PSYC1010-07 Exam 3 Review
Chapter 12: Personality
What is the Psychodynamic perspective of personality?
Understanding personality involves exploring the symbolic meanings of behavior and the unconscious mind
What is the main focus of psychodynamic approach?
Focuses on the unconscious
What does this approach say about early childhood experiences?
Early childhood experiences sculpt the individual’s personality
Who founded the psychodynamic approach?
Sigmund Freud
What did Freud’s theory say was the main motivator of personality?
Pleasure
According to this theory, what kind of internal conflict do we experience?
Pleasure drives and societal expectations/norms
What is psychoanalysis?
A type of treatment based on the theory that our present is shapes by our past
What is hysteria?
A psychological disorder that includes both mental and physical symptoms
What is Freud’s model of personality?
An iceberg
What are the different structures?
Id- raw, unorganized, primitive, unconscious drives
Ego- balances the urges of the Id with the Superego’s morals
Superego- moral branch of personality, rights and wrongs as dictated by society
Which part of our personality is totally unconscious?
Id
What can we do to reduce the internal anxiety we feel from the conflicts between the id, the superego, and reality?
Defense mechanisms, techniques we use to curve the anxiety we feel between the different structures
What are defense mechanisms?
Tactics that the ego uses to reduce anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality
Defense Mechanisms
Repression: push inacceptable thoughts of awareness
Rationalization: distort the facts
Displacement: shift feelings to a more acceptable object
Sublimation: replace unacceptable impulse with a socially acceptable impulse
Projection: attribute own faults to others
Reaction Formation: transform unacceptable motive into its opposite
Denial: refuse to acknowledge reality
Regression: seek security in an earlier developmental period
Which defense mechanism is the most powerful/the most common?
Denial
What are the 4 main critiques of Freud’s theories?
Sexuality, early experiences, importance of conscious thought, and sociocultural influences
Are sexuality and pleasure the pervasive forces behind personality?
No they’re not
What does it mean that Freud’s views were entrenched in gender binary?
the strict distinction between male and female, often in terms of biological sex and roles.
What is the difference between sex and gender?
Sex is biological and gender is a social and psychological aspect of being male or female
Is early experience as important as Freud deemed it to be?
Not really, later experiences matter as well
Who are the revisionists in the psychodynamic approach that came after Freud?
Karen Horney, Carl Jung, and Alfred Adler
What did Karen Horney say was the key motivator of personality?
The need for security
What did Carl Jung say was the key motivator of personality?
Individuation
What did Alfred Adler say was the key motivator of personality?
Striving for superiority
What are the overall criticisms and contributions of the psychodynamic approach?
Criticism: Overemphasized early experiences, power of conscious mind to control behavior, sexuality, and theory can’t be tested.
Contributions: Helped the field progress even if the theories are not used today, importance of childhood experiences, development proceeds in stages, and role of unconscious processes, conflicts
What is the humanistic perspective of personality?
Theoretical view of personality that stress a person’s capacity for personal growth and positive human qualities
What does the humanistic perspective of personality emphasize?
personal growth, self-actualization, individual choice, and free will
Who was Abraham Maslow and what was his theory?
Hierarchy of Needs
What is the hierarchy of needs?
Humans needs must be satisfied in this sequence
What is the correct order in which people must achieve their needs, according to Maslow?
Physiological needs, safety, love and belongingness, esteem, and self actualization
What is self-actualization? How would we describe a self-actualized person?
it refers to the process of realizing and fulfilling one’s full potential and becoming the best version of oneself
Who was Carl Rogers?
created theory from observations of his therapy clients
What did he say about personality?
We are all born with the raw ingredients of a fulfilling life we just need the right conditions to thrive
What are the 3 things humans need in order to grow and thrive, according to Rogers?
Unconditional positive regard, empathy, and genuineness
What is unconditional positive regard?
An individuals need to be accepted, valued and to be treated positively regardless of the persons behavior
What are conditions of worth?
The standards that we must live up to in order to receive positive regard from others
What is self-concept?
Our conscious representation of who we are and who we wish to become
What is empathy?
Being a sensitive listener and understanding another’s true feelings
What is genuineness?
Being open with ones feelings and dropping one’s pretenses and facades
What are the contributions and criticisms of the humanistic perspective?
Contributions: emphasize the way we perceive ourselves and the world around us, needs to consider the whole person and positive side of human nature, conscious experience, human potential
Criticisms: too optimistic about human nature and do not hold people accountable for negative behaviors
What is the trait perspective of personality?
psychological approach
What is a trait?
A psychological characteristic that is stable overtime and across situations
What are trait theories?
Theoretical views that stress that personality, consists of broad enduring dispositions that tend to lean to characteristic responses
What do trait theorists agree and disagree on?
Traits are building blocks on personality; they disagree on which are the most important
Who was Gordon Allport?
The founder of the trait approach
What is Gordon Allport considered to be to the trait approach?
foundational figure in the trait approach to personality
What was his approach to finding traits?
Lexical approach
What is the lexical approach?
a method used in personality psychology that suggests that the most important and meaningful traits of personality are encoded in the language we use
Who was W.T. Norman? What was his theory?
an American psychologist who is best known for his work in the field of personality psychology, particularly for his contributions to the development of the Big Five personality traits
What are the Big 5 (OCEAN) personality traits?
5 broad traits that are thought to describe the main dimensions of personality
What is openness?
A tendency to enjoy intellectual challenges, to be interested in art and culture and to engage in creative pursuits
What is conscientiousness?
a personality trait that refers to how responsible, organized, and reliable someone is
What is extraversion?
a personality trait that describes how outgoing, sociable, and energetic a person is
What is agreeableness?
a personality trait that reflects how friendly, cooperative, and compassionate a person is
What is neuroticism?
a personality trait that refers to how emotionally unstable or prone to stress someone is
Can these traits change throughout our lives?
Traits are stable by definition yet positive traits increase across adulthood
Do the big five personality traits show up across cultures?
Yes, especially extraversions, agreeableness, and consciousness
Do they show up in animals?
Yes, in dogs and hyenas
What are the contributions and criticisms of the trait perspective?
Contributions: provide tools for using personality to predict behavior, wellbeing, psychological disorders, health and illness.
Criticisms: ignore situational factors in behavior and ignore nuances of an individual’s personality
What is the dominant perspective used to explain personality today?
Trait approach
What is the dominant trait perspective used in personality research today?
The big 5
What is the personological perspective of personality?
a theoretical approach that emphasizes the uniqueness of the individual and the importance of life history in understanding personality
What is Personology?
a psychological approach to studying personality that focuses on understanding the whole person through the lens of their unique life history, personal experiences, and internal motivations
What does this perspective say about the unconscious?
The unconscious does play a role
What is a Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)?
It is designed to explore an individual’s personality, needs, and motives by analyzing how they respond to a series of ambiguous pictures
What are the 3 things it tests for?
Need for achievement, affiliation, and power
Who created the first criminal profile? Who was it about, and was it accurate?
Morray about Hitler and it was accurate
What is the life story approach?
a narrative-based perspective on personality that emphasizes the role of personal narratives—the stories people tell about their own lives—in shaping their identity and understanding of themselves
What is a psychobiography?
a type of biographical analysis that applies psychological theories and concepts to the study of an individual's life, personality, and behavior
What are the contributions and criticisms of the personological/life story approach?
Contributions: diaries and interviews provide a rich record of an individual’s experience
Criticisms: difficult and time-consuming, tends to reflect bias of reserchers, not easily generalized
What is the social cognitive perspective of personality? It incorporates principles from where? To explore what?
Behaviorism
Who was Albert Bandura?
Best known for his contributions to the field of social learning theory (later expanded into social cognitive theory) and for his work on the development of self-efficacy
What is reciprocal determinism?
The relationship among a person, their behavior and the environment are all 2 way streets
What are the 3 factors involved in reciprocal determinism?
Behavior, personal factors, and environmental factors
According to Bandura, what are the 3 key processes in understanding personality?
Observational learning, personal control, and self-efficiency
What is observational learning?
the process of learning new behaviors, skills, or knowledge by watching others, rather than through direct experience or reinforcement
What is personal control?
We can regulate and control our own behavior despite our changing environment
What is self-efficacy?
The belief that one can accomplish a given goal or a task and produce positive change
Who was Walter Mischel? What was his theory?
best known for his work on self-control, personality, and the concept of delayed gratification; situationionalism
What is situationalism?
The idea that personality and behavior often varied considerably from one context to another
What is the CAPS model of personality?
Cognitive Affective Processing Systems; Information processing and emotional experience interact to systematically determine behavior as the person encounters different situations
According to these theories, do our personalities have stability overtime or across situation?
Stability over time but we can change our personality from situation to situation
What are the contributions and criticisms of the social cognitive perspective?
Contributions: focus on interactions of individuals with their environments and suggests that people can control their environment
Criticisms: too concerned with situational influences, ignore the role of biology, and very specific predictions hinder generalization
What is the biological perspective of personality?
A theoretical view of personality that emphasizes the role of physical aspects of the person such as genetics and the brain
Who was Phineas Gage? What happened to him? Why is this significant to our study of personality? Does our personality and who we are also involve our brain? yes
Railroad worker
What are neurotransmitters? Do they have a role in our personality?
Chemical substances in the body and the brain that send signals or message to our neurons
What is Behavioral Genetics? How do they study the role of genetics on personality?
The study of the inherited underpinnings of behavioral characteristics
What is a self-report test?
a type of psychological assessment in which individuals provide information about their own behavior, thoughts, feelings, and attitudes
What is the most common method of measuring personality?
Self-report tests
What is social desirability?
When people respond with what they think will look better rather than the truth
What is an empirically keyed test?
a psychological assessment that uses statistical evidence to select questions that can predict outcomes or differentiate between groups
What is a projective test?
a psychological test in which words, images, or situations are presented to a person and the responses analyzed for the unconscious expression of elements of personality that they reveal
What approach to personality would use the projective test?
psychoanalysis
What are some examples of projective tests?
Rorschach Inkblot Test, Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) or Picture Story Exercise (PSE)
What are some of the other types of personality assessments?
Interviews/peer rating, Direct observation (live/video), Cognitive assessments, Physiological measures (e.g., polygraph), Brain imaging, Physiological cognitive assessments
What determines the type of assessment a researcher would use to test personality?
The approach they take to explain personality
Chapter 13: Social Psychology
What is social psychology?
The scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate it to one another
What are the 2 features of social psychology?
Social cognition and social influence
What kind of real-life events is social psychology connected to?
Historical real life events and everyday real life events
What type of research do social psychologists typically use?
Experimental research
What is the Bystander effect?
a social psychological theory that describes how people are less likely to help someone in need when others are present
What real life event is this tied to?
Murder of kitty Geneveses
Describe Darley and Latane’s studies of the bystander effect.
They had people in a room taking a test, staged a fake emergency to see if the people or person would help
What are the 5 steps of helping?
noticing the event, interpreting it as an emergency, assuming personal responsibility, knowing how to help, and deciding to help
What are some reasons why we might not help when other people are around?
people think the other person will help
What is diffusion of responsibility?
a sociopsychological phenomenon where people feel less responsible for their actions or inactions when others are present
What is social cognition?
people feel less responsible for their actions or inactions when others are present
What is person perception?
the study of the cognitive processes involved in categorizing people and their behavior
What is the “beautiful is good” stereotype?
the assumption that people who are physically attractive also have other positive traits, such as intelligence, morality, and social competence
What is the self-fulfilling prophecy?
a psychological phenomenon where a person's expectations or beliefs cause them to act in a way that makes those expectations come true
What does research say about first impressions? Are they accurate?
First impression are typically accurate
Why are first impressions so lasting?
Because of the primacy effect
What is the primacy effect?
People tend to remember the first thing they experience in a sequence more than what comes after
What are attributions?
explanations for the causes of behavior
What is attribution theory?
internal/external causes, stable/unstable causes, controllable/uncontrollable causes.
What are the different types of causes in attribution theory?
"locus" (internal vs. external), "stability" (stable vs. unstable), and "controllability" (controllable vs. uncontrollable)
What is fundamental attribution error? What is an example? Is this a universal phenomenon across cultures?
observers often explain others’ behavior in terms of internal causes; Example: If you see a coworker late to a meeting, you might automatically assume they are unreliable or lazy, without considering that they might have gotten stuck in traffic (situational factor); Not universal across cultures
What are heuristics? Do these always give us the right answers?
mental shortcuts that help people make quick decisions and solve problems; no
What are stereotypes?
a generalized belief about a group of people, often based on characteristics like age, race, gender, or occupation
What is the false consensus effect?
a cognitive bias where people tend to overestimate how much others share their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors
What is self-esteem?
how you feel about yourself and your opinion of your own value
What are positive illusions? Are positive illusions good?
Yes, good for self esteem
What is self-serving bias?
refers to the heuristic of seeing one's self with an overly positive view in order to enhance or maintain self-confidence and esteem
What is self-objectification?
a psychological process in which a person views themselves as a physical object first and a human being second
What is stereotype threat?
the anxiety that arises when a person is aware of a negative stereotype about their group and is in a situation where that stereotype is relevant
What can it do to performance?
reduce academic focus and performance
What is social comparison?
a behavioral strategy where people evaluate their own abilities, opinions, and values by comparing them to others
What are the 2 types of social comparison?
Upward and downward
What are attitudes? Can our attitudes predict our behavior? When/under what circumstances?
a person's evaluation or feeling towards a person, idea, or object, and are typically positive or negative; yes depending the situation
Can our behavior predict our attitudes? When/under what circumstances?
Yes depending on the situation we’re in
What is cognitive dissonance theory?
a psychological theory that explains how people experience discomfort when their actions, beliefs, or values are inconsistent
How do we feel when our attitudes and our behavior do not match?
Uncomfortable and uneasy
How can we reduce cognitive dissonance?
changing behaviors to match attitude and changing attitudes to match behavior
What is effort justification?
a psychological phenomenon that describes the tendency for people to value more highly an outcome they worked hard to achieve
What is self-perception theory?
a psychological theory that explains how people learn about their own attitudes and character traits by observing their own behavior
What are some examples of cognitive dissonance and self-perception theory?
When college students did a task with pegs and when they were done they had to tell the other group that the study was super fun even though it wasn’t
What is persuasion?
the act of attempting to change someone's beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors without using force
What are the 4 elements of persuasion?
Communicator (credibility), Medium (TV, print, and social media), Target (weak versus strong attitudes), and Message (rational versus emotional strategy)
What is credibility usually determined by?
depth, objectivity, currency, authority, and purpose
What is the elaboration likelihood model?
a theory that explains how people process information and develop attitudes that influence their behavior
What is the central route?
logic driven and uses data and facts to convince people of an argument's worthiness
What is the peripheral route?
a method of persuasion that uses indirect cues to create a positive association with a message
What are 2 techniques of successful persuasion?
Food in the door and door in the face
What is the foot-in-the-door technique?
when a small request is initially made in order to get a person to later agree to a bigger request
What is the door-in-the-face technique?
a psychological tactic that involves asking someone to first agree to a large request, and then following up with a smaller request
How can we resist persuasion?
Through inoculation
What is inoculation?
a theory that explains how to make people more resistant to future challenges to their beliefs and attitudes
What are the 2 extremes of social behavior?
Altruism and aggression
What is prosocial behavior?
a voluntary action that is intended to benefit another person or group of people
What is altruism?
acting to help someone else at some cost to oneself.
What is egoism?
a philosophical theory that states that all human actions are motivated by self-interest, even when it seems like they are altruistic
Are we ever truly altruistic?
Yes but rarely
What is the biggest predictor of altruism?
Empathy
What personality characteristic is highly associated with altruism?
Agreeableness
What socioeconomic status (SES) groups are more likely to be altruistic?
Lower ses groups because they feel empathy towards the people that need help
What is aggression?
the act of harming another person, animal, or object, or damaging property, with the intent to cause physical or emotional injury
What are some of the biological influences of aggression?
genetics, medical and psychiatric diseases, neurotransmitters, hormones, substances of abuse, and medications
What are some of the psychological influences on aggression?
Negative emotions, including fear, anger, pain, and frustration
What is frustration?
an emotional response to a perceived obstacle to achieving a goal or will
Can we learn to be aggressive? How?
Aggression can be learned in the home, in the school, and from television programs
What are some of the sociocultural influences of aggression?
cultural variations: cultures of honor
media violence: TV, violent video games
Do violent video games cause aggression?
They might, more research to do, mixed findings
How can our behavior be socially influenced?
Social influence is how our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are affected by our social environment
What is conformity? Is it good or bad?
Depends
Describe Asch’s experiment.
a psychological study designed to test how individuals would conform to a group's opinion even when the group's answer was clearly wrong
What are some of the factors that contribute to conformity?
larger group size, unanimity, high group cohesion, and perceived higher status of the group
What is informational social influence?
a psychological phenomenon that occurs when people change their beliefs or behaviors based on the information they receive from others
What is normative social influence?
When you conform to be right than to be liked
What is obedience?
Behavior that complies with the explicit demand of the individual in authority
Describe Milgram’s obedience experiments.
Every time learner gets something wrong teacher(participant) had to shock them (weren’t actually shocking them), the researcher (the authority) told them too, the study required them to continue.
Describe the Stanford prison experiment.
study conducted by Philip Zimbardo in 1971 to explore how people react to power and authority, and how quickly individuals can conform to roles in a controlled environment.
How can being in groups influence our behavior?
We follow what everyone else does
What is deindividuation?
The reduction of personal identity and personal responsibility when one is part of a group
What is anonymity?
refers to the condition of being anonymous—where an individual's identity is unknown or concealed
Why did we talk about trick-or-treaters here?
The kids that were in a group would take more than one piece of candy. Kid wearing masks took more than on piece of candy (anonymity).
What is social contagion?
Imitative behavior involving the spread of actions, emotions, and ideas
What is social facilitation?
The improvement in an individual’s performance because of the presence of others
What is social loafing?
The tendency for an individual to exert less effort in a group because of reduced accountability
What is risky shift?
The tendency for group decisions to be riskier than the average individual decision
What is polarization?
When group discussion strengthens the individual’s decision
What is groupthink?
The impaired group decision making that occurs when making the right decision is less important than maintaining group harmony
Is groupthink a good thing?
No because you value conformity over being right
What are some symptoms of groupthink?
Overestimating the power and morality of the group, unwillingness to hear all opinions, closemindedness, pressure for uniformity
How can we avoid groupthink?
Groups should allow all opinions to be heard, you should avoid isolation, your group leader should impartial, you can include outside experts, you can encourage member to speak out