WVU Psychology 101 Exam #4

personality

the characteristic ways that people differ from one another

personality traits

enduring dispositions in behavior that show differences across individuals, and which tend to characterize the person across varying types of situations

continuous distributions

characteristics can go from low to high, with all different immediate values possible; one does not simply have that trait or not have it, but can possess varying amounts of both

the three criteria that characterize personality traits

consistency, stability, and individual differences

consistency

home, work, public, private

stability

age, through lifespan (adult remain the same)

individual differences

more or less (not the ability)

lexical hypthesis

idea that the most important differences between people will be encoded in the language that we use to describe people

factor analysis

statistical technique for grouping similar things together according to how highly they are associated

five-factor model for personality (OCEAN)

openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism

openness

reflects a person's tendency to seek out and to appreciate new things, including thoughts, feelings, values, and experiences

conscientiousness

reflects a person's tendency to be careful, organized, hardworking, and to follow the rules

extraversion

reflects a person's tendency to be sociable, outgoing, active, and assertive

aggreeableness

reflects a person's tendency to be compassionate, cooperative, warm, and caring to others

neuroticism

reflects a person's tendency to be inter-personally sensitive and the tendency to experience negative emotions like anxiety, fear, sadness, and anger

eyseneck emphasis

this model believes extraversion and neuroticism are the most important parts of the five factor model, uses biological basis, reward/avoidance

HEXACO

slight revision of the five factor model that contains a 6th facet, honesty/humility

humanistic model

people who have clear, defined goals (ex: the client knows what they need)

psychondynamic theories

people lacking insight into their lives (ex: the client doesn't know what they need and its the therapist's job to know)

objective tests

exams that contain standard items and scoring, most common approach for assessment; self-knowledge, simple, easy, inexpensive, and valid

self reporting

an assessment in which you tell someone else about yourself

high-stakes testing

settings in which test scores are used to make important decisions about individuals

advantages

cost-effectiveness, simplicity and abundances are ________ of self reporting

disadvantages

high stakes situations, reduction of reliability, self enhancement bias and reference group effect are ________ of self reporting

self-enhancement bias

the tendency for people to see and/or present themselves in an overly favorable way

reference group effect

the tendency of people to base their self-concept on comparison with others

formats

single words, phrases and complete sentences are all potential _____ of objective tests

informant rating

asking someone who knows the individual to describe his or her personality (ex: parents, friends, children, bosses)

advantages

validity, ability to be combined with other reports and providing a better sample of behavior are ______ of informant reports.

disadvantages

limited access, sibling contrast effect, letter of recommendation effect and honeymoon effect are _________ of informant reports

sibling contrast effect

the tendency of parents to use their perceptions of all their children as a frame of reference for rating the characteristics of each of them

letter of recommendation effect

the general tendency for informants in personality studies to rate others in an unrealistically positive manner

honeymoon effect

the tendency of newly married individuals to rate their spouse in an unrealistically positive manner

projective hypothesis

the theory that when people are confronted with ambiguous stimuli (stimulus that can be interpreted in more than one way), their response will be influenced by their unconscious thoughts, needs, wishes, and impulses (ex: Rorschach inkblot test, Thematic Apperception Test)

validity

refers to how well a test measures what it is purported to measure

reliability

the quality of being trustworthy or of performing consistently well; for a test to be this reliable it also has to be valid

implicit tests

has become a very popular method to use for measuring the strengths of associations between concepts, in an indirect way

intelligence

an individuals cognitive ability; includes the ability to acquire, process, recall, and apply information

social factors theory

the ability to communicate and work with others

general intelligence

theory by Spearman that says intelligence is a single, general factor for mental ability

galton

individual that studied crude measurement and heritability of intelligence, said intelligence is mostly heritable

binet

individual that studied individual intelligence differences; began intelligence tests for kids in school

simon

individual that helped Binet develop the first child IQ test

intelligence quotient

quantifiable number for a child's intelligence, determined by dividing a child's mental age (test score) from chronological age

stanford-binet

english version of Binet's test that added items to measure adult IQ; was standardized

wechsler adult intelligence scale

revised IQ test made specifically for adults that consisted of verbal and performance scores

standardized

assessments given in the exact same manner to all people; with regards to intelligence tests standardized scores are individual scores that are computed to be referred against normative scores for a population

normed

assessments are given to a representative sample of a population to determine the range of scores for that population; these "norms" are then used to place an individual who takes the assessment on a range of scores in which he or she is compared to a population at large

flynn effect

states that when new waves of people take older intelligence tests, you will likely do better than those who took it when it was first made

carols model

divided intelligence into 3 areas

- strantum III "G" general intelligence factor

- strantum II specific categories

- strantum I sub-division

crystallized intelligence

intelligence containing general knowledge, vocab, experience, motor skills

fluid intelligence

intelligence containing reaction time, name/face memory, encoding new information

garner's theory of multiple intelligence

theory that each person has different amounts of 8 facets of knowledge on spectrum

emotional intelligence

intelligence regarding experience and emotional expression, self and relationship management

correlates of intelligence

genetics, positive attitude, gender, stereotype threat, and bias

stereotype threat

phenomenon in which people are concerned that they will conform to a stereotype or that their performance does conform to that stereotype, especially in instances in which the stereotype is brought to their conscious awareness

lifespan developmental psychology

study of the patterns of growth and change that occur throughout life; womb to death

cognitive development

refers to the development of thinking across the lifespan

nature

the genes that children bring with them to life and that influence all aspects of their development

nurture

the environments, staring with the womb, that influence all aspects of children's development

continuous change

ways in which development occurs in a gradual incremental manner, rather than through sudden jumps (ex: tree)

discontinuous change

large, fundamental change in sudden jumps (ex: butterfly)

piaget's theory

theory development occurs throughout a sequence of discontinuous stages (sensorimotor, pre-operational reasoning, concrete operational reasoning, formal operational reasoning)

sensorimotor stage

2 years, during which children come to represent the enduring reality of objects, infants at the age of 9 months fail to understand that an object continuous continues to exist when out of sight

pre-operantional reasoning stage

2-7 years, in which children can represent objects through drawing and language but cannot solve logical reasoning problems, such as the conservation problems, the ability to understand that even as physical dimensional change, the quantity does not

concrete operational reasoning stage

7-12 years, children can logically think about concrete situations, but cannot think in systematic scientific ways, can not engage in systematic scientific reasoning

formal operational reasoning stage

12 years-continuing for the rest of your life, adolescents may gain the reasoning powers of educated adults, abstract, scientific thinking, formal education known for this stage

continuity

cognitive development is more continuous than Piaget thought; an issue surrounding Piaget's theory

phonemic awareness

awareness of the component sounds within words; indicator of future academic success

mathematics

math abilities of low-income kids lag behind higher-income kids; a solution would be to give the low-income kids a board game

three perspectives that shape development

social context, biological maturation, representation of self and social world

social context

relationships with parents, family

biological maturation

physical growth, body changes

representation

a way a child sees themselves within the world

attachment

positive emotional bond that develops between a child and their caregiver

secure attachment

baby plays freely around mother, when mother returns baby is happy to see her

insecure-avoidant attachment

baby doesn't cry during test, avoids mother when she returns

insecure-ambivalent attachment

baby hovers around mother, is angry when mother returns

disorganized attachment

baby displays inconsistent behavior, is stressed out

authoritative parenting

parenting high in warmth and high in control; children fare best

authoritarian parenting

parenting low in warmth and high in control; children fare poorly

permissive parenting

parenting high in warmth and low in control; girls fare OK, boys often become aimless

uninvolved parenting

parenting low in warmth and low in control; clear negative effects o children

family stress model

familial financial problems negatively affect child adjustment through stressed and depressed parental mood which leads to marital problems and poor parenting

peer relationships

relationships that help children form foundation skills such as sharing, conflict resolution and problem solving; challenges include bullying and peer pressure

social references

children look to parents for social understanding, cues and clues

personality

biological disposition + experience =

conscience

cognitive, social and emotional influences that cause young children to create and act consistently with internal standards of conduct

effortful control

a temperament quality that enables children to be more successful in motivated self regulation

emerging adolescence

new term for the extension of adolescence due to slowed life processes

adolescence

the period following the onset of puberty during which a young person develops from a child into an adult

cognitive changes

thinking becomes more abstract and complex in this change of adolescence due to improvements in attention, memory, processing speed, and metacognition

dopamine system

develops in early adolescence in which reward pathways are increased

prefrontal cortex development

develops in late adolescence (to early adulthood) and increases cognitive control during emerging adolescence, thinking before acting

social changes

during adolescence the recognition of relationship with parents, independence, and autonomy are examples of _____ ______ during emerging adolescence

homophily

groups of similar peers

positive functions

social support and companionship are _____ ______ of peer relationships

negative functions

negative peer pressure associated with risky decisions and bad behavior are ______ ______ of peer relationships

crowds

groups of people characterized by shared reputations and images rather than interactions (not necessarily "friends")

cliques

groups of people who interact frequently ("friends")