psych 101

Chapter 12: Personality

  • Personality: Consistent patterns of feeling, thinking, and behaving.

  • Traits: Enduring characteristics influencing behavior.

  • Big Five Traits:

    • Extraversion

    • Emotional stability

    • Openness to experience

    • Agreeableness

    • Conscientiousness

  • Traits may not be stable across all situations.

  • Personality predicts behavior best when aggregated across situations.

  • Conscientiousness predicts job success.

  • Personality is formed by genetic influence, shared environment, and nonshared environment.

  • Psychoanalysis:

    • Unconscious mental activity must be interpreted.

    • Founded by Freud.

    • Id: Primitive impulses.

    • Ego: Conscious decision-maker.

    • Superego: Morality.

    • Defense mechanisms: Coping strategies for anxiety.

    • Psychosexual development: Oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital stages.

  • Neo-Freudian theories: Emphasize unconscious and early experience but less on sexuality.

  • Humanistic Psychology:

    • Developed to counter psychoanalytic theories.

    • Focused on motivations.

    • Self-concept: Beliefs about who we are.

    • Self-esteem: Positive feelings about self.

    • Self-actualization: Develop innate potential.

  • Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

Chapter 13: Psychological Disorders

  • Bio-psycho-socio-cultural model: Disorder caused by biological, psychological, social, and cultural factors.

  • Comorbidity: Simultaneous diagnosis of multiple disorders (e.g., anxiety and depression).

  • Stigma: Negative social attitude leading to discrimination.

  • DSM: Standard criteria for classifying psychological disorders.

  • ADHD: Problems with focus, difficulty maintaining attention; symptoms start before age 12.

  • ASD: Impaired social interaction/communication and repetitive behavior; symptoms begin in childhood.

  • Mood Disorders:

    • Depression: Fatigue, hopelessness, loss of interest.

    • Bipolar disorder: Mood swings from high to sad.

    Personality Disorders:

    • Inflexible patterns causing problems.

    • Borderline personality disorder (BPD): Mood swings, unstable relationships, impulsivity.

    • Antisocial personality disorder (APD): Violating rights of others.

Chapter 14: Therapy

  • Psychotherapist: Trained and licensed professional for mental health concerns.

    • Code of ethics includes beneficence, nonmaleficence, fidelity, integrity, justice, rights, and dignity.

  • Humanistic Therapy: Emphasizes self-realization and fulfillment.

  • Cognitive-Behavior Therapy: Changing thoughts or behavior to feel better; problem-solving and action-oriented.

  • Drug Therapy:

    • Psychostimulants: Treat ADHD.

    • Antidepressants: Improve moods.

    • Antianxiety drugs: Relieve fear/anxiety.

    • Antipsychotics: Treat schizophrenia.