Theories of Personality Exam 2 | Quizlet

Depth theory (Allport)

psychic process is partially conscious, partially unconscious, and partially semi-conscious.

A science that seeks to understand the behavior and experience of people in general, focusing on the typical average person with nothing to say about a given individual

nomothetic in nature

A science within which the primary goal is understanding functioning of a specific individual is

idiographic

For Allport personality was seen as

Being unified and constantly changing and evolving

"proprium"

Allport's term for the ego or self

Who had the earliest paper and pencil personality tests

Allport

Allport focused more on ______ than _____

present than past

Define trait

a neuropsychic structure that helps us to behave consistently

How are traits studied

through personality tests and assessments

Why might it be difficult to study traits

No observable physical process

No single behavior is due to a single trait

No set number of traits per person

Common Traits (Allport)

terms/ traits we can use to compare each other

Central Traits (Allport)

traits that form the basis of personality

Individual traits

traits that are unique to individuals

Secondary Traits (Allport)

less important, less consistent traits (e.g., tastes and preferences)

unique traits (Cattell)

traits possessed by one or a few persons

Cardinal Traits (Allport)

on rare occasion, someone can be dominated by one trait

According to Cattell personality permits

a prediction of what a person will do in a specific situation

a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (called factors) on a test; used to identify a person's total score

factor analysis

criticisms of factor analysis

Too nomothetic; does not account for the uniqueness

Dynamic traits

traits that motivate and direct behavior toward a specific goal

Sentiments

a learned dynamic trait

Ability traits

How efficiently we can do something

Temperament traits

traits that describe our general behavioral style in responding to our environment

Attitudes

overt or covert interest in responding to a particular situation

erg

hereditary motive

16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF)

A self-report developed by Cattell that generates a personality profile with 16 traits

The 16 PF includes

security seeking and sex questions

The Big Five

openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism

Traits develop during

childhood and mature afterwards

Interaction with the environment affects

the expression of traits

Plasticity

ability to be molded

Multiple determinism

Not all behavior directly traceable

Life course

We make plans that are consistent with traits

Self-concept

how we view ourselves lines up with how we view our traits

External influences

We interact with and perceive the world in ways that are consistent with our traits

Natural selection

Survival Benefits, fitness

Sexual selection

mating benefits

Inclusive Fitness Theory

Selection for traits that increases survival of genetic relatives (When choosing, we choose favorable traits)

Heritability measures

how well differences in people's genes account for differences in their traits

Traits can include characteristics such as

height, eye color, intelligence, as well as disorders like schizophrenia and autism

Neurotransmitters communicate between

neurons

Serotonin:

depression

Dopamine:

schizophrenia

DRD4 gene

gene linked to dopamine receptor activity that is associated with "risk taking" and "novelty seeking"

What is the love hormone?

oxytocin

Neuropeptide oxytocin is released when triggered by

Sexual stimulation

Breast feeding

Empathy

Neuroticism is under what system?

The limbic system

Eysenck three factor theory

PEN: Psychoticism (low conscientiousness and agreeableness), Extraversion, Neuroticism.

Introverts require (more/less) stimulation to feel their optimal level of arousal

less

extroverts require (more/less) stimulation to feel their optimal level of arousal

more

Cloninger's Tridimensional Personality Model

novelty seeking, harm avoidance, reward dependence

Novelty seeking =

lower dopamine

Harm avoidance =

higher serotonin

Reward dependence =

lower norepinephrine

Jerome Kagan studied

in-born temperament

Infant temperament

Highly inheritable

The biological foundation for personality

Stable overtime

Two temperament groups

Inhibited- more fearful

Uninhibited- less fearful

James Watson

believed in behaviorism, and thought that the focus should be on what people do instead of what they experience

B.F. Skinner

Behaviorist that developed the theory of operant conditioning by training pigeons and rats

A behavior can be _________ in one situation and ______ in another

reinforced, punished

Rewards vs. punishment

Reward means you are increasing your behavior, and punishment means you are decreasing a behavior

A primary reinforcer is a

biological stimulus causing involuntary reaction

example of primary reinforcer

food, water, sex

secondary reinforcer

conditioned stimulus causing learned reaction

example of secondary reinforcer

money, praise, a hug

Acquisition vs. Extinction

the growth vs death of a conditioned response

Discrimination vs. generalization

Discrimination: the ability to perceive and respond to differences among stimuli.

Generalization: the tendency to respond in the same way to different but similar stimuli.

Chaining

takes a multi-step task and breaks it down into a sequence of smaller tasks

Staat's was the inventor of ______ and saw emotions as ______

the timeout, reinforcers

3 Basic Behavioral Repertoires (BBRs) that closely resemble personality

Language-cognitive

Emotional-motivational

Sensory- motor

Who created the psychoanalytic learning theory

Dollard and Miller

psychoanalytic learning theory focuses on

biological and environmental forces

Drive

a strong stimulus that impels organisms to act

cue

A signal for something to happen

response

a reaction to a stimulus

Dominant response

the most common response in a given stimulus

response hierarchy

Order of possible responses to a given stimulus in the order of likelihood/ probability.

Four Types of conflicts

Approach/Approach

Approach/Avoidance

Avoidance/Avoidance

Double Approach/Avoidance

approach-approach conflict

choice of 2 rewarding goals

example: choosing between a kit kat and a twix

approach-avoidance conflict

A goal that is both rewarding and punishing

example: ice-cream is so good but it can cause obesity

avoidance-avoidance conflict

choice of 2 punishing goals

example: hating to study and hating to fail a test

double approach-avoidance conflict

choice of 2 goals that are both rewarding and punishing

example: choosing which college to go to or between two people to hangout with. Both must have pros and cons

Aggression is always a consequence of

frustration

Frustration invariably leads to

aggression and blocks goal-directed behaviors

Displacement

redirection of aggression to another target

Inhibition or substitution of drive response is

changing stream of thought

Inhibition of verbal mediating drive responses

making an insult a joke

4 elements of the revised theory of development:

Feeding

Cleanliness Training

Early Sex Training

Anger Anxiety Conflicts

Feeding allows

Sociability and love and the fear of being alone

Cleanliness training allows

Strong societal demands and excessive conformity and guilt

Early sex training includes

punishment for masturbation

Anger Anxiety Conflict includes

daily frustration and sibling rivalry

Modern social-cognitive-learning theories focus on

the situation and the interpretation

Modern social-cognitive-learning theories have little focus on

biology and child development

Mischel did

The consistency paradox and the marshmallow test

Across studies, r between trait and behavior is only

.30

Behavior best understood in _____ statements

"if-then" statements

traits and behavior are consistent if we better understand

the situation

Self-efficacy and outcome expectations (Makes Vincent Very Emotional)

Mastery (Accomplishment)

Vicarious experience (Modeling)

Verbal persuasion

Emotional/physiological arousal

imitation will not occur if you

fail