Personality - Exam 1

Person and Situation

Situation influence behavior, but individuals do not respond identically to the same environment

Behavior is shaped by both the situation and enduring personal characteristics

Ex. someone who is emotion focused needs comfort while another person who is logical needs information

Personality

Consistent with behavior patterns and intrapersonal processes orignating within the individual

Personality is consistent

We can identify behavior patterns over time and across situations

Personality concerns intrapersonal processes

emotional, motivational, and cognitive processes inside us

Psychoanalytic Approach

people’s unconscious minds are largely responsible for differences in their behavior styles

Ex. we possess an unconscious desire to self-destruct but because people who have healthy personality do not hurt themselves; they are often expressed against others when we are blocked from reaching our goals

Trait Approach

people lie along a continum of various personality characteristics but intensity of each of them is morphed as they age and environment changes

Ex. investigators find elementary school children who shove and bully their classmates often become adults who abuse their romantic partners or engage in violent criminal behavior

Biological Approach

people inherit predispositions and physicologial processes that explain individual differences

Ex. men are more aggressive than women in terms of an inherited male need to exercise control over rivals so that he can survive and pass along his genes

Humanistic approach

people’s personal responsibility and feelings of self-acceptance are key causes of differences in personality (it matters who you surround yourself with)

Ex. all people can become happy, nonviolent adults if allowed to grow and develop in an enriching and encouraging enviornment. Aggressive children come from homes in which basic needs are not adequately met or who develop a poor self-image

Behavioral/social learning approach

behavior is explained in terms of conditioning and expectations

Ex. children may learn from observing aggressive classmates that hurting others is sometimes useful (reward)

Cognitive approach

people process information differently

Ex. when aggressive thoughts are highly accessible, people are more likely to interpret situations as threatening and respond to those perceived threats with violence

Individualistic cultures

place great emphasis on individual needs and accomplishment

Ex. Western notion of self-esteem is based on assumptions about personal goals and feelings of uniqueness may not apply to people in many other countries

Collectivist cultures

more concerened about belonging to a larger group, prioritize cooperation over competition, and emphasize group performance over individual accomplishment

Ex. behavior that suggests excessive dependency or an exaggerated sense of self in one culture might reflect good adjustment in another

Theory

A general statement about relationship between constructs or events

Differ in the range of events or phenomenon in which they explain (broad or specific)

Two characteristics of a good theory

Parsimonious: explains the phenomenon in simple terms

Useful: generate testable hypotheses

Hypothesis

a formal prediction about the relationship between two or more variables that is logically derived from a theory

A theory is supported more or less by the research from hypothesis testing rather directly

Testing Approach

Independent Variable

determines how the groups in an experiment are divided

manipulated by the experimenter, such as through random assignment to different experimental condition

Ex. amount of drug each group receives

Dependent variable

measured by the investigator and is used to compare the experimental groups

outcome variable

Manipulated independent variables

begins with a large number of participants and randomly assigns them to experimental groups

Nonmanipulated independent variable

exists without the researcher’s intervention (subject variable)

Ex. researchers might divide people into high self-esteem and low self-esteem groups, or into first-born, middle-born, or last-born categories (pre-existing traits)

difficult to determine cause-and-effect relationships and cannot assume conditons are identical at the beginning of the experiment

Prediction vs. Hingsight

Accurately tells you before the game which team will win and why vs. the one who can explain after a football game why the winning team was victorious

Replication

used as most psychologists are cautious about drawing conclusions from a single investigation as sometimes effects found in one study are not reproduced in others

the more often an effect is found in research, the more confidence we have that it reflects a genuine relationship

File Drawer Problem

investigators only tend to publish research when they find significant effects and not replication attempts that fails so researchers never know why it had gone wrong

Case study method

in-depth evaluation of a single individual, or sometimes a few individuals

researchers describe their impressions of what the person did and what the behavior means

Psychobiography

conducting an extensive psychoanalysis of a person they have never met

Statistical significance

helps researchers tell if different group averages represent real effects or just chance fluctuations

Significance level

significance level of 0.05 means the difference between the score is so large that it would occur less than 5 percent of the time by chance, the difference is probably genuine

p less than or equal to 0.05 rejects the null hypothesis

Correlation Coefficient

appropriate statistical test when we want to understand the relationship between two measures

1.00 to -1.00

positive (0.60), negative (-0.60), or no correlation (0.00) between the variables

Reliability

when it measures consistently

Ex, a reliable personality test will produce roughly the same score each time you take it as we assume personality is relatively consistent over time

Test-retest reliability coefficient

can be used to determine a test’s consistency, but whether a test is reliable or not is not a simple a yes-or-no question

uses correlation coefficents

Validity

the extent in which a test measures what it is designed to measure

Anna O.

realize the importance of free associations and allowing patients to say whatever came into their minds through Anna O. as she talk about her day dreams, hallucinations about past traumatic events, and her dying father and associating him with a black snake. The paralysis in her arm was gone and her speech came back

Little Albert

Topographic Model

Conscious, preconscious, unconscious

Conscious

contains the thoughts you are currently aware of, and the material constantly changes

Preconscious

large body of retrievable information

Ex. Who was your third-grade teacher?

Unconscious

contains the majority of our thoughts, but no immediate access. Responsible for much of our daily behaviors

you can bring unconscious thoughts into consciousness only under certain extreme situations

The Structural Model

divides personality into the id, the ego, and the superego

id

present at birth and is only concerened with satisfying personal desires

deep inside unconscious

Pleasure principle

actions taken by id; id is concerened only with what brings immediate personal satisfaction regardless of physical or social costs

Wish fulfillment

when our need for immediate pleasure is frustrated (i.e. temporarily satisfies the need through dreams)

Ego

develops first 2 years of life, actions built upon reality principle

moves freely among the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious

Reality principle

the ego takes into consideration the realities of the world and id impulses tend to be socially unacceptable

Superego

represents society’s (and especially the caregiver’s) values and standard

triggers feeling of guilt even if we have not done anything bad

Defense Mechanism

when ego has many techniques to deal with unwanted thoughts and desires

Repression, sublimation, displacement, denial, reaction formation, intellectualization, projection

Repression

an active effort by the ego to push threatening material out of consciousness or to keep that material from ever reaching consciouness (i.e. trauma)

Ex. one night a boy sees one parent physically assault the other, when later asked about the experience, the boy insists he has never seen anything of the sort

Sublimation

the ego channels threatening unconsious impulses into socially acceptable actions, allowing us to become productive

Ex. we can express aggressive id impulses by playing an aggressive style of hockey or football

Displacement

involves channeling our impulses to nonthreatening objects

Ex. directing anger towards the wrong person

Denial

we refuse to accept that certain facts exist; it’s not that we do not remember but we insist that something is not true despite all evidence to the contrary

Ex. a widower who loved his wife deeply may act as if she were still alive long after her death

Reaction Formation

we hide from threatening unconscious ideas or urges by acting in a manner opposite to our unconscious desires

Ex. a young woman who constantly tells people how much she loves her mother could be masking strong unconscious hatred for the mother

Intellectualization

another way the ego handles threatening material is to remove the emotional content from the thought before allowing it into awareness

considering something in a strictly intellectual, unemotional manner—we can bring previously difficult thoughts into consciousness without anxiety

Ex. under the guise of pondering the importance of wearing seat belts, a woman might imagine her husband in a greusome automobile accident (unconsious hostility toward her spouse)

Projection

by projecting the impluse onto another person, we free ourselves from the perception that we are the one who actually holds his thought

Ex. The woman who thinks everyone in her neighborhood is committing adultery may be harboring sexual desires for the married person living next door

Psychosexual Stages of Development

characterized by primary ergoenous zone and sexual desires

oral stage, anal stage, phallic stage, latency stage, and genital stage

Fixation

some children have a difficult time moving through a particular stage (i.e. toliet training)

Oral stage

first stage and spans the first 18 months of life

the mouth, lips, and tongue are the primary erogenous zones (i.e. sucking thumbs)

Oral personality

traumatic weaning or feeding problems during this stage

In adulthood: smoke or drink excessively, dependent on others

Anal stage

occurs around 18 months of age and the anal region becomes the most important erogenous zone (i.e. toliet training

Anal Personality

traumatic toliet training

In adulthood, orderly and rigid or stubborn and generous

Phallic stage

occurs 3 to 6 years of age, and the penis or clitoris becomes the most important eregonous zone

Opedipus complex

children at this age develop a sexual attraction for their opposite-sex parent

Castration anxiety

a fear their father will discover their thoughts and cut off their penis

Penis envy

girls having the desire to have a penis upon seeing one, coupled with feelings of inferiority and jealousy because of its absence

Latency stage

occurs after resolving the Opedipus complex

sexual desires abate during these years, and boys and girls are largely uninterested in each other

Ex. a look at any playground will verify that boys this age tend to play with other boys and girls play with other girls

Genital stage

eregnous urges return and are focused in the genital region during puberty

Dreams

“the royal road to the unconsciousness” and proposed that dreams provide id impulses with a stage for experession (wish fulfillment)

Manifest content of a dream

what the dreamer can remember and report

Latent content of a dream

what is really being expressed

Freudian dream symbols

vast majority are sexual

Projective tests

presents test takers with ambiguous stimuli and ask them to identify objects, tell a story, or draw a picture

responses are said to provide insights into what is going on in the unconscious

Free associations

can be experienced when suprising, uncensored ideas entering your awareness once you allow whatever comes to your mind to enter

might not be easy because of ego repressing threatening thoughts but can be broken with a given expression

Freudian slips

Ex. a husband might refer to his wife by her maiden name (because he unconsciously wish he’d never married this woman) or say that her mind is really her “breast” feature

Hypnosis

Freud believe that the ego was somehow put into a suspended state during a hypontic trance, which allowed the hypnotist to bypass the ego and get directly to unconscious material

Accidents

many apparent accidents are in fact intentional actions stemming from unconscious impulses

Ex. clients who claim to accidentally forget their regular therapy appointment might be displaying what Freud called resistance

Symbolic Behavior

many of our display behaviors can be interpreted by Freudian psychologists as symbolic representing unconscious desires

poses no threat to the ego bc they are not perceived for what they are

Ex. a client expresses unconscious hostility towards his mother by stomping on her doormat that had daises on it which was her mother favorites — daises symbolizes the mother

Psychoanalysis

brings crucial unconscious material into consciousness where it can be examined in a rational manner

therapist sits behind the client laying on the couch

use of hypnosis, free association, dream interpretation

Psychoanalysis example

Ex. a house was on fire. My father was standing beside my bed and woke me up. I dressed quickly. Mother wanted to stop and save her jewel-case; but Father said: "I refuse to let myself and my two children be burnt for the sake of your jewel-case.” We hurried downstairs, and as soon as I was outside, I woke up.

Transference

emotions associated with people from the past are displaced onto the therapist

Ex. a client might talk to and act toward the therapist as if the therapist were a deceased parent

unconscious emotions and undelievered speeches buried long ago are unleashed, feelings that often lie at the heart of the clients disorder

Countertransference

therapists displace their own feelings toward other individuals onto the client

Rorschach inkblot test

consists of 10 cards, each containing nothing more than a blot of ink, sometimes in more than one color

test takers are instructed to describe what they see in the images, free to use any part of the inkblot and are usually allowed to give several responses to each card

rely on personal insights and intuition

Thematic Appreciation Test

consist of a series of ambiguous pictures. Test takers are asked to tell a story about each picture— who the people are, what is going on, what has led up to the scene, and what the outcome is going to be

Ex. test takers may see love, guilt, anger, or grief in the faces

Human Figure Drawing

ambigious stimulus in this test consists of a blank piece of paper and instructions to draw a picture (people, family or a tree)

Ex. children who frequently draw monsters or ghoulish creatures could be expressing some disturbing inward feelings

Dream interpretation

Some researchers wake sleeping participants when physiological measures indicate they are dreaming and ask the participants to quickly describes the dream before it fades away

other dream researchers ask people to keep diaries to record their dreams when they first wake up

Continuity Hypothesis

the content of our dreams is not random but rather reflects the concerns and preoccupations we wrestle with during our waking hours

what we dream is influenced by the fears, problems, and issues that capture our thoughts before we go to bed

Ex. pregnant women are more likely to dream about issues related to motherhood than are women who are not pregnant

Continuity Hypothesis II

Freudian psychologists are interested in less obvious connections between dreams and waking experiences

concerned with how unconscious conflicts are experessed during sleep

Ex. women typically have an equal number of male and female characters in their dreams but men are much more likely to dream about male characters (could be due to Oedipus complex or conflict with men)

Recurrent Dreams

dreams that we believe we have had before

unconscious conflicts that surface in dreams may be expressed as anxiety during the day but it may also be anxiety during the day causes the dream at night

Ex. students who experienced recurrent dreams had considerably more of these dreams during exam weeks than when they were under less stress

Symbolism in dreams

seemingly innocent objects and actions in our dreams represent topics so anxiety-provoking they are disguised in the form of symbols

Defense Mechanism

Freud was particularly interested in repression which he considered to be the cornerstone of psychoanalysis

Developmental Differences

children rely heavily on denial. However, as children mature, they find that outright denial of facts and feelings is increasingly ineffective

older children often rely on projects to alleviate their anxieties and inward fears

Defensive Style

everyone has their own individual patterns of a particular defense mechanism

Ex. cancer patients who rely on denial are less likely to visit their physician

Tendentious jokes

jokes that provide insight into the joke teller as well as the person who laughs

Aggressive jokes

allow us to express impulses ordinarily held in check; insulting jokes allow us to express aggressive desires in a socially acceptable manner

Freud predicts that the best way to defuse a tense situation is to tell the angry person an aggressive joke as it provides a safe outlet for an angry individual’s hostile feelings thereby lowering the urge to act aggressively

Sexual jokes

allowing people to discuss taboo topics in socially appropriate ways

Catharsis

long buildup creates tension, and the more tension released at the punch line, the more enjoyable the joke; the more explicit the description, the more tension

Hypnosis II

Most researchers agree that hypnosis includes an introductory procedure in which people are told they are going to be hypnotized followed by suggestions to improve certain tasks (i.e. pain management and police investigations)

Social Cognitive Theorists of Hypnosis

Reject the notion that hypnotized people operate under an altered state of awareness

Hypnotic Responsiveness

Highly responsive people follow suggestions from anyone they perceive to be a legitimate hypnotist

How responsiveness you are to hypnotic suggestions today is an excellent predictor of how responsive you will be years from now

Hypnotist can define the situation as hypnosis and establish trust and cooperation to increase responsiveness