Motivation, Personality, Emotion Review

Psychodynamic and Humanistic Theories of Personality

• Psychodynamic theory

  • assumption that unconscious forces determine behavior and influence personality

  • developed by Sigmund Freud

  • mind separated into three parts

• Unconscious processes

  • consciousness - sense of reality

    • smallest part of what goes on in mind even though what we are most aware of\

  • preconscious - forces that drive person’s personality to operate under the surface

    • where memories and emotions that haven’t been repressed can be recalled

  • unconscious/subconscious - beyond our awareness and where most of action takes place

    • largest part

• Id 

  • exists at birth and contains all instincts and energy

  • pleasure principle: immediate, unconditional gratification of desires

  • baby-like self

  • devil on shoulder

• Superego

  • moral sense of right and wrong

  • developed from parents’ morals

  • internalization of society’s moral standard

  • angel on shoulder

• Ego

  • mediates superego and id

  • understands reality and logic

• Ego defense mechanisms

  • brain’s strategy to protect from anxious feelings on daily basis

• Denial: Refusal of ego to accept the reality of a situation because doing so would produce unbearable anxiety

• Displacement: aggressive urges are shifted (displaced) toward recipient other than the one who caused hurt feelings

• Projection: when anxiety-producing feelings are repressed and then projected onto another person

  • not same as displacement because it can be any emotion, displacement is just for anger

• Rationalization: Occurs when person distorts/transforms an anxiety-producing event and therefore creates acceptable explanation or excuse for an impulse/behavior into an acceptable one

  • justification of behavior

• Reaction formation: Defends anxiety-producing thoughts/impulses by transforming the unacceptable usage into its opposite

  • Ex: becoming a vet bc you do not like animals

• Regression: Ego seeks to reduce anxiety by reverting to an earlier period of psychological development

  • sucking thumb when nervous

• Repression: Process of reducing anxiety by blocking impulses or memories from consciousness

• Sublimation: Occurs when person redirects unacceptable urge to do something with social value (sometimes healthy thing)

• Projective tests: personality test based on person’s interpretation of images

• Humanistic psychology: views personality with focus on potential for healthy personal growth

• Unconditional regard: Attitude of total acceptance toward another person

• Self-actualizing tendency: innate desire to reach one’s full potential and capabilities
  

Social-Cognitive and Trait Theories of Personality

• Social-cognitive theory: emphasizes dynamic interaction between people, their behavior and environments

• Reciprocal determinism: person’s behavior may be influenced by or influence the environment

• Self-concept: perception of self

• Self-efficacy: confidence in one’s ability to perform a task

• Self-esteem: how one values or perceives self

• Trait theories

  • stable characteristics of behavior/thought process/emotion

  • Surface traits: what we observe and think of as personality

  • Source traits: more fundamental that drive personality and result in observable surface trait

• Big Five theory: describes personality as combination of five core traits:

  • Agreeableness: person’s ability to put needs of others ahead of their own

  • Openness to experience: person’s willingness to try new things

  • Extraversion: how outgoing and social a person is

  • Conscientiousness: tendency to be organized and self-disciplined

  • Emotional Stability: ability to be calm and not have major fluctuations of emotion

• Personality inventories: questionnaire personality test

• Factor analysis: statistical method for identifying clusters of items that tend to be answered the same way
  

Motivation

• Drive-reduction theory: people are motivated by needs, drives, responses, goals

  • need leads to drive

  • helps person find state of homeostasis (internal balance in body)

• Homeostasis: internal balance in body

• Arousal theory: people driven to perform taks in order to maintain optimal level of arousal

  • Low arousal - comfrot/sleepy (ideal for difficult taks)

  • High arousal - anxious/tension (ideal for simple tasks)

• Optimal level of arousal

  • Low for difficult

  • High for simple

• Yerkes-Dodson Law: moderate arousal would lead to optimal performance

  • if task is complex, optimal level is low arousal

  • if task is simple, optimal level is high arousal

• Self-determination theory: people are motivated by intrinsic or extrinsic motivation

  • suggests people can become self-determined when need for competence, connection, autonomy fulfilled

• Intrinsic motivation: motivated from the inside through personal satisfaction and will do the behavior

• Incentive theory: Drives pushing behaviors

  • incentives are pulling behaviors - external stimuli motivates behavior

• Extrinsic motivation: motivated from outside factors such as rewards

• Instincts: inborn impulse or motivation to action performed in response to external stimuli

• Lewin’s motivational conflicts theory: choices create conflicts one must resolve as basis of motivation

  • Approach-approach conflicts - good/good

  • Approach-avoidance conflicts -good/bad

  • Avoidance-avoidance conflicts - bad/bad

• Sensation-seeking theory: everybody requires different stimuli and people seek arousal through different sensations

• Thrill seeking: enjoyment of intense and complex experiences

• Adventure seeking: desire for outdoor activities that involve unusual sensations and risks

• Disinhibition: inability to control impulses

• Boredom susceptibility: tendency to dislike routine

• Ghrelin: hormone that increases appetite

• Leptin: hormone that decreases appetite

• Hypothalamus: body’s smart control center with goal to keep body in homeostasis

• Pituitary gland: what sends receptors throughout digestive system monitor levels of glucose an send signals to hypothalamus in brain
  

Emotion

• Affect - synonym for emotion

• Cognitive label: attempts to explain emotions and their significance by focusing on how and why they are formed

  • Ex: “I am mad because he pushed me”

• Facial-feedback hypothesis: How facial expression impact our emotions

  • smile and you become happier

• Broaden-and-build theory of emotion

  • positive emotional experiences tend to broaden awareness and encourage new actions and thoughts

  • negative emotions tend to reduce awareness and cause narrow thinking and actions

• Cognitive appraisal: process of interpreting a situation or event and determine how it may affect one’s wellbeing

• Display rules: Social group/culture’s informal norms that distinguish how one should express oneself

  • masking

  • smiling at unwanted gift

• Universality of emotion across cultures