Personality Psych Exam 2

What is social learning? (sigh)

A subtype of Socialization Theory Bandura 1977 social learning theory ~ Children learn by watching adult behavior; girls watch mom, boys watch dad ~ Parents aren't explicitly encouraging these behaviors, the kids just watch

What are the universal emotions?

Fear Surprise Anger Happiness Sadness Contempt Disgust

What is Djiksterhuis et all 2006?

- Choose the best of 4 cars or the best of 12 - Half of participants thought about it for 4 minutes, other half were distracted for 4 mins - Those who were distracted chose better when choosing among 12 - But those who were NOT distracted chose better when only choosing between 4 cars - The unconscious mind may be good at making complex decisions; your conscious mind can only hold so much at a time, but unconscious can be aware of lots of info at once - The reason for big decision ppl tell you to sleep on it

What is Davis and Schwartz 1987?

- Describe both good and bad childhood experiences - Repressors remembered fewer bad, but ALSO fewer good ones - Side effect of trying to repress bad is that you also repress good

What is displacement?

According to Freud, redirecting impulses to something/someone "safer" Ex: getting mad at ur boss but taking it out on ur partner Attempts to avoid recognizing ur inappropriate feelings *However*, studies have shown that it doesn't work this way; anger tends to be directed toward everyone around you, you don't just store it and save it for one person

Where does human nature come from?

Ancestral environment

What is social role?

Another subtype of socialization theory Men and women expected to have dif roles in society ~ Breadwinner vs homemaker Children take on qualities related to these roles - Evidence: adults on average fall into these roles Boys and girls become different to each other in order to fulfill roles society tells them they should fulfill *Internalization of role comes first, taking on qualities of roles comes afterwards*

What is an adaptive problem?

Anything that hurts a person's chances at survival or reproduction

What is the False Consensus Effect?

Assuming people are similar to you Goal: maintain self-esteem Ex: most people are selfish so it's okay that I am; no one comes to class so I'm not a bad person for skipping

How does memory repression work?

Blocking something out so you don't remember it having happened

How does subliminal perception influence us?

Can influence our thinking (messages shown so fast we can't be consciously aware of seeing it); but, they DON'T make us do things Ex: If i subliminally perceive "buy a coke" aka the words flash on screen for 100ms (too fast for me to read it), but my unconscious brain absorbed the phrase, I'm not more likely to buy a coke, but i AM more likely to THINK about a coke

What is Weinberger et al 1979?

Can repressing memories be a personality trait? Anxiety + defensiveness - Person who tended to repress mems would be p anxious and repress to block out anxiety, but don't want to admit to it/be aware of it so they get defensive and say no - Showed participants unpleasant phrases; asked them "does this make you anxious" and at the same time measured if they were actually anxious, also had them take personality test on defensiveness (asked them minor things everyone has done like have you told a lie etc, defensive people would say no and not admit it) - Repressors said they weren't distressed, but physiologically showed high distress

What is the difference between conscious, preconscious, and unconscious?

Conscious: current awareness; what am I having for dinner? Preconscious: potential awareness; something you weren't thinking about but you can bring it to conscious mind when asked; what is your earliest memory? how do you really feel about your gf? Unconscious: according to Freud is what you cannot access, what you would not be able to tell anyone no matter how much you think about it; why are you REALLY attracted to gf? why do you like going to wild parties (you know its bc it feels good but why does it feel good)?

What is the hormonal theory? What are its limitations?

Do hormones cause sex-linked behavior? Women's testosterone: 200-440 PG Men's: 5,140-6,460 Related to dominance and aggressiveness But, only linked to sexual desire in women And correlation is not causation Problem: but why do men and women have different hormone levels?

How do you interpret effect sizes? Can they be larger than 1?

Effect size: how many standard deviations apart men and women are on a given trait ~ 0.2 = small difference ~ 0.5 = becomes medium difference (NOT until .5, if its .49 its small) ~ 0.8 = becomes large difference ~ On a scale from -0.8 to 0.8; number tells you size of sex dif, negative number (d) = women are higher on trait than men, positive number (d) = men are higher on that trait than women ~ Effect size represented by letter d They *can* be larger than one

Why do all cultures seem to feel and recognize certain emotions?

Emotions are central, universal components of personality

What IS unconscious information according to Freud and according to today's research?

Freud: what you cannot access, what you would not be able to tell anyone no matter how much you think about it Empirical research: Unconscious info is not usually repressed; it is simply info that we don't think about (ex: why are you attracted to your boyfriend? Given enough time, you might realize he reminds you of your dad or some other important attachment figure from your life; Why do you love going to big parties? If I give you $100 to tell the truth, you might admit that they're the only time you feel accepted [this method works, ask them to dig deep and also measure it in lab and see if they match, then they get money]) We MAY be able to access unconscious information

How do defense mechanisms work and how do they help us?

Goal: reduce anxiety and maintain self-esteem Denial, Displacement, False Consensus Effect

What is Clark and Hatfield 1982 (at FSU)?

Had both male and female confederates, had all of them walk across campus between classes and approach students of the opposite sex and asked "would you like to go to bed with me tonight?"; 75% of males said yes, 0 females said yes

What is Buss, et al 1992?

Had participants imagine that their partner was having sex with someone else or falling in love with someone else and measured their distress Sexual infidelity: men's was much higher than women's, their heart rate went up 5bpm (equivalent of drinking 3 cups of coffee at once) Emotional infidelity: women much more distressed than men, skin conductance increased and there was a frown on their faces, men's was low

Where do individual differences come from?

Human nature + environmental differences

When are we more likely to help young people/old people?

In life or death situation, we choose younger bc higher reproductive value If someone needs help crossing street, you'll pick who needs more help so older

Where do sex differences come from?

Males and females have different adaptive problems Women: child birth and child support Men: paternity uncertainty

Why do some traits differ between women and men? (Broadly as well as specific traits)

Males and females have faced dif adaptive probs

WHY do sex differences develop? (evo theory)

Men and women have faced dif adaptive probs: barriers to survival, reproduction; women: resources, need to support baby through pregnancy and after; men: fertile mate, can successfully reproduce by a single sex act ~ To solve probs women: are more choosy, to make sure they don't raise child alone ~ Men: less choosy, aggressive with other men (compete over valuable resource: women)

Why do people help others without the promise of help in return?

Natural selection favors altruism bc those who are more altruistic pass on more genes Ppl that help someone are more likely to be helped by them in return Groups that helped each other ancestrally had better chances of survival, more food, communicating important info (modern: hurricane and tornado warnings)

Why do we help family?

Natural selection in favor of kin selection, they share genes w us so if we help them there's a higher chance of our genes being passed on

What is Schutzwohl and Koch 2004?

Participants listened to a story about a fake infidelity in their own relationship (didn't know it was fake) Researchers put little cues of infidelity into the story ~ "He suddenly has difficulty becoming aroused when you want to have sex" ~ "He doesn't respond anymore when you say you love him" ~ And vice versa One week later, participants were asked to recall these cues ~ Men recalled 42% sexual, 29% emotional ~ Women recalled 24% sexual, 40% emotional - Findings independently replicated across labs and countries

Where do false memories come from?

People sometimes think they've remembered something they've repressed when it never actually happened Memory: concepts that are similar are stored together, forming networks of associations (spreading activation): she activated concept "bed" which led us to think she said sleep when she didn't bc they are associated We don't always recall things accurately: sometimes we add to or take away from what really happened (constructive memories) Spreading activation leads to constructive memories

How does unconscious information influence personality?

Personality may be influenced by unconscious info What I like, believe, want, do, etc May be influenced by needs, beliefs, motivations that I'm not aware of Or may be influenced by something I'm not seeing/hearing

Why are universal emotions adaptive?

Pleasure: being liked/included; you'll do what it takes to feel that which will make you liked/included which will help u survive and reproduce Fear: ostracism/abuse; if friend goes out w/o u and ur like "what did i do why do they not like me"/if someone doesn't respect boundaries we're scared of what they'll do; we will try to fix bc we want acceptance/group cohesion Manipulation: use emotions to make people feel/do something (anger might make ppl listen to ur threat)

What is denial?

Refusing to see the facts Could involve re-interpreting the facts Ex: partner broke up w you, to reduce your anxiety you say she HAD to leave me; she wasn't ready, it's not me, it's her Could involve accepting responsibility for success but not for failure Ex: I aced that test bc I'm smart, I failed that test bc it was a dumb test Could involve minimizing Ex: binge drinking every night for years; "drinking this much every night isn't THAT bad"

HOW do sex differences develop?

Socialization and hormonal theories

What is an adaptation?

Something that evolves as a solution to an adaptive problem

Why are most people motivated to be liked and included, and which traits are related to this motivation?

Status and acceptance: provides protection from the group, food (if u don't catch any neighbor will share bc they like u), desirable mates which help us survive and reproduce Social Anxiety: "what do you think of me" to keep people around us

Are women or men on average higher in: The big 5? Emotionality? Self-esteem? Depression? Know the *size* of the differences

The big 5: - Conscientiousness: women, small - Extraversion: men, small - Agreeableness: women, small - Neuroticism: women, small Emotionality: women, small Self-esteem: men, small By age: Age 7-10: d = .16 Age 11-14: d = .23 Age 15-18: d = .33 As people get older, the difference becomes smaller Age 23-59: d = .10 Age 60+: d = -.03 Depression: Affects young people more than older people Worse in richer countries No sex difference in childhood But after puberty, twice as common in women as men

According to the evolutionary perspective, why are people similar and why are they different?

Why ppl similar = some problems everyone had to solve in ancestral environments so everyone developed the traits, dif = some people had problems to solve that others didn't

What is socialization?

Young boys are encouraged to be masculine ~ Given masculine toys ~ Praised for playing rough ~ Punished for crying Young girls are encouraged to be feminine ~ Praised for being obedient ~ Comforted for crying ~ Dolls, verbal when adult play with them

What is the socialization theory? What are its limitations?

Young girls and boys encouraged to be feminine or masculine; social learning and social role Doesn't answer why question: why do social roles exist? Why don't men and women share all tasks equally? If our social roles influence our behavior... Sex differences should be smaller in certain countries, but studies find the largest sex differences in the most egalitarian cultures Why do parents want girls and boys to grow up differently?

Why does the sex difference on a particular trait not describe every person (only the average person)?

because it's just avg, there can be individual differences

Which personality traits are linked to repression?

high anxiety but low self-reported anxiety; high defensiveness

What is the equation for individual differences?

human nature + environmental differences

What is Hyde 2005?

meta-analyzed gender differences across many domains (personality traits) Found that on average men and women are actually very similar ~ 78% of gender differences small or close to zero

Which of the big 5 shows the largest sex differences?

neuroticism (-.49)

What is the average effect size in personality?

small