Psychology Full exam review

What is Freud's model of personality?

describes personality as consisting of the id, the super-ego, and the ego, which are structured based on our unconscious, preconscious, and conscious experiences, respectively.

What is Freud's psychoanalytic theory?

states that our behavior and personality are shaped by unconscious conflicts and motives.

What is the id in Freud's theory?

the unconscious part of our personality that contains our instincts and desires, including sexual and aggressive drives.

(characterized by immediate gratification, irrationality, and impulsivity)

What is the super-ego in Freud's theory?

the preconscious part of our personality that contains our morals and ideals, which are incorporated from our parents.

What are the characteristics of the super-ego in Freud's theory?

strives for perfection, and being overdeveloped can lead to guilt-proneness, while being underdeveloped can lead to risk for psychiatric disorders.

What is the ego in Freud's theory?

the conscious part of our personality that mediates our interactions with the real world and governs the id and super-ego.

What are the characteristics of the ego in Freud's theory?

characterized by rationality and testing reality, and it mediates id impulses and super-ego inhibitions.

What are ego defenses according to Freud?

unconscious strategies that the ego uses to cope with anxiety and protect itself from the demands of the id and super-ego.

What is repression as an ego defense?

the motivated forgetting of internal psychological states, which is not well-supported by data and may not be helpful.

What is denial as an ego defense?

the motivated forgetting of external experiences, such as denying having a disorder.

What is regression as an ego defense?

returning to an earlier psychological age, usually when under stress. 

What is reaction-formation as an ego defense?

the transformation of an anxiety-provoking emotion to its opposite, such as high levels of homophobia being associated with a reaction to homosexual content.

What is projection as an ego defense?

unconscious attribution of our negative characteristics to another person.

What is displacement as an ego defense?

the unconscious attribution of our negative characteristics to another person or objects, such as getting angry at a bat when you strike out.

What is rationalization as an ego defense?

a reasonable-sounding explanation for unreasonable failures. 

What is sublimation as an ego defense?

the transformation of a socially unacceptable desire into an acceptable goal.

What are the criticisms of Freud's theory of personality?

low external validity/generalizability, untestable and unfalsifiable theories, low predictive power, and overestimation of the role of childhood environments. 

What are trait models of personality?

based on personality traits, which are stable units of personality measured by personality tests and are testable and falsifiable. 

What is the Five Factor Model of Personality? (FFM)

a trait model of personality that includes five dimensions: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.

What are the other names for the Five Factor Model of Personality?

The Five Factor Inventory, Big Five, OCEAN, and CANOE.

What is Openness to Experience?

a personality trait that reflects a person's imagination, artistic emotion, emotionality, adventurousness, intellect, and liberalism.

What is Conscientiousness?

a personality trait that reflects a person's self-efficacy, orderliness, dutifulness, achievement-striving, and self-discipline.

What is Extraversion?

a personality trait that reflects a person's friendliness, assertiveness, activity-level, excitement-seeking, and cheerfulness.

What is Neuroticism?

trait that reflects a person's anxiety, anger, depression, and vulnerability. 

How do FFM traits lie on a continuum?

each person has a unique score for each of the five personality traits. 

What is a personality profile?

a summary of a person's scores on the five personality traits of the FFM. 

What are the percentile scores in a personality profile?

indicate where a person's score falls in comparison to others who have taken the same test. A score in the 76th percentile indicates that the person scored higher than 76% of the population. 

What is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)?

a widely used personality test that assesses psychopathology in adults.

What is measured in the MMPI?

measures a variety of psychological traits, including hypochondriasis, depression, hysteria, psychopathic deviate, masculinity/femininity, paranoia, psychasthenia, schizophrenia, hypomania, and social introversion.

How many items are in the MMPI?

over 500 items across multiple scales.

What are the validity scales of the MMPI?

built-in mechanisms to detect abnormal patterns of responding that may indicate that the test-taker is misstating, exaggerating, or falsifying information.

What is the average score on the MMPI?

50

What are the criticisms of personality models?

they have been interpreted in the context of the Individualist-Collectivist framework, which may not be applicable to all cultures.

What is Graphology?

the theory that a person's handwriting is associated with psychological traits.

What is Sheldon's Body Theory?

different body types are related to different psychological (personality) traits.

What are the different dimensions of Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)?

Introversion versus Extraversion (I v E), Sensation versus Intuition (S v N), Thinking versus Feeling (T v F), and Judging versus Perceiving (J v P).

What is the criticism of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)?

poor reliability and construct validity, as it often produces different results each time and does not predict the job you’ll get.

What are projective personality tests?

designed to reveal unconscious processes by having people ‘project’ them onto the tests.

What are some examples of projective personality tests?

They include the Rorschach Inkblot Test, Thematic Apperception test, and Draw-A-Person test.

What is the problem with projective personality tests?

They have low construct validity, meaning that they do not accurately measure what they claim to measure.

What are Phrenology and Physiognomy?

They are the study of psychological traits and features of the skull (phrenology) and face (physiognomy). There is not enough scientific data to support these theories.

How do people infer personality traits from the face?

Even though facial features are not strongly correlated with traits, we still judge people’s traits by their facial features anyway.

What is heritability?

the proportion of phenotypic variation explained by genetic factors.

What is phenotypic variation?

It is the variability in traits that may be due to changes in genetic factors (VG) or changes in environmental factors (VE).

What is environmental variance (VE)?

everything that is ‘not genetic' (includes error) and may affect the development of personality traits.

What is shared environmental variance (VES)?

It is the similar environment that increases trait similarity, such as siblings growing up in the same city.

What is non-shared environmental variance (VENS)?

It is the different environment that decreases trait similarity, such as siblings going to different schools. (opposite of VES)

Why is non-shared environmental variance argued to be more meaningful in the long term?

because shared environmental variance declines with time (particularly after leaving the home).

What is the heritability score for most personality traits?

0\.4 – 0.55.

What are the genetic correlations with disorders for each personality trait?

C is negatively correlated with most disorders (except anorexia), O is positively correlated with most disorders (schizophrenia, bipolar and major depression), N is positively associated with major depression, and E is positively associated with attention deficit disorder.

What is the heritability range for religiosity and conservatism?

for religiosity is 0.3 - 0.45, and for conservatism is 0.50 - 0.65.

What is social loafing?

the tendency for people to put in less effort or work less hard in groups than when they are alone.

How is social loafing related to the bystander effect?

believed to be a variant of or related to the bystander effect, as both involve diffusion of responsibility among group members.

Can cultural differences influence social loafing?

Yes, it may be less evident in collectivist societies where group members may feel more responsible for outcomes.

What is social contagion?

refers to the rapid spread of a belief or behavior throughout a group, similar to how a flu spreads.

What is the difference between social contagion and mass hysteria?

If social contagion spreads to an especially large group and the behaviors are irrational and harmful, the term mass hysteria may be used.

What is dissociative identity disorder?

a condition where the affected person claims to have at least two distinct identities that may alternatively display in the individual, with memory impairment of what happened in each prior state.

Is DID more common in men or women?

nine times more common in women, although the reasons are unknown.

Is the diagnosis and existence of DID a subject of agreement among scientists and clinicians?

No

What do some experts argue about the rise of DID?

its linked to cultural factors or improper interventions.

Did participants show sadistic tendencies in the Milgram Experiment?

No, compliance was not related to sadistic tendencies, but rather obedience and authoritarianism.

\-On the other hand failure to comply is related to moral development, although this relationship is not especially strong.

Are major cultural differences found in the Milgram Experiment?

No

What is the Stanford Prison Study?

an observational study where participants were randomly assigned to roles of 'prisoner' and 'guard', and reportedly became consumed in their roles, losing their own identity and behaving atypically.

What did some guards do in the Stanford Prison Study?

became aggressive and were said to exhibit 'sadistic-like' tendencies, forcing prisoners to perform humiliating tasks.

Why was the Stanford Prison Study terminated early?

due to ethical issues and extreme participant behaviors.

What are some criticisms of the Stanford Prison Study?

small sample size, selection bias, demand characteristics and observer effect, emphasis on qualitative, anecdotal reports that are difficult to verify, and numerous ethical issues.

What is the Milgram Experiment?

a study on obedience to authority, where participants acted as teachers who administered electric shocks to an actor posing as a learner.

What are some important factors of the Milgram Experiment?

Proximity and contact with the learner affected participants' willingness to administer shocks, some participants stopped complying as intensity increased, and when a confederate scientist was present and disagreed with the experimenter, compliance was 0%.

What are some economic and environmental factors that contribute to the higher incidence of depression in developed countries?

Economic factors, such as diet and stress, and environmental factors, such as pollution.

How does the valuation of happiness in Western cultures contribute to the higher incidence of depression?

because of the cultural effect of downward social comparison.

What are the different ways in which occupation affects the risk of depression?

through factors such as social interaction, stress level, physical activity, and validation.

Why are university students, particularly medical students, at a higher risk of depression?

because of the stress of academic and personal expectations.

How does the frequency of stress in one's life increase the risk of depression?

stress is a major risk factor for depression.

What is the Interpersonal model of depression by Coyne?

A model that suggests poor interactions with others increase the need for reassurance, leading to a cyclic pattern of negative interactions and low mood.

What are the Behavioral models of depression by Lewinsohn? 

A model that suggests a low rate of reinforcement and learned helplessness contribute to depression.

What is the Cognitive model of depression popularized by Beck?

suggests that cognitive distortions affect the ability to acknowledge reality or interpret it properly, leading to depression.

What is bipolar disorder?

a mental disorder characterized by episodes of depression and elevated mood.

What are some symptoms and characteristics of bipolar disorder?

symptoms such as extreme energy, happiness or irritability, reduced need for sleep, and poor decision making during elevated mood periods.

How prevalent is schizophrenia in the global population?

0\.5-1%

What are some positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia?

Positive symptoms include hallucinations and delusions, while negative symptoms include lack of emotion and impaired social interaction.

What is the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia?

it suggests that overactivity of the mesolimbic pathway and dysfunction of the mesocortical pathway are responsible for positive and negative/cognitive symptoms, respectively.

What are some major risk factors for schizophrenia?

place and time of birth, urban environments, prenatal conditions, and family history.

What is the success rate of treating depression?

70-80%

What is the main barrier to depression treatment?

access to care, including a lack of insurance and/or trained professionals.

What are the primary methods for treating depression?

psychoeducation, psychotherapy, and pharmacotherapy for moderate/severe cases.

What is the most commonly used drug for modifying monoamine transmitter signaling to treat depression?

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) are the most commonly used drugs for modifying monoamine transmitter signaling to treat depression.

What is the effect of SSRIs on serotonin levels in the synapse?

SSRIs inhibit serotonin transporters, leading to increased serotonin levels in the synapse.

What is the controversy surrounding antidepressants?

There is an ongoing debate about over-prescription (for off-label use and mild depression) and withdrawal.

What is the secondary method for treating depression?

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

What is the drug strategy for treating anxiety?

targeting the amygdala, which is involved in emotion.

What is the primary drugs used for increasing GABA activity to treat anxiety?

benzodiazepines and valium.

What is the primary treatment for schizophrenia?

antipsychotics.

What is the primary mechanism for first-generation antipsychotics?

First-generation antipsychotics primarily inhibit dopamine receptors.

What is the primary mechanism for second-generation antipsychotics?

Second-generation antipsychotics inhibit dopamine receptors as well as other receptors.

What is the primary drug used for treating bipolar disorder?

Lithium

What is the focus of psychoanalytic therapies?

understanding repressed patients' thoughts and feelings, wishes and fantasies, recurring themes and patterns, and therapeutic interaction.

What is the primary procedure in psychoanalysis?

free association and interpretation.

What is the primary goal of identifying resistance in psychoanalysis?

to make clients aware of how and what they're resisting.

What is transference in psychoanalysis?

intense, unrealistic feelings from the past projected onto the therapist.

What is the final stage of psychoanalysis? \\

working through and focusing on behavioral changes.