Psychology 2e Chapter 11 Personality

Flashcards generated from Psychology 2e Chapter 11 Personality lecture notes.

Personality

Long-standing traits and patterns that propel individuals to consistently think, feel, and behave in specific ways.

Choleric Temperament

Passionate, ambitious, and bold.

Melancholic Temperament

Reserved, anxious, and unhappy.

Sanguine Temperament

Joyful, eager, and optimistic.

Phlegmatic Temperament

Calm, reliable, and thoughtful.

Phrenology

Distances between bumps on the skull reveal a person’s personality traits and mental abilities.

Unconscious

Mental activity that we are unaware of and are unable to access.

Id

Contains primitive urges and operates on the pleasure principle.

Superego

Develops through social interactions and strives for perfection.

Ego

Balances the id with the superego, operating on the reality principle.

Defense Mechanisms

Unconscious protective behaviors that work to reduce anxiety.

Oral Stage

Urges are focused on the mouth, with pleasure from eating and sucking.

Anal Stage

Urges are focused on the anus, with pleasure from bowel and bladder movements.

Phallic Stage

Urges are focused on the genitals, with the major conflict being the Oedipus or Electra complex.

Latency Stage

Sexual feelings are dormant as children focus on school and friendships.

Genital Stage

Sexual reawakening occurs, and urges are redirected to socially acceptable partners.

Individual psychology

Focuses on drive to compensate for feelings of inferiority.

Psychosocial Theory of Development

Personality develops throughout the lifespan, emphasizing the importance of social relationships at each stage.

Collective Unconscious

Universal version of the personal unconscious, holding mental patterns common to all.

Archetypes

Patterns that exist in our collective unconscious across cultures, representing universal themes.

Persona

A mask that we consciously adopt; a compromise between our true self and the self that society expects us to be.

Extroversion vs. Introversion

Being energized by being with others and seeking attention versus being energized by being alone and avoiding attention.

Karen Horney's Theory

Normal growth can be blocked by basic anxiety stemming from needs not being met.

Behavioral Perspective (Skinner)

Personality is shaped by reinforcements and consequences in the environment.

Social-Cognitive Theory (Bandura)

Emphasizes both learning and cognition as sources of individual difference in personality.

Reciprocal Determinism

Cognitive processes, behavior, and context all interact.

Locus of Control (Rotter)

Beliefs about the power we have over our lives, ranging from internal to external.

Walter Mischel's Approach to Personality

People use cognitive processes to assess situations and behave in accordance with their interpretation.

Humanistic Approach (Maslow)

Focuses on how healthy people develop, studying characteristics of creative and productive individuals.

Humanistic Approach (Rogers)

Linked personality to self-concept, dividing the self into the ideal self and the real self.

Biological Approaches

Differences in personality can be explained by inherited predispositions and physiological processes.

Reactivity

How we respond to new or challenging environmental stimuli.

Self-Regulation

Ability to control responses.

Somatotypes (Sheldon)

The concept that body type could be linked to personality.

Cardinal Trait

Dominates the entire personality.

Central Traits

Make up our personality.

Secondary Traits

Less obvious or consistent, they are present under certain circumstances.

Trait Theory

People have certain traits (characteristics or ways of behaving)

Eysenck's Theory

Focused on temperament and believed that our personality traits are influenced by our genetic inheritance.

Five Factor Model

In the Five Factor Model, each person has five traits, known as the Big Five personality traits (OCEAN).

HEXACO Model

Honesty-humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness

Cultural Understandings of Personality

Culture – beliefs, customs, art, and traditions of a particular society

Individualist Cultures

Value independence, competition, and personal achievement.

Collectivist Cultures

Value social harmony, respectfulness, and group needs over individual needs.

Self-Report Inventories

Objective test to assess personality, often using multiple-choice items or numbered scales (Likert scales).

Projective Tests

Relies on projection to assess unconscious processes using ambiguous cards to reveal feelings, impulses, and desires.