Psychology Exam 4 Study Guide

Personality

An individual’s unique set of consistent behavioral traits.

The Id (born with the Id)

• A reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that strives to satisfy basic sexual, aggressive, and survival needs (libido).

• Operates on the “pleasure principle”

The Ego

• Balances the demands of the Id, the Superego, and reality.

• Operates on the “reality principle”

The Superego (develops in early childhood)

• Represents internalized ideals for how one ought to behave

• Strives for perfection

Freud 4 Defense Mechanisms

1. Reaction formation: act the opposite of whatever you’re ashamed of

2. Projection: project your own issues onto somebody else

3. Rationalization: come up with a good way to justify something bad

4. Displacement: redirect inappropriate impulses to a safer outlet

Reaction formation

Acting the opposite of whatever you’re ashamed of

Projection

Projecting your own issues onto somebody else

Rationalization

Coming up with a good way to justify something bad

Displacement

Redirecting inappropriate impulses to a safer outlet

3 Stages of Psychosexual Development

1. Oral

2. Anal

3. Phallic

Oral Psychosexual Stage

• (0-18 months)

• Pleasure is centered around… Mouth: Sucking, biting, chewing

• If fixated at this stage, adult personality will be…

• Orally fixated: Excessive smoking, eating, nail-biting, sarcasm

Anal Psychosexual Stage

• (18-36 months)

• Pleasure is centered around… Bowel and bladder elimination

• If fixated at this stage, adult personality will be…

• Anally retentive: orderly, thrifty, stubborn

• Anally expulsive: messy, generous, uses lots of dirty humor

Phallic

• (3-6 years)

• Pleasure is centered around… Genitals

• If fixated at this stage, adult personality will be…

• Genitally fixated: Self-centered, reckless

What does contemporary research suggests about Freud's theory of personality development

• Research supports some of Freud’s ideas

• Much of our behavior is unconsciously guided

• There is truth to some of Freud’s defense mechanisms

• Research doesn’t support most of Freud’s ideas

• Personality development is a lifelong process, not confined to childhood

• Personality isn’t linked to difficulties with “psychosexual” activities like weaning and toilet-training

Five factors of the “Big 5” personality inventory

1. Neuroticism (Emotional Instability)

2. Extraversion

3. Openness to Experience

4. Agreeableness

5. Conscientiousness

Neuroticism (Emotional Instability)

• People HIGH on this factor tend to be…

• Anxious, Insecure, Moody

• People LOW on this factor tend to be…

• Calm, Secure, Emotionally stable

Extraversion

• People HIGH on this factor tend to be…

• Sociable, Talkative, Fun-loving, Affectionate

• People LOW on this factor tend to be…

• Quiet, Reserved, Inhibited

Openness to Experience

• People HIGH on this factor tend to be…

• Creative, Curious, Unconventional, Many interests

• People LOW on this factor tend to be…

• Uncreative, Conventional, Few interests

Agreeableness

• People HIGH on this factor tend to be…

• Sympathetic, Helpful, Courteous

• People LOW on this factor tend to be…

• Critical, Uncooperative, Rude

Conscientiousness

• People HIGH on this factor tend to be…

• Reliable, Organized, Careful

• People LOW on this factor tend to be…

• Unreliable, Disorganized, Careless

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

• Cognitive Dissonance: When people hold 2 beliefs that are dissonant, it causes an uncomfortable state of arousal

• People can reduce arousal by reducing the dissonance

• We think we can’t “take it back”:

• More pressure to change attitudes if we can’t change our behavior

• We feel responsible for our choices:

• We believe it was our choice

• It causes distress, leading people to rationalize, ignore new information, or change attitudes to restore consistency.

• common signs include justification, guilt, and avoiding contradictory information

Fundamental attribution error

• When explaining another person’s behavior, we

• Overestimate the impact of disposition (traits, attitudes)

• Underestimate the impact of the situation

Self-serving bias

• Our successes are due to our dispositions

• Our failures are due to our situations

Principles of Bystander Intervention

• Why less help if more people are around?

• Diffusion of responsibility

• The more people, the less and single person feels a sense of responsibility to act

• Pluralistic Ignorance

• We construe something as an emergency to the degree that other people react like it’s and emergency

• Lots of people not doing anything = not an emergency

Results of Milgram’s obedience study

• No participants topped before 300v

• 63% of participants obeyed instructor all the way to the last switch (450v)

When would we more likely obey authority

• When authority figure is close at hand

• When authority figure is perceived as legitimate and prestigious

• When victim can’t be seen directly

• When we are not held directly responsible

• When we see another person obeying

• When there are no role models for defiance

• When we’ve already obeyed to smaller requests

Normative Social Influence

• Line Judgment Studies

• Need for APPROVAL

• UNAMBIGUOUS Judgments

• What you say is NOT what you believe

Informational Social Influence

• Autokinetic Study

• Need for CLARIFICATION

• AMBIGUOUS Judgments

• What you say is what you believe

Factors that increase attraction

1. Proximity

2. Similarity

3. Physical attractiveness

4. Physical Arousal

Proximity

• We like people who are nearest to us

• Mere exposure: we begin to like things that we are exposed to repeatedly

Similarity

• We pair with people who are similar in…

• Age

• Education

• Economic status

• Physical appearance

• Personality

• Ethnicity

• Religion

• Political attitudes

• Interests

Physical attractiveness

Physical attraction is often very important for first impressions.

Physical Arousal

Physical arousal creates attraction

Passionate love

• “A wildly emotional state in which tender and sexual feelings, elation and pain, anxiety and relief, altruism and jealousy coexist in a confusion of feelings”

• Usually present at the beginning of a relationship

Compassionate Love

• “The affection we feel for those with whom our lives are deeply intertwined”

• Often associated with emotional intimacy'

• Not associated with physiological arousal

• More stable over time than passionate love

• Stronger companionate love in the first two years of marriage

  predicts longer, more satisfying marriages

What ratio of positive to negative relationship behaviors is needed to keep a relationship stable and satisfying?

5:1