Personality Psychology: Key Concepts, Theories, and Assessments

What does personality psychology study?

Consistent behavior patterns and intrapersonal processes within the person, and how these differ across individuals.

How does personality psychology differ from clinical/counseling psychology?

Personality focuses on describing and explaining normal individual differences, while clinical/counseling focuses more on assessment and treatment of psychological problems.

What are individual differences?

Small but important ways people differ in typical thoughts, feelings, and behaviors across situations.

What is intrapersonal functioning?

Internal processes within the person (motives, emotions, cognitions) that influence behavior.

What is the person-situation debate?

The question of whether behavior is better predicted by stable traits or by the situation; current view is that both matter.

What is parsimony in science?

Preference for the simplest adequate explanation that makes the fewest assumptions.

What is a theory?

A broad, well-supported framework that explains findings and can generate many specific hypotheses.

What is a hypothesis?

A specific, testable prediction derived from a theory.

What does p < .05 mean?

Assuming the null hypothesis is true, there is about a 5% chance of obtaining results this extreme or more extreme just by random chance.

What is the file drawer problem?

Publication bias where nonsignificant or null findings remain unpublished, so the literature overrepresents positive results.

What is an independent variable (IV)?

The variable that is manipulated or categorized to see its effect on an outcome.

What is a dependent variable (DV)?

The measured outcome that is expected to change as a result of the independent variable.

What is reliability?

The consistency or repeatability of a measurement across time, items, or raters.

What are Freud's three levels of mind?

Conscious, preconscious, and unconscious.

What is the id?

The pleasure-seeking, instinctual part of personality that wants immediate gratification.

What is the ego?

The rational part of personality that operates on the reality principle and mediates between id, superego, and reality.

What is the superego?

The internalized moral standards and ideals that judge the self and produce guilt.

What is the pleasure principle?

The id's drive to seek immediate pleasure and avoid pain.

What is the reality principle?

The ego's tendency to delay gratification and plan actions that are realistic and socially acceptable.

What is libido in Freud's theory?

Psychic energy associated with life and sexual instincts.

What is thanatos?

The death drive, associated with aggression and the wish to self-destruct or return to an inanimate state.

What is fixation in psychoanalytic theory?

Getting 'stuck' at a psychosexual stage due to too much or too little gratification, leading to adult personality patterns.

What is a Freudian slip?

An apparent mistake in speech or behavior that is thought to reveal an unconscious wish.

What is free association?

A method where clients say whatever comes to mind to bypass conscious censorship and reveal unconscious material.

What is the function of dreams in psychoanalysis?

Dreams are disguised expressions of unconscious wishes and conflicts.

What are defense mechanisms?

Unconscious mental strategies the ego uses to reduce anxiety by distorting or denying reality.

What is a defensive style?

The characteristic pattern of defense mechanisms an individual tends to rely on.

What is denial (defense mechanism)?

Refusing to accept an unpleasant reality.

What is repression?

Unconsciously pushing distressing thoughts, memories, or impulses out of awareness.

What is projection?

Attributing one's own unacceptable thoughts or feelings to someone else.

What is rationalization?

Creating plausible but false explanations to justify behavior or feelings.

What is displacement?

Redirecting an emotional response from the real target to a safer substitute target.

What is reaction formation?

Behaving in a way that is the opposite of one's true, unacceptable feelings.

What is sublimation?

Channeling unacceptable impulses into socially acceptable or productive activities.

What is regression?

Reverting to a more childlike behavior pattern when under stress.

What is one major limitation of Freud's theory?

It is difficult to test scientifically and has limited empirical support.

How did neo-Freudians differ from Freud?

They kept the unconscious and early experience but emphasized social relationships, culture, and conscious processes more than sexual drives.

According to Adler, what is striving for superiority?

A fundamental drive to overcome feelings of inferiority and achieve competence.

According to Adler, how is birth order related to personality?

Different birth positions (first, middle, last) are associated with different typical experiences and personality tendencies.

What did Horney see as the main source of neurosis?

Unhealthy, anxiety-provoking interpersonal relationships and basic anxiety about safety and love.

What are basic coping strategies?

Problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, avoidance, disengagement, and seeking social support.

What is coping flexibility?

The ability to switch coping strategies when a current strategy is not working.

What has research shown about catharsis?

Venting or expressing anger tends to maintain or increase anger rather than reduce it.

What are the core assumptions of the trait approach?

Personality consists of relatively stable traits that show consistent patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior across time and situations.

What is a trait dimension?

A continuum along which people differ in the degree to which they show a particular characteristic.

What is achievement motivation?

The drive to meet standards of excellence, master tasks, and do well.

How do high achievers choose tasks?

They prefer moderately difficult tasks that are challenging but not impossible.

What is an optimistic explanatory style?

Habitually explaining bad events as temporary, specific, and not entirely one's fault, and good events as more stable and internal.

What is the TAT (Thematic Apperception Test)?

A projective test where people tell stories about ambiguous pictures to reveal underlying motives and themes.

What is the Barnum Effect?

The tendency to accept vague, general personality descriptions as uniquely accurate for oneself.

What are typical trait-behavior correlations?

Often around r ≈ .30, which can still be meaningful over many occasions.

What are the Big Five traits?

Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.

What are surface traits?

Observable behavior tendencies such as talkativeness or tidiness.

What are deeper causal traits?

Underlying dispositions that produce many different surface behaviors.

What did Allport contribute to trait theory?

He launched the trait tradition, catalogued thousands of traits, and distinguished cardinal, central, and secondary traits.

What are cross-cultural findings on achievement motivation?

Individualistic cultures often show higher explicit achievement motivation, but the meaning of achievement varies across cultures.

How does emotional expressiveness relate to relationships?

Greater emotional expressiveness, often higher in women, is linked to better relationship satisfaction and health.

What is a common criticism of trait labels?

Labels can oversimplify people, and relying too much on scores can obscure important situational information.

What is heritability of personality from twin studies (rough idea)?

About 40% of personality variance is attributable to genetic differences.

What are Eysenck's major personality dimensions?

Extraversion-Introversion, Neuroticism-Stability, and Psychoticism.

What was Eysenck's idea about cortical arousal and extraversion?

Extraverts were thought to have lower baseline cortical arousal and seek more stimulation; introverts higher arousal and prefer less stimulation.

How do extraverts and introverts differ most?

In preferred levels of stimulation and performance under highly stimulating conditions.

What is right-hemisphere activation associated with?

Negative emotions and withdrawal-related affect (e.g., fear, sadness).

What is brain asymmetry?

The idea that left and right hemispheres show different patterns of activity linked to different emotional styles.

What does an inhibited temperament look like in infancy?

Shyness, fearfulness, and withdrawal in response to novel people or situations.

How does neuroticism relate to stress reactivity?

Higher neuroticism is associated with more intense negative reactions to stress.

What is the BIS (Behavioral Inhibition System)?

A brain system responsive to signals of punishment or novelty, associated with anxiety and avoidance behavior.

What is the BAS (Behavioral Approach System)?

A brain system responsive to signals of reward, associated with approach behavior and positive emotions.

What is goodness of fit (Chess & Thomas)?

The degree to which a child's temperament matches the demands and expectations of the environment and caregivers.

What mate preferences do men tend to have more according to Buss?

Greater emphasis on youth and physical attractiveness in long‑term partners.

What mate preferences do women tend to have more according to Buss?

Greater emphasis on resources, status, and dependability in long‑term partners.

What do both sexes value in mates according to Buss?

Kindness, intelligence, and the capacity for love.

What question do researchers now ask instead of 'nature vs. nurture'?

How genes and environment interact and work together over time to shape personality.

What is the humanistic approach most similar to?

Positive psychology and some existential approaches.

What are the main themes of humanistic psychology?

Choice, personal responsibility, growth, meaning, authenticity, and viewing people as active creators.

What is a fully functioning person (Rogers)?

Someone open to experience, living in the present, trusting feelings, creative, flexible, and moving toward growth with a self‑concept that matches reality.

What is unconditional positive regard?

Being accepted and valued without having to meet specific conditions.

What are conditions of worth?

Requirements a person feels they must meet to be loved or valued (e.g., 'I am acceptable only if I achieve X').

What is the most common defense process in Rogers's theory?

Distortion of experiences to protect the self‑concept.

What is self‑concept?

How you see yourself right now.

What is the ideal self?

The kind of person you want or aspire to be.

What is self‑esteem?

How you feel about yourself based on comparing self‑concept with ideal self.

What is congruence in Rogers's theory?

When self‑concept is aligned with reality and experiences.

What is incongruence?

A mismatch between self‑concept and experience, often leading to anxiety.

What are Maslow's hierarchy of needs?

Physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness and love needs, esteem needs, and self‑actualization.

What is self‑actualization (Maslow)?

The ongoing process of realizing and expressing one's full potential and talents.

Why do people struggle to self‑actualize?

Lower‑level needs, fear, and defensive patterns can block growth toward higher needs.

What is self‑disclosure?

Sharing personal information about oneself with others.

What is the reciprocity rule in self‑disclosure?

When one person discloses, the other feels pressure to disclose in return.

How do lonely individuals interpret social interactions?

More negatively and cautiously, often expecting rejection or failure.

What is classical conditioning?

Learning by associating a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus so that it elicits a reflexive response.

In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus must be paired with what?

An unconditioned stimulus that naturally elicits a response.

What is operant conditioning?

Learning in which voluntary behaviors are shaped by their consequences (reinforcements and punishments).

What is positive reinforcement?

Adding a pleasant consequence after a behavior to increase its likelihood.

What determines behavior according to Rotter?

Expectancy (belief that a behavior will lead to a reward) and reinforcement value (how much the reward is valued).

What is locus of control?

A belief about whether outcomes are controlled by one's own actions (internal) or by external forces like luck or others (external).

What does external locus of control look like in school?

Believing grades depend mainly on luck, teacher bias, or difficulty, which can reduce persistence.

What is learned helplessness?

A state where a person stops trying to change a bad situation after repeated uncontrollable negative events.

What is reciprocal determinism (Bandura)?

The idea that behavior, personal factors (thoughts/feelings), and environment all influence each other.

What is self‑efficacy (Bandura)?

Belief in one's ability to successfully perform a specific task or handle a situation.