Psychology Exam 3 - Personality Psychology

Psychodynamic Approach

Parts of mind, levels of consciousness, mental conflict

Parts of the Mind

Id, Superego, Ego

Id

Motivates a person to seek pleasure and avoid pain, pleasure principle, basic impulses (food, water, safety, etc), NOT rational

Pleasure Principle

Immediate gratification of desires

Superego

Motivates a person to behave morally and socially acceptable ways, operates as the conscience, NOT rational

Ego

Negotiates between the Id and the superego, and the constraints of reality, can be rational, reality principle

Reality Principle

Controls Id (keeps it in check), denies or delays gratification

3 Levels of Consciousness

Conscious, preconscious, unconscious

Conscious

Thought can be directly observed by turning attention inward, usually rational and controlled

Preconscious

Thoughts are not currently conscious but could be intentionally brought to mind

Unsconscious

Thoughts can't be intentionally brought to mind, irrational, emotional, and controlled

Iceberg Model

Ego and Superego exist in all three levels of the mind, but Id is unconscious only

Mental Conflict

Id impulses, superego demands, and reality often conflict with one another

Produce Anxiety

What happens when mental conflicts occur?

Any level

What level of consciousness do mental conflicts occur?

Steam Pressure Metaphor

Anxiety will continue (and grow) until the conflict is resolved

Bad idea

Give in to the id or superego

Defense Mechanisms

Strategies to keep unresolved id, or superego demands out of consciousness, repression, displacement, rationalization

Repression

Forcefully blocking an unacceptable demand or conflict from the conscious

Displacement

Expressing an unacceptable impulse (often aggressive or sexual) using a safe target

Rationalization

Inventing an acceptable explanation for an unacceptable or irrational behavior

The Big 5 (OCEAN)

Openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism

Openness to Experience

A person's willingness to try new things and be accepting/seeking od new experiences

• High scorers tend to be more creative

Conscientiousness

A person's likelihood of being thorough, careful, and vigilant

• High scorers tend to have higher GPA and quality friendships

Extraversion

How outgoing and sociable a person is

• High scorers tend to experience more gratitude and are more forgiving

Agreeableness

How easygoing, friendly, and likeable a person is

• Higher scores tend to have more successful romantic relationships and are more altruistic

Neuroticism

Generally prone to negative emotions. Anxiety, sadness, and more swings, as opposed to being more relaxed, optimistic and emotionally stable

• Higher scorers tend to experience poorer health outcomes

Nature

Genetic factors

Nurture

Environmental Factors

Monozygotic Twins

Identical, more similar in personality

Dizygotic Twins

Fraternal, less similar in personality

-1 to 1 scale

Measures personality traits

Heritable

What are genetic traits?

Personality Bottom Line

 Personality traits are influenced by both nature and nurture (with approximately equal influence)!

Consistency of Moral Behavior (Hartshorne and May)

Created moral dilemmas and observed behavior among more than 8,000 elementary school students and examined the consistency of moral behavior across these situations

Consitent

Study results across similar situations

Not as consistent

Study results across non-similar situations

Study Bottom Line

Behavior is jointly determined by BOTH personality and situational factors

Increases

Conscientiousness and Agreeableness Over Time

Decreases

Neuroticism Over Time

Change due to life experiences

Traits over time

Middle Childhood and Adolescence

Pronounced and curvilinear age trends, emergence of gender differences

Adults

Psychological maturity, increases in agreeableness and conscientiousness, decrease in neuroticism

Behavior Factors

Personality, experience, and present situational factors