Personality Psychology Lecture Notes

Flashcards for vocabulary and concepts related to personality psychology, including theories, structures, determinants, and development, based on lecture notes.

Personality

Psychological qualities that contribute to an individual's enduring and distinctive patterns of feeling, thinking & behaving.

Criteria of Theories

Observations are scientific, theory is systematic, theory is testable, theory is comprehensive, theory is applicable in practice.

Fundamental Questions in Personality Psychology

What? (characteristics of person, organization), How? (causes + reasons of individual's personality), Why?

Systematic Theory

Relates ideas in a systematic, logical way

Testable Theory

Tested by objective scientific evidence.

Comprehensive Theory

Addressing all significant personality questions

Applicable Theory in Practice

Practical applications of the theory.

Structure

Characteristics of a person, organization; stable building blocks.

Process

Causes and reasons for an individual's personality; dynamic.

Psychoanalytic Theory

A theory developed by Freud focused on unconscious processes, the id, ego, and superego.

Psychodynamic Theory

A theory related to psychoanalytic theory, pioneered by Jung focusing on the personal and collective unconscious.

Learning Theory

A style of theory using learning, using experiments on animals created by Skinner and Watson

Psychoanalytic - Learning Theory

A blending of Psychoanalytic and learning theory created by Dollard and Miller

Cognitive Theory

A style of theory focused around individual cognitive function studied by Kelly

Social Cognitive Theory

Theory focused on the interactions between social situations and cognitive processes developed by Bandura.

Motive Theory

A group of theories focused around motives and needs, pioneered by Maslow, Higgins, Murray, Deci, Ryan, Dweck

Humanistic Theory

Focus on conscious experience of the self, developed by Rogers

Biological + Trait Theory

Emphasizes the roles of genetics and traits, studied by Cattell, Allport, Eyseneck, and Gray

Trait Theory

Theory focused on traits, researched by Costa and McCrae

Id, Ego, Superego

The main structures of the psychoanalytic perspective, which include the id, ego, and superego.

Psychic Systems

Structures of the psychodynamic perspective, which include the ego, personal unconscious and collective unconsciousness.

Habits

From the learning perspective, associations between stimuli and responses.

Constructs

From the cognitive perspective, ways of construing our experiences

Cognitive Processes

From the social learning perspective, personal standards, beliefs, expectancies, competencies, skills, and evaluative standards.

Needs, Motives, Goals

From the Humanistic Perspective, the way we determine the extent for which we fulfill our needs.

Self-Concept

From the Humanistic Perspective, the conscious experience of self.

Traits and Types

From the Biological Perspective, the result of both biological and evolutionary mechanisms.

Traits

From the Trait Perspective, relatively enduring patterns of thought, feelings, and actions.

Conscience

The ability to tell yourself something is not acceptable.

Cathexis

A term in the id to invest energy in object for temporary gratification.

Anti-Cathexis

Ego + Superego use energy to control (maintain impulses

Eros (Life drive)

Basic survival, erotic pleasure drive

Thanatos (Death drive)

Desire to die, aggression drive

Catharsis

Release of emotional tension / energy

Anxiety

Inner state to avoid / escape

Reality Anxiety

Actual danger causes fear of physical world.

Defense Mechanisms

Mental defense against anxiety-provoking thoughts by distorting reality or excluding feelings from awareness.

Denial

Conscious attempt to undo action (denying something ever happened / gaslighting)

Projection

Own thoughts projected to someone else: 'I don't like you, you like me.' Transformation of actor.

Regression

Regress to a previous development stage, such as a baby voice when talking to children.

Reaction Formation

Act in exact opposite manner to conceal actual feelings

Undoing

Unconscious attempt to undo action you know was wrong.

Repression

Subconsciously blocking undesirable experiences, like having no memory of abuse.

Displacement

Expressing negative unconscious feelings towards somebody other than the entity causing them.

Intellectualization

Use reasoning to justify actions and block unconscious conflict → Thinking > Feeling

Sublimation

Channeling bad energy of experience and redirecting it to acceptable actions.

Development Stages

Adult fixation occurs at each stage: Oral (0-1), Anal(1-3), Phallic (3-6), Latency(6-12), Genital (12+)

Libido - Jung

Seeks balance.

Ego - Jung

Source of consciousness

Personal Unconscious - Jung

Put-aside thoughts, feelings, memories easy to retrieve.

Collective Unconscious - Jung

Transpersonal potentialities shared by all humans.

Archetypes - Jung

Predisposition to respond to the world in certain ways.

Persona - Jung

Assumed social role; adjustment through mask.

Shadow - Jung

Unaccepted characteristics, unsocial thoughts. Devil within.

Anima - Jung

Feminine side of male psyche.

Animus - Jung

Masculine side of female psyche.

Self - Jung

Striving for unity of all personality parts. Harmony of all archetypes + expressions psychic energy

Extraversion - Jung

Psyche is oriented outward to objective world.

Introversion - Jung

Psyche is oriented inward to subjective world.

Sensation - Jung

Facts, reality.

Intuition - Jung

Relationships, meanings, possibilities.

Thinking - Jung

Logic, impersonal analysis.

Feeling - Jung

Personal values, attitudes, beliefs.

Self-Realization - Jung

Realize + maximize human potentialities.

Individuation - Jung

Systems of psyche fullest degree of differentiation, expression, development.

Transcendence - Jung

Integrating diverse systems of self towards goal of wholeness + identity with all humanity.

Synchronicity - Jung

Events are related to each other through simultaneity + meaning.

Teleology - Jung

Potential to develop psyche in the future, goal-directed

Environmental Determinism

Certain environments lead to certain behavior.

Situational Specificity

Taught behavior is specifically matched to situation.

Observable Variables

External, observable piece of behavior that can be related to environmental events

Respondents

Automatic biological reflex, not learned.

Operants

Acts on environment to produce results based on consequences, learned.

Generalization

Similar conditioned stimuli create same outcome.

Discrimination

If conditioned stimulus is too different, same outcome is not reached

Extinction

Response is unlearned, association lost the more times no reward (unconditioned stimulus) is provided

Reinforcer, Punisher

In-/decreases probability of response

Continuous Reinforcement

Always reinforce behavior, faster learning.

Partial Reinforcement

Sometimes reinforce behavior, more resistance

People are Scientists

People naturally act like scientists: theorize, hypothesize, test it out based on prior knowledge

Construct - Kelly

Set of beliefs, cognitive processes and Used to categorize, interpret

Similarity Pole

Two same/similar things in Kelly's theory

Contrast Pole

One differing thing in Kelly's theory

Systems - Kelly

Help anticipate and interpret future events, differ in content, structure, organization

Convenience - Kelly

Broad but usable in multiple situations (range fits better or worse)

Cognitive Complexity - Kelly

The greater complexity, the better prediction of the future through higher range

Anxiety

Conscious worry - Kelly

Fear

Unknown situation, threat caused development of new concept - Kelly

Threat

Change of core construct to adapt and improve the system - Kelly

Fundamental Postulate

People's psychological processes are channeled by the ways in which they anticipate event

Needs

intentional directional force determining people's seeking and response to their environment

Motives

State that activates behavior to direct someone towards their goals

Drives

State of arousal compelling humans to action for restoring homeostatic balance

Alpha Press

Objective environmental factors

Beta Press

Subjective environmental factors

Heritability Coefficient

Measure how heritable trait is with numbers

Habits

Learned structures made of associations between stimuli and responses, making them occur together frequently

Extinction

Unrewarded response becomes less frequent and finally stops occurring

Spontaneous Recovery

Some responses (like fear, anxiety) are never fully eliminated and occur again on occasion

Stimulus Generalization

Same responses when exposed to similar cue to originally learned one.