AP Psychology Unit 8: Personality, Testing, and Intelligence

Myers/Barrons Definitions

Personality

An Individuals characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting

Freud's Psychoanalytic theory of personality

The proposition that childhood sexuality and unconscious motivations influence personality

Psychodynamic theories

theories that view personality with a focus on the unconscious and the importance of childhood experiences

Psychoanalysis

Freud's theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts; the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions.

Unconscious

Information processing unknown to us (Freud deemed it a reservoir of generally unacceptable thoughts, feeling, intent).

Free association

A method of exploring the unconscious by prompting the person to relax and say whatever comes to mind.

Id

Operating on the pleasure principle, seeks to satisfy basic/primitive sexual and aggressive drives.

Ego

Operating on the reality principle, aims to satisfy the id's desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure

Superego

Forces Ego to consider not only the realistic but the ideal, our moral compass (how we ought to behave)

Psychosexual stages

Periods of development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) in which the id's pleasure-seeking energy focus on distinct pleasure-sensitive areas called erogenous zones. Lacking in development of these zones can lead to resounding conflicts later.

Oedipus complex

Freud loved his mother and was jealous of his father and tried to generalize it to everyone

identification

The period in which children incorporate their parents values into their developing superegos, leaning out of impulse (id) into expected behaviour (superego)

Fixation

Unresolved conflicts in an earlier psychosexual stage where the pleasure-seeking energies linger

Defense mechanisms

The ego's defense in the overwhelming conflict of id and superego by unconsciously distorting reality (Regression, Reaction formation, Projection, Rationalization, Displacement, Sublimation, Denial).

Regression

Retreating to an earlier psychosexual stage of some fixed psychic energy

ex. Dan goes to his grandmas house to play cards and eat her chocolate chip cookies when faced with adult life

Repression

Banishes anxiety-arousing wishes and feelings from consciousness

ex. A person who experienced a traumatic event may have forgotten the details of it

Reaction Formation

Switching unacceptable impulses into their opposites

ex. Acting overly friendly to someone you secretly hate

Projection

Guising ones own insecurity by attributing them to others

ex. Someone who is jealous or insecure might accuse their partner of being jealous and insecure

Rationalization

Offering self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening unconscious reasons of one's actions

ex. In failing a test a person might say, "I could've passed if I had time to study"

Displacement

Shifting sexual or aggressive impulses toward a less scary object or person

ex. Yelling at your brother for no reason

Sublimation

Transferring of unacceptable impulses into socially valued motives

ex. someone with aggressive impulses might become a boxer

Denial

Refusal to accept/perceive a painful reality

ex. The teacher made a mistake and I didn't get an f

Humanistic Theories

Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers theories that view personality with a focus on the potential for healthy personal growth.

Hierarchy of needs

The pyramid of human needs, begins at the base with physiological needs that must be satisfied to pursue higher-level safety needs, then psychological needs.

Self-actualization

One of the ultimate psychological needs that arises after primary physical and psychological needs are met with a confident self esteem, the desire to achieve one's full potential becomes active.

Self-transcendence

The striving for identity, meaning, and purpose beyond the self

A growth-promoting social climate must include_______

Acceptance

Genuineness

Empathy

Self-concept

All thoughts and feelings about ourselves in response to the question, "Who am I?"

Unconditional positive regard

A caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Rogers believed would help people develop self-awareness and self-acceptance

Trait

A characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act in certain ways, as assessed by self-report evaluations or peer reports

Personality inventory

A questionnaire on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors in order to assess selected personality traits

MMPI

Identifies emotional disorders as well as assess people personality traits

Empirically derived

A test (such as the MMPI) created by selecting from a pool of items those that discriminate between groups

skibidi toilet

sigma

Openness

Low score: Practical, Conventional (prefers routine)

High score Curious, wide range of interests, independent

Conscientiousness

Low score: Impulsive, careless, disorganized

High score: Hardworking, dependable, organized

Extroversion

Low score: Quiet, reserved

High score: Outgoing, warm, adventure-seeking

Agreeableness

Low score: Critical, uncooperative

High score: Helpful, trusting, empath

Neuroticism

Low score: Calm, even-tempered, secure

High score: Anxious, pessimistic, unhappy

Do Big Five personality traits reflect brain structure?

yea

Social cognitive perspective

Views behavior as influenced by the interaction between peoples traits

Behavioral approach

Focuses on the effects of learning on our personality development

Reciprocal determinism

The interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment

Biological influences:

-Genetically determined temperament

-Autonomic nervous system reactivity

-brain activity

Psychological influences:

-Learned responses

-Unconscious thought processes

-expectations and interpretations

Social-Cultural influences

-childhood experiences

-situational factors

The Self

The center of personality, the organizer of our thoughts, feelings, and actions

Spotlight effect

Overestimating others' noticing and evaluation of our appearance/performance/blunders

ex. the amount of people that notice your stupid little shoes is much less than you think

Self esteem

Feelings of high or low self worth

Self-efficacy

Sense of competence/effectiveness

The costs of self esteem

Excessive optimism

Blindness to ones own incompetence

Self serving bias

Excessive optimism

An unrealistic optimism about future events to provide hope to future task, can often blind use to likely risks

Blindness to ones own incompetence

In ignorance of knowledge surrounding the topic we overestimate our ability to accurately answer.

Self serving bias

A primary readiness to view oneself favorably

Individualism

giving priority to ones own goals over group goals and defining ones identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications

Collectivism

Giving priority to the goals of ones group and defining ones identity accordingly