psych exam 5

Personality psychology

Sister-field of social psychology

Personality

 unique and relatively stable pattern of thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Psychoanalytic perspective

theory of personality which includes ideas of the unconscious mind, psychosexual stages, and defense mechanisms that hold anxiety at bay

Conscious

Thoughts or motives that a person is currently aware of or is remembering

Pre-conscious

thoughts, motives, or memories that can voluntarily be brought to mind.

Unconscious

thoughts, motives, and memories blocked from normal awareness.

Freudian slip

The unconscious seeping into mistakes by the tongue

Jokes

are expressions of repressed s3xual and aggressive tendencies

Dreams

are censored expression of unconscious wishes

Latent content

Hidden meaning of a dream

Manifest content

The dream itself

Personality

How we express the impulses in a satisfying way without also bringing up guilt or punishment

Id

a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives

Operates on the pleasure principal demanding immediate gratification

“Devil on shoulder for pleasure and fun”

Ego

The conscious “executive” part of personality that mediates the demands of the Id, superego, and reality

Super ego

Part of personality that wants to reach “perfection”, opposite of Id

“Extreme angel on shoulder”

Psychosexual stages

Childhood stages of development during which the id’s pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones (parts of body)

Fixiation

If a child’s needs are not met, or are overindulged, during a particular stage, then personality will be “stuck” at the stage and will not develop properly.

Oral

0-18 months, focuses on the mouth (breast feeding, bottle feeding)

Overindulge: Super dependent on others, completely entitled, gullible, copycat

Underindulge: Oral aggressive, constantly showing aggression through mouth (gossip, rumors)

Anal

Toliet training, 18-months to 3 yr

Underindulge: Anal retentive personality, really uptight, clean freaky, holding feelings in

Overindulge: Anal explosive personality, messy, rebellious, late, destructive

Phallic

3-6 years

Little boy has sexual desires for mother, hostility towards father (vice versa for girls)

Father (or mother) is “opp”

Oedipus complex

Baby has sexual desires for opposite gendered parent

Castration complex

Little boy is afraid to express feelings for mom because he’s afraid of dad cutting off little boy’s penis

Female oedipus complex

Little girl has sexual desires for father, hostility for mother

Mad at mom for not getting a penis

Penis envy

Little girl is mad at mom for not getting a penis, for not “completing” her

Identification

Boy: Starts copying Dad, affirms to gender stereotypes to impress Mom

Girl: Starts copying Mom, affirms to gender stereotypes to impress Dad

Latency

Nothing happens here, focus on school, sports, friendships

Genital

Puberty, start to become sexually interested in opposite gender (typically)

Defense mechanisms

Method to protect ourselves against the id or superego getting to strong

Repression

Ego buries memories into unconcious

Regression

Dealing with anxiety by going back to a more childlike state

Reaction formation

Dealing with anxiety by doing the opposite stance

Ex: being homophobic when gay

Projection

Taking own thoughts and attributing them onto others

Ex: Projecting insecurities onto another

Rationalization

To justify something to make it okay

Ex: getting rejected from college

Displacement

Taking out some issue that you have on an innocent target

Ex: Gets yelled at by boss, goes home and yells at wife

Projective tests

Ways to uncover what you buried in the unconscious

Rorchach inkblot test

Shows you a set of 10 cards with ink splattered over them, and what you see is a clue of what you’re hiding n your unconscious

Thematic apperception test (TAT)

Express inner feelings through the stories they make up about ambiguous photo

Humanistic perspective

In contrast to Freud’s focus on “sick” people, humanistic psychologists focus on “healthy” people

Strive for self-determination and self-realization

Believes people are both good or neutral, and possess drive toward self fulfillment

See the world through own eyes (not therapist eye’s like freud)

Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

1. Physiological needs (food, water, shelter)

2. Safety needs (The need to feel safe, locks on doors, safety belts, etc)

3. Belonging needs (To feel loved and belong, ex: social media)

4. Esteem needs (To feel good about ourselves ex: accomplish things)

5. Self-actualization (Need to reach our full potential, be the best version of ourself)

(From bottom to top)

Carl Roger’s Person centered Perspective

Like Maslow, humanistic

To promote growth, one needs

AGE of growth

Genuiness

Being genuine and honest with your flaws

Acceptance

Unconditional positive regard (UPR) Too feel that you aren’t going to be judged

Empathy

You need to empathize

Self-concept

All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves; answer to the question “Who am I?”

If answer is positive, then we act and perceive the world as positive, vice versa

Questionnaires

Describe ideal self and actual self

Criticisms of Humanistic perspective

Perspectives are vague and subjective

Promotes individualism

Fails to appreciate reality of human capacity for evil, naive optimism

Humanistic perspective helped renew interest in the self and positive psychology

Traits

A characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act, as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports

Gordon Allport

Highlighted over 9k words in the dictionary that could be used as traits

Uses traits to describe personality “types”

Trait theorists attempt to explain personality in terms of stable behavior

Factor Analysis

A statistical procedure used to identify clusters of related items

Extroverted

Social, outgoing, active

Introverted

Shy, quiet, careful

Unstable

Moody, touchy, anxious

Stable

Calm, leadership, even-tempered

Eysenck Test

Five Factor Model (McCrae and Costa, 1990)

Aka “The Big Five”

Theory of personality that identifies five basic personality dimensions

Five factor model of personality (OCEAN)

Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism

Personality inventories

A questionnaire on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors; used to assess several traits at once.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

Most popular personality inventory; helps to identify personal, social, and behavioral problems

Person-Situation Controversy

Critics of trait perspective note that human behavior varies widely from situation to situation.

–E.g., Being extraverted in one situation doesn’t mean you’ll be extraverted in a different situation.

•Stable or changing? What parts of personality change through life and what remains relatively stable?

Three criteria of Abnormal Behavior

Behavior that is…

• deviant (atypical)

• maladaptive (dysfunctional)

• personally distressful(despair)

…over a relatively long period of time

Standards of what is a disorder varies by culture, context and even time.

Deviant behavior

behavior deviates from what is acceptable in a culture.

Maladaptive behavior

•behavior disrupts the person’s ability to lead a satisfying life.

•It interferes with their ability to function effectively in the world.

Personally distressful

•The behavior is personally distressful when the person engaging in the behavior finds it troubling

Biological approach

•attributes psychological disorders to organic, internal causes.

Medical model

the view that psychological disorders are medical diseases with a biological origin.

Psychological approach

•: emphasizes experiences, thoughts, emotions, and personality characteristics.

Sociocultural Approach

•Emphasizes social contexts (gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, family relationships, culture)

Biopsychosocial model

•considers the influence of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors in combination.

Vulnerability-stress hypothesis (Diathesis-stress model)

preexisting conditions (genetic characteristics, personality dispositions, experiences, and so on) put an individual at risk of developing a psychological disorder.

DSM-5

the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition; the major classification of psychological disorders in the United States.

Comorbidity

the simultaneous presence of two or more disorders in one person.

Etiology

the causes of disorders.

Risk factors

characteristics, experiences, or exposures that increase the likelihood that a person will develop a psychological disorder.

Psychotherapy

a nonmedical process that helps individuals with psychological disorders recognize and overcome their problems.

Neurodevelopmental Disorders

disorders diagnosed in childhood that may be traced to:

•Genetic differences

•Atypical brain development

•Prenatal exposure to substances that adversely affect development

•E.g., Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)

•Characterized by:

•Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across a variety of settings.

•Restrictive repetitive behaviors, interests, and activities.

•The level of impairment is extremely variable.

•Early intervention strongly predicts better outcomes.

•Genes play an important role but are not a sole cause.

•ASD appears to be etiologically diverse—the underlying causes might vary from person to person.

•Often treated with behavior modification (use of operant conditioning) and also medication.

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

•One of the most common psychological disorders of childhood, with three main symptoms:

•Inattention

•Hyperactivity

•Impulsivity

•Over-diagnosed? 9% children in the US vs. 5% in most cultures

•For a diagnosis, symptoms must be observed before the age of 12 and occur in a variety of settings.

•ADHD interferes with schooling and social and academic development.

•Treatments include medication that increases the amount of circulating dopamine (e.g., Ritalin or Adderall), physical exercise, mediation, and psychotherapy

Anxiety disorders

disabling (uncontrollable and disruptive) psychological disorders that feature motor tension, hyperactivity, and apprehensive expectations and thoughts.

•Generalized anxiety disorder

•Panic disorder

•Specific phobia

•Social anxiety disorder

•Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) (*anxiety-related but not classified by DSM-5 as an anxiety disorder)

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

persistent anxiety for at least six months; and an inability to specify the reasons for the anxiety.

Panic disorder

recurrent, sudden onsets of intense apprehension or terror, often without warning and with no specific cause.

•Strikes suddenly then disappears

•Manifests as heart palpitations, shortness of breath, choking sensations, trembling, dizziness

•Often misperceived as a heart attack

Specific phobia

an irrational, overwhelming, persistent fear of a particular object or situation.

•Fears play an important role in adaptive behavior and are quickly learned.

Social anxiety disorder (Social phobia)

an intense fear of being humiliated or embarrassed in social situations.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder

involves anxiety-provoking thoughts that will not go away and/or urges to perform repetitive, ritualistic behaviors to prevent or produce some future situation.

Obsessions: recurrent thoughts
Compulsions: recurrent behaviors

•People with OCD dwell on their doubts and repeat their routines sometimes hundreds of times a day.

•Related disorders: Hoarding disorder, excoriation (picking at one’s skin), trichotillomania (pulling at one’s hair from scalp/eyebrows)

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

develops through exposure to a traumatic event, a severely oppressive situation, cruel abuse, or a natural or unnatural disaster.

•Symptoms, may be immediate or may emerge after months or even years, include:

•Flashbacks.

•Avoidance.

•Emotional numbness.

•Impulsive behavior.

•Exaggerated startle response or an inability to sleep.

•Difficulties with memory and concentration.

Dissociative disorders

involve a sudden loss of memory or change in identity.

•Due to the dissociation (separation) of the individual’s conscious awareness from previous memories and thoughts.

Dissociative identity disorder

•the individual has two or more distinct personalities or selves, each with its own memories, behaviors, and relationships.

•Formerly called multiple personality disorder.

Major depressive disorder (MDD)

involves a major depressive episode and depressed characteristics, such as lethargy and hopelessness, for at least two weeks.

•Manifests as lethargy, feelings of worthlessness, loss of interest in family, friends, and activities

•Lasts two weeks or more

•Not caused by drugs or medical condition

•People with low socioeconomic status (SES), especially those living in poverty, are more likely to develop depression.

•Women are nearly twice as likely as men to develop depression.

Bipolar disorder

mood disorder characterized by extreme mood swings that include one or more episodes of mania—an overexcited, unrealistically optimistic state.

•Grandiose optimism may lead to reckless investments, spending sprees, unsafe sex (They need protection from their own judgments)

Anorexia Nervosa

involves the relentless pursuit of thinness through starvation.

•Highest mortality rate of any psychological disorder.

•High-achieving perfectionists.

Bulimia nervosa

an individual (typically female) consistently follows a binge-and-purge eating pattern.

•Young women with high standards but very low confidence.

Schizophrenia

a severe psychological disorder characterized by highly disordered thought processes.

Psychosis

•a state in which a person’s perceptions and thoughts are fundamentally removed from reality.

Hallucinations

•sensory experiences that occur in the absence of real stimuli.

Delusions

false, unusual, and sometimes magical beliefs that are not part of an individual’s culture.

Referential thinking

ascribing personal meaning to completely random events.

Catatonia

•Disorders of movement, like catatonia: a state of immobility and unresponsiveness for long periods.

Flat affect

•the display of little or no emotion.

Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD)

characterized by guiltlessness, law-breaking, exploitation of others, irresponsibility, and deceit.

•The term psychopath is sometimes used for a subgroup of individuals with ASPD.

Boderline personality disorder (BPD)

pervasive pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and emotions, and of marked impulsivity beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts.

•Unstable affect.

•Unstable sense of self and identity.

•Negative interpersonal relationships.

•Self-harm or the threat of self-harm.