Openstax Psychology Chapter 11 - Personality

Vocabulary flashcards covering the major personality theories, psychosexual and psychosocial stages, behavioral perspectives, traits, and assessments from Openstax Psychology Chapter 11.

Personality

Traits and patterns that result in a person thinking, feeling, and behaving in a specific and consistent way. It is what makes individuals unique and different from others. It is also long-term, stable, and not easily changed.

Conscious

Thoughts, feelings, and memories that we can access at any time.

Unconscious

Thoughts, feelings, and memories that we are unaware of and unable to access. According to Freud, most of the human mind operates at this level.

Id

Operates on the pleasure principle; the aspect of personality that consists of our most primitive drives and urges, including impulses for hunger, thirst and sex. "I want to do that now!"

Ego

Operates on the reality principle; the aspect of personality that represents the self, or the part of one's personality visible to others. Serves as a balance between the other personality components. "Maybe we can compromise."

Superego

Operates on the morality/guilty principle; the aspect of personality that serves as one's moral compass or conscience. "It's not right to do that."

Neurosis/Neuroticism

A tendency to experience negative emotions.

Defense Mechanisms

Unconscious protective behaviors that aim to reduce anxiety; operate in various ways that distort reality.

Psychosexual Stages of Development

Freud's stages of child development in which a child's pleasure-seeking urges are focused on specific areas of the body called erogenous zones. Failure to resolve a stage can lead to fixation.

Freud's Psychosexual Stages

Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, Genital.

Oral Stage

Psychosexual development stage from birth to 1 where pleasure is focused on the mouth (eating and sucking nipples, pacifiers, and thumbs); major conflict is weaning off breast or bottle. The adult fixation might be smoking, nail-biting or overeating. Associated with the id principle.

Anal Stage

Stage of psychosexual development from 1-3 in which children experience pleasure in their bowel and bladder movements; major conflict is toilet training; the adult fixation might be neatness or messiness. Associated with the ego principle.

Phallic Stage

Stage of psychosexual development from 3-6 in which children focus on pleasure on the genitals/erogenous zones; major conflicts are the Oedipus and Electra complexes, where the child feels a desire for the opposite sex parent and jealousy toward the same sex parent. The adult fixation is having a very strong super ego.

Latency Period

This period is not considered a stage of psychosexual development and occurs from 6 to puberty; sexual feelings are dormant; focus is on school, friendships, hobbies, and sports.

Genital Stage

Stage of psychosexual development from puberty on in which the focus is on the maturation of sexual interests; incestuous urges resurface, but in a more socially acceptable way. For example, boys look for girls that are like their mothers and girls look for boys that are like their fathers.

Psychoanalysis/Psychoanalytic Theory

Refers to releasing the tension of repression and resolving unconscious inner conflicts; the typical image is where the patient is lying on a couch and the analyst is behind the patient and not visible so the patient will talk letting out thoughts from his/her unconscious mind.

Elements of Psychoanalysis

Free association, interpretation, slips of the tongue, dreams, transference, resistance.

Free Association

Speak whatever comes to mind.

Interpretation

The therapist suggests unconscious meanings and underlying wishes.

1st Year of Life (Trust vs. Mistrust)

Erikson's Psychosocial Stage that corresponds with Freud's Oral Stage.

2nd Year (Autonomy vs. Doubt)

Erikson's Psychosocial Stage that corresponds with Freud's Anal Stage.

3rd through 5th Years (Initiative vs. Guilt)

Erikson's Psychosocial Stage that corresponds with Freud's Phallic Stage.

6th Year to Puberty (Industry vs. Inferiority)

Erikson's Psychosocial Stage that corresponds with Freud's Latency Stage.

Neo-Freudians

Believed in minimizing thanatos and eros/libido, the consciousness is more important, ego is more important than the id, personality develops after age 6, psychosocial development should be emphasized.

Individual Psychology

Adler's school of psychology focused on our drive to compensate for feelings and inferiority.

Inferiority Complex

Adler's concept that refers to a person's feelings that they lack worth and don't measure up to the standards of others or of society.

Analytical Psychology

Jung's theory focusing on the balance of opposing forces within one's personality and the significance of the collective unconscious.

Collective Unconscious

Theorizes that a baby is born with images (archetypes) that they just know from birth, such as a mother, a father, a god-like higher power, a villain, and a hero.

Archetype

Images that exist in our collective unconscious across cultures and societies; these images are common among all people.

Introversion and Extroversion

The two attitudes or approaches toward life, which are considered some of Carl Jung's most important contributions in psychology. They are also the traits that are the most highly inherited from parent to child.

Coping Styles

The primary way you relate to people, developed by Karen Horney. They are somewhat similar to John Bowlby's Attachment Styles.

Moving Towards

Coping style characterized by dependence. A child seeks positive attention and affection from parent; an adult is needing love—always asking for reassurance.

Moving Against

Coping style characterized by aggression and manipulation; a child fights or bullies other children; an adult is abrasive, hurtful, exploitative—will lie to you and charm you to get you to do something.

Moving Away

Coping style characterized by detachment and isolation; a child is withdrawn from the world and isolated; an adult is a loner.

Social Cognitive Theory

Bandura's theory of personality that emphasizes both cognition and learning as sources of individual differences in personality. He believed that thinking and reasoning were important components of learning.

Reciprocal Determinism

Because Bandura was not a strict behaviorist, he believed that humans have the ability to think and feel, therefore he proposed that one's environment can determine behavior, but at the same time, people can influence the environment with both their thoughts and behaviors.

3 Ways the Environment Interacts with the Individual through Reciprocal Determinism

1. Different people choose different environments; 2. Our personalities shape how we interpret and react to events; 3. Our personalities help create the situations to which we react.

Behaviorist

Believe only in the "nurture" side of Psychology. No feelings or thoughts allowed. They do not believe in biological determinism, which is the belief that personality traits are inborn.

Biological Determinism

The belief that personality traits are inborn, not learned.

Ivan Pavlov, John Watson, and B.F. Skinner

The three behaviorists who truly believed that everything humans do is based on what they learn in the environment.

Humanist

Developed in the second wave of psychology; focused on conditions that support healthy personal growth; open, creative, loving. Include Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.

Self Efficacy

Our level of confidence in our own abilities, developed through our social experiences; affects how we approach challenges and reach goals. People with a high amount have a positive view of challenges and recover quickly from setbacks; people with a low amount have a negative view of challenges and have difficulty handling setbacks.

Locus of Control

Our beliefs about the power we have in our own lives; proposed by Julian Rotter.

Internal Locus of Control

The thought where one believes that most of our outcomes are the direct result of our own efforts.

External Locus of Control

The thought where one believes that our outcomes are outside our control.

Self Concept

Our thoughts and feelings about one's self; the first person to come up with this term was Carl Rogers.

Ideal Self

The person that you would like to be.

Real Self

The person you actually are.

Congruence

A sub-category of Rogers' self concept when our thoughts about our real self and ideal self are very similar—when our self concept is accurate.

Incongruence

A sub-category of Rogers' self concept when our ideal self and real self do not equal each other.

Heritability

The inborn, genetically based personality differences; the proportion of difference among people that is attributed to genetics.

Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart

A study that found that identical twins, whether raised together or apart, have very similar personalities—supporting the idea that personality is strongly related to genetics.

Trait

A characteristic pattern of behavior to feel and act.

Type A

A behavior pattern where the individual is intensely driven, a workaholic, preoccupied with deadlines and always in a rush. This individual usually plans everything out, does not like to wait, makes good grades and gets promoted at work; a subset of this trait is a person that is angry and hostile. An individual with this type of personality is 7 times more likely to get heart disease.

Type B

A behavior pattern where the individual is more relaxed and laid back. This individual does not like to plan and often waits to the last minute to complete tasks.

Five Factor Model (The Big Five)

A continuum made up of the following personality traits: openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism (OCEAN). Each person has a combination of these traits scored from high to low, with most falling midway. Applicable for people all over the world.

Eysencks' Personality Dimensions

Theorists who viewed people as having two specific personality dimensions: 1) Unstable-Stable and 2) Introverted/Extroverted.

Psychoticism

A third dimension identified by the Eysencks later on which describes people who are born innately cruel and antagonistic—independent thinkers, cold, nonconformists, impulsive, antisocial, and hostile.

Culture

All of the beliefs, customs, art, and traditions of a particular society; multi-cultural psychologists believe that culture shapes people's personality.

Individualistic Cultures

Value independence, competition, and personal achievement; characteristic of Western countries such as the US.

Collectivist Cultures

Value social harmony, respectfulness, and group needs over individual needs; characteristic of Asian, African, and South American countries.

Selective Migration

The concept that people choose to move to places that are compatible with their personalities and needs.

Projective Test

Personality assessment in which a person describes ambiguous stimuli that's presented, revealing hidden feelings, impulses, and desires.

Rorschach Inkblot Test

Projective test where people describe what they see in inkblot cards. Freud felt when people described what they saw, it was a reflection of their unconscious thoughts.

Temperament

How a person reacts to the world, including their activity level, starting when they are very young. Believed to be inherited, categorizing babies as easy, difficult, or slow to warm up.

The Three Components of Personality According to Freud

Id, Ego, and Superego.

Fixation

The thought by Freud that disorders in adults resulted from poor parenting such as a child that was overly traumatized/neglected or overly indulged/protected.

Oedipus Complex

Defined by Freud and connected to the Phallic Stage, this is the desire by boys to kill their fathers and marry their mothers.

Electra Complex

Defined by Jung and connected to the Phallic Stage, this is the desire by girls to kill their mothers and marry their fathers.

Positive Psychology

An area of study first promoted by Martin Seligman that seeks to identify and promote qualities that lead to greater fulfillment in our lives. It is sometimes thought of as the science of happiness.

Freud's Topographic Model

A diagram that shows a division with conscious thinking on top and unconscious thinking on the bottom.

Freud's Structural Model

A diagram where the majority of the superego, the ego, and the id are located in the unconscious and only a small portion of the superego and ego are located in the conscious.

Openness

One of the Five Factor traits; related to imagination, feelings, actions, and ideas. A person with a low score is practical and prefers routine. A person with a high score is curious with a wide range of interests; independence.

Conscientiousness

One of the Five Factor traits; related to competence, self-discipline, thoughtfulness, and goal-driven. A person with a low score is impulsive, careless, disorganized, irresponsible. A person with a high score is hardworking, dependable, organized, and goal-oriented.

Extroversion (as described in the Big Five)

One of the Five Factor traits; related to sociability, assertiveness, and emotional expression. A person with a low score is quiet, reserved, and withdrawn, but often introspective and imaginative. A person with a high score is outgoing, warm, and seeks adventure.

Agreeableness

One of the Five Factor traits; related to cooperative, trustworthy, and good-natured. A person with a low score is critical, uncooperative, suspicious, and sometimes cruel and aggressive; a person with a high score is helpful, trusting, empathetic, and friendly.

Neuroticism (in the Big Five)

One of the Five Factor traits; related to tendency toward unstable emotions. A person with a low score is calm, even-tempered, and secure (stable). A person with a high score is anxious, unhappy, insecure, and prone to negative emotions (unstable).