AP Psychology - Personality and Intelligence

Psychodynamic theory of personality

Emphaseizes the influence of unconscious forces and childhood experiences

Unconscious processes

Mental processes that occur without conscious awareness.

Ego defense mechanisms

One part of your mind protects other parts from a third part. Coping strategies essentially.

Denial

When a person cannot face their own problems.

Displacement

You place your anger on a safe target

Projection

Whatever insult you use is what you may be struggling with

Reaction Formation

Expressing the opposite of your true feelings.

Sublimination

Channeling unacceptable impulses into constructive activities

Rationalization

Justifying behaviors or feelings with logical reasons, often avoiding the true reasons.

Regression

Returning to behaviors typical of an earlier stage of development, often in response to stress or anxiety.

Intellectualization

Focusing on the intellectual aspects of a situation, detaching emotional significance to avoid distress.

Id

A part of the mind that focuses on primitive instincts and needs.

Ego

The realistic component of the mind, exercising the needs of the Id in a realistic manner.

Superego

The moral component of the mind, internalizing societal norms and values.

Humanistic theory of personality

All people are good and are driven towards self actualization

Self actualization

Doing difficult things for the right reasons, staying out of the comfort zone. The achievement of one's full potential and personal growth, leading to greater fulfillment and satisfaction.

Unconditional regard

Total support no matter what

Cognitive theory of personality

A perspective that emphasizes the role of cognitive processes in shaping personality, focusing on how our thoughts influence our behaviors and emotions.

Reciprocal Determinism

You get back what you put out there.

Self efficacy

Temporary, the belief in yourself and your abilities.

Self-esteem

The belief in your self worth

Self-concept

Your perception of yourself

Trait theories

Big 5 traits, personality is a spectrum. These theories focus on measurable traits that can predict behavior.

Type theories

Trying to put people into categories. These theories categorize personality types based on distinct traits or characteristics.

Monozygotic twins

Another term for identical twins

Twin studies

Comparint nature vs. nurture.

Identical twins raised apart = same genes but a different environment

Adoption studies

Compare adopted kids intelligence with adopted and biological parents

Psychometrics

How do we measure the mind?

Alfred Binet

French psychologist who developed the first intelligence test.

Mental age

What you should be able to do at a certain age

Chronological age

How old you are

IQ scores

Dividing mental age by chronological age

WAIS Intelligence test

The most common IQ Test, includes verbal and performance subtests

WISC Intelligence test

same thing as WAIS but for children

Two-factor theory of intelligence

General ability and specific abilities

G factor

Overall intelligence, general

S factor

Specific tasks like art, music, or sports

Fluid intelligence

Abililty to react fast, we learn a lot

Crystallized intelligence

Less able to get new data, but more knowledge, already lived through things before. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but that old dog already knows a lot of information and can apply it to do past tricks.

Flynn Effect

Each generation is slightly smarter due to society growing and discovering new things.

Cognitive load

The amount of mental effort being used in working memory

Eugenics

The controversial practice of improving the genetic quality of the human population (straight up evil)

Validity

The extent to which a test measures to claim what it measures

Reliability

The consistency of a test results if you take a similar test a bit later.

Criterion validity

The extent to which a test correlates with other meausres of the same construct

Testing bias

Tests that favor certain groups

Stereotype threat

Occurs when members of a group fear their behaviors may contribute to a stereotype.

Creativity

The ability to produce. (Nearly impossible to define and measure)

Linear thinking

Following a system of thinking that is known, thinking in a straight line.

Divergent thinking

A type of thinking that generates many possible solutions to a problem

Convergent thinking

A type of thinking that narrows down all the possible options

Functional fixedness

The tendency to see objects as functioning only in their usual way.