Unit 4.1 Personality Psychology (PART 2)

Personality

an individual characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting

Personality traits

durable disposition to behave in a particular way in a variety of situations

Free will or determinism

Are we free to be who we want or are we victims of biology unconscious forces, and external stimuli

Nature or Nurture?

Is personality inherited or shaped by our environment?

Past, present, or future?

Do we develop personality early in childhood or are we more influenced by present experiences?

Uniqueness or Universality?

Is everyone’s personality unique or are there broad personality patterns that fit large numbers of people?

Equilibrium or pessimism

Are we primarily tension-reducing and pleasure seeking animals or are we motivated primarily by the need to grow?

Optimism or pessimism

Are we basically good or basically evil

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

started as a physician specialized in nervous disorders → found patients whose disorders made no neurological sense → set out to study the unconscious mind

Id

the impulsive, primal part of your personality that wants what it wants right now

• Pleasure principle

Superego

• is your internal "moral compass" or conscience.

• It is the part of your personality that stores the rules, values, and morals you've learned from your parents and society

Oedipus Complex

ACCORDING TO FREUD: When a boy is sexually attracted to his mother and resents his father → realizes societal restraints do not allow this → switches to being more in favor of his father and identifying with him

Ego

the rational, decision-making part of your personality that deals with the real world. It acts as a mediator, constantly trying to balance the impulsive demands of the id with the strict moral standards of the superego

Free association

method of exploring the unconscious in which you relax and let whatever thoughts you have come to mind

Projective Tests

a type of personality assessment that uses ambiguous stimuli—like inkblots, vague pictures, or incomplete sentences—to reveal a person's unconscious thoughts, feelings, and internal conflicts

Thematic Apperception Test

where you are shown ambiguous pictures and asked to tell a story about them

Rorschach inkblot test

interpretation of blots

Freud’s defense mechanisms

unconscious psychological strategies used by the ego to protect itself from anxiety

Denial

Refusing to accept the truth

Projection

Projecting or directing weaknesses and thoughts onto other people

Regression

consciously retreating back to an infantile reaction, or time period

Repression

Unconsciously "forgetting" or blocking out painful memories or unacceptable urges.

Reaction formation

Acting in a way that is the exact opposite of your true, unacceptable feelings.

Displacement

taking out anger or feelings on a less threatening target, someone or something that cannot fight back

Rationalization

providing justifications or excuses to make behaviors and thoughts acceptable

Sublimation

Re-channeling unacceptable impulses into socially approved activities

Humanstic approach

an optimistic branch of psychology that focuses on a person's inherent goodness and their potential for personal growth.

Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers

studied healthy people, those who were “neurotic, or troubled”

Self-Actualization

The accomplishment of human potential and personal satisfaction

Masclow’s Hierachry of needs

Motivating factors that lead us to self actualization

Actualizing tendency

An innate drive within a person that pushes him or her to reach their potential and live life to their fullest

Genuiness

openess and self-disclosure

Acceptance

being seen with affection and love no matter what

Empathy

Bring listened to and understood

Self-concept

all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves → “who am I?”

Conditional positive regard

when love, praise, and social acceptance are given only when a person acts in a certain way

• Leads to incongruence

Unconditional positive regard

the practice of accepting and respecting someone exactly as they are, without any "ifs," "ands," or "buts."

• Leads to congruence

Congruent

describes the state where your Real Self (who you actually are) is aligned with your Ideal Self (who you wish to be) and the image you present to the world.

Incongruence

significant gap between your Real Self (how you actually think, feel, and act) and your Ideal Self (the person you feel you should be to be loved or successful).

Trait

a stable, long-term characteristic that describes how you typically think, feel, and behave.

Personality inventory

a questionnaire on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors (personality)

Factor analysis

a statistical "shredder and sorter" used to find hidden patterns in large amounts of data.

Robert McCrae and Paul Costa - Big Five Theory of personality

• Conscientiousness - organized, careful, disciplined (⬇: disorganized, careless, impulsive)

• Agreeableness - soft-hearted, trusting, helpful (⬇: ruthless, suspicious, uncooperative)

• Neuroticism - calm, secure, self-satisfied (⬇: anxious, insecure, self-pitying)

• Openess - imaginative, independent, preference for variety (⬇: practical, preference for routine, conforming)

• Extraversion - sociable, fun-loving, affectionate (⬇: retiring, sober, reserved)

Person-situation controversy

Are our personalities defined more on our personal dispositions or environmental stimuli?

Barnum effect

Feeling very strongly that personality tests give accurate answers just for us, when in reality the info is general enough to apply to a wide variety of individuals

Social-cognitive perspective

Research that views personality as something learned through the interaction of your thoughts, your behaviors, and your environment

Reciprocal Determinism

the idea that your personality is shaped by a continuous "three-way loop" between your thoughts, your behavior, and your environment

Self-concept

how you view yourself and in relation to others

Self-effiency

how much we believe in ourselves, our perceived ability to perform a task or obtain certain results

Self-esteem

Our feelings of high or low self-worth

Self-personal control

belief about how much power you have over the events in your life

External Locus

the belief that your life is guided by forces beyond your influence (environment)

Internal Locus

believe you control your own fate