Year 10 Psychology Exam: Personality, Research Methods, and Memory Notes

Humanistic Theory of Personality

• Ultimate Goal of Personality Development: According to Humanistic Theory, the ultimate goal toward which individuals strive is self-actualisation.
• Key Proponents:     * Abraham Maslow: Known for the Hierarchy of Needs, culminating in self-actualisation.     * Carl Rogers: Focused on self-concept and the alignment of different versions of the self.
• Carl Rogers’ Self-Concept Framework:     * True Self: The person an individual actually is, including their actual behaviors and feelings (e.g., skipping training or feeling inadequate).     * Ideal Self: The person an individual wants to become (e.g., wanting to be a professional AFL player).     * Self-Image: How an individual currently sees or perceives themselves (e.g., viewing oneself as hardworking and talented).     * Incongruence: A state of mismatch where the ideal self and the true self do not align. For instance, if a person wants to be a professional but skips training, they experience incongruence.

Psychodynamic Theory (Freudian Perspectives)

• The Iceberg Metaphor: This is the primary metaphor used to visualize the various levels of consciousness (conscious, preconscious, and unconscious).
• Components of Personality:     * Id: Operates on the pleasure principle. It seeks instant gratification and ignores consequences. In a scenario involving a found wallet, the Id would suggest keeping the money immediately for personal gain (e.g., buying a new phone).     * Ego: Operates on the reality principle. It acts as a mediator between the desires of the Id and the moral constraints of the Superego. It makes final decisions based on practical limitations and consequences (e.g., deciding to hand in a found wallet).     * Superego: Operates on the moral principle. It persuades the Ego to be moralistic and seeks to block the urges of the Id. It is responsible for feelings of guilt and considerations for others (e.g., worrying about the distress of the person who lost a wallet).
• Defense Mechanisms:     * Displacement: Redirecting negative emotions from their original source to a less threatening person or object. Example: Miley is angry at her mother but pushes her cat away instead.     * Reaction-Formation: Acting in a way that is exactly the opposite of how one truly feels. Example: Raffey dislikes a teammate but acts overly polite and friendly toward them.     * Projection: Attributing one’s own unacceptable thoughts or feelings to someone else.     * Regression: Reverting to child-like behaviors when faced with stress or frustration.

Trait Theory and the Big Five (OCEAN)

• Model Identification: The Big 5 trait theory was developed by Costa and McCrae.
• OCEAN Acronym:     * O: Openness (to experience).     * C: Conscientiousness.     * E: Extraversion.     * A: Agreeableness.     * N: Neuroticism.
• Trait Influences on Group Performance:     * Extraversion: High-extraversion individuals tend to communicate actively and engage openly, often leading to faster performance in team activities. Low-extraversion individuals may be slower in communication and less collaborative.     * Openness: High scorers suggest creative solutions or new strategies; low scorers prefer familiar approaches and might resist alternatives.     * Conscientiousness: High scorers stay focused and keep groups on track; low scorers may be easily distracted or less committed.     * Agreeableness: High scorers work well with others and avoid conflict; low scorers may be competitive or uncooperative.     * Neuroticism: High scorers may feel overwhelmed or stressed under pressure; low scorers tend to remain calm and resilient.

Psychological Assessments

• Rorschach Inkblot Test:     * Administration: Test-takers are asked to describe what they see or make up a story based on an ambiguous stimulus (the inkblot).     * Strengths:         1. There are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers, making it harder for individuals to manipulate or ‘fake’ their responses.         2. Individuals are not restricted in their responses; they provide qualitative data in their own words.         3. Effective for dealing with specific subconscious issues.
• Projective vs. Objective Tests: Tests like the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) and Rorschach are projective, while OCEAN questionnaires are objective trait assessments.

Psychological Research Methods

• Variables:     * Independent Variable (IV): The variable manipulated by the researcher (e.g., whether a participant eats chocolate or not; the level of extraversion).     * Dependent Variable (DV): The variable being measured (e.g., mood rated on a scale of $1$ to $10$; time taken to complete a puzzle).
• Extraneous Variables (EV): Variables other than the IV that can influence the result.     * Experimenter Variables: Factors related to the researcher’s behavior (e.g., Mr. Wonka telling participants chocolate is ‘the best medicine’ before the test).     * Participant Variables: Factors related to the individual traits of the subjects (e.g., a participant preferring sugar-free lollies over the provided chocolate).     * Situational Variables: Factors in the environment that might affect the outcome.
• Hypothesis Construction: Must include the IV, the DV, and the direction of the expected results (e.g., whether the IV will increase or decrease the DV).
• Experimental Designs:     * Within-Subjects Design: All participants (e.g., $200$ people) are exposed to the same conditions.     * Between-Subjects Design: Participants are split into different groups based on a characteristic (e.g., high-extraversion group vs. low-extraversion group).
• Sampling Techniques:     * Stratified Sampling: Involves dividing the population into categories (strata) based on specific features (e.g., annual income salary) to increase the representation of the population. Participants are then randomly selected from these groups.
• Data Representation:     * Bar Graph: Most appropriate for representing discrete categories.     * Line Graph: Most appropriate for representing data that changes continuously over time.

Memory Processes and Types

• Memory Creation Sequence: The correct sequence is Encoding \rightarrow Storage \rightarrow Retrieval.     * Encoding: Converting information into a form the brain can understand.     * Storage: Recalling previously stored information (the retention phase).     * Retrieval: The process of accessing and bringing stored information into consciousness.
• Types of Long-Term Memory (LTM):     1. Explicit (Declarative) Memory: Information that requires conscious recall.         * Episodic Memory: Specific personal events and stories (e.g., remembering a story from a favorite book or faces in a crowd).         * Semantic Memory: General knowledge and facts (e.g., knowing the difference between a platypus and a bear).     2. Implicit (Non-Declarative) Memory: Information remembered unconsciously.         * Procedural Memory: Knowledge of how to perform tasks or motor skills (e.g., playing guitar, solving a math problem, or chopping vegetables).         * Classically Conditioned/Emotional Memory: Emotional responses to stimuli.
• Memory Reliability (Elizabeth Loftus): Loftus argues that memory is unreliable and subject to false information or reconstruction rather than being an infallible recording.
• Memory Cues:     * Context-Dependent Cues: Environment-related triggers for memory (e.g., feeling sad when walking past a specific cinema where a sad movie was watched).     * State-Dependent Cues: Internal physiological or psychological triggers (e.g., being in a specific emotional state).

Biological Psychology and the Brain

• Brain Structures and Functions:     * Hippocampus: Responsible for the formation of long-term semantic and episodic memories. It consolidates information for storage.     * Neocortex: The site where long-term semantic and episodic memories are stored once formed.     * Amygdala: Involved in emotional processing. In flashbulb memory formation, the amygdala signals to the hippocampus that a specific experience is significant, strengthening its long-term storage.     * Cerebellum: Responsible for storing habitual, refined motor memories.     * Basal Ganglia: Key role in coordinating voluntary movements (e.g., tossing vegetables into a wok).
• Cerebral Lobes:     * Temporal Lobe: Located on both sides of the brain; responsible for smell, speech, and hearing.     * Occipital Lobe: Responsible for visual processing.

Ethical Guidelines in Research

• Withdrawal Rights: A fundamental ethical guideline stating that participants must be free to leave a study at any time without pressure. This is breached if a researcher encourages a visibly distressed participant to continue for the ‘sake of the study.’
• Professional Conduct: Researchers must ensure their own biases (experimenter variables) do not compromise the integrity of the data.