Psychology Test 4

Personality

• ENDURING and PERSISTENT thoughts, emotions and behaviors that characterizes the way an individual interacts with the world

Freud’s Theory of Personality (Iceberg)

• Differences between conscious and unconscious mind

  • Conscious mind: thoughts you are aware of and express

  • Unconscious mind: thoughts you are not aware of but still influential

• Personality is shaped by the conflict between id, ego, and superego which operate in the conscious and unconscious mind

  • Id: primitive/animalistic drive (“devil”)

  • Ego: mediator/balance (present around 3yrs.)

  • Superego: moral compass (“angel”, present around 5 yrs.)

Defense Mechanisms

• Repression: shove back to the unconscious mind (most used)

  • Ex. Can’t remember sexual trauma

• Rationalization: replaces a less acceptable motive with a more accepted

  • Ex. Believing they were not accepted into the fraternity, not because they were not liked, but because it was a low chance/unlucky

• Displacement: shifts feelings from an unacceptable object to an acceptable object

  • Ex. Angry at boss → angry at boyfriend instead

• Sublimation: replacing an unacceptable motive with a socially acceptable one

  • Ex. Sexual urges → artist who paints nudes instead

• Projection: attributing personal shortcomings/faults to others

  • Ex. Cheaters are more jealous

• Reaction formation: transforming an unacceptable motive into the opposite

  • Ex. Sexual urges → becomes a nun

• Denial: refusal to acknowledge anxiety-producing realities

  • Ex. Diagnosed with cancer → does not acknowledge it

• Regression: seeking an earlier developmental period in the face of stress

  • Ex. Returning to mom after arguing with partner

Jung’s Theory

• Embraced Freud’s ideas but added the collective unconscious

  • comes from ancestral memories/impulses

• His Archetypes:

  • Found across cultures

  • The wise mentor story (Dumbledore, etc.)

  • marriage

• Life Approaches:

  • Introverts vs. Extraverts

Social Cognition Theories

• Beliefs about self and how the world influences our behavior/attitude

  • Ex. 3 Factors: Behavioral factors, Personal factors, and Environmental factors

Self-Efficacy

• Belief in one’s ability to succeed at a task

Self-Esteem

• Overall worth as a person/self-respect

Locus of control

• How much you think your life is within your control

• Internal: free will

• External: fate

Self-regulation

• How much a person can control his or her behavior to accomplish goals

Delayed Gratification

• Putting off instant reward in pursuit of a larger reward later on

How to increase self-regulation

• To-do lists: breaking large goals into smaller tasks

• Do the most challenging tasks first

• Take small breaks, snack, or nap

Can too much self-regulation be bad?

Yes

Ex. eating disorders

Personality Traits

• Characteristic ways of behaving

  • Kind, outgoing, active, romantic, etc.

Personality Factors

• “Big Picture” trait

• Similar traits grouped

  • ex. timid, quiet, soft-spoken, shy → introversion

Myers-Brigg Test

16 Personality Test

• Feur Personality Traits (Binary - one or the other)

  • Introversion / Extraversion

  • Sensing / Intuition

  • Thinking / Feeling

  • Judging / Perceiving

• Ex. ESFJ, INFP, ISFJ

Is the Myers-Brigg Test accurate?

• Created by two individuals who had no experience/background in psychology

• Based on Carl Jung’s Theories

• Multiple test-taking results are often not the same

  • Personality is supposed to be enduring

Big-Five Inventory

• Created by Personality Psychologists

• Factors are continuous, not binary

• The Five:

  • Openness (try new things), Conscientiousness (responsible), Extroversion (social), Agreeableness (niceness), and neuroticism (emotional)

  • OCEAN acronym

Advantages vs. Disadvantages of Personality Tests

• Advantages

  • Simple and easy to understand

  • Easily comparable

• Disadvantages

  • Does not factor social stations

  • Varying personality tests/emphasis

Biology and Personality

• Personality is influenced by genetics (50%)

• ex. similar to parents

Optimal Arousal Theory

• Everyone has a preferred level of arousal

• Seeking stimulation to increase to an optimal level or seeking calming if above

Eysenck’s Reticular Activation Theory

• Introverts and extroverts have differing optimal levels of arousal

Grey’s Biopsychological Theory

• Behavioral inhibition system

  • Sensitive to environmental punishment

  • Avoids negative consequences

  • Negative character of emotion

  • Personality trait: neuroticism

• Behavioral activation system

  • Sensitive to environmental reward

  • Seeks positive consequences/awards

  • Positive character of emotion

  • Personality trait: extraversion

3 Types of Development (can occur simultaneously)

• Physical Development

  • growth and change in body and brain

• Cognitive Development

  • changes in learning, attention, memory, language, thinking, reasoning

• Psychosocial Development

  • changes in emotion, personality, and social relationships

Physical Development

• Reflex

  • automatic response to certain sensory inputs

  • not learned, present from birth

  • Infants have special reflexes to help them survive

Brain Growth

• Rapid increase in neural connections and then decline from peak 3-4 years, to 10 years

• Synaptic Pruning

  • elimination of unnecessary neural connections

  • increases processing speed and cognitive abilities

Motor Skills

• Gross motor skills

  • Ability to perform large movements

  • Ex. walking, running, and jumping

• Fine motor skills

  • Ability to perform small movements

  • Ex. writing, eating, and playing with toys

Motor Development

• The sequence of development is the same for all children, but the age for skill achieved can vary by culture

Gross Motor Skills Age Development

• Children crawl at 6-8 months

• 9-10 months, stand

• 11-15 months, walking

Fine Motor Skills Age Development

• Children begin to reach for objects at 1-3 months

• 4-7 months can reach and grasp objects

• Around 18 months can master releasing objects

Psychosocial Development Attachment

• Attachment style

  • your “working model” for relationships

• Attachment style is determined by how consistent caregivers are

  • consistent and responsive caregiver = secure attachment

  • inconsistent caregiver = insecure attachment

  • Ex. do not let a baby cry it out

Child Attachment Styles

• Secure

  • Children are upset when the caregiver leaves, but happy upon return

• Avoidant

  • Children show little reaction to the caregiver leaving, and ignores upon return

• Anxious / Resistant / Ambivalent

  • Children “cling” to their caregiver

  • Very upset when caregiver leaves, hard to calm upon return

Adult Attachment Styles

Childhood: secure → Adult: comfortable in relationships

Childhood: Avoidant → Adult: Emotionally cut off from partner

Childhood: Ambivalent/Resistant → Adult: fears rejection from partner, strong desire to maintain closeness

Puberty

• Maturation of sexual organs

• Girls: 9-12 yrs.

• Boys: 10-13 yrs.

• Early onset advantageous for boys but not for girls

The Teenage Brain

• More sensitive to stress and pleasure

• More reactive to peer pressure and evaluation

• Difficulty assessing risk/consequences

Imaginary Audience

• Feeling that everyone is constantly watching you and keeping track of your actions

Personal Fable

• Belief that you are immune to consequences

• “Plot armor”

Depression in Adolescence

• Girls are twice as likely to be diagnosed as boys

• Depression is the most common psychological problem teenagers face

• 1 in 5 teens has at least one major depressive episode

Friendship in Adolescence

• Shift from parents to friends of the most influential people in one’s life

• Friends are the strongest source of social support

• Can both increase or decrease stress

Co-rumination

• Repeatedly mulling over problems without attempting to solve them

  • can lead to depression and anxiety

Romance in Adolescence

• Most begin dating (by 18, 2/3 have recently dated within the past year)

• Both positive and negatives to social life

Good Relationships (Healthy)

• Strong social support

• Increase feelings of acceptance

• Buffer against anxiety and depression

Bad (Breakups/Rejections)

• Increase in loneliness

• Rejection is painful

• Worsens anxiety and depression

Ugly Relationships (Unhealthy)

• Increase in drug use, risky sexual behaviors, and delinquency

• Poor academic achievement

• Dating and relationship violence

• “Early starters” that start dating from 11-13 are at an increased risk

Early Adulthood (18-40)

• Transitional Stage

  • College

  • Moving out

  • Married

  • Children

  • Career

• Shift of influence from friends to romantic partner

Social Clock

• Expectations for when major life events should occur

  • Ex. married by 27, kid 1 by 29, kid 2 by 31

• Varies by culture

• Being “on schedule” boosts self-efficacy and self-esteem, and vice versa

Physical Aging

• Most signs of aging are not noticeable until late adulthood (40s-60s)

• Wrinkles, grey hair

• Reaction time worsens

• Senses dull (seeing/hearing)

• Diet and exercise help a lot

• Aging is different for everyone (genetics, plastic surgery)

Cognitive Decline

• Semantic memory and procedural (facts, information) do NOT decline with age

• Semantic memory tends to improve with age

• HOWEVER, episodic memory (who, what, when) declines with age

  • ex. lost keys, calling people wrong names

• ALSO, reaction time and multitasking decline with age

Ward off age decline

• Exercising / physical activity

• Mental stimulation

• Healthy diet

• Social engagement

• Avoid unhealthy habits (drugs, drinking)

Happiness in later life

• 65+ happier than any other age group on avg.

  • possibly due to more wisdom, less affected by hardship, and savoring life

Social Phycology Basics

• Study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the presence of others

  • Presence can be actual, implied, or imagined

Constructivism

• Mind is “constructing” reality

• Construct is based on cognitive and social cues

• Ex. How people viewed Biden falling off the bicycle

• Ex. Ronald Reagan edited vs unedited presidential debate and the follow-up

Situationism

• Situation/environment is the most powerful influence on a person’s behavior

• Ex. Dr. Stern is a super introvert but talks a lot for his profession

Attributions

• Assumption about why someone behaved the way they did

• Internal Attribution

  • Behavior based on who someone is as a person

• External Attribution

  • Behavior based on situation

• Aware of the power of situation when looking at ourselves, but not others

Fundamental Attribution Error

• Overestimate other people’s behavior to internal characteristics, and ignore situational factors

• Can be helpful for predictions

• Self-serving bias can invert FAE

  • Tendency to judge yourself favorably

Social Norms

• Agreed upon rules for what is expected or appropriate

• Norms vary by situation (ex. Wedding / Funeral)

• Norms vary from culture (ex. men holding hands)

• Violating social norms carries a penalty

  • Insults, exclusion, physical violence, etc.

Social Rules

• Expectations for the professor vs. the student

• Ex. Gordon Ramsay on TV vs. with his family

Standford Prison Experiment

• Dr. Philip Zimbardo

• 24 people mock prison studio

• 12 people were guards, 12 were prisoners

• Planned to last two weeks, but cancelled after less than one due to harsh conditions

Social Influence

• How people are affected by the real and imagined pressures of others

Conformity

• Tendency to behave consistently with group norms (social pressure)

Solomon Ashis conformity Study

• Judge the length of lines (which one is longest) in a group setting where all actors answered incorrectly

• Non-actor subject conforms to a clearly wrong answer

• Normative influence and Informational Influence

Normative Influence

• Influence of fear of negative social consequences from defying a group

• Ex. ostracism/exclusion

• Ex. sideways glances

• Ex. feelings of anxiety

• Normative Influence increases when a group needs a uniform idea

Informational Influence

• Belief that others are correct or know more

• Doesn’t trust / doubts oneself

• Informational Influence increases when there is already a lack of information or the task is complicated/ambiguous

Compliance

• Acceptance: conforming to a request or norm because you think it is the right thing to do

• To increase compliance:

  • be likeable

  • reciprocity (done/doing a favor)

One compliance strategy

• Door-in-the-Face

  • Ask for a big request you know will get rejected

  • After they reject it, ask for a smaller request (one you wanted all along)

  • Uses reciprocity and anchoring

Obedience

• Complying with a request from a person who holds power over you

• Power can be intangible (high status person) or tangible(gun)

• With a strong authority figure, requests often are not questioned

  • Ex. Hitler

Milgram Experiment

• Prediction: everyone will stop before the 135-volt level, and only 0.1% the sociopaths will go all the way

• Findings: 100% made it to 135 volts, and 65% made it all the way to 450 volts

• None of the participants were sociopaths, but still did it because of intangible authority