Introduction to Personality (Psych 2750 / HD 2600)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms from the Introduction to Personality lecture notes.

Personality

Psychological structures and processes of a person that account for consistent and stable patterns of feeling, thinking, and behaving; internal processes and structure (vs observable behavior).

Human nature

Universalities across people, species-level processes, and common behaviors (e.g., aggression, altruism); includes needs for self-fulfillment and mastery.

Individual differences

Systematic differences among people; the basic dimensions that capture variation (e.g., extraversion–introversion, agreeableness) used to predict behavior and life outcomes.

The individual

Focus on the person and his or her experiences; life stories, qualitative narratives, and quantitative idiography.

Paradigm

A set of beliefs that guide what questions are asked, what data are examined, what methods are used, and how results are interpreted in a discipline.

Trait-Dispositional (Trait)

A paradigm that asks what a person is generally like and infers stable traits from consistent behavioral tendencies.

Biological paradigm

Focus on neural systems, genes, and hormones; examines how biology shapes personality and how personality can influence biology.

Psychodynamic-Motivational

Internal psychological dynamics and conflicts; nonconscious thoughts/feelings; early childhood influences; defense processes.

Behavioral-Conditioning

How behaviors are shaped by rewards and punishments in the environment; learning history and reinforcement.

Phenomenological-Humanistic

Focus on subjective experience and how individuals see themselves; emphasizes positive human qualities and self-actualization.

Social Cognitive

Mind as an information-processing system; input from situations, cognitive/affective processing, and output in behavior; many processes operate implicitly.

Integration

An approach that treats the person as a whole, integrating insights across subfields to understand personality.

Six major paradigms

Trait-Dispositional; Biological; Psychodynamic-Motivational; Behavioral-Conditioning; Phenomenological-Humanistic; Social Cognitive.

Lay theories

Everyday, informal beliefs about personality that are subjective and may be biased, not rigorously tested.

Personality psychology

Scientific study of personality using explicit assumptions and systematic empirical data; aims to describe, explain, and predict behavior.

Case study

In-depth examination of a person or situation to illustrate or test theoretical ideas; often qualitative or mixed-methods.

Michael Jackson case study

A lecture example showing how each paradigm might explain the development and public life of Michael Jackson.

Storage hypothesis

Notes provide information that can be retrieved for later review.

Encoding hypothesis

The act of taking notes helps you learn material during the encoding process.

Basic scientific goals

To gain knowledge about how and why behavior occurs, including how people differ and how biology and social context interact.

Applied goals

To use personality knowledge to alleviate distress, enhance well-being, and improve practical outcomes (e.g., hiring, productivity).