Psych final

Personality

Personality

long-standing traits and patterns that propel individuals to consistently think, feel, and behave in specific ways

Freudian Explanation of Personality

• Freud suggested that 90% of our mind is unconscious

• Freud defined Personality as a conflict between two forces:

  • our biological (and unconscious) aggressive and sexual drives

  • our internal (socialized) control over these drives

Id

• present from birth (primitive, innate, instinct)

• pleasure principle

Superego

• develops through social interaction

• conscience (moral compass)

Ego/ Self

• rational mind

• balance id and superego in context of reality

Imbalances

in the system can lead to neurosis

Neurosis

defined as a tendency to experience negative emotions, anxiety disorders, or unhealthy behaviors

Defense Mechanism

• is defined as unconscious protective behaviors aimed at reducing negative emotions.

• is used when ego is unable to mediate between id and superego

Denial

refusal to accept reality (real events) because they are unpleasant.

ex.

• smokers refuses that smoking is bad for their health

• partners refuses obvious sign of cheating

Repression

• suppressing painful memories and thoughts (keep thoughts from being conscious)

• nickname: “motivated forgetting”

• may reappear through subconscious means and in altered forms, such as dreams or slips of the tongue

Ex.

• people with PTSD symptoms

Projection

• attributes unwanted thoughts, feelings, and motives onto another person

• tendency to see your own unacceptable desires in other people

Ex.

• you hate someone, but hatred is bad. Thus, you tell yourself that the other person hates you.

Displacement

the redirection of an impulse (usually aggression) onto a powerless substitute target

Ex.

• a child who was abused at home bullies other children at school

• someone who is frustrated by his or her superiors may go home and kick the dog, beat up a family member, or engage in cross-burning.

Sublimation

displace our unacceptable emotions into behaviors which are constructive and socially acceptable, rather than destructive activities.

Ex.

• play a sport instead of expressing aggression

• use art and music to express unhappiness

Regression

ego reverts to an earlier stage of development usually in response to stressful situations.

Ex.

• a child may begin to suck their thumb again or wet the bed when they need to spend some time in the hospital.

Rationalization

• engage in a cognitive distortion of “the facts” to make an event or an impulse less threatening.

• making excuses

Ex.

• use “God’s will” to explain natural disaster

Reaction Formation

a person goes beyond denial and behaves in the opposite way to which he or she thinks or feels.

Ex.

• hate something but pretends to like it

Neo-Freudians

• followers of Freud who modified his ideas into new theories of personality

  • Alfred Adler

  • Erik Erickson

  • Carl Jung

  • Karen Horney

• Generally agree that childhood experiences matter, but emphasized sex and focused more on the social environment and effects of culture on personality

Alfred Adler

• founded individual psychology- focuses on the drive to compensate for feelings of inferiority

• behaviors are motivated by inferiority through conscious completion of 3 social tasks

  • occupational tasks

  • societal tasks

  • love tasks

• Childhood development stems from social connections and working together

Erik Erickson

• personality develops through lifespan

• psychosocial stages of development

Carl Jung

• analytical psychology

  • self-realization

  • collective unconscious (mental patterns common to all people)

    • facing death, becoming independent, striving for mastery

• extroversion v introversion

Analytical Psychology

balance of opposing forces within one’s personality and the significance of the collective unconscious

Karen Horney

• every person has potential for self-realization

• goal of psychoanalysis should be toward a healthy self

• focused on the role of coping with unconscious anxiety stemming from needs not being met

  • childhood loneliness

Moving toward people

affiliation and dependence

Ex.

child seeking positive attention and affection from parent; adult needing love

Moving Against People

aggression and manipulation

Ex.

child fighting or bullying other children; adult who is abrasive and verbally hurtful, or who exploits others

Moving away from people

detachment and isolation

Ex.

child withdrawn from the world and isolated; adult loner

Behaviorist (Skinner)

• personality is shaped by environmental reinforcements and consequences only

• behavior based on prior learning, not innate traits

Reciprocal Determinism

cognitive processes, behavior, and context all interact

Self-Efficacy

someone’s level of confidence in their own abilities, developed through their social experiences

• cognitive factor

  • high vs low self-efficacy

Locus of control (cognitive factor)

someone’s belief about the power they have over their own life

Humanism

how do healthy people develop personality?

• focus is on individual choices and not the deterministic factors of biology

Self-Actualization

the achievement of our fullest potential

Self-Concept

our thoughts and feelings about ourselves

• ideal self v real self

• congruence v incongruence

Trait

combination of many genes the produce characteristic patterns of behavior (optimistic v pessimistic; sociable v shy)

Allport

list of 4,500 descriptive words

Cattell

every person has all of the possible personality traits; we only differ in the degree to which each trait is expressed

Cattell’s 16 Personality Factors

• warmth

• reasoning

• emotional stability

• dominance

• liveliness

• rule-consciousness

• social boldness

• sensitivity

• vigilance

• abstractedness

• privateness

• apprehension

• openness to change

• self-reliance

• perfectionism

• tension

Eysenck

Two personality dimensions:

• extroversion/introversion

• neuroticism/stability

Big Five Factor model

most popular theory in psychology today

everyone possesses each trait, but they occur on a spectrum

O-openness

C-conscietiousness

E-extroversion

A-agreeableness

N-neuroticism

Self-Report

• likert scales

• Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory (MMPI)

  • personality test over 500 t/f questions to establish a clinical profile

Projective tests

a way to assess unconscious and hidden processes, feelings, impulses, and desires

• interpret ambiguous stimuli

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

gives insight into the person’s social world, revealing hopes, fears, interests, and goals

Barnum Effect

the tendency to accept certain information as true, such as character assessments or horoscopes, even when the information is so vague as to be worthless

What is a psychological disorder?

• disturbances in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors

• disturbances reflect some kind of biological, psychological, or developmental dysfunction

• disturbances lead to significant distress or disability

• disturbances do not reflect expected or culturally approved responses to certain events

Supernatural perspective

• disorders attributed to a force beyond scientific understanding

• still held in some cultures

Biological perspective

attributes disorders to genetic factors, chemical imbalances and brain abnormalities

Medical Model

psychological disorders have symptoms that can be treated or cured

Psychosocial perspective

emphasizes importance of learning, stress, faulty and self-defeating thinking patterns, and environmental factors

The Diathesis-Stress Model of Psychological Disorders

• integrates biological and psychosocial factors to predict the liklihood of a disorder

• people with underlying predisposition for a disorder (diathesis) are more likely to develop a disorder when faced with adverse environmental of psychological events (stress)

• both factors MUST be present

Diagnosing and Classifying Psychological Disorders

• the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5)

• overview of the disorder

• specific symptoms required for diagnosis

• prevalence and risk factors

Comorbidity

having 2 or more diagnosis at the same time

Anxiety Disorders

Characterized by

• excessive and persistent fear and/or anxiety that interferes with normal functioning

• related disturbances in behavior

• most common class of mental disorders

  • 25-30% of U.S. population

• more common in women than men

  • 23% of women, 14% in men

• includes: specific phobia, social anxiety, panic attacks/disorder, agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder

Specific Phobias

• excessive, distressing, and persistent fear, anxiety, and/or avoidance of a specific object or situation

• Phobias develop through learning

  • classical conditioning, modeling, verbal transmission

Agoraphobia

fear or avoidance of situations due to worries that escape may be difficult or may not be available if panic-like symptoms or other embarrassing/incapacitating symptoms arise

Social Anxiety Disorder

fear of social situations where the person could be evaluated negatively by others (real or perceived)

Panic Attacks

• period of extreme fear or discomfort that develops suddenly and peaks within 10 minutes

• may experience sweating, trembling, faintness, or fear of losing control, going crazy or dying

• can be expected or unexpected

Panic Disorders

• recurrent panic attacks with at least 1 month of worry

• suddenly overwhelmed by panic even though there is no apparent reason to be frightened

Somatic Symptoms of Panic Attacks

• feeling dizzy, unsteady, lightheaded

• shortness of breath

• chest pain, palpitations and/or accelerated heart rate

• nausea or abdominal distress

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

a continuous state of excessive, uncontrollable, and pointless worry about routine, everyday things, even though these concerns are unjustified

• 5.7% of U.S. population

• 2x more likely in women

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Characterized by:

• obsessions

• compulsions

can have obsessions, compulsions, or both

OCD as moderate genetic component

Obsessions

unwanted and intrusive thoughts and urges

Compulsions

need to engage in repetitive behaviors or mental acts

Brain Regions Associated with Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders

• Anterior cingulate cortex (hoarding disorder)

• prefrontal cortex (body dysmorphic disorder)

• orbitofrontal cortex (obsessive-compulsive disorder)

  • caudade nucleus (OCD)

Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Body dysmorphic disorder-- invisible flaws

• preoccupation with imagined physical flaws that drives the person to engage in repetitive and ritualistic behavioral and mental acts

Hoarding Disorder

characterized by persistent difficulty parting with possessions, regardless of their actual value or usefulness

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: PTSD

extreme stress, fear, and anxiety from exposure to, witnessing, or experiencing the details of a traumatic experience that involved actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence and the following changes due to the trauma:

• intrusive and distressing memories of the event

• avoidance of stimuli connected to the event

• negative alterations in cognition or emotional states

• alteration in arousal or reactivity

Development and Maintenance of PTSD

• role of classical conditioning

• two cognitive factors play a role in the development of PTSD:

  • disturbances in memory of the event

  • negative appraisals of the trauma and its aftermath

• social support is important following traumatic experiences

Mood Disorders

• severe disturbances in mood and emotion

• two general categories:

  • depressive disorders

  • bipolar and related disorders

Depressive Disorders

depression (intense and persistent sadness) is the defining feature

Bipolar

mania (extreme elation and agitation) is the defining feature

Major Depressive Disorders

Characterized by at least 5 of the following for 2 weeks:

• depressed mood most of the day, nearly everyday

• loss of pleasure in usual activities (Anhedonia)

• significant weight loss/gain and/or change in appetite

• difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or sleeping too much

• psychomotor agitation or retardation

• fatigue or loss of energy

• feelings of worthlessness or guilt

• difficulty concentrating and indecisiveness

• suicidal ideation

70% recover from MDD within a year

• minor symptoms may still appear, with fluctuations in severity

12% still show significant impairment after 5 years

episodic

symptoms are present at full magnitude for a certain period of time and then gradually diminish

Persistent Depressive Disorder

persistent symptoms of MDD for two years

Seasonal Depression

MDD symptoms only during a particular time of the year

Postpartum Depression

MDD symptoms during pregnancy or 4 weeks after giving birth

Cognitive Models of Depression

Hopelessness theory (Beck’s Cognitive Triad)

Rumination

Bipolar Disorder

• mood states that switch between depression and mania

• depressive episodes not required for diagnosis

• genetic factors play a stronger role with than with MDD

• at least one manic episode in their lifetime (lasting one week)

  • inflated self-esteem or grandiosity

  • decreased need for sleep

  • more talkative than usual or pressured to keep talking

  • flight of ideas or subjective experience that thoughts are racing

  • distractibility

  • increase in goal-directed activity

  • excessive involvement in activities that have a high potential for painful consequences

Psychotic Disorder

one’s thoughts, perceptions, and behaviors are significantly impaired, such that normal functioning is absent

Schizophrenia: Biology

• both genetic vulnerability and environmental stress (triggers) are necessary for schizophrenia to develop

• Genetic & Environmental Vulnerabilities

• Childbirth complications

  • maternal stress

  • maternal exposure to influenza

• dopamine hypothesis

Childhood Disorders

Neurodevelopmental disorders

• first diagnosed or symptoms appear in childhood

• involve developmental problems in academic, intellectual, and social functioning

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

constant pattern of inattention and/or hyperactive and impulse behavior

Causes of ADHD

• approximately 72% heritability

• reduced dopamine regulation and activity in areas of the brain associated with motivation and reward

• less likely due to environmental or social factors because ADHD concordance rates for unrelated, adopted siblings was extremely low

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

The major features of ASD include disturbances in:

• deficits in social communication

  • deficits in conversational reciprocity

  • deficits in nonverbal communication

  • deficits in developing, maintaining, or understanding relationships

• restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior or interests

Causes of ASD

genetic factors appear to play a prominent role in the development of autism spectrum disorder (60-90% concordance rates in identical twins)

• father’s age

exposure to environmental pollutants such as mercury or vitamin D deficiency have also been linked to the development of this disorder

Multiple Personality Disorder

Dissociative identity disorder; formerly multiple personality disorder

2 or more separate personalities or identities, each well-defined and distinct from one another

memory gaps between identity changes

90% of individuals with DID experienced childhood trauma

What is a Personality Disorder?

• personality is the way of thinking, feeling and behaving that makes a person different from other people

• personality disorder is a way of thinking, feeling, and behaving that deviates from the expectations of the culture, causes distress or problems functioning, and lasts over time

Cluster A Disorders

people with these disorders display a personality style that is odd or eccentric

Cluster B Disorders

people with these disorders usually are impulsive, overly dramatic, highly emotional, and erratic

Cluster C Disorders

people with these disorders often appear to be nervous and fearful

Paranoid

pervasive and unjustifiable suspiciousness and mistrust of others

Schizoid

lacks interest and desire to form relationship with others, show emotional coldness and detachment

Schizotypal

oddities in thought, perception, emotion, speech, and behavior, has unusual perceptual experiences

Antisocial

continuously violates the rights of others, often lies, fights, and has problems with the law, impulsive, deceitful and manipulative, lacks remorse

Histrionic

excessively overdramatic, emotional, and theatrical, feels uncomfortable when not the center of others’ attention, behavior is often inappropriately seductive or provacative

Narcissistic

overinflated and unjustified sense of self-importance and preoccupied with fantasies of success, feels entitled to special treatment, arrogant, takes advantage of others, lacks empathy

Borderline

unstable in self-image, mood, and behavior, cannot tolerate being alone and experiences chronic feelings of emptiness, unstable and intense relationships with others, behavior is impulsive, unpredictable, and sometimes self-damaging

Avoidant

socially inhibited and oversensitive to negative evaluation, fears criticism or rejection, views self as socially inept and unappealing

Dependent

submissive, clingy, fears separation, cannot make decisions without advice and reassurance from others, lacks self-confidence and independence, feels uncomfortable or helpless when alone

Obsessive-Compulsive

pervasive need for perfectionism that interferes with the ability to complete tasks, preoccupied with details, rules, order, and schedules, workaholic, stubborn, insists things be done their way, extremely frugal

History of Mental Health Treatment

• 18th century- asylums were created to house people with psychological disorders

• 1950s and 60s- antipsychotic medications introduced

• 1963- Deinstitutionalization closed asylums with the goal of treating people in their communities

Where do People Get Mental Health Treatment

• primary care physician then referred to a mental health practitioner

• community mental health center

• private practice offices

• schools

• prison