Psych-Soc Class 4 - Personality, Motivation, Emotion, and Stress

What are big five personality traits?

1. Openness to experience

2. Conscientiousness

3. Extraversion

4. Agreeableness

5. Neuroticism

OCEAN

What is personality?

Encompasses thoughts, feelings, ways of thinking, beliefs, and behaviors

What are people with low vs high openness to experience like?

Low: prefer familiarity, conservative, resistant to change

High: like unique experiences, values differences in people, embrace new ideas

What are people with low vs high conscientiousness like?

Low: disorganized, irresponsible

High: self disciplined, manages time well, strive to achieve

What are people with low vs high extraversion like?

Low: prefer solitary activities, need to recharge after social event

High: gregarious, outgoing, energized by social gatherings

What are those with low vs high agreeableness like?

Low: high maintenance, manipulative, strong opinions

High: think of others, go with flow, do not demand attention

What are those with low vs high neuroticism like?

Low: less easily upset, more secure, cope well with stress

High: high levels of negative emotions, impulsive

What is the life course perspective?

Multidisciplinary approach to understanding personality

Focuses on family structure, SES, demographics, disorder prevalence, age, health, major life events

What is Freud’s psychoanalytic perspective of personality?

Personality shaped by unconscious

Libido (life instinct) drives behaviors like pleasure, survival, avoidance of pain

Death instinct drives behaviors fueled by unconscious desire to die, hurt oneself, hurt others

Human psyche in three parts: id, ego, superego

Reality principle: ego is ruled by this, which uses logical thinking to control consciousness and id

What is the id?

Largely unconscious

Responsible for drives that avoid pain and seek pleasure

What is the ego?

Responsible for logical thinking/planning

What is the superego?

Responsible for moral judgement of right/wrong and strives for perfection

What are Freud’s five stages of psychosexual development?

Stage (age) → erogenous zone (not sexual, necessarily) → adult fixations (problems) if over/under stimulated

1. Oral (0-1) → mouth (sucking, eating, biting, vocalizing) → orally aggressive/passive (verbal abuse/smoking, overeating)

2. Anal (1-3) → anus (bowel and bladder) → anal retentive/expulsive (overly neat/disorganized)

3. Phallic (3-6) → genitals (masturbation) → Oedipus (male) vs Electra complex (female)

4. Latency (6-12) → sexual feelings are dormant → no fixations

5. Genital (12 +) → mature sexual interests → frigidity, impotence, difficulty in intimate relationships

What is Erikson’s psychoanalytic perspective?

Elaborated on Freud’s psychoanalytic perspective

Included social and interpersonal factors of personality

Extended stages through adulthood

What are Erikson’s stages of psychosexual development? TM, AS, IG, II, IR, II, GS, ID

1. Trust vs mistrust (infancy 0-1)

2. Autonomy vs shame

3. Initiative vs guilt (preschool 3-5)

4. Industry vs inferiority (school 5-12)

5. Identity vs role confusion (adolescence 12-18)

6. Intimacy vs isolation (young adulthood 18-40)

7. Generativity vs stagnation (middle age 40-65)

8. Integrity vs despair (later life 65+) → develop wisdom vs feel unaccomplished

What is Carl Roger’s humanist personality theory?

Humans driven by tendency to actualize highest potential, resulting in conflicts when thwarted

Goal is development of a self-concept

Those raised with unconditional positive regard can self-actualize

Those raised with conditional positive regard only feel worthy when certain conditions are met

Ideal self is impossible to achieve, formed by society’s expectations

When real self and ideal self are incongruent → psychopathology

What is BF Skinner’s behaviorist theory of personality?

Personality is learned from environment

Deterministic: people are blank slates forged by reinforcement/punishment entirely

Development occurs through: classical or operant conditioning

What is the Albert Bandura social cognitive perspective of personality?

Personality formed from reciprocal interactions among behavioral, cognitive, and environmental factors

Behavioral: classical and operant conditioning, observational learning

Cognitive: mental processes involved in learning, cognitive processes like self-efficacy beliefs

Environmental: situational influences (opportunity, reward, punishment)

How does the psychoanalytic perspective treat mental conditions?

Root of conflict: unconscious

How to treat: bring more psychic facts into conscious awareness

Therapy: psychodynamic, psychotherapy, talk therapy

How does the behavioral perspective treat mental conditions?

Root of conflict: reinforcement and punishment

How to treat: reinforce better behaviors

Therapy: behavioral therapy

How does the humanist perspective treat mental conditions?

Root of conflict: conditional positive regard

How to treat: let client guide process while providing unconditional positive regard

Therapy: client centered therapy

Never call the client a patient

How does the social cognitive perspective treat mental conditions?

Root of conflict: behaviorism + cognition and observation

How to treat: reinforce better thoughts, provide better models

Therapy: cognitive behavioral therapy

What is motivation?

Driving force that causes us to act

Influenced by instincts, drives, needs, and arousal

What are instincts?

Behaviors that are unlearned and present in fixed patterns in a species

What are drives?

Urges originating from physiological discomfort

What are needs?

Include biological needs (aka physiological needs) and higher-level needs

Ex: safety, love, achievement

What is arousal?

Internal level of stimulation

Even when all needs are met, restlessness, boredom, or curiosity may drive behaviors

What is drive reduction theory?

Physiological needs creates an aroused state that drives the organism to reduce that need by engaging in some behavior

What is Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?

Sought to explain human behavior

In order of most - least important: physiological needs, safety needs, love/belonging, esteem needs, and self-actualization

Once baser level is met → can move up

What are three components of emotion?

1. Physiological: body state

2. Behavioral: expressions of emotion

3. Cognitive: appraisal and interpretation of situation

What are universal emotions?

Expressed by humans across all cultures → strong genetic basis

Happiness, sadness, surprise, fear, disgust, anger

How are emotions adaptive?

Enhances survival by spurring quick decisions

Promotes group cohesion and solidarity

Helps with decision making

When do people perform best?

At the midpoint of emotional arousal

What is the James-Lange theory of emotion?

Stimulus → physiological response → emotion

Physiological arousal causes emotion

Largely discounted other than in terms of phobias

What is the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion?

Stimulus → simultaneous emotional response and physiological arousal

What is the Schachter-Singer theory of emotion?

Stimulus → physiological response → cognitive interpretation → emotion

Bodily sensations can be experienced differently based on context

How is emotion processed?

Limbic system: thalamus, hypothalamus, frontal lobe, olfactory bulb, amygdala, hippocampus

What is stress?

Anything that poses a threat to physical/mental well-being

What are responses to acute stress?

Increased blood pressure, heartrate, respiration rate, muscle tension

Decreased digestion

Sleep disturbances

What responses are caused by chronic stress?

Chronic high blood pressure (can lead to heart disease)

Damage to muscle tissue

Inhibition of growth

Suppression of immune and reproductive systems

Mental health issues

What are three types of stressors?

Catastrophe: unpredictable, large scale, affect many people

Significant life changes: positive or negative both cause stress

Daily hassles: everyday irritations (more frequent than others)

What is attitude?

Evaluation of other people, events, things, etc.

Formed from past/present experiences

Measurable and mutable

Important impact on behavior and emotions

What are three components of attitude?

1. Affect: feelings

2. Behavior: internal and external responses

3. Cognition: thoughts and beliefs

All influence one another

When is attitude a good predictor of behavior? Principle of Aggregation

Social influences are reduced

General patterns of behavior, not specific ones, are observed (principle of aggregation)

Specific attitudes, not general ones, are considered

When self-reflection occurs prior to action

When are behaviors more likely to influence attitude?

Role-playing

Public declarations

Justification of effort (assign greater value to outcomes more effort was put into)

What is cognitive dissonance?

Feel tension when thoughts/beliefs are incompatible with actions

When attitudes and behaviors do not match