shareing yourself- our joys, worries, and weaknesses with others

Achievement motivation

A desire for significant accomplishment for mastery of skills or ideas for control, and for attaining a high standard

Organizational psychologists

Seek ways to engage and motivate ordinary people doing ordinary jobs.

What are situational influences on eating?

• who you are eating with (ex eating less on a date)

• Serving size

• Selection based on options/ what’s available

• Environments promoting nutrition

Basal metabolic rate

the bodies resting rate of energy output

Glucose

the form of sugar that circulates in the blood and provides the major source of energy for body tissues. When it’s level is low, we feel hunger.

Obesity

BMI of 30 or higher

Emotion

a feeling that includes body reactions, outward expressions, and conscious label

What are the 5 theories of emotion?

1) James- lange

2) Cannon- bard

3) Schachtner 2-factor

4) LeDoux

5) Lazarus

James- lange’s emotion theory

stimlus → arousal → emotion

ex) heart races after a threat then we feel afraid

Cannon- bard’s emotion theory

arousal and emotion happen at the same time

ex) our heart races at the same time we feel afraid

Schachtner 2-factor emotion theory

we may interprate our arousal as fear or excitement, depending on the context

LeDouxs emotion theory

your body reacts before you even have time to thing about it

ex) we automatically feel startled by a sound in the forest before even labeling it as a threat

Lazarus emotional theory

You must interprate (appraise) the situation first, then you feel the emotion

What are the 10 basic human emotions?

1) Joy

2) Sadness

3) Anger

4) Fear

5) Disgust

6) Surprise

7) Contempt

8) Interest

9) Shame

10) Guilt

What is the facial feedback effect?

facial expressions can influence the emotional experience. Goes with the James Lange theory.

ex) Smiling makes you happier

What is the behavior feedback effect?

The tendency of behavior to influence our own and others thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Paul Ekman

Proved that most cultures were able to have a universal recognition of emotions

Display rules

set by the culture, social guidelines that tell an individual when, where, and how it’s ok to feel emotions

ex) a culture shaming men for crying

Elicitors of emotions

Events, situations, or stimuli that trigger and emotional response from an individual.