Chapter 12 flashcards

Personality

Patterns of thought and behavior that make a person react to certain situations in relatively consistent ways.

The unconscious

The part of our mental life that influences our thoughts, feelings, and actions that we cannot directly observe and of which we are unaware.

Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory

A complex set of assumptions and interlinking ideas designed to capture everything about the way we think and behave. The centerpiece of the theory is the profound role played by our unconscious mind.

Id

The component of personality in Freud’s psychoanalytic theory that is the manifestation of unconscious and instinctual drives and needs. When we are born, we’re all id. Operates only in the unconscious.

Pleasure principle

Where behavior is driven purely by what feels good, with no real filter or concern about what is polite or possible.

Ego

The component of personality in Freud’s psychoanalytic theory that represents the largely conscious awareness of reality and the ability to mediate the needs of the id within the constraints of reality. Begins as we develop a sense of consciousness.

Reality principle

The ego is like the indulgent parent to the spoiled child of the id, trying to mediate compromises of need fulfillment versus current constraints.

preconsciousness

The ego can operate here, where thoughts and motives have the potential to become consciously accessible if they are cued. The ego also operates beneath consciousness, keeping undesirable thoughts away from the surface.

Superego

The component of personality in Freud’s psychoanalytic theory that represents the internalized cultural rules and ideals to guide our moral conscious. Operates at conscious, preconscious, and unconscious levels.

Free association

Saying whatever comes to mind in a stream of consiousness.

Defense mechanisms

The various ways in which the ego is thought to cope with conflict between the unconscious desires of the id and the moral constraints of society. Only work when used unconsciously.

Displacement

A defense mechanism in which the ego redirects the aggressive impulses of the id from their intended targets to more defenseless targets. This is the basis for using someone as a scapegoat.

Projection

Occurs when, instead of acknowledging you have a feeling or trait, you think you see it in others. This can underlie our prejudices.

Repression

Refers to the ego’s efforts at keeping unwanted feelings, thoughts, and memories from conscious awareness. There is not much evidence that this occurs, though.

Denial

Related to repression, is the ego’s refusal to even perceive a painful or threatening reality as it’s occurring. It is a tendency to ignore or avoid the negative implications of an event after it has occurred. It can also be to try and blame one’s own negative behaviors and outcomes on some external cause.

The existence of unconscious thought

Freud popularized the idea that thoughts can occur below our conscious awareness. The current view of unconscious is different from what he theorized, but he still deserved credit for this.

The importance of early development

Freud opened up a world of questions that formed the starting point for later theories of childhood development.

The influence of mind on body

Freud originally developed psychoanalysis believing the psychological process of the mind could account for medically inexplicable disorders of the body. We now know that psychosomatic symptoms (physical illness caused from psychological disorders or stress) are real. The field of health psychology was grown from the same assumptions first made by freud.

The talking curve

Freud was the original psychotherapist. His basic proposition that people could be cured of psychological disorders or relieve their symptoms by talking to someone about their experience was groundbreaking. Today, it is one of several active ingredients in psychotherapeutic approaches to treating clinical disorders.

Gordon Allport

The first to systematically study how individual traits and attributes are integrated to create someone’s personality as a whole. His ideas were actually partly a reaction against Freud.

Cardinal traits

One of 3 general types of traits: those that dominate someone’s personality. Most of us do not have a cardinal trait.

Central traits

One of 3 general types of traits: the more general dispositions that we use to describe someone. They do not utterly define someone, but provide useful insight into how they typically behave.

Secondary traits

One of the 3 general types of traits: Those that are relevant only in certain contexts.

Functional equivalence

A given trait might lead us to behave in a similar way in what seems like very different situations

Lexical hypothesis

Traits and attributes that are useful for differentiating among people become a part of our language. Any trait word that exists in a given language should have a unique role in capturing something about the diversity of personality.

Factor analysis

A statistical technique that groups a large set of variables into a smaller set of constructs based on how they correlate with one another. Replaced the lexical hypothesis because there were too many interrelated words for describing personality.

Projective tests

Tasks in which people interpret ambiguous pictures or images in ways that might reveal underlying motivations, or preferences that they might not be willing to explicitly self-report.

Five-factor model

The dominant model in the trait approach to personality, which posits five key dimensions along which humans vary: open-mindedness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.

Facets

Each broader trait of the big 5 can be divided into more nuanced ____

Personality stability

Research supports that the way people act are consistent across situations and over time. People still do experience general shifts in personality throughout lfie.

Vitality

One aspect of extraversion: how socially active one is

Social dominance

One aspect of extraversion: How assertive or dominant one is

PERSON model

6 factors shape how we perceive others.

P in person model

The actual personality of the person.

R in PERSON model

Own on idiosyncratic biases about certain types of people — residual

O in PERSON model

Biasesa bout certain types of behavior — opinion

S in PERSON model

Stereotypes about traits we expect different groups of people to possess.

N in PERSON model

Norms that guide how we perceive certain behaviors

E in PERSON model

There are some random errors in the judgements we make.

Behavioral genetics

An approach that estimates the heritability of a trait by statistically comparing patterns of similarity in the behavioral or personality profiles of people who differ in their genetic relatedness.

[r_MZ - r_DZ] x 2 = h

How to calculate heritability of personality traits

50%

Heritability estimate for traits

Genetic essentialism

The tendency to assume that just because something has a genetic bases that it is natural and unchangeable.

Gene x environment interactions

Even if personality is partly heritable, environmental factors can shape whether genetic predispositions are expressed in one’s actual behavior.

Neuroticism

People with this trait often show heightened activation in the amygdala and hippocampus when faced with potential threats.

Social cognitive approach

Emphasizes the role that the immediate environment can play in shaping who people are. The trait theory might perceive people to be more consistent than they really are.

Person x situation interactions

If you really want to understand and predict behavior, it is best to take into account both the person and the situation, as well as the interaction between them. The right situations can afford us the opportunity to express our traits.

Social learning theory

A theory of how people’s cognitions, behaviors, and dispositions are shaped by observing and imitating the actions of others.

Reciprocal determinism

Our personality provides us with distinct cognitions about the world that can shape the environments we choose and the impact of those environments on us. It is reciprocal because preferences lead to choices that in turn reinforce those preferences.

Internal locus of control

Those high in this perceive that they can control their own fate.

External locus of control

Those high in this have the perception that change or outside forces determine what happens to them.

Outcome efficacy

The belief that if a person can perform a behavior, a desired outcome will result.

Self-efficacy

The belief that one can successfully execute a behavior linked to a desired outcome.

Learned helplessness

Occurs when we develop a passive resignation to our situation because we have had past experiences of being unable to control it.

Depressive realism

The painful awareness of personal limitations that render outcomes uncontrollable.

Agency

Often called masculinity, high levels of this involves an orientation towards the self and being assertive, dominant, competitive, and independant.

Communion

Often called femininity, high levels of this involves an orientation towards others and being gentle, cooperative, caring, and aware of other’s feelings.

testosterone

Associated with status-seeking behavior, dominance, and extraversion, and is higher in men

Oxytocin

The “love” hormone, facilitates childbirth and breastfeeding, and generally helps to establish a strong bond between the infant and its primary caregivers. Higher in women.

Social role theory

A theory positing that the roles people find themselves in can profoundly shape their personality. The uneven distribution of men and women into different roles and careers reinforces the stereotypic notion of men as more agentic and women as more communal.

Humanist perspective

Emphasizes the intrinsic value of human nature. Challenged psychoanalysis and behaviorism. Its message was that we can achieve our potential when we are accepted by others.

self-determination theory

A more modern and empirically validated humanist theory. States that our well-being and success are most likely to be achieved when environments support three key motivations.

Autonomy

One of the three key motivations of the self determination theory: a sense that our behavior is motivated from within

Competence

One of the three key motivations of the self determination theory: The opportunity to demonstrate our strengths

Relatedness

One of the three key motivations of the self determination theory: the opportunity to feel affiliated with others.

Self-concept

Defined as the broad network of mental representations that people have for themselves. A collection of self knowledge, roles, traits, and attributes, and is the largest mental construct we have.

Reflected appraisals

How someone treats us reflects back to us a sense of who we are. These are the means by which we gather information about ourselves through our interactions with others.

Social comparison

We also rely on this by comparing ourselves to the people around us.

Self-perception

We can form an impression of ourselves simply by observing our own behavior.

Working self-concept

The traits that are most central to our self-definition are the ones we use the most frequently. Situations dictate which aspects of the great schema of the self get activated and brought to mind. This then guides our immediate behavior.

Possible selves

We have a concept of who we might possibly become. They can become an important role in motivating our behavior.

Self-serving bias

Ways of processing information to maintain a positive attitude towards the self.

Self-serving attributions

The tendency to attribute good outcomes to something about us, but to discount bad outcomes as due to the situation or bad luck.

Above average effect

We hate to think we are below average.

Idiosyncratic trait definitions

Defining traits in ways that seem true to us.

Overestimating our contributions

People have a general tendency to overestimate their own contributions

Sociometer theory

A theory positing that people use self-esteem, a judgment of self-worth, to assess the degree to which they are accepted by others.

Terror Management theory

States that self-esteem allows people to cope with existential terror stemming from their awareness of their own mortality. N

Narcissism

The tendency to have unrealistic and self-aggrandizing views of one’s self. It has been linked to these more unstable forms of high self-esteem.

Independant self-construal

A notion of the self as a bounded and stable entity that is distinct from others. Present in individualistic cultures like North America, Australia, and much of Western Europe.

Interdependent self-construal

A notion of the self as defined by as one’s connections to other people. Present in collectivist cultures like East Asia, Latin America, and Southern Europe.