Psychology Exam #4

Freud’s psychodynamic theory

levels of consciousness, motivation, psychosexual stagesi

id

personality element representing basic instinctual drives such as those related to eating, sleeping, sex, and comfort

ego

element that works to help satisfy the drives of id while complying with the constraints placed on behavior by the environment

superego

element in charge of determining which impulses are acceptable to express and which aren’t

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

personality test that predicts bimodality, but this is not realistic

projective tests

used to tap the unconscious by projecting meaning onto ambiguous stimulus

thematic apperception test

participants create stories describing ambiguous black and white drawings

personality traits

tendencies to behave in certain ways that remain relatively constant across situations

situationism

the view that behavior is governed primarily by the variables in a given situation rather than by internal traits

interactionism

a view emphasizing the relationship between a person’s underlying personality traits and the reinforcing aspects of the situations in which they choose to put themselves

reciprocal determinism

internal thoughts influence external environment (reciprocal relationship exists among environment, behavior, and the individual)

corresponsive principle

effect of life experience on personality development is to deepen the characteristics that lead people to those experiences in the first place

openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, emotional stability

What are the five traits in the five factor personality model? (The Big Five)

social psychology

the study of how the actual, implied, or imagined presence of others influences our thoughts, feelings, and actions

cognitive dissonance

emotional discomfort as a result of holding contradictory beliefs or behaving in contradictory ways

self-perception theory

suggests that when people are uncertain of their attitudes, they infer what the attitudes are buy observing their own behavior

social identity theory

theory that emphasizes social cognitive factors in the onset of prejudice

stereotypes

generalized impressions about a person or a group of people based on the social category they occupy

prejudice

negative stereotypical attitudes toward individuals from another group

implicit

type of prejudice where a person is unaware of their attitude

explicit

type of prejudice where a person in aware of their attitude

discrimination

behavior towards a person based on group membership

central route

focus on content, facts, and logic (strength of the argument)

peripheral route

focus on superficial information (other factors)

attributions

explanations for other peoples’ behavior ( could be correct or incorrect)

dispositional

behavior is due to the person’s personality

situational

behavior is due to some aspect of their situation

fundamental attribution error

we underestimate the impact of a situation, we overestimate a person’s personality

self-serving bias

if we experience success, we attribute it to ourselves (dispositional), if we experience failure, we attribute it to our situation (situational)

conformity

changing behavior to match others

norms

social conventions that provide order and predictability

descriptive norms

what do people typically do, or what are other people currently doing?

injunctive norms

what should people do? (appropriateness of behavior)

foot-in-the-door

get the target to agree to something small so they will agree to something larger later

door-in-the-face

ask for something big knowing you will get turned down, but then request the smaller item you really wanted

altruism

unselfish concern for other exhibited in helping behavior (requires empathy)

egoism

helping other because of your own concerns (elimination of negative emotions)

bystander effect

the more people present, the less likely any one person will attempt to help (diffusion of responsibility)

similarity, proximity, self-disclosure, physical attractiveness

What are the 4 key factors of attraction?

triangular theory of love

involves intimacy, passion, and commitment - 3 dimensions lead to 7 different “types” of love

abnormal psychology

scientific study of psychological disorders

deviance, distress, dysfunction, danger

What are the 4 agreed upon features of abnormal psychology? (4 D’s)

deviance

behavior, thoughts, or emotions are unusual

distress

to the person or close to others

dysfunction

interference with daily functioning

danger

people who put themselves or others at risk

diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders

provides a categorical list of symptoms for all 400 mental disorders, identifying a disorder by its symptoms and other evidence

comorbidity

2 or more disorders are present

clinical interviews

face to face (unstructured or structured)

clinical tests

tools to gather info used to make inferences about functioning

clinical observations

analog - clinical setting, naturalistic - everyday environment, self-monitoring - clients observe and report

neuroscience model

views disorders as illnesses caused by a malfunctioning in the brain

psychodynamic model

underlying, perhaps unconscious, psychological forces cause conflict

cognitive behavioral model

disorders are the result of maladaptive learned behaviors and thinking

arbitrary inferences

negative conclusions based on little evidence

selective perception

seeing only negative features of events

magnification

exaggerating the importance of negative events

overgeneralization

overly broad, negative conclusions

major depressive disorder

has a combination of emotional, motivation, behavioral, cognitive, and physical symptoms

generalized anxiety disorder

worry about most situations, edginess, concentration difficulty, sleep problems; focus on the role of GABA; intolerance of uncertainty

social anxiety disorder

persistent fear of embarrassment in social situations; fear of speaking and poor functioning in front of others

socio-cultural model

abnormal behavior is best understood in light of the social, cultural, and family forces brought to bear on an individual

developmental psychopathology

the study of how problem behaviors evolve as a function of a person’s genes and early experiences and how these early issues affect the person at later life stages