AP Myers Psych

Personality

An Individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting

Psychoanalytic theory

Proposed that childhood sexuality and unconscious motivations influence personality

Sigmund Freud

focused on the unconscious mind

Humanistic approach:

Focus on inner capacities for growth and self-fulfillment

Today's Personality Researchers:

Focus on basic dimensions of personality & the biological roots.

Free Association

Psychoanalysis; method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes, and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing.

Psychoanalysis

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

Unconscious

(Freud) a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories.

Preconscious Area

Where we temporarily store unconscious thoughts

Manifest Content

The remembered content of dreams

Latent Content

Unconscious wishes/non remembered part of dreams.

id

(Freud) A reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that strives to satisfy basic sexual/aggressive fives.
Operates on the pleasure principle; which demands immediate gratification.

Ego

(Freud) Largely conscious, 'executive' part of personality that mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and relative. Operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id's desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain.

Superego

(Freud) Part of the responsibility that represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations.

Psychosexual Stages

(Freud) Childhood stages of development (Oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) during which the id's pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones

Oral

(0-18 Months) Pleasure centers on mouth [Sucking, Biting, Chewing]

Anal

(18-36 months) Pleasure focuses on bowel & bladder elimination: coping with demands for control

Phallic

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

Latency

(6 to puberty) A phase of dominant sexual feelings

Gential

(Puberty and on) Maturation of sexual intrests

Oedipus complex

(Phallic Stage) (Freud) a boy's sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father. (Girl's version \= electra complex)

Identification

(freud) Process by which children incorporate their parents' values into their developing superegos

Gender Identity

Our sense of being male/female

Fixation

(Freud) a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved.

Defense Mechanisms

Psychoanalytic theory; ego's protective method of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality

Repression

Psychoanalytic theory; basic defense mechanism that banishes form consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories.

Regression

(1/7 Defense Mecahnisms) Retreating to a more infantile psychosexual stage; where some psychic energy remains fixated

Reaction Formation

(2/7 Defense Mechanisms) - Switching unacceptable impulses into their opposites

Protection

(3/7 Defense Mecahnisms) - Disguising one's own threatening impulses by attributing them to others

Rationalization

(4/7 Defense Mecahnisms) - Offering self-justifying explanations in place of real, more threatening unconscious reasons for one's actions.

Displacement

(5/7 Defense Mecahnisms)- Shifting sexual/aggressive impulses towards a more acceptable or less threatening object or person.

Sublimation

(6/7 Defense Mecahnisms)- Transferring unacceptable impulses into socially valued motives

Denial

(7/7 Defense Mecahnisms) - Refusing to believe or even perceive painful realities.

Psychodynamic Theories

Modern-day approaches that view personality with a focus on the unconscious and the importance of childhood experiences

Neo Freudians

People that accept Freud's basic beliefs but focused more on the unconscious and didn't believe sexual urges and aggression were as big as he made them out to be.

Collective Unconscious

(Carl Jung) - concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species history

Projective Test

Personality test, like Rorschach gives ambiguous stimuli made to trigger projection of one's inner dynamics.

Thematic Apperception Test

Projective Test where people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes.

Rorschach Inkblot Test

(Herman Rorschach) Most widely used Projective Test; set of 10 inkblots that seek to find people's inner feelings by analyzing their interpretation of the dots.

False Consensus Effect

Tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and our behaviors

Terror-Management Theory

Theory of death-related anxiety explores people's emotional and behavioral responses to reminders of their impending death

Unconscious

Schemas that control our perceptions and interpretations
Priming to stimuli we have not consciously attended
Split brain (what they can do)
Implicit memories that work without conscious recall
Emotions that activate before conscious analysis
Stereotypes that change how we view others and ourselves

Humanistic Theory

View personality with a focus on the potential for healthy personal growth.

Self-Actualization

(Maslow) One of the ultimate psychological needs that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met & self-esteem is achieved; the motivation to fulfill one's potential

Self-Transcendence

Meaning, purpose, and communion beyond the self

Peak Experiences

Being moved by spiritual or personal experiences that surpass ordinary consciousness

Genuineness

Open with feelings, dropped facades, transparent, self-disclosing.

Acceptance

Offer unconditional positive regard

Empathy

Share & mirror feelings & reflect their meanings.

Unconditional positive regard

(Rogers) Attitude of total acceptance toward another person

Self-Concept:Def

All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, answer to the question "Who am I?"

Individualism

Trusting & acting on one's feelings; being true to oneself, fulfilling oneself.

Trait

Characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports.

Briggs (Katharing & Isabel)

Attempted to sort people into Jung's personality types (the Myers-Briggs test)

Factor Analysis

A statistical procedure used to identify clusters of test items that tap basic components of intelligence

Hans Eyesneck

extraversion-introversion + emotional: stability-instability (Eysenck personality questionnaire)

Extraverts

Lower brain arousal (Seek stimulation); higher dopamine & dopamine-related neural activity.

Personality Inventory

Questionnaire on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors; used to assess selected personality traits.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality inventory (MMPI)

(Starke Hathaway) Most widely researched & clinically used of all personality tests. Originally used to identify emotional disorders (still is considered its most appropriate use), but now it's also used for many other screening processes.

Empirically Derived Test

Test developed by testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups (MMPI)

Barnum Effect

Accepting of stock, positive description

Big 5

(CANOE)
Conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism (Emotional stability vs. instability), openness, and extraversion.

Disorganized; Careless; Impulsive VS Organized; Careful; Disciplined

Ruthless; Suspicious; Uncooperative VS Soft-hearted; Trusting; Helpful

Calm; Secure; Self-satisfied VS Anxious; Insecure; Self-Pitying

Practical; Prefers Routine; Conforming VS Imaginative; Prefers Variety; Independent

Retiring; Sober; Reserved VS Sociable; Fun-loving; Affectionate.

Predictability?

Yes: shy introverts are more likely to prefer emailing someone
High C people \= better high school/university grades + morning people & more extraverted
Low A+N+O \= sexual satisfaction (marital) can suffer.
Traits infuse language (extraversion \= personal pronouns. A\= positive emotion words. N\= negative emotion words)

Genetically Influences Personality traits:

Music preferences (Jax, Classical, blues \= verbally intelligent, Country, pop, religious \= cheerful, outgoing, C.)
Bedrooms & Offices (Display Identity)
Personal Websites (Canvas for self-expression)
Electronic Communication (Writing voice, e-mails, blogs)

Social-Cognitive Perspective

Views behavior as interaction between people's traits (including their thinking) and their social context.

Behavioral Approach

In personality theory, this perspective focuses on the effects of learning on our personality development.

Reciprocal Determination

(Internal personal factors - environmental factors - behavior) -
The interesting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment.

Albert Bandura

Different people choose different environments - school. TV, music
Our personality shapes how we interpret and react to events
Our personalities help make events to which we react

Positive Psychology

Study of optimal human functioning; wants to discover and promote strengths and virtues that enables individuals and communities to thrive.

Self

In contemporary psychology, assumed to be the center of personality, the organizer of our thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Spotlight Effect

Overestimating others' noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunder (as if we presume a spotlight shines on us)

Self-Esteem

One's feelings of high or low self-worth.

Self-Efficacy

One's sense of competence and effectiveness.

Self-Serving Bias

A readiness to perceive oneself favorably.

Narcissism

Excessive self-love and self-absorption.

Individualism

Giving priority to one's own goals over group goals and defining one's identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identification.

Intelligence

Mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations

Collectivism

Giving priority to the goals of one's groups ( often one's extended family or work group) and defining one' identity accordingly.

Psychoanalytic

Freud - The unconscious \= emotional disorders + defense mechanisms fend off anxiety.
Personality: Pleasure-seeking impulses + an internalized set of ideals

Humanistic

(Rogers, Maslow) Focused on ways people can strive for self-realization \- -
Personality: Basic human needs met \= a strive for self-actualization; unconditional positive regard \= self-awareness + a more realistic/positive self-concept

Psychodynamic

(Adler, Horney, Jung) the unconscious + conscious minds; childhood experiences + defense mechanisms \= important
Personality: Interplay of conscious + unconscious motives and conflicts

Trait

(Allport, Eyesneck, McCrae, Costa) Having certain stable + enduring characteristics; influenced by genetic predispositions\- -
Personality: Big 5 traits

Social-Cognitive

(Bandura) Our traits + social context interact \= behaviors
Personality: Conditioning and observational learning interact with cognition to create behavior patterns

Case Study

In-depth study of one individual (Psychoanalytic, humanistic)
+: Less expensive
-: Might not generalize

Survery

Systematic questioning of a random sample of the population (trait, social cognitive, positive psychology)
+: Results tend to be reliable; generalizable
-: Expensive; correlation findings

Projective tests

Ambiguous stimuli designed to show unconscious (Psychodynamic)
+:Designed to show unconscious of a person's self understanding
-: Weak Validity + Reliability

Personality Inventories

Objectively scored groups of questions designed to identify personality dispositions (Traits)
+: Generally Reliable + Validated
-: Only explores a limited number of traits

Observation

Studies how individuals react to different situations (Social cognitive)
+: Lets reserachers study effects w/ environmental factors on individuals
-: May not be generalizable

Expirimentation

Variables with random assignment to conditions (Social cognitive)
+: Finds cause & effect
-: Some variables cannot be ethically/feasibly tested.

Intelligence Test

A method for assessing an individual's mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores.

General Intelligence (g)

Factor that (Spearman & others) underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test.

Factor Analysis

Statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (factors ) on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a person's total score.

Evolutionary Familiar Situations

marrying, parenting, forming close relationships, navigating w/o maps

Savant Syndrome

Condition in which a person, otherwise limited in mental ability, has an exceptional specific skill

Grit

(Psychology) passion & perseverance in the pursuit of a long term goal.