Personality, Development, and Social Psychology: Key Concepts and Theories

How is personality defined?

Personality is defined as an individual's consistent patterns of feelings, thinking, and behaving.

What is the significance of stability in personality?

Stability in behavior over time is a key aspect of personality.

What does phrenology suggest about personality?

Phrenology suggests that certain bumps on the skull can indicate different personality traits.

What is somatology in relation to personality?

Somatology relates body types to personality traits.

What are the components of Freud's conception of human psyche?

Freud's model includes Conscious, Preconscious, Superego, Ego, and ID (Unconscious).

What is the role of the ID according to Freud?

The ID represents the desire to maximize pleasure and avoid pain.

What are the four preferences in Jungian Theory?

1. Extravert vs. Introvert, 2. Sensing vs. Intuition, 3. Thinking vs. Feeling, 4. Judgement vs. Perceiving.

What are the Big 5 personality traits represented by OCEAN?

Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism.

How does OCEAN predict clothing choices?

Conscientiousness may lead to formal wear, while neuroticism can influence clothing styles.

What are the three parts of narcissism?

1. Leadership/Authority, 2. Grandiose/Exhibitionism, 3. Entitlement/Exploitativeness.

What is the Dark Triad in personality psychology?

The Dark Triad includes Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and Psychopathy.

What is the correct formula for understanding personality and behavior?

Behavior is a product of Personality times Situations.

What is the Fundamental Attribution Error?

It is the tendency to attribute others' behaviors to their personality while attributing our own behaviors to situational factors.

What is conformity in social influence?

Conformity refers to aligning one's behavior with group norms.

What is obedience in the context of social influence?

Obedience involves following directives from authority figures.

What was the outcome of the Asch Line Conformity Experiment?

37% of participants conformed to incorrect group answers, dropping to 5% when supported by another person.

What did Adolf Eichmann claim regarding his actions during the Holocaust?

He claimed he acted only on express instructions from superiors, illustrating the concept of obedience.

What was the Milgram Experiment designed to study?

It studied obedience by measuring how far participants would go in administering shocks to others under authority pressure.

What are the four strategies for minority influence?

1. Be consistent and confident, 2. Display flexibility, 3. Get majority members to defect, 4. Appeal to shared group identities.

What is developmental psychology?

The study of changes in behavior from conception to death.

What are the two main research methods in developmental psychology?

Cross-sectional and longitudinal.

What are Ainsworth's attachment styles?

Secure, avoidant (dismissive), ambivalent (anxious).

Describe the characteristics of secure attachment.

Attuned, present, safe; easy flow between connection and aloneness; playful.

What characterizes avoidant attachment?

Disconnected, non-emotional, lack of co-regulation, distress with closeness.

What are the traits of ambivalent attachment?

Craves connection but pushes others away; difficulty trusting; distress with separation.

What are Maccoby and Martin's four parenting styles?

Permissive, authoritative, neglectful, authoritarian.

What defines permissive parenting?

Child-driven, rarely enforces rules, overindulges to avoid conflict.

What is authoritative parenting associated with?

Leads to secure attachment; involves problem-solving together and clear rules.

What are characteristics of neglectful parenting?

Uninvolved, provides little nurturance, indifferent to child's needs.

What defines authoritarian parenting?

Parent-driven, sets strict rules, little consideration for child's emotional needs.

What are the criticisms of Erickson's stages of development?

Timetable may not be accurate; crises may be confronted repeatedly; cultural differences.

What is Kohlberg's theory of moral development focused on?

How moral reasoning develops through stages based on social and individual ethics.

What is the difference between utilitarian and deontological ethics?

Utilitarian focuses on outcomes; deontological considers moral principles.

What are the stages of Kohlberg's moral development?

Pre-conventional, conventional, post-conventional.

What is Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development?

The difference between what a learner can do without help and what they can achieve with guidance.

What is scaffolding in the context of learning?

Supportive activities provided by educators or peers to help learners achieve tasks.

What are some examples of infant reflexes?

Grasping reflex, rooting reflex, Moro reflex.

What does the grasping reflex indicate?

An innate ability where infants grab fingers or objects placed in their hands.

What does the rooting reflex help infants do?

It helps them find and latch onto the breast for feeding.

What is the significance of vision development in newborns?

It indicates intelligence as infants explore and distinguish stimuli in their environment.

What is the looking chamber used for?

To observe what visual stimuli newborns prefer to look at.

What do newborns prefer to look at?

Visual stimuli that are new and engaging to them.

What visual stimuli do newborns prefer?

Sharp angles, circles, contrasts (especially black and white), eyes/faces, and primary colors.

What is the Other Race Effect (ORE)?

The tendency for infants to better recognize faces of their own racial group than those of other groups, emerging in infancy and usually disappearing by 9 months.

What is sensation?

Detecting stimuli from the environment through sensory organs.

What is perception?

Interpreting, organizing, and making sense of sensory information.

What does selective attention do?

Prevents sensory overload by allowing focus on important stimuli, but may lead to inattentional blindness.

What is the function of the aqueous humor in the eye?

Helps maintain eye shape and provides nutrients to the cornea and lens.

What is the role of the ciliary muscle?

Controls the shape of the lens to focus light on the retina.

What do cones in the eye do?

Process light and color, allowing for detailed vision in bright light.

What is the fovea?

A tiny pit in the retina where cones are densely packed, responsible for sharpest visual acuity.

What is accommodation in vision?

The ability of the eye's lens to change shape to focus on objects at varying distances.

What is the Muller-Lyer illusion?

An optical illusion where two lines of equal length appear different due to arrowheads at their ends.

What is color blindness?

A condition where one or more types of cone cells are missing or not functioning properly.

What is the role of smell in sensation?

A chemical sense that detects odors through receptors in the nasal cavity, bypassing the thalamus.

What are the basic tastes recognized by humans?

Salty, sour, bitter, sweet, and umami.

What do Gestalt principles describe?

Strategies used by the visual system to group sensory inputs into meaningful units.

What is the principle of proximity in Gestalt psychology?

Elements that are close to one another tend to be grouped together.

What is the principle of closure in perception?

The brain fills in gaps to perceive complete forms from incomplete images.

What is the principle of similarity in Gestalt psychology?

Things that are alike in some way tend to be perceived as belonging together.

What is the principle of continuity?

Lines and patterns tend to be perceived as continuing in time or space.

What is the significance of the optic nerve?

Transmits visual information from the retina to the brain as electrical impulses.

What is the function of the iris in the eye?

Controls the size of the pupil and regulates the amount of light entering the eye.

What is the role of the lens in vision?

Focuses incoming light rays onto the retina and changes shape through accommodation.

What is the definition of inattentional blindness?

Failing to consciously register objects that one is looking directly at due to selective attention.

What is the function of taste buds?

Contain taste receptors that detect the basic tastes.

How does smell influence behavior?

Odors can have psychological effects and influence everyday behavior.

What is the relationship between perception and physical sensations according to Descartes?

Perception is a mental representation of the world, not the world itself.

What is the role of receptors in sensation?

Receptors detect stimuli and are extensions of sensory neurons located in sense organs.

What is the impact of visual illusions?

They occur when sensory cues are misleading or misinterpreted, leading to incorrect perceptions.

What is developmental psychology?

Changes in behavior from conception to death.

What are Ainsworth's attachment styles?

Different patterns of attachment behavior in children.

What are Maccoby and Martin's four parenting styles?

Authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and neglectful.

What are Erickson's stages of development?

A series of eight psychosocial crises that individuals face throughout life.

What is Kohlberg's theory of moral development?

A framework for understanding the development of moral reasoning.

What is Vygotsky's zone of proximal development?

The difference between what a learner can do without help and what they can do with help.

What are infant reflexes?

Automatic responses to stimuli, such as grasping and rooting reflexes.

What is the typical order of motor development in newborns?

Stand using furniture, sit on their own, crawl.

What visual stimuli do newborns prefer?

Eyes and faces.

What is the other-race effect?

The tendency to recognize faces of one's own racial group more easily than those of other groups.

What is the role of nature versus nurture in development?

Nature refers to genetic influences, while nurture refers to environmental factors.

What are critical periods in development?

Specific times when certain environmental influences are necessary for normal development.

What is the Genie case study?

A case of a feral child who was isolated and deprived of language during critical developmental periods.

What is the impact of aging on the population?

Increase in health care costs and decline in the working-age population.

What is the fertility rate in the US?

1.782 births per woman.

What is the fertility rate in Niger?

6.8 births per woman.

How is personality defined?

Personality is an individual's consistent patterns of feeling, thinking, and behaving.

What does the acronym OCEAN stand for in the Big Five personality traits?

Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism.

What is phrenology?

An older theory that suggests personality traits can be determined by bumps on the skull.

What does conscientiousness predict about clothing choices?

Individuals high in conscientiousness may prefer formal wear.

What is narcissism?

A personality trait characterized by a pursuit of gratification from vanity or egotistic admiration of one's self-image.

What are the three parts of narcissism?

Leadership/Authority, Grandiose/Exhibitionism, and Entitlement/Exploitativeness.

What does Machiavellianism refer to?

A personality trait focused on self-interest, manipulation, and exploitation of others.

What is psychopathy?

A personality disorder characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy, and egotistical traits.

What is the formula representing the interaction of behavior, personality, and situations?

B = P X S (Behavior = Personality X Situations).

What is the Fundamental Attribution Error?

The tendency to overemphasize personal characteristics and ignore situational factors in judging others' behavior.

What is conformity in social influence?

The act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group norms.

What was the outcome of Asch's Line Study?

It demonstrated normative influence, showing how group pressure can affect individual judgment.

What did Milgram's experiments reveal about obedience?

They showed that a significant proportion of participants would obey authority figures, even to the point of causing harm.

Who was Adolf Eichmann?

A Nazi SS Captain convicted for crimes against humanity, overseeing the deportation of Jews to death camps.