AP Psych Ch. 15 Myers Textbook- Personality

5 perspectives on personality

psychoanalysis, humanistic, social-cognitive, trait, behavioral

psychoanalysis perspective

focus on the unconscious, repressed thoughts, childhood impact on current behavior, use of free association, developed by Freud

unconscious

reservoir of unacceptable thoughts, emotions, etc according to Freud. According to modern psychologists, it’s information processing that we’re unaware of

preconscious

where some thoughts could be brought back into the conscious

Freud

set forth psychoanalytical theory with his book, The Interpretation of Dreams

free association

having patients say whatever comes to mind to unconverted repressed thoughts/the unconscious

ID

unconscious psychic energy, seeks to satisfy our drives to survive/procreate, aggress; operates on pleasure principle, seeks immediate gratification and consists of all the biological components of personality present at birth like libido (sex instinct) and aggressive instinct

superego

voice of conscience that focuses on how one should behave, strives for perfection, and feels societal guilt. It forms conscience and idealized self image

ego

operates on reality principle, seeking to satisfy id’s demands in a realistic, safer manner. Goal is to satisfy ID and superego

psychosexual stages

oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital

Oral Stage

(0-18mo) pleasure centers on the mouth- sucking, biting, chewing

Anal Stage

(18-36mo) pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder elimination; coping with demands for control

Phallic Stage

(3-6yr) pleasure zone is the genitals; coping with incestuous sexual feelings

Latency Stage

(6yrs to puberty) dormant sexual feelings

Genital Stage

(puberty on) maturation of sexual interests

Oedipus complex

according to Freud, a boy’s sexual feelings towards his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for rival father

electra complex

according to Freud, a girl’s sexual feelings towards her father and feelings of jealousy and hatred for rival mother

fixations

according to Freud, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts are unresolved

10 defense mechanisms

repression/denial, regression, reaction formation, projection, rationalization, displacement, sublimation, dissociation/identification, compensation, intellectualization

MMPI

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory- items are empirically derived in scale areas

Rorschach tests

inkblot tests to determine personality/identify disorders (NOT a currently advisable method)

Myers-Briggs

indicator to classify according to Jung’s personality types

Types of traits

(Allport)

1) central traits- common traits basic to a person’s personality, we each have 5-10

2) secondary traits- more peripheral, situation-based

3) cardinal traits- those by which someone is strongly recognized (Mother Theresa is kind, Einstein is smart)

the big five traits

proposed by Tupes and Christal, conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness, extraversion

Maslow and Rogers aspects of humanistic perspective

Maslow’s self-actualizing person perspective: hierarchy of needs, goal in life is self-actualization, why we show likeable qualities in adulthood

Roger’s person-centered perspective: we are like seeds- with proper care we grow to develop rich personalities. Focus on unconditional positive regard and ideal self, and said we should seek to improve ourselves

Self-efficacy

when a person perceives behavior as effective based on past experience, opinions, own ability

Reciprocal determinism

Bandura’s theory that our behavior, personal factors, and surroundings are interlocking determinants of personality

Self-serving bias

tendency to perceive oneself in an overly favorable manner. Most people think of themselves as above average, take more responsibility for good deeds than bad and successes than failures

internal vs external locus of control

sense of who has control over your life- you or external factors

learned helplessness

at the mercy of environment, repeatedly face difficult situations out of their control, passive resignation

behavioral perspective

aka behaviorism, incorporates reward and punishment, conditioning, modeling. Self-efficacy is key. Can’t be assessed very accurately because there are issues with observer bias and frequency counts

Ignorance of one’s incompetence phenomenon

most overconfident people are often most incompetent- they can’t see that they don’t understand (aka Dunning-Kruger effect)

spotlight effect

people (mostly teens) think everyone notices us and constantly evaluates us

illusory optimism

optimism can distort reality

Bandura

people’s traits are situational. we observe and practice many behaviors (social) but also think abt situations (cognitive). Expectations and memories greatly influence behavior. Created reciprocal determinism.

Jung

Freud follower-turned-dissenter who believed that the human psyche had 3 parts: ego, personal unconscious, collective unconscious. He thought that experiences could be passed generationally through archetypes (wrong) (psychoanalysis)

Adler

childhood social, not sexual tensions critically impact personality growth and behavior is driven by a desire to avoid inferiority complex (psychoanalysis)

Rogers

humanist, person-centered perspective: we’re like seeds, with care we develop and should continue to work on ourselves, unconditional positive regard

Allport

studied traits'/dispositions. His lexical approach is idea that a person’s traits become expressed through simplest language, and identified over 18,000 trait terms (trait perspective)

Eysenck

created factor analysis, grouped variations into 2-3 dimensions, was built upon by Tupes and Christal to 5 big traits

Cattell

16 Primary Factors Personality Questionnaire, still used today. The factors are broader and vary more than 5 big traits, and are used to assess warmth, attachment and anxiety to measure/diagnose disorders (trait)

Mischel

Marshmallow experiment, correlated a young child’s delayed gratification with greater adolescent self-esteem and social competence. Shifted the focus from “how personality predicts behavior” to “how behavior reveals personality”, focusing on the value of external factors

Horney

women don’t have weak superegos or suffer from penis envy, helped form psych’s feminine perspective (psychoanalysis)

Winnicott

believed children express life’s anxieties with antisocial tendencies aimed at parents testing whether or not they are worthy of being loved. if parents accepts child, child avoids rejection and develops properly into true self, not false self (psychoanalysis)

Lacan

we develop out conscious selves through making sense of the outside world (“the other”), which helps us shape our individuality and separate ourselves (psychoanalysis)

Seligman

said happy people are very social, postulated 3 kinds of happy life: good life (personal growth and flow), meaningful life (focus on things greater than you), pleasant life (socializing, seeking pleasures) (humanist)

Sheldon

correlated body type and personality

-endomorphs are soft, round, less strong and are viscerotropic (sociable, relaxed)

-mesomorphs are athletic and somatotonic (assertive, courageous)

-ectomorphs are thin, nervous, and cerebrotonic (introverted, artistic)

**trait perspective

Skinner

key figure of behaviorism

Freudian slips

mistakes in speech that Freud thought revealed repressed thoughts

manifest content

the content of dreams that Freud felt reflected the unconscious

repression/denial

(the defense mechanism that underlies all others); when an event is too painful to remember we psychologically cover it up

regression

allowing ourselves to retreat to an earlier stage of development, where we feel safer

reaction formation

ego begins to feel the opposite of a true but unacceptable feeling-”I hate him” becomes “I love him” or vice versa

projection

disguising threatening impulses by attributing them to others- a thief who convinces himself that “everyone steals” feels less guilty

rationalization

creating self-justifying explanations to reason away unacceptable ideas/actions- “I failed bc teacher hates me”

displacement

expressing feelings that would be threatening if directed at intended target onto a substitute target- yelling at wife at home bc you are mad at boss at work but can’t yell at him

sublimation

turning unacceptable behavior into a positive acceptable one

dissociation/identification

dealing with anxiety by acting like someone else, seeing their behaviors as acceptable

compensation

making up for shortcomings in some areas by being superior in others- a kid feel socially awkward but drives big truck to be cool

intellectualization

overthinking/misdirecting thoughts when confronted with difficult situations

neo-Freudians

disciples of Freud who accepted his basic ideas but veered from him in two ways":

1- placing more focus on one’s conscious mind

2-moving away from the idea that everything was driver by sex

important figures: Adler, Horney, Jung

projective tests

tests that aim to reveal hidden conflicts and impulses by presenting ambiguous stimulus

ex:TAT, Rorschach Inkblot

TAT

thematic apperception test, a projective test to reveal personality created by Henry Murray, “an x-ray of inner self”

__% of therapists admit to using projective tests

82%

terror-management theory

faith in one’s worldview and pursuit of self-esteem protect us from a fear of death

false consensus

a tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors

Freud’s inaccuracies

1) development is not fixed in childhood

2) parental influence is less than he suspected, peers have more influence than parents

3) damaging repression rarely actually occurs, most things only suppressed

Fromm

believed life is painful, but has hope if a person overcomes his/her struggles, finds a purpose in life (“gives birth to himself”) and overcomes isolation and fear (humanist)

Factor analysis

Eysencks thought we can group variations into 2 or 3 dimensions, including intraversion-extraversion and emotional stability-instability

personal inventories

feeling/behavior questionnaires are designed to test several traits at once

conscientiousness

the tendency to show good impulse control and act dutifully, be achievement oriented, well organized, and mind details

endpoints: organized-disorganized, careful-careless, disciplined-impulsive

agreeableness

tendency to be kind, affectionate, cooperative, altruistic, compassionate

endpoints: soft-hearted-ruthless, trusting-suspicious, helpful-uncooperative

neuroticism

trait marked by unpleasant emotions like sadness, anger, anxiety, prone to mood swings and stress

endpoints: calm-anxious, secure-insecure,self-satisfied-self-pitying

openness to experience

creative individuals who like new things and variety, and have a broad range of interests

endpoints: imaginative-practical, variety-routine, independent-conforming

extraversion

characterized by assertiveness, sociability, and excitability. Usually have outgoing personalities and gain energy in the company of others

endpoints: sociable-retiring, fun-loving-sober, affectionate-reserved

Tolkien view

traits are consistent, don’t change much over time (trait)

Pirandello view

traits change according to who we are with and the situation (trait)

tiered approach

use of primary (16pf) and secondary (big 5) levels so modern psych can interpret multi-faceted trait patterns

3 different ways that people and their environment interact

1. diff people choose different environment

2. our personalities shape how we react to, interpret events

3. our personalities help create the situations we are in

self-fulfilling prophecy

we assume something and cause it to become reality ie. we expect people to be short with us so we are curt and nasty, creating a short and rude response

tyranny of choice

regret over unchosen options

attributional style

how we characteristically explain negative or positive events (pessimistic vs optimistic). Small doses of pessimism are motivating, optimism can distort reality

possible selves

visions of our future (possible success) and also versions of ourselves that we fear we will become

stigmatized groups often have higher self esteems bc

they value what they do well, attribute their problems to injustice, and compare themselves to people only within their immediate group