Exam 3 Personality

trait

consistent patterns of how people behave, think and feel

consistent

occurs with regularity, edurring, occurs across situations and dimensions of life

distinctive

characteristics that differ between people

cardinal traits

disposition that is so pervasive and outstanding in a person’s life that virtually every act is traceable to its influence

central traits

dispositions that cover a more limited range of situations

secondary traits

least obvious, generalized and consistent

factor analysis

statistical tool for summarizing the ways in which a large number of variables go together

surface traits

behavioral tendencies that can be observed

source traits

internal psychological structures that were the source of observed intercorrelations among surface traits

superfactors

traits of the highest level of a hierarchy of traits

lexical hypothesis

identifying and describing human differences is important to maintaining the well-being of our species

Reinforcement sensitivity theory

an alternative bottom up approach that seeks to first identify the fundamental properties of the brain’s behavioral system, then relate variations in these systems to known measures of personality

neural subsystems

a group of brain structures that work togehter to carru out a function

Behavioral approach system

produces the tendency to move towards pleasurable, rewarding stimuli

Fight, flight, freeze system

responds to aversive stimuli, generates feeling of fear

behavioral inhibition system

resolves conflicts between other systems, will pursue reward but with caution

beliefs

thoughts about what the world is actually like

expectancies

thoughts about what things probably are like in the future

self-efficacy

people’s perception of their own capabilities for action in the future

schemas

people make sense of new experiences by interpreting events based on information they already have

self schema

highly developed, elaborate knowledge structures that contain knowledge of ones own personal qualities

working self concept

different situational cues may cause different self-schemas to enter working memory

self enhancement

the motive to maintain a positive view of self

self verification

the motive to maintain a consistent view of the self

learning goal

to learn something and increase ability

performance goal

to perform well and receive positive evaluation

implicit theories

ideas and beliefs about various concepts that may lead some to choose performance over learning

entity theory

something is fixed

incremental theory

something can be acquired

self evaluative standards

crieteria people use to evaluate the goodness or worth of themselves and their actions