Personality Psychology - Exam 2

Carl R. Rogers (Quotes)

“I speak as a person, from a context of personal experience and personal learning.”

• “I do not react to some absolute reality, but to my perception of this reality”

  • The “reality” we observe is really a “private world of experience …, the phenomenal field”

Phenomenal Field

The space of perceptions that makes up our experience—is a subjective construction.

• Made up by “The Self”

Phenomenology.

The study of structures of consciousness as experienced from the first-person point of view

• does not try to characterize the world of reality as it exists independent of the human observer

• is interested in the experiences of the observer: how the person experiences the world

Structure

The Self

The Self

The individual perceives external objects and experiences and attaches meanings to them.

• The total system of perceptions and meanings make up the individual’s phenomenal field.

• “me,” or “I”

Self-Concept

An organized and consistent pattern of perceptions.

• A personality structure 

Ideal Self

The self-concept that an individual would most likely to possess.

• includes the perceptions and meanings that potentially are relevant to the self and that are valued highly by the individual

Self-Consistency

The organism does not seek to gain pleasure and to avoid pain but, instead, seeks to maintain its own self-structure.

Congruence

No conflict between the perceived self and experience

• Your actions match your perception of yourself 

Incongruence

Conflict between the perceived self and experience

• Your actions do not match your perception of yourself 

Distortion

Allows the experience (one that does not align with the self) into awareness but in a form that makes it consistent with the self

Denial

Serves to preserve the self-structure from threat by denying it conscious expression

Threat being an experience that does not align with the self 

Conditions of worth

Standards of evaluation that are not based on one’s own feelings, preferences, and inclinations but instead on others’ judgments about what constitutes desirable forms of action.

Need for positive regard

Rogers’s concept expressing the need for warmth, liking, respect, and acceptance from others.

Subception

A stimulus is experienced without being brought into awareness.

Authenticity

The extent to which the person behaves in accord with his or her self as opposed to behaving in terms of roles that foster false self-presentations.

Client-Centered Therapy

The therapist not only uses the technique of reflection but also plays a more active role in understanding the experiences of the client.

• The critical variable in client-centered therapy is the nature of the interpersonal encounter that develops between the therapist and client, or what is referred to as the therapeutic climate

Contingencies of self-worth

The positive and negative events on which one’s feelings of self-esteem depend.

Existentialism

“a philosophical theory or approach which emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will” (google).

Human potential movement

Self-determination theory

All human beings have fundamental psychological needs to be competent, autonomous, and related to others (CAR).

In other words, these are viewed as the basic, universal human needs.

• Competence - feeling effective in one’s actions.

• Autonomous - the need to act in autonomous, self-directed (motivated by intrinsic rewards) as opposed (motivated by external rewards and punishments).

• Relatedness - feeling connected with others and having a sense of belonging in one’s community.

Self-experience discrepancy

The potential for conflict between the concept of self and experience—the basis for psychopathology.

Carl Rogers

Humanistic Perspective

Born 1920-died 1987

Phenomenology 

Study of conscious and subjective experiences of individuals 

• The goal isn’t to explain “reality” but rather understand the world as perceived and lived by the individual

Phenomenal Field

Everything potentially available to awareness at any given moment - more than just consciousness 

Actualization: The Primary Motive

• Become a fully functioning person”, be the best that you can be 

• be open to experiences 

• Live existentially - in the moment 

• Trust feelings, instincts, gut-reactions 

• Be creative - seek new experiences 

• Be satisfied with life - but always be open to new challenges 

Types of Congruence

Perceived self vs. Ideal Self

Who we see ourselves as vs. who we believe we should be 

Perceived self vs. experiences ( “dissonances” lowkey) 

Who you see yourself as vs. your experiences

Growth will happen with …

• Positive Regard

  • Acceptance, respect, sympathy, and love 

• Sources of Regard 

  • Others 

  • Self 

• Types of Regard

  • Conditional 

  • Unconditional - (we should strive for getting this from others) 

Self-Kindness

“Extending kindness and understanding ones self rather than being unnecessarily harsh”

A sense of common humanity

“seeing one’s experiences as part of the larger human experience rather than  seeing them as separate and isolated’

Mindfulness regarding personal hardship or weakness

“Holding one’s painful thoughts and feelings in balanced awareness rather than over-identifying with them”

Self-compassion “isn’t it just self-esteem?”

“Self-compassion involves treating yourself with the same kindness you would show a friend to yourself” “Self-esteem is just feeling good about yourself” 

Q-Sort Methodology

Series of cards, look at the cards and tell how much they are like you. You sort them based on how much the are like you, not like you, and sorta like you.

Abraham Maslow 1908-1970

Made the “Hierarchy of Needs”

Psychology’s Paradox

• The majority of people are healthy

• Personality theorists focus on abnormal personality

• Focusing on a limited, and biased, pool of people is not an adequate way to develop theories

• We should be studying people who are the healthiest

Self - Actualization Pattern

• Accepting 

• Independent of culture 

• Democratic 

• Creativeness 

• Unhostile sense or humor

• Discrimination between means and ends

BUT ALSO

• Ruthless 

• Absent-minded 

• Overly Kind 

• Guilt and Anxiety

Being - Values (B-Values)

• Truth

• Beauty 

• Goodness 

• Justice 

• Wholeness 

• Aliveness 

• Self-sufficiency 

Peak Experiences

Especially joyous and exciting moments … different from normal consciousness 

Mystical 

Trait

Words that describe people’s typical styles of experience and action

Traits can change throughout a persons life

Ture

Cardinal Trait

Expresses a disposition that is so pervasive and outstanding in a person’s life that virtually every act is traceable to its influence.

Central Traits

(e.g., honesty, kindness, assertiveness) express dispositions that cover a more limited range of situations than is true for cardinal traits.

Secondary Dispositions

Traits that are the least conspicuous, generalized, and consistent.

People possess traits with varying degrees of significance and generality.

True

Functional Autonomy

This means that although the motives of an adult may have their roots in the tension-reducing motives of the child, as Freud suggested, the adult grows out of the early motives. In adult life, motives become independent of, or autonomous from, earlier tension-reducing drives.

Factor Analysis

A statistical tool for summarizing the ways in which a large number of variables go together, or co-occur

Surface Traits

Represent behavioral tendencies that are literally superficial: They exist “on the surface” and can be observed.

Source Trait

In Cattell’s theory, behaviors that vary together to form an independent dimension of personality, which is discovered through the use of factor analysis.

Cattell identified 16 source traits. He grouped the 16 source traits into three categories:

Ability traits - refer to skills and abilities that allow the individual to function effectively. Intelligence

Temperament traits - involve the emotional life and the stylistic quality of behavior. The tendency to work quickly versus slowly, to be calm versus emotional, or to act impulsively or only after deliberation are all qualities of temperament.

Dynamic traits - concern the striving, motivational life of the individual. Individuals who are more or less motivated differ in dynamic traits.

Ability Traits

refer to skills and abilities that allow the individual to function effectively. Intelligence

Temperament Traits

Involve the emotional life and the stylistic quality of behavior. The tendency to work quickly versus slowly, to be calm versus emotional, or to act impulsively or only after deliberation are all qualities of temperament.

Dynamic Traits 

Concern the striving, motivational life of the individual. Individuals who are more or less motivated differ in dynamic traits.

Objective-test data (OT-data)

In Cattell’s theory, objective test data or information about personality obtained from observing behavior in miniature situations.

Q-data

In Cattell’s theory, personality data obtained from questionnaires.

State

Refers to emotion and mood at a particular, delimited point in time

Neuroticism

In Eysenck’s theory, a dimension of personality defined by stability and low anxiety at one end and by instability and high anxiety at the other end.

Correlation Coefficient

“a statistical measure ranging from -1 to +1 that quantifies the strength and direction of a linear relationship between two variables” (Google).

Flow

“… a state of consciousness where one becomes totally absorbed in what one is doing, to the exclusion of all other thoughts and emotions.”

Flow involves the balances between two things:

Skill

Challenge 

“FundaMentals” for Flow 

• Action-awareness merging 

• Clear goals 

• Unambiguous feedback 

• Concentration on the task at hand 

• Sense of control 

• Loss of self-consciousness 

• Transformation of time

• Autotelic (fun) experience

“FundaMentals” for Flow

Action-awareness merging 

The need for total absorption

• Forget yourself - don’t worry about self and what others are thinking of you 

• Don’t be distracted by your competitors 

• Focus on the process 

“FundaMentals” for Flow

Unambiguous feedback 

• Recognize that there are many sources of feedback (body, coach, teammate, opposition, etc.) 

• Focus on you own performance and recognize that feedback is neither good nor bad

“FundaMentals” for Flow

Concentration on the task at hand 

Stay in the present

• Refocus when distracted

• use task oriented goals

• keep things simple

“FundaMentals” for Flow

Sense of control 

• Having complete control in 

• Recognize what is and is not in your control

Peak Experience vs. Flow vs. Peak Performance

Self-Complexity

“a personality trait reflecting the number and distinctness of self-aspects (different roles, relationships, traits, and contexts that define an individual) within a person's self-concept” (google).

Aspects of me

The five-factor model

• The Big Five Dimensions 

OCEAN 

Neuroticism 

Extraversion 

Openness 

Agreeableness 

Conscientiousness 

fundamental lexical hypothesis

“the most important individual differences in human transactions will come to be encoded as single terms in some or all of the world’s languages”

facets

more specific components that make up each of the broad Big Five factors.

Honesty seems to be the 6th factor of the five-factor model, six-factor model

True

Person-situation controversy

A controversy between psychologists who emphasize the importance of personal (internal) variables in determining behavior and those who emphasize the importance of situational (external) influences.

Self-Complexity

Based on:

• The number of self aspects one has 

• How interconnected are these aspects 

Self Complexity can be low or high 

A dimension running from low to high

Low = small number of aspects with high level of interconnections 

High = large number of aspects with low level of interconnections 

Low self-complexity is more vulnerable to stress because

stressors influence a greater percentage of who they are

Traits

“A generalized and focalized neuropsychic system (peculiar to the individual), with the capacity to render many stimuli functionally equivalent, and to initiate and guide consistent (equivalent) form or adaptive and expressive behavior.” 

Functional Equivalent Ex.

• different anxiety situations is still the same response 

• different stimuli cause the same functional response 

Traits are not

• Habits - showers, brushing teeth, nail biting, etc.

• Attitudes - particular thoughts or beliefs about a particular thing 

Allport’s Hierarchy

• Cardinal - very pervasive, main thing that describes you, we are way more multidimensional them that 

• Central - highly characteristic, what would be put in a letter or recommendation, all people are like some other people 

• Secondary - narrow range, closer to habits 

Types ex.

you either are or you’re not, you have it or you don’t 

Lexical Approach

Looking at language to see what words describe human beings 

The Lexical Hypothesis

Words arise in the language to capture “reality” and not the other way around

“a core assumption in personality psychology, proposing that important individual differences in personality are encoded in language as words, and that more significant traits will have more words dedicated to them” (google). 

Factor Analysis

Find clusters of items that mathematically go together, find commonalities, reduce the amount of data you have 

Cattel 16 PF

personality factors

Eysenck Super Factors

3 factors / really 2 introverted and extravert emotional unstable (neurotic) emotionally stable, psychoticism 

Alfred Adler 

He was the founder of Individual Psychology and a philosopher who emphasized understanding people as whole beings. 

What is Individual Psychology?

People are driven by a need of belonging and community 

It is the study of an individual’s life as a whole — every moment and impulse — to understand their attitude toward life.

What was Adler’s connection to Freud?

Adler worked with Freud to improve psychoanalysis but eventually left the movement to develop his own theory.

What did Adler believe was the ultimate goal of life?

To “be like God” — meaning people strive to emulate those they see as strong or powerful.

What did Adler believe our actions reveal?

Our actions show whether we are feeling superior or inferior.

Why did Adler consider social life important?

Because social interaction helps people grow; lack of it can lead to problems like antisocial behavior, criminality, or addiction.

How did Adler view birth order?

He believed birth order affects personality and behavior patterns.

What are the traits of the Oldest Child according to Adler?

The firstborn is initially the center of attention and often becomes responsible and achievement-oriented.

What are the traits of the Middle Child according to Adler?

The middle child is a peacemaker who competes with the oldest for attention and seeks their own niche.

What are the traits of the Youngest Child according to Adler?

The youngest is often pampered and protected, tends to be charming, and takes on a “leading role.”

Openness 

Curiosity, creativity 

Agreeableness

Trusting, cooperative

Person-Situation Debate - Walter Mischel’s thesis 

Mischel wrote a book and in the first half argued that two main themes of personality isn’t accurate 

Person-Situation Debate - Walter Mischel’s The argument 

Behavior is not primarily determined by personality traits, but by the situation a person is in.

If traits are relatively stable and enduring predispositions that exert fairly generalized efforts on behavior,

Then behavior should be consistent across situations

Behavior is NOT consistent across situations

Therefore: traits do not influence behavior

Person-Situation Debate - Walter Mischel’s Conclusion 

The correlation between personality and the outcome rely on the measurement used, evidence for cross-temporal stability is good 

The personality coefficient 

The correlation between a trait assessed with a paper and
pencil measure and that same trait assessed in any other way
rarely exceeds .30.