Personality exam 3; chapters 11 and 12

Women disclose more intimately and to more people than men do. This may be because,

- gender differences expected and often reinforced by society. - The freedom women feel to disclose may be limited by the topic; women are like tomorrow when they talk about their parents or sexual attitudes, but less when they talk about personal aggression.

Loneliness and Health

- lonely people have poorer health habits. -lonely people experience more chronic stressors. -lonely people use less effective coping strategies when dealing with stress. -lonely people experience unhealthy changes and physiology. -lonely people are less able to rely on natural restorative processes that improve health (recuperation).

Person centered therapy involves creating a proper relationship with clients.

-Most importantly, the relationship must be open and genuine... unconditional positive regard. -reflection; The therapist never tells the client what the client really means, instead the therapist re-states what they believe they are hearing. This helps the clients to understand their own thoughts and feelings.

Criticisms of the humanistic approach

-Reliance on the concept of free will to explain human behavior; renders the humanistic approach unfair for scientific study because science relies on the notion that events are determined by other events; that behavior is determined and therefore predictable. -Key concepts are poorly defined >Self-actualization >Fully functioning -Limited applicability of psychotherapy techniques....may be limited to a narrow band of problems. -Naive assumptions about human nature, assumes that all people are basically good.

Misconceptions about Maslow's need hierarchy

-The assumption that lower needs must be satisfied before returning to higher needs. This is not necessarily true. At any given moment our behavior is potentially influenced by needs from all five levels or any combination there of. -description that need hierarchy is universal. This is incorrect, means of satisfying a particular need varies across cultures. - oversimplification that any behavior is motivated by a single need. Behavior is the result of multiple motivations.

components of flow (optimal experience)

-activity is challenging and skillful. -one's attention is completely absorbed by the activity. The individual stops being aware of themselves as separate from their actions. -activity has clear goals, there is a logical point to work toward. -presence of clear feedback, we need to know that we have succeeded at reaching our goal. -concentration is only on the current task. -achievement of personal control. People inflow enjoy the experience of exercising control over their environment. -loss of self consciousness. -loss of sense of time.

High scores on loneliness scales are related to

-higher levels of social anxiety and self consciousness. -lower levels of self-esteem and assertiveness. -pessimism and negative mood.

Three features necessary for a healthy therapeutic relationship

1. Congruence; inner feelings match outward display, genuineness. 2. Unconditional positive regard; acceptance of the other person is not contingent on performance. 3. Empathetic understanding; temporarily entering into another's world without prejudiced or judge mental listening.

Two characteristics that seem to contribute to chronic loneliness

1. Negative expectations, entering a social situation with the expectation that it will not go well. This tends to be poisonous when trying to develop a friendship or romantic relationship. Because an individual doubts that a new acquaintance would enjoy talking to them, they show a little interest in getting to know other people and are quick to end a conversation. 2. Poorly develop social skills. Keeps people trapped in a cycle of loneliness

4 Key elements of the humanistic approach

1. Personal responsibility. 2. The here and now. 3. The experience of the individual. 4. Personal growth.

two types esteem needs

1. They need to perceive oneself as competent and achieving. 2. They need for admiration and respect. These go hand-in-hand.

Existential Psychotherapy

An approach to psychotherapy, related to the humanistic approach, that centers on the premise that each person is essentially alone in the world, and that realization of this fact can cause overwhelming anxiety. Focuses on existential anxiety; the feelings of dread and panic that follow the realization that there is no meaning to one's life. Therapy emphasizes the freedom to choose and develop a lifestyle that reduces feelings of emptiness and boredom.

Q-sort technique

An assessment device in which the subject sorts statements into categories following a normal distribution. Used by Rogers as a measure of statements regarding the self and the ideal self. Clients take the test the first time according to their perceive self, then take the test the second time according to their ideal self, therapist compares the two profiles. Basic procedure used to assess a wide variety of psychological concepts including parent child attachment, defense mechanisms, temperament, strength of romantic relationships, and the client centered approach.

Satisfying a growth need may need to

An increase in, rather than satiation of, motivation.

fully functioning person

Carl Roger's term for a healthy, self-actualizing individual, who has a self-concept that is both positive and congruent with reality. People who strive for and reach an optimal sense of satisfaction in their lives.

Loneliness is a common problem on

College campuses, but some people are more prone to bouts of loneliness than others.

Psychologically healthy people are (self-actualized)

Comfortable with themselves, admit their weaknesses, work to improve themselves where they can, less restricted by cultural norms, and express themselves in a way that suits them.

Causes and consequences of loneliness vary as a function of

Culture.

two kinds of love

D-love. B-love.

Motives identified by Maslow

Deficiency motives: Results from a lack of needed object. -Satisfied when obtained. -Basic needs such as hunger and thirst fall into this category. Once we obtain the needed object, deficiency motives are satisfied and, for a period of time, stop directing our behavior. Growth needs: Not satisfied by finding the object of need. -Satisfied by expressing the motive; such as unselfishly giving love to another person and taking steps to develop your unique potential.

People who conceal unpleasant personal information tend to experience

Depression and a lower sense of well-being. Actively inhibiting thoughts and feelings about unpleasant experiences requires a great deal of psychological and physiological work. Stress has short and long-term impacts.

We use defenses when making observations about ourselves as well. Rather than acknowledging our shortcomings are trying to learn from our mistakes we may

Distort the situation or deny it. For example, I didn't mean it the way she took it.

When faced with extreme threatening information one relies on the fences to keep the info from entering awareness

Distortion and denial.

People who think of themselves as undesirable also turn to ____________ and ___________When they encounter information to the contrary. For example, he doesn't really find me a tractive. He's just trying to get some thing from me.

Distortion, denial.

Self disclosure plays a key role in the development of personal relationships. However this is rarely one-sided, instead, relationships develop as

Each person reveals intimate information about him or her self at roughly the same level of intimacy.

Self disclosure lead to feelings of attraction and trust. For instants a disclosing therapist creates an atmosphere of trust and

Elicits more disclosure from the client.

Disclosing traumatic experiences can be beneficial regardless of the medium of disclosure. In one study, students who wrote about traumatic experiences

Experienced less sick days and less visits to the school clinic then students who wrote about trivial matters.

Distortion and denial succeed in the short term, but each use takes us

Further and further away from experiencing life fully. In severe cases, we replace reality with fantasy.

Students experience the flow when they are more interested in learning about the subject and less concerned with

Getting the best grade.

In a study of female college student's phone calls, students shared significantly more personal/intimate information when they spoke on the phone with someone they identified as a ________ _________ than when they spoke to an acquaintance.

Good friend.

One instance in which the disclosure reciprocity rule may not apply?

Good friends. In this case, sometimes one friend does more talking while the other does more listening. After a certain amount of intimacy is attained in a relationship we feel free to disclose to a friend without requiring reciprocity.

Organizations promote job satisfaction by taking care of employees'

Higher needs.

Abraham Maslow

Humanistic psychologist known for his "Hierarchy of Needs" and the concept of "self-actualization".

The key distinction between the humanistic approach and other theories of personality?

Humanistic psychologists assume that people are largely responsible for their actions.

Eight elements of humanistic psychology (Henry Murray)

Humanistic: study of humans, not animals. Holistic: human system is greater than the sum of its parts. Historic: whole person from birth to death. Phenomenological: Focus on interior, experiential, and existential aspects of personality. Real life: person in nature, society, and culture. Not just the experimental lab. Positivity: joy, fruitful activities, virtuous actions and attributes. Well : choices, decisions, voluntary actions. Value: a philosophy of life that describes what is desirable.

Humanistic psychologists argue that we may not be able to predict any specific behavior with 100% accuracy, but we can

Identify patterns that allow us to predict the likelihood that a person will act a certain way in a certain situation.

In the long term, disclosing traumatic experiences leads to

Improvements in physical health and psychological (emotional) well-being.

Real and Ideal self correlations ___________ as client's move through client centered therapy. For a psychologically healthy person, the two sets should be very similar and have a high correlation.

Increase.

Lonely people are more likely to be

Introverted, anxious, sensitive to rejection, suffer from depression, and have a hard time trusting other people.

The absence of an intimate friend or a romantic partner often contributes to loneliness in Western societies. However in Asian countries,

It is more about connections to family and the community. Feeling alone here is more likely lower an individual sense of well-being.

Maslow believed that knowing self actualize people can provide

Lessons others can follow for fulfilling their true potential. Self actualizing individuals have more free well than average people.

Roots of Humanistic Psychology

Lie primarily in existential philosophy and ideas promoted by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.

Loneliness vs Isolation

Loneliness is not the same as isolation. You can have contact with lots of people and still be lonely, or you can have contact with very few people and if you are satisfied with that contact, you will not be lonely. It's all about perception. Are you satisfied with your social relationships?

Men are considered more adjusting when they talk about

Masculine topics.

optimal experience (flow)

Moments in which a person's attention is entirely focused on an activity. Natural movement from one step to the next. A state of happiness and satisfaction characterized by absorption in a challenging and personally rewarding task.

The here and now (Humanistic approach)

Most people spent far too much time thinking about events that have already happened or planning those that might be. We do not need to be victims of our past. Our past experiences shape and influence who we are and how we behave, but they do not have to dictate what we can become. People can become fully functioning individuals when they live their lives as it happens.

Two types of psychologically healthy individuals

Non-peakers Peakers.

Non-Peakers

Non-peakers have a clear direction in life. They are social improvers such as politicians reformers Crusaders and social workers.

Back and forth disclosure is important. It leads to more liking than

One sided disclosure.

Fully functioning persons are,

Open to new experiences, try to live each moment as it comes, learn to trust their feelings, sensitive to the needs of others without being overly concerned with meeting the standards society sets for them. They make choices consistent with their own interest, values, and needs. They experience emotions more intensely and more deeply than some people

One study found an increase in immune strength immediately after

Participants wrote about traumatic experiences (also better sleep).

Personal growth (Humanistic approach)

People are motivated to progress toward some ultimately satisfying state of being. Happiness requires that we grow in a positive direction. Carl Rogers called this becoming a fully functioning individual. Abraham Maslow used the term self actualization.

Many humanistic psychologist argue that self disclosure is important for

Personal growth and happiness, because it is only through disclosure to others that we can truly come to know ourselves.

Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow)

Physiological. Safety. Belongingness and love. Esteem. Self-actualization. And later....transcendence.

strengths of humanistic approach

Positive approach: emphasis on the healthy side of personality. Several aspects adopted by therapist from other theoretical perspective (client centered therapy, positive regard, therapeutic empathy, self disclosure). Growth of encounter groups. Humanistic psychology adopted in education, communication, and business.

According to Maslow, occupations should

Provide opportunities for personal growth and the satisfaction of higher order needs. Besides money, a job can satisfy our needs for belonging this, self-esteem, and respect for others.

Stranger on the bus phenomenon

Refers to people who are not known to you who will voluntarily offer too much information about themselves and their opinions without provocation. For instance, the stranger is sitting next to you on the bus will tell you all about their lives and all about their opinions without being asked.

Individuals vulnerability to loneliness becomes ______________ ______________over time.

Relatively stable.

Self (Rogers)

Represents an organized and consistent pattern of perceptions. Although the self changes, it always retains this pattern, integrated, organized quality. Because this quality endures overtime and characterizes the individual, the self is a personality structure. The self is not a little person inside of us. The self does not independently control behavior. The self is an organized set of perceptions possessed by the end of visual who is ultimately responsible for his or her actions.

Teachers and parents have adopted _______________ suggestions for education and child rearing.

Rogers'.

The amount of ____________ _______________ in a marriage is a strong predictor of relationships satisfaction.

Self-disclosure.

Peakers

Tend to be less conventional and more concerned with abstract notions. These individuals have spiritual experiences, growth experiences, and are more likely to be the poet, the songwriters, and the philosophers.

The acceptance of humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow to be the president of the APA in 1967, symbolized?

The acceptance of the humanistic approach as a legitimate alternative perspective.

Incongruence (Rogers)

The degree of disparity between one's self-concept and one's actual experience..

Safety needs are a prominent when

The future is unpredictable or when living in an area where political or social order is unstable.

A very important aspect of personality development according to Rogers

The parent child relationship. The nature of that relationship, and whether it foster self actualization or impedes personal growth, determines the nature of the individuals personality and, consequently, their self structure and psychological adjustment.

Self disclosure is acknowledged for its role in

The psychotherapeutic process. Clients benefit the most when they engage in an open exchange of thoughts and feelings with the therapist.

Q-sorts can be used to

Track therapeutic progress.

Unconditional Positive Regard (Rogers)

Unconditional acceptance and approval of a person by others When we receive this, we learn to except all parts of ourselves and to know that we will be loved.

distortion

We might convince ourselves that the person who called us a jerk was in a bad mood or is just a rude person.

loneliness

a feeling of deprivation about existing social relations; Occurs when a persons network of social relationships is smaller or less satisfying than the person desires.

Congruence (Rogers)

according to client-centered counseling, the necessary quality of a counselor being in touch with reality and other's perception of oneself. Also... The state a person must be into achieve self actualization. This occurs when a persons ideal self (who they would like to be) is concurrent with their actual behavior.

person-centered therapy (Rogers)

an approach to therapy that assumes all individuals have a tendency toward growth and that this growth can be facilitated by acceptance and genuine reactions from the therapist. Premise of therapy Is there a therapist cannot possibly understand the client as well as the client can understand him or herself.

Conditional Positive Regard (Rogers)

approval, love, or acceptance granted only when a person expresses desirable behaviors and attitudes. This kind of regard inhibits our growth process. We did Nite those parts of ourselves not deemed appropriate so that we can feel safe and sheltered.

statistical determinism

events can be predicted, but only with a probability greater than chance. People may freely make choices about how they will behave, but those choices are so based on factors that scientist can often observe and measure.

Esteem Needs (Maslow)

need for self-esteem, achievement, competence, and independence; need for recognition and respect from others.

Belongingness and love needs

need to love and be loved, to belong and be accepted; need to avoid loneliness and separation.

ideal self

one's perception of whom one should be or would like to be. The self-concept one would most like to possess.

Self-Concept: Actual Self

our understanding and evaluation of who we are

Denial

refusing to believe or even perceive painful realities. He wasn't really talking about me, but someone else with a name that sounds like mine.

disclosure reciprocity

the tendency for one person's intimacy of self-disclosure to match that of a conversational partner. Start with safe topics and go from there.

physiological needs

those relating to the basic biological necessities of life: food, drink, air, rest, and shelter. Must be satisfied before moving to higher level needs.

self-disclosure

voluntary sharing of information about the self that another person is not likely to know. The choice of whom to disclose to is selective.

Need for self-actualization

which is the need to fulfill one's potential. Satisfied when people identify their true self and reach their full potential

With the results of a Q-sort,

The therapist calculates A correlation between a client's real self and her ideal self. Clients who's real and ideal selves are unrelated have zero correlation. Negatively correlated if real and ideal selves are at opposite sides.

Signs of intimacy may include

The use of familiar terms, pet names, laughing at the same points, knowing when to speak and when the conversation is ending.

Experience of the individual (Humanistic approach)

Therapists provide therapeutic atmosphere that allows clients to help themselves. Based on the premise that no one knows you better than yourself, corner stone of humanistic psychology. During the course of successful therapy, clients come to understand themselves and develop an appropriate strategy for dealing with their problems.

Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow are prominent figures in the field of humanistic psychology. However,

There is no definitive spokesperson for the humanistic perspective, and no clearly agreed-upon definition of what constitutes a humanistic personality theory.

In one study participants read a story about someone who is either highly disclosing or not very disclosing. Half of the participants think that they are reading about a man, the other half I think they are reading about a woman. The study shows

They have that thought they were reading about a woman rated her better adjusted when she was disclosing but when they thought the person was a male disclosing too much was seen as a sign of poor psychological adjustment.

People are motivated by safety needs may become obsessed about saving money for an uncertain future.

They might choose a job with security over a job that provides fulfillment. They may settle for an unhappy marriage if it provide stability.

Personal responsibility (humanistic approach)

This idea is central to the humanistic approach to personality. People are responsible for what happens to them. Our behaviors represent personal choices, people are active shapers of their own lives.

Carl Rogers

1902-1987; Field: humanistic; Contributions: founded person-centered therapy, theory that emphasizes the unique quality of humans especially their freedom and potential for personal growth, unconditional positive regard, fully functioning person. Anxiety is the result of acquiring knowledge that does not coincide with the impression one has about one self.

The way we reveal information about ourselves is governed by a set of unstated but widely understood roles, one of which is disclosure reciprocity. Children as young as ________ years of age seem to understand and follow this rule.

8

B-Love (Maslow)

A mature form of love in which the person is more concerned with giving love to benefit others than in receiving love from others to gratify his or her needs; also known as being-love.. Experienced and grows as a result of being in the relationship.

safety needs

A person's needs for security and protection from physical and emotional harm. Security, stability, protection, structure, order, and freedom from chaos.

D-Love (Maslow)

A selfish love in which the individual is more concerned with receiving love and gratifying his or her needs than with giving love to another; also known as deficiency-love..

disorganization

A term used by Carl Rogers describing the extreme anxiety one experiences when the gap between self-concept and reality has become so large that our defenses are in adequate and the protective barrier against threatening information collapses.

Two aspects of the self

Actual and ideal self.

existential philosophy (humanistic approach)

Addresses the meaning of human existence, the role of free will, and the uniqueness of each human being.