Personality Psychology FINAL Exam

Allport’s 1943 Publication

Roots of Religion - fictional dialogue between a professor and his student at the conclusion of a personality theory course. The student approaches the professor about his theory lacking religious aspects - this publication is a reflection of Allport’s religious psychological thought

Allport’s view on Freud

found their meeting in Vienna to be entertaining due to Freud’s misinterpretation of motivation concluding himself that in order to discover a person’s true motives one must not intend to guess the unconscious but explicitly as the person themselves

Allport’s Major Ideas

Eclectic Theorist, Critical, and Pragmatic

In what ways was Allport and Eclectic Theorist?

he takes ideas from a lot of other theorists and enmeshes them

In what ways was Allport a critic?

he critiqued a lot of mainstream tendencies such as behaviorism animal research, psychoanalysis, and factor analysis

What was Allport’s dominant theme?

Importance of the Individual - the desire to know what is specifically true about each individual

Why did Allport emphasize the pragmatic criterion for truth?

the idea that psych research should be predicated on its practical value

Allport’s Personality Theory

the dynamic organization within the individual od those psychophysical systems that determine characteristics of behavior and thought

“dynamic organization”

constant change, becoming, organization and continuity

“within the individual”

YOU. an emphasis on the autonomous individual - the traits and tools needed to access uniqueness

“of those psychophysical systems”

personality as mental and physiological aspects inextricably fused into a personal unit

“that determine”

personality is not an abstraction but exists and does something

How did Allport define temperament?

they’re the emotional components to a personality - variation within types

How did Allport define types?

the personality that lies within a behavior categorization (what lies behind the individual)

Allport’s criteria for an adequate theory of personality

1. Views personality as constrained within the person and their internal methods

2. filled with variables that contribute to action

3. seeks motives for behavior in the present moments not the past

4. employs units of measure capable of “living synthesis”

5. adequately accounts for self-awareness

Traits

causes of behavior that involves development through needs and learning by nature/nurture, accounts for consistency in behavior, must be inferred, and predicts cross situational consistensy

Personal Dispositions

traits of one person (focus of personality)

Common Traits

group descriptions that can be used to describe applicability to the people within

Uniqueness

the pattern of traits that an individual possesses, allowance for variability, and trait expression differences among those with the same trait

Nomothetical Methods

looking for universals - abstractions that say nothing about the individual - stereotypes of sorts

Idiographic Methods

looking for specificity of an individual

Cardinal Personal Dispositions

have massive controlling influence in everything a person does

Central Personal Dispositions

overt/defining character traits (traits ones might mention in a letter of reccomendation)

Secondary Personal Dispositions

idiosyncrasies like food or clothing preferences that we enjoy or that makes us unique

Functional Autonomy of Motives

motives that are started for a specific reason but then become autonomous not rooted in biology or animalistic disposition - motivation becoming its own simply because you like doing it

Propriate aspect of Autonomy of Motives

Organization of energy levels when basic needs are met thus freeing energy to be available for higher motives - mastery and competence as an innate need to increase efficiency and effectiveness - propriate patterning as motives that are an expression of the total self

Allport’s Requirements for an accurate theory of motivation

1. contemporary nature to motives

2. importance of cognitive process

3. allows for variation in motive types

4. recognizes each person’s motives as unique

Proprium

all the facts that make a person unique

Stages of Proporium

1. bodily need (1st year)

2. self-identity (2nd year)

3. self-esteem (3rd year)

4. self-extension (the self extended to external objects)

5. self-image (4th-6th year)

6. rational coping (6-12th year - thinking about thinking)

7. emergence of propriate striving

Aspects of a healthy adult personality

capacity for self-esteem, warm human interactions, emotional security, realistic perceptions, self-objection, good sense of humor, and a unifying philosophy of life

What is Cattell known for?

being a factor analytic theorist

What is Eysenck known for?

discovery of the Super Factors - E, N, P

What is McCrae and Costa known for?

the Big Five (OCEAN)

What are the components of OCEAN or Big Five?

Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism

Openness

closely linked to creativity and IQ - sees beauty most don’t - openness to experience

Conscientiousness

industrious, carries out plans, careful and reliable, orderly

Extroversion

tendency to be more social, enthusiastic, and assertive

Agreeableness

tendency to weigh the needs of others above their own, compassionate, and polite

Neuroticism

marked by withdrawal and volatility

“jingle-jangle” fallacy

jingle - using the same words for different ideas vs. jangle - using different terms for similar ideas

replication crisis

being unable to reproduce the findings of studies

Happiness Pie

50% - genetics

10% circumstances

40% intentional activities and behaviors

Skinner’s approach to personality

influences by behaviorism of Watson - “there is no dividing line between man and brute” - “empty organism” and “blank slate” ideology against theory

Functional Analysis

gathering information of a behavior in order to discern what conditions of reinforcement are

Respondent Behavior

stimulus response that is not learned - (S-R) stimulus created response

Operant Behavior

emitted - all we do is respond - (R-S) response creates stimulus

Reinforcement

consequences that increase behavior

Punishment

consequences that decrease behavior

Skinner’s 1948 publication

Walden Two - a work of fiction that deals with contingency management as a purposive manipulation to reinforce behaviors (models shaping a culture based on reinforcements to achieve a utopia)

“better than average effect”

people believing they’re doing pretty good relative to others

Social Cognitive Theory

an emphasis on the social cognitive origin of behavior

Observational Learning

learning that requires no direct reinforcement - observing and being shaped by people

Components of Observational Learning

attentional, retentional, motor reduction, motivational

Vicarious punishment and reinforcement

viewing things happening to others resulting in a desire to do something (reinforcement) or a desire to avoid that behavior (punishment)

Reciprocal Determinism

an idea that the person, their behavior, and one’s environment all influence the creation of behavior and actions

Soft Determinism

the idea that people serve as a casual contributor to their outcomes (behavior is only slightly determined)

Self-Regulated Behavior

governed by intrinsic reinforcement (performance standards) - marked by future goals broken down into subgoals that as we achieve, we also receive internal reinforcement

Self-Efficacy

what a person is capable of doing (human agency and perceived efficacy)

Moral Conduct

internal performance standards of moral nature

Self-Exonerating Mechanisms

justification instead of repentance - moral justification, euphemism labeling, advantageous comparison, displacement of responsibility, dehumanization