PSYCH CHAPTER 12 PERSONALITY

What is personality?

An individual’s characteristic pattern of:
• Thinking
• Feeling
• Acting

What are psychodynamic theories?

Theories that view personality with a focus on the unconscious and the
importance of childhood experiences

What is psychoanalysis?

Freud’s theory of personality, which attributes thoughts and actions to
unconscious motives and conflicts

techniques include: seeking to expose or intepret unconncious tensions

Q: What is the core focus of Freud’s psychoanalytic view of personality?

A: It focuses on the unconscious mind and the importance of childhood experiences in shaping personality.

Q: According to Freud, what does the mind contain that influences behavior?

A: A large unconscious region filled with hidden, repressed thoughts, feelings, and desires.

Q: What are “Freudian slips”?

A: Unintentional slips of speech or behavior that reveal unconscious thoughts or feelings.

What is the technique of free association for?

uncovering unconscious thoughts: patients say whatever comes to mind to reveal repressed material

Q: Why are childhood experiences important in Freud’s theory?

A: He believed early experiences shape the unconscious and have long-lasting effects on personality.

Q: According to Freud, what causes human personality to arise?

A: A conflict between our impulses and restraints

How do people develop restraints against their impulses, according to Freud?

A: Through socialization, where they internalize society’s rules and expectations.

Q: What part of the mind does the id correspond to in Freud’s iceberg model?

A: It lies completely below the water, fully in the unconscious.

Q: What principle does the id operate on?

A: The pleasure principle — seeking immediate gratification of needs and desires. (I WANT IT NOW)

Q: How does the id behave and when is it first present in someone’s life?

It’s present from birth and behaves like: I WANT IT NOW

Q: What part of the mind does the ego correspond to in Freud’s iceberg model?

A: The tip of the iceberg: conscious, logical and problem solving

What principle does the ego operate on?

A: The reality principle — satisfying the id’s desires in realistic, socially acceptable ways.

When does the ego develop and what is it’s main role?

develops in early childhood & its main role is to balance the needs id, superego, and real-world demands.

Q: Where is the superego located in the iceberg model?

A: In the middle — partly conscious, partly unconscious.

Q: What principle does the superego follow?

A: The morality principle — focusing on right, wrong, and ideal standards

What does the superego produce?

guilt and pride

Q: What is the Oral Stage (0–18 months) and its focus?

A: Pleasure centers on the mouth—sucking, biting, and chewing.

Q: What is the Anal Stage (18–36 months) and its focus?

A: Pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder elimination and coping with demands for control.

Q: What is the Phallic Stage (3–6 years) and its focus?

A: Pleasure centers on the genitals and involves coping with incestuous sexual feelings.

Q: What is the Latency Stage (6 years to puberty) and its focus?

A: A phase of dormant sexual feelings

Q: What is the Genital Stage (puberty on) and its focus?

A: Maturation of sexual interests and development of mature sexuality.

Q: What is the Oedipus Complex, and when does it occur?

A: During the Phallic stage (ages 3–6), a boy feels unconscious sexual desire for his mother and jealousy and rivalry toward his father.

Q: What is the Electra Complex, and when does it occur?

A: During the Phallic stage (ages 3–6), a girl feels unconscious sexual desire for her father and rivalry toward her mother.

Q: How are the Oedipus and Electra conflicts resolved?

A: By identifying with the same-sex parent rather than seeing them as a rival—leading to internalization of parental values and development of the superego.

Q: How are the Oedipus and Electra conflicts resolved?

A: By identifying with the same-sex parent rather than seeing them as a rival—leading to internalization of parental values and development of the superego.

Q: What is fixation in Freud’s psychosexual theory?.

A: A lingering focus of the id’s pleasure-seeking energies on an earlier psychosexual stage due to unresolved conflicts during that stage (over or under of one stage of id)

What personality characteristics may result from phallic fixation?

• Overly flirtatious or seductive behavior

• Excessive vanity

• Need for attention

• Ego problems

• Confusion about sexual identity

• Relationship difficulties later in lif

Q: What are defense mechanisms?

A: The ego’s unconscious strategies for reducing anxiety by distorting reality; they operate indirectly and unconsciously.

Q: What is regression?

A: Retreating to a younger, more infantile behavior pattern, such as a child beginning to thumb-suck on the first day of school or after a new sibling arrives.

Q: What is reaction formation?

A: Replacing an unacceptable impulse with its opposite, such as someone feeling anger but showing exaggerated friendliness instead.

Q: What is projection?

A: Attributing one’s own unacceptable impulses to others, such as accusing someone else of the anger or impulses you actually feel.

Q: What is rationalization?

A: Offering self-justifying explanations to hide the real, less acceptable motives—like a habitual drinker saying they drink “just to be sociable.”

Q: What is displacement?

A: Shifting impulses toward a safer or more acceptable target, such as a child who, after a time-out, kicks the family dog instead of expressing anger at the parent.

Q: What is denial?

A: Refusing to believe painful or threatening realities—such as a partner denying evidence of an affair

What are projective tests and give me an example?

They ask people to interpret ambiguous stimuli to assess unconscious processes, like the inkblot tests

Q: What is the central idea of Carl Rogers’ person-centered perspective?

A: Humans are naturally primed to grow and reach their potential when they are in a growth-promoting environment.

Q: According to Rogers, what three qualities in an environment promote human growth?

A: Acceptance (unconditional positive regard), genuineness, and empathy.

what is self concept

a person’s overall understanding of who they are

Q: What are traits in personality psychology?

A: Characteristic patterns of behavior or tendencies to feel and act in certain ways.

Q: What are “factors” in trait theories?

A: Clusters of behavior tendencies that occur together and reflect a basic personality factor.

example: someone is often talkative, sociable, and enjoys being around people. These behaviors cluster together and represent a factor called “extraversion.”

What are Hans & Sybil Esneck theory when it comes to trait theories?

restricted it only to extraversion-introversion, instability-stability

Q: What is a personality inventory?

A: A questionnaire that assesses a wide range of feelings and behaviors to assess personality traits.

Q: What is the MMPI?

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, the most widely researched and clinically used personality test (self-report & true/false questions)

What are the Big Five broad dimensions of personality? (OCEAN)

O - Openness

C -onscientousness

E -xtraversion

A - greeableness

N -euroticism (emotional instability-stability)

How do they test for the Big 5?

answer a series of statements, put 1-5

Q: What is the social-cognitive perspective?

A: A view of personality that emphasizes how a person’s traits and thoughts interact with their social situations

Q: What is reciprocal determinism?

A: Albert Bandura’s idea that behavior, personal factors, and the environment all influence each other.

personal factor

Q: What do people bring with them into social situations, according to Bandura?.

A: Their past learning, self-efficacy, and ways of thinking about the situation

Q: What is self-efficacy?

A: A person’s belief in their ability to succeed or handle a situation.

What is the criticism for social-cognitive theories?

focus more on situation than a person’s inner traits

What is the criticism for trait theories?