Personality Psychology Exam 3 (Chapters 12, 13, & 14)

general intelligence

(g factor); early on, most psychologists thought of intelligence as a property of the individual/in trait-like terms and people were thought to differ in amount- thought of as a single broad factor. -this was developed to identify separate abilities. For example: SAT: verbal and mathematical scores- examples of 2 differentiated kinds of intelligence

cross-cultural issues in locus of control

-Asians were found to be more external than Americans. -European to U.S. differences were small. -Americans were found to feel better when in control; gave them confidence--> lead to better performance on tasks

personality and well-being

-Costa and McCrae found that happy people tend to be outgoing and sociable, emotionally stable, and low on neuroticism: they use this to theorize that extraversion and neuroticism are the 2 personality traits that influence happiness. -Happiness is marked by relatively high levels of positive affect and relatively low levels of negative affect over a person's lifetime -Extraversion influenced a person's positive emotions, whereas neuroticism determined a person's negative emotions **It appears that having the right combo of personality traits (high extraversion and low neuroticism) may contribute much more to happiness than gender, ethnicity, age, and all the other demographic characteristics.

development of the self-concept (adolescents)

-During the teen years, perspective taking occurs: teens have the ability to take the perspective of others and to see one --includes objective self-awareness: seeing oneself as the object of others' attention -Objective self-awareness is the beginning of social identity

impact of culture on field-independence/dependence

-East-Asians tend to be more holistic; therefore, they tend to be more field-dependent, focusing on the visual field as a whole. They were more responsive to how things varied in tandem -Westerners/Americans tend to focus on the details and are more field-independent. Americans made fewer mistakes on the RFT; indicating they were less field-dependent

cultural differences in happiness

-Eastern cultures tend to see the world differently, focusing more on the group than on themselves; therefore, receiving a lot of social support didn't appear to matter as much to them -In a study done in Turkey, they found that people felt happier when giving support to other than when receiving it. --Suggests that being able to provide social support to others may be a measure of social success in collectivist cultures

hostility in Big Five

-Found among people with low A and high N -violent murders were found to have deficits in their prefrontal brain areas (areas involved in impulse control) -rates of brain abnormalities are much higher in violent persons than in those without a history of violence

development of the self-concept (children)

-Gradually, infants come to realize that they're distinct from the rest of the world- distinction forms a rudimentary sense of self-awareness of one's own body -Around age 2-3, among the first aspects of self that children learn to identify and associate with themselves are sex and age; these children also expand their self-concept to include the reference to family -From ages 3-4, children's self-concept is based mainly on developing skills and talents. -From 5-6, children increasingly begin to compare their abilities with others' abilities; they also learn that they can keep secrets and lie, based on the development of a private self-concept

making excuses and claiming obstacles

-Insulates self from failure and enhances self by success -Self-esteem concerns: Low SE: defensive, face saving excuse High SE: extra credit if successful

protecting vs. enhancing the self

-Low self-esteem people are motivated to protect their self-concept by avoiding failure -High self-esteem people are motivated to enhance their self-concept by taking risks and striving for success.

longitudinal research on happiness

-Lyubomirsky and colleges (2005) found that longitudinal studies provided evidence that happiness leads to, or at least comes before, positive outcomes in many areas of life, including fulfilling and productive work, satisfying relationships, and superior mental and physical health and longevity. -Happiness can also lead to several positive outcomes, including being more helpful and altruistic, wanting to be with others, increases in self-esteem and liking of others, a better functioning immune system, more effective conflict resolution skills, and more creative or original thinking.

research on possible selves

-Possible selves are like bridges between our present and our future:they are our working models of ourselves in the future -In studying a group of juvenile delinquents, researchers found that a high proportion had a possible self of criminal, and relatively few had such conventional possible selves as having a job or getting along well in school -A study of 8th graders found that those who could imagine themselves as problem drinkers were more likely, as 9th graders, to have experienced a problematic alcohol use.

self-discrepancy and procrastination

-Procrastinators had a greater actual/ought discrepancy; procrastinators are less likely to work on the things that will help them get to their ought self (suggests avoidance) -Non-procrastinators: have lesser actual/ought discrepancy (suggests approach) -ideal self guides us to pursue tasks for achievement and successful goal pursuit.

what are the consequences of learned helplessness?

-Seligman: Depression "The ultimate pessimism" --severely depressed people can become the most helpless -according to Seligman, the important difference between people who recover from temporary depression and those who don't is their explanatory style --a pessimistic style can change learned helplessness from brief & local to long-lasting & general --for optimists, a failure produces only brief demoralization

definitions of happiness and life satisfaction

-Some researchers emphasize eudaimonia, the creation of a life of meaning and purpose, as the route to happiness. Other theories: -Jean Jacques Rousseu believed the road to happiness lies in the satisfaction of one's desires and the hedonistic pursuit of pleasure. -William James taught that happiness was the ratio of one's accomplishments to one's aspirations; one could achieve happiness in life by 1. accomplishing more or 2. lowering one's aspirations

happiness research

-Teens who score high on happiness appear to have parents who play some role in this; relationship appears to be stronger for girls; these teens report more positive relations with peers, lower levels of anxiety and depression, had higher hopes for their future, and expressed increased personal control in their lives. -Chinese teens high on happiness were found to have parents who rarely quarreled and were highly educated -Elderly subjects showed same levels of happiness, suggesting that age alone does not make a difference in happiness. However, old people with stronger support systems showed increased happiness than those who were socially isolated.

wealth and happiness

-Wealth correlates with well-being, to an extent -May involve third variables. For example, wealthier countries may have higher well-being because they also provide better healthcare for their citizens -Once people can afford life's basic necessities, it appears that increasing one's financial status matters very little to one's well-being. -The data shows little-no effect of increasing wealth on national happiness. -External life circumstances have a surprisingly small effect on happiness and subjective well-being

poor self-esteem

-a risk factor for developing certain eating disorders, especially bulimia -it's related to depression

mood induction study

-across several studies, the best predictor of responsiveness to the positive mood induction was extraversion -the best predictor of responsiveness to the negative mood induction was neuroticism **It appears that it's easy to put an extravert in a good mood, and easy to put a high-neuroticism person in a bad mood** -these lab studies suggest that personality acts like an amplifier of life events, with extraverts showing amplified positive emotions to good events and high-neuroticism subjects showing amplified emotions to negative events. -these findings are important because they suggest that personality has a direct influence on emotions and that, even under controlled circumstances, people respond differently to emotional events based on their personalities. -In another study, extraverts were found to be more reactive to rewards (like money) or situations involving desired outcomes (like success feedback) or appetitive stimuli (like delicious food)

gender differences in locus of control

-among Norwegian teens: girls were found to have a more internal locus of control -among adults in the U.S. there was no gender difference -there may be specific category differences: some studies show that women tend to have their locus of control become more exteneral after divorce (for a period of time) -women who've been physically abused tend to have more of an external locus of control -some studies show men with a slightly higher internal locus of control for academics.

happiness studies

-among college students: the average person reports being happy about 65% of the time, neutral 15% of the time, and unhappy 20% of the time. -most people who have a life of meaning and purpose also have more positive than negative emotions in their lives -measures of happiness correlate with social desirability scores; people who score high on social desirability also score high on self-reported happiness scales -social desirability measures also correlates with non-self-report happiness scores, like peer reports of happiness; suggests that having a positive view of oneself is part of being a happy person. -people who report that they're happy tend to have friends and family members who agree -studies of the daily diaries of happy people find that they report many more pleasant experiences than do unhappy people -In Seidlitz and Diener's study, they found that happy people recalled more pleasant events, and fewer unpleasant events, than did the unhappy people.

average levels of self-esteem

-average low-point occurs during adolescence (usually) and gradually rises through midlife for most people; increases in self-esteem over time tend to accompany other positive life events, such as the development of intimate relationships and career success -people who tend to have high self-esteem in one area also tend to have high self-esteem in other areas -most researchers find it useful to think of self-esteem as the person's global or average evaluation of their whole self-concept

possible reasons some people have higher self-esteem variability

-enhanced sensitivity to social evaluation events -an increased concern about their self-view -over-rely on social sources of evaluation -react to evaluation with anger and hostility

happiness correlations

-happiness correlates with many positive outcomes in life, such as marriage, longevity, self-esteem, and satisfaction with one's job. -often interpreted to mean that success in some area of life (e.g. a good marriage) will make a person happy -the small correlation between personal wealth and happiness is often interpreted as meaning that having money can make one (slightly more) happy. -Majority of researchers agree that successful outcomes foster happiness and that the casual direction goes from being successful leading to increased happiness. -Some researchers argue that causality goes in the opposite direction: that being happy leads one to get married, or to have a better marriage.

higher self-esteem

-improves persistence in the face of failure -persons who are high in self-esteem perform better in groups -average level is related to happiness -average level is also related to social confidence and taking the initiative in making new friends.

correlation between self-esteem and narcissism

-individuals who have high explicit self-esteem (they say they feel good about themselves) but low implicit self-esteem (they more quickly associate negative than positive words to themselves); this discrepancy is associated with narcissism

what is known about happy people?

-no apparent gender difference across cultures and countries -circumstances that make people happy change with age. For example, financial security and health are important for happiness later in life, whereas for younger adults, success at school or work and satisfying intimate relationships are important for happiness. -no evidence suggests that there's any one time in life that's happier than another. -ethnic group membership is unrelated to subjective well-being -at the national level, the poorer countries appeared to possess less happiness and life satisfaction than the wealthier countries. -the countries that provided few civil and political rights tended to have lower well-being than did the countries where civil rights and individual freedoms were well protected by laws. --> Diener and colleagues concluded that the economic development of nations may be the primary source of differences in the subjective well-being of societies.

costs of self-handicapping

-not practicing, alcohol, etc. can actually set us up for failure -may be viewed as irresponsible and unmotivated

SES & Race on locus of control

-people with lower SES are often thought to be more external; could be because they experience more struggles and difficulties in life. -Black middle class had the same locus of control as the white lower middle class, while the black lower SES was more external

people with an internal locus of control

-place a higher value on their skills -have lower anxiety and higher self-esteem -feel more responsible for their actions -some data suggests that we tend to become more internal as we age.

anger-proneness and potential for hostility

-some situations tend to make most people angry -some people are more characteristically hostile and angry than others -there's a fairly direct link between hostility and cardiovascular disease -type A personality was identified as a predictor of heart disease; hostility was identified as the trait of type A people that most predicts heart disease.

research on low affect intensity persons

-stable and don't typically get upset easily -even when negative events happen, they maintain an even emotional state and avoid negative thoughts -they fail to experience positive emotions very strongly -they lack the peaks of zest that energize the lives of high affect intensity individuals -they don't pay the price of the physical and psychosomatic symptoms that go along with the high affect intensity personality

intelligence

-students who view their intelligence as an unchangeable/fixed internal characteristic tend to shy away from academic challenges whereas students who believe that their intelligence is malleable and can be increased through effort seek them out. -fixed-mindset is associated with putting less effort into school, with giving up on academic challenges, and with lower academic success. -growth-mindset is associated with better academic motivation and higher grades.

people who are avoidance-oriented

-tend to be higher in Neuroticism -are more likely to avoid negative consequences -tend to be a bit lower in self-esteem -tend to have a little lower life-satisfaction -students who are primarily motivated to avoid failing tend to perform more poorly on exams

people who are approach-oriented

-tend to be more extraverted -and are more likely to pursue those rewards and go after the things they want

people with an external locus of control

-tend to be more stressed and more likely to feel depressed -may see little value in exerting any effort to improve their situation

research on high affect intensity persons

-they get a lot of zest out of life, enjoying peaks of enthusiasm, joy, and positive emotional involvement. -when things aren't going well, they're prone to strong negative emotional reactions -tend to suffer physical consequences of such intense emotional involvement; produce wear and tear on the nervous system -they tend to exhibit physical symptoms that result from their chronic emotional lifestyles, such as muscle tension, stomach aches, headaches, and fatigue. -even though they report more of these symptoms, they're not particularly unhappy/upset by them -interviews with these people show that they don't want to change their level of emotional intensity; they seem to prefer their emotional involvement, the ups and downs, and the physiological arousal that accompanies their highly emotional lifestyle -Found to evaluate the events in their lives- both good and bad- as having significantly more emotional impact than did the low affect intensity subjects -they exhibit more mood variability -intensity junkies; hate being bored

field dependence-independence research studies

-when presented with complex photos of people, field-independents were better at noticing and decoding the facial expressions in the pictures than the field-dependents were. -in the hypermedia and multimedia computer instruction study, they found that field-independent students learned more effectively than field-dependent students in a hypermedia based environment. -another study found that the field-independents were significantly better at interpreting facial expressions that the field-dependents, but only when the tasks were difficult. This study reinforced the notion that field-independents are good at tasks that require finding and interpreting patterns and making generalizations. -studies have also identified field-independents as making better progress than field-dependents when learning a 2nd language.

emotional intelligence proposed as a set of 5 specific abilities

1. awareness of one's feelings and body signals and an ability to identify one's own emotions and make distinctions (ex: realizing the fear that lies behind anger) 2. ability to manage and regulate emotions, especially negative ones, and to manage stress. 3. control of one's impulses: directing one's attention and effort, delaying gratification, and staying on task toward goals. 4. ability to decode others' social and emotional cues, to listen and take the perspective of others. 5. leadership, the ability to influence and guide others without their becoming angry and resentful, ability to elicit cooperation, and skill in negotiation and conflict-resolution.

6 myths of self-esteem

1. high self-esteem is correlated with all manner of positive characteristics, such as being physically attractive, smart, kinds, generous, etc. 2. high self-esteem promotes success in school; success is what causes increases in self-esteem, not the other way around 3. high self-esteem promotes success on the job 4. high self-esteem makes a person likeable 5. low self-esteem puts a person at risk for drug and alcohol abuse and premature sexual activity 6. only low self-esteem people are aggressive

3 dimensions of explanatory style

1. internal/external (pertaining to you or pertaining to the outside environment) 2. stable/unstable (causes of events are long-lasting/permanent or causes of events are more temporary) 3. global/specific (affects many situations in life or only affects the specific situation)

Rod and Frame Test (RFT)

A test (created by Witkin) to research the cues that people use in judging orientation in space. The participant sits in a darkened room and is instructed to watch a glowing rod surrounded by a glowing square frame. The experimenter can adjust the tilt of the rod, the frame, and the participant's chair. The participant's task is to adjust the rod by turning a dial so that the rod is perfectly upright. To do this accurately, he has to ignore cues in the visual field in which the rod appears. -This test measures the personality dimension of field dependence-independence. -field-dependents: adjust the rod so that it's leaning in the direction of the tilted frame -field-independents: disregard the external cues- instead they use information from their bodies in adjusting the rod to upright; they appear to rely on their own sensations, not the perception of the field, to make the judgement.

identity development

According to Erikson, identity can be achieved in several ways: -Experimenting with different identities -Some people attain an identity by accepting and adopting a ready-made social role (typically provided by parents or sig. others). For example, they may take over the family business, buy a house in their hometown, and join the same church as their parents. 2 Important features of identity: 1. Continuity: people can count on you to be the same person tomorrow as you were today 2. Contrast: your social identity differentiates you from others, makes you unique in the eyes of others.

self-esteem variability

An individual difference characteristic referring to how much a person's self-esteem fluctuates or changes over time. It is uncorrelated with mean level of self-esteem; refers to the magnitude of short-term fluctuations in self-esteem -this is thought to result from particular vulnerability of a person's self-worth to events of everyday life. -people with HIGHLY VARIABLE self-esteem, are more LIKELY TO SELF-HANDICAP than those with stable self-esteem and they may be more likely to use self-serving attributions. -Researchers have come to view variability as a susceptibility to depression -Women tend to have higher self-esteem variability than men, and they have higher rates of depression than men.

Albert Bandura and the notion of self-efficacy

Bandura emphasized the active nature of human behavior; he argued that people have intentions and forethought, that they're reflective and can anticipate future events; that they monitor their behavior and evaluate their own progress; and that they learn by observing others.

Beck's Cognitive Theory

Certain cognitive style is a pre-existing condition that makes people vulnerable to depression -Beck strayed away from Freud's Inverted Hostility Theory -In trying to understand what was going on with his patients, he noticed that his depressed patients experienced streams of distorted thoughts; these "automatic thoughts" had nothing to do with anger but rather, they reflected illogical ideas about themselves and the world. *Vulnerability lies in the way of looking at the world*

Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Defines intelligence as "the capacity to solve problems or fashion products that are valued in one or more cultural settings." Includes 7 forms, such as interpersonal intelligence (social and communication skills) and intrapersonal intelligence (insight into oneself, one's emotions, and motives) -he also included kinesthetic intelligence, which described the abilities of athletes and musical intelligence.

Carol Dweck and the Theory of Mastery Orientation

Dweck focused on helplessness and mastery-oriented behaviors in school children and she noted that some students persist in the face of failure, whereas others quit as soon as they encounter their first failure

strategies for overcoming failure

Following failure in one area of life, the high self-esteem person often will focus on other areas of life in which things are going well; one of the most effective but least used strategies in overcoming failure. -Larson and Prizmic have suggested that in order to cope with failures, people should make a list of all the things in their life that are going well and that they keep this list on their phones. Then, if a failure occurs in one area of life, they can pull up this list and review it, just as a high self-esteem person might do naturally

emotional intelligence

Goleman argues that this type of intelligence is more strongly predictive of life outcomes such as occupational attainment, salary, professional status, and marriage quality than traditional measures of intelligence.

cognitive distortions

Inaccurate and irrational automatic thoughts or ideas that lead to false assumptions and misinterpretations. -overgeneralizing -personalizing (assuming everything is your fault) -catastrophizing (assuming the worst will happen) -making arbitrary inferences --These distortions are applied quickly and outside of immediate awareness: ----> resulting in a stream of negative automatic thoughts ----> deeply affects how a person feels and acts **Depressive feelings bring on more distortions--> which lead to more bad feelings, thus creating a self-perpetuating cycle.

how does an individual develop a locus of control?

It's learned -partly by our environment in childhood -partly from family influence: our parents model behaviors and attitudes -partly cultural -partly from personal experiences with success and failure.

Eysenck's biological theory

Neuroticism is due primarily to the tendency of the limbic system in the brain to become easily activated Limbic system is responsible for emotion and for "fight-flight" reaction -If someone has a limbic system that is easily activated, then that person probably has frequent episodes of emotion, particularly emotions associated with flight (anxiety, fear, worry) and with fight (anger, irritation, and annoyance). -High N persons are anxious, irritated, and easily upset, so the theory goes, because their limbic systems are more easily aroused to produce such emotions

self-handicapping

Person deliberately does things that increase the probability of failure—when failure occurs, they have the excuse for failure (and hence failure is not attributable to self) -For example, not studying because you're too pessimistic and anxious about your upcoming exam, thus increasing your likelihood of failure; when they fail, they have an excuse (not studying). -For people with low-self-esteem, failing is bad, but failing without an excuse is even worse. -In a study: males were more likely to take the drug that would impair their abilities on the following test, giving them an excuse for not doing well. -People do this in order to protect their self-esteem. -Admitting to limited weakness protects self from seeing failure as due to lack of ability -A way of dealing with some threat to our self-esteem -marked by withdrawing/reducing effort or creating obstacles to one's future successes -Men are more likely to engage in this; to use drugs and alcohol; to withdraw effort, etc. -Women are more likely to do the stress complaints and physical impairment complaints

positive life satisfaction

Strengths of the heart associated with happiness/life satisfaction: -hope -gratitude -zest -love

self-guides

The ideal self and the ought self act as self-guides, providing the standards that one uses to organize self-relevant information and motivate appropriate behaviors to bring the self in line with these self-guides. -Ideal self -Ought self --Our standards for how we should be and we compare them to our evaluations of how well we meet these standards: -Actual self

flynn effect

The rise in average IQ scores that has occurred over the decades in many nations

cognitive triad

The three forms of negative thinking that Aaron Beck theorizes lead people to feel depressed. The triad consists of: a negative view of one's experiences/one's world, oneself, and the future. -info about the self, the world, and the future is distorted in specific ways by the depressive cognitive schema

mental health and locus of control

Was related for Americans but not for Asians. -could be because Asian cultures tend to emphasize community reliance and interdependence whereas Western/European tend to emphasize self-reliance and independence

locus of control

a concept that describes a person's perception of responsibility for the events in his/her life. This refers to whether people tend to locate that responsibility internally, within themselves, or externally, in fate/luck/or chance. -Research on this began with Julian Rotter, who expanded on traditional learning theory, suggesting that learning not only depended on reinforcement, but also depended on the degree to which the person expected reinforcement- that obtaining a reward was under their control.

diathesis-stress model

a diagnostic model that proposes that a disorder may develop when an underlying vulnerability is coupled with a precipitating event --stressful life event triggers depression among those with pre-existing vulnerability (or diathesis) --diathesis + event + inability to cope --> can lead to depression *neither element alone- diathesis or the stress- is sufficient to trigger depression*

private self-concept

a major but often difficult development in the growth of the self-concept -may begin with a child developing an imaginary friend -eventually, children develop the full realization that only they have access to their own feelings, thoughts, and desires and that no one else can know this part of themselves unless they choose to tell others.

Rotter's "expectancy model"

a model of learning behavior: some believe they're in control of the outcomes of life while others fail to see the link between their behavior and reinforcement. The expectancy of reinforcement refers to characteristics that distinguish specific individuals.

self-concept provides

a person with a sense of continuity and framework for understanding her past and present, and for guiding future behavior; guides how each person processes information about themselves; -it's like a network of information in memory that organizes and provides coherence for how we experience the self

generalized expectancies

a person's expectations for reinforcement held across a variety of situations; when people encounter a new situation, they base their expectancies about what will happen on these ________ ______________ about whether they have the ability to influence events. -For example, if someone believes they have little influence over events, then when they enter a new situation, they'll have a _______ ___________ that things are out of their control (i.e. assuming one's college grades are out of their control and will be due to luck/chance).

Beck's Cognitive Therapy

a type of cognitive therapy, developed by Aaron Beck, in which the therapist works to develop a warm relationship with the person and has the person carefully consider the evidence for his or her beliefs in order to see the errors in his or her thinking -helped patients become aware of their distorted thoughts and taught them how to challenge these thoughts -found to be successful not only with treating depression, but also with anxiety, ADHD, PTSD, etc.

cognitive schema

a way of processing incoming info/a way of organizing and interpreting the events of daily life. -The ______ __________ involved in depression, according to Beck, distorts the incoming info in a negative way, a way that makes the person depressed.

self-recognition

ability to recognize one's image in the mirror as one's self; an important cognitive developmental achievement that allows the child to go on to more complex manifestations of self-awareness, such as engaging in pretend play and representing the self in language with personal pronouns.

self-concept

all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, "Who am I?" -YOUNG CHILDREN: describe themselves in terms of where they live, their age and gender, what they look like, and what they do. -ADOLESCENTS: describe themselves in terms of their personality characteristics and their beliefs, qualities that produce a picture of the self that is unique. -These undergo transformations as children age, based mainly on the child's ability to infer characteristics that underlie their behavior. --For example: a young child might say that he likes to play soccer, whereas an older child might say I am an athlete. **Adolescents infer from their own behavior the existence of underlying personality traits, abilities, and motives.**

questionnaire measures of happiness

also predict other aspects of people's lives that we would expect to relate to happiness: -Compared with unhappy people, happy people are less abusive, hostile, are less self-focused, and report fewer instances of disease. -Happy people are also more cooperative and helpful, have more social skills, are more creative and energetic, are more forgiving, and are more trusting. -Overall, self-reports of happiness appear to be valid and trustworthy

cognitive social learning theory

an approach to personality that emphasizes the cognitive and social processes whereby people learn to value and strive for certain goals over others.

positive illusions

an inflated view of one's own characteristics as a good, able, and desirable person -part of being happy is to have these- as this appears to be a part of emotional well-being

identity conflict

another type of identity crisis; involves an incompatibility between two or more aspects of identity -For example, someone who immigrated to a new culture: they may want to assimilate to the new culture but they may also want to hold onto their traditional values. -Another example: having to make a choice between career obligations and family obligations: both aspects of the choice may be important to the individual -These are "approach-approach" conflicts, in that the person wants to reach two mutually contradictory goals -these often involve intense feelings of guilt or remorse over perceived unfaithfulness to an important aspect of a person's identity -overcoming this is often difficult and painful; one course of action is to put a side part of one's identity- for example, accepting a lighter workload to spend more time with one's children

approach motivation

anticipating rewards

unpleasant emotions

anxiety, negative affect, or neuroticism -people who exhibit N are vulnerable to negative emotions -cognitive theorists think that N is caused by styles of information processing; preferential processing of negative information: High N people are found to focus on negative memories and more likely to recall illnesses, injuries, etc. than other people. -There's a link between N and self-reported health complaints

self-concept and age

as children grow from childhood to adolescence, their self-concept changes from one based on such concrete characteristics as physical appearance and possessions to one that is based on more abstract psychological terms.

persons with high implicit self-esteem

associate positive attributes to themselves -relies on the strength of the associations they have in their cognitive system between positive concepts and their self-concept, relative to the strength of associations they have between negative concepts and their self-concept.

personalizing distortion

assuming everything is your fault -"My team lost today and it's all my fault"

dimensional approach

based on empirical research rather than theoretical criteria; researchers gather data by having subjects rate themselves on a wide variety of emotions, then apply statistical techniques (usually factor analysis) to identify the basic dimensions underlying the ratings. -Most studies suggest that people categorize emotions using 2 primary dimensions: 1. how pleasant-unpleasant the emotion is 2. how high or low on arousal the emotion is --> This model of emotion suggests that every feeling state can be described as a combo of pleasantness/unpleasantness and arousal. --For example: someone could feel unpleasant feelings in a high arousal way (anxious, terrified, nervous) or in a low-arousal way (bored, tired, fatigued) -Pleasant feelings in a high arousal way (elated, excited, enthusiastic) vs. in a low arousal way (calm, relaxed) **Emotions that occur together, which are experienced as similar to each other, are understood as defining a common dimension. For example, distress, anxiety, annoyance, and hostility are very similar in terms of experience and thus seem to anchor one end of a dimension of high arousal negative affect**

perceived control

belief that we can influence our environment in ways that determine whether we experience positive or negative outcomes.

self-schema

beliefs about self that organize and guide the processing of self-relevant information; Specific knowledge structures, or cognitive representations, of the self-concept -These are built on past experiences and guide the processing of information about the self, particularly in social interactions -For example, a person might have one of these for what it means to be masculine: might include attributes such as assertiveness, strength, and independence.

categorical approach

believes that emotions are best thought of as a small number of primary and distinct emotions; universally recognizable facial expressions associated with these primary emotions -For example: --sadness: accompanied by frowning and knitting the brow --anger: clenching and barring the teeth --happiness: smiling Ekman's list of primary emotions: disgust, sadness, joy, surprise, anger, fear.

concern with motivation for approach

is greater for ideal than ought self-regulation

affect intensity

can be defined by a description of persons who are either high or low on this dimension -High affect intensity individuals: defined as people who typically experience their emotions strongly and are more emotionally reactive and variable -High affect intensity subjects typically go way up when they're feeling up and go way down when they're feeling down; they also alternate between these extremes more frequently and rapidly than do low affect intensity individuals. -Low affect individuals typically experience their emotions only mildly and with only gradual fluctuations and minor reactions. They're stable and calm and usually don't suffer from the troughs of negative emotions. --they also tend not to experience the peaks of enthusiasm, joy, and other strong positive emotions. -this has been found to relate to a variety of standard personality variables; HAI: tend to have a vigorous and energetic lifestyle, tend to be outgoing and enjoy being with others, and tend to seek out stimulating events in their daily lives

psychotherapy

can elevate both implicit and explicit self-esteem

modeling

can influence self-efficacy; by seeing others engage in the performance with positive results can increase self-efficacy beliefs

best way to address poor performance

candor about the performance and information about how to improve --> a response related to promoting improvement after poor/mediocre performance involves letting the child know that she didn't perform particularly well- and let her know that effort and hard work are necessary to excel at a talent and academics -In one of Dweck's studies, 9/10 kids who were told "you must have put a lot of effort into this" chose the more difficult puzzle while only 1/2 the kids who were told "you're really smart at this" chose the more difficult puzzle.

reciprocal causality

causality operates in both directions; happiness has been shown to have this -For example, happy people are more likely to help others in need. We also know that helping others in need can lead to increases in happiness.

identity crisis

coined by Erikson; refers to the anxiety that accompanies efforts to define or redefine one's individuality or social reputation -can occur anytime, but more likely in adolescence and middle adulthood; whether it's a crisis during adolescence or a midlife crisis, these often look the same: the person experiments with alternative lifestyles, forms new relationships and abandons old ones, and gives up previous ambitions and responsibilities. -Change in family life, economic status, etc. can have an effect on one's social identity

concern with motivation for avoidance

is greater for ought than ideal self-regulation

motivational profiles: defensive pessimism

defensive-pessimism represents the absence of the Avoidance Motivation and the presence of the Approach Motivation in the achievement domain.

hostility

defined as a tendency to: -respond to everyday frustrations with anger and aggression -become irritable easily -feel frequent resentment -act in rude, critical, antagonistic, and an uncooperative manner in everyday situations/interactions.

neurotransmitter theory of depression

depressed persons often describe feeling slowed down, as if they don't have energy to do what they want to do; this theory holds that this emotional problem may be the result of neurotransmitter imbalance in the synapses of the nervous system. -the neurotransmitters thought to be most involved in depression include norepinephrine, serotonin, and, to a lesser degree, dopamine.

correlation between self-esteem and depression

discrepancies where explicit self-esteem is low (the person says they don't feel good about themselves) yet implicit levels remain high (unconsciously they remain positive); this discrepancy is associated with emotional problems such as depression and feeling worthless.

optimistic explanatory style

emphasizes external, temporary, and specific causes of events. -correlates with beneficial effects in many areas of life, including earning better grades in college -found that team optimism was associated with better outcomes (higher percentage of winning and business success)

social comparison

evaluating one's abilities and opinions by comparing oneself with others -children ages 5-6 increasingly begin to compare their skills with those of others.

Direct model of personality and well-being

even when exposed to identical situations, certain people respond with more positive or negative emotions, depending on their level of neuroticism and extraversion

procrastinators

feel weight of what they OUGHT to be doing -achievement of ought-self related goals: results in RELIEF

Embedded Figures Test (EFT)

involved finding shapes in a larger design; similar to the RFT; performance on this test correlated strongly with performance on the RFT.

reformulated learned helplessness: explanatory style

focuses on the thoughts/cognitions a person may have that may lead to feelings of helplessness; focuses on the explanations people give for events, specifically unpleasant events in their lives.

anti-terror operatives

found to be more field-dependent -focusing on the broad picture

bomb disposal experts

found to be more field-independent than were the anti-terror operatives. -they focused on the details

field-independents

function with more autonomy and display a more impersonal or detached orientation towards others. They lack interest in others' opinions, keep their distance from others, and show a preference for non-social situations. -these people tended to favor the natural sciences, math, and engineering -they're predicted to be better at ignoring distracting information and focusing on the important details of an event. -results of the shooting experiment showed that officers who showed more of this performed better on the shooting task under these high stimulation conditions and were able to give a better description of the witnesses event. -these officers could better focus on the target without being distracted by the noise and activity going on in the field around them. -these people are good at selective attention in stimulus-rich environments (processing information while blocking out what's unimportant)

avoidance motivation

greater concern about the negative consequences of failure

cognitive-affective personality system (CAPS)

in this system, they conceptualize personality not as a collection of traits, but as an organization of cognitive and affective activities that influence how people respond to certain kinds of situations; emphasis is more on personality processes than static traits. -these processes = construals (how one views a situation_, goals, expectations, beliefs, and feelings as well as self-regulatory standards, abilities, plans, and strategies. -according to this theory, each individual is characterized by a relatively stable network of such mental activities, which they acquire through their learning history, their culture/subculture, their genetics, and their biological history. -for example, if a situation elicits frustration (i.e. being blocked from a goal) and the person has a specific cognitive-affective system (i.e. high expectations for success and a belief that aggression is permissible to obtain what you want) then he/she may react with hostility.

pleasant emotions

in trait approaches to emotion, the major pleasant dispositions are happiness and life satisfaction

achievement view

intelligence is associated with educational attainment- how much knowledge a person has acquired relative to others in the age cohort

aptitude view

intelligence is viewed less as the product of education and more as an ability to become educated/as the ability to learn. -IQ tests are often used as these measures of intelligence

arbitrary inferences distortion

jumping to a negative conclusion even when the evidence doesn't support it -For example, "The teacher didn't have time to see me today. She probably doesn't like me" (Self) -"This teacher doesn't care...probably none of the teachers care about students" (world)

Self-Esteem Implicit Association Test

measures how quickly and consistently people associate positive words to themselves compared to how quickly and consistently they associate negative words to themselves

survivor syndrome

often survivors of major tragedies where many people are hurt and many people die report feeling that "if only" they'd done something different, they could have helped others make it to safety. Even though the event was outside their control, they report some feelings of personal responsibility.

promotion focus

one focus of self-regulation in which the person is concerned with advancement, growth, and accomplishments. Behaviors with this focus are characterized by eagerness, approach, and "going for the gold"

pessimistic explanatory style

one that emphasizes internal, stable, and global causes for bad events; most puts a person at risk for developing feelings of helplessness and poor adjustment -found to be associated with more PTSD symptoms

identity deficit

one type of identity crisis; think about someone who has not really formed a secure identity; who don't really know who they are; this arises when a person has not formed adequate identity and this has trouble making major decisions -They lack a secure foundation inside themselves that would allow them to make substantial decisions in life -These often occur when people discard values and goals that they have -People who try to fill this deficit that they're experiencing may start investigating new ideas/values, new relationships, etc. -These people are particularly vulnerable to propaganda of various groups; they're curious about other belief systems as they're trying to find themselves; they're easier to persuade than most of us would be -Recruiters for cults tend to pray on these types of people

defining happiness

one way to define happiness is to examine how researchers measure it -Because happiness is a subjective quality, it depends on an individual's judgement of his or her life; therefore, researcher have to rely on questionnaires. -Happiness is said to have 2 complementary components: 1. Life satisfaction component 2. Hedonic component: Ratio of a person's positive emotions to his/her negative emotions averaged over time; refers to the balance of a person's positive and negative emotions over time

self-esteem

one's feelings of high or low self-worth; this needs to be earned, it can't just be "given" to children. -don't mislead children with false praise -avoid teaching children to blame others for their own poor performance -saying things that demean the focus (school, course, talent, etc) -indicating the child has the ability after poor performance doesn't motivate learning and effort.

continuity

people can count on you to be the same person tomorrow as you were today

Indirect model of personality and well-being

personality causes the person to create a certain lifestyle, and the lifestyle, in turn, causes the emotional reaction.

social support

plays a role at all ages; subjective well-being correlates strongly with social support in Western Cultures.

information processing characteristics associated with neuroticism

preferential processing of negative (but not positive) info about the self (but not others). -High N scorers recall more self-negative words than Low N scorers because memory traces for self-negative words are stronger in the High N individuals. **High N individuals have richer networks of association surrounding memories of negative emotion--> causes unpleasant material to be more accessible, leading them to have higher rates of recall for unpleasant info. -In Larson's study, the High N participants reported more daily symptoms, and they recalled more symptoms than the Low N participants **Neuroticism related to elevated levels of recalled symptoms** -Persons high on N may be more susceptible to immune-mediated diseases. Neuroticism may affect health by compromising the body's ability to fight off foreign cells. -The chronic stress associated with Neuroticism can lead to depletion of immune system, which in turn can make a person less able to fight off cancer.

causal attribution

refers to a person's explanation of the cause of an event

self-efficacy

refers to the belief that one can execute a specific course of action to achieve a goal -high beliefs in this often lead to effort and persistence on tasks and to setting higher goals compared to people with low beliefs of this -college students with higher beliefs of this about their studies are more persistent in their academic work and perform better in their classes than students with lower beliefs of this. -this and performance mutually influence each other because this leads to better performance and then better performance leads to further increases in this. -high amounts of this is most important when starting out on some particular task- if the task is complex, it can be broken down into parts/subgoals, which can be accomplished.

style of emotional life: affect intensity

refers to the magnitude of a person's typical emotional reactions

explanatory style

refers to the tendency to use similar causal attributions for a wide variety of events in one's life; some people have the tendency to frequently use certain explanations for the causes of events in their life.

inspection time

refers to the time it takes a person to make a simple discrimination between two displayed objects -highly related to other measures of general intelligence -studies of IQ and speed of information processing concluded that with smarter people being generally faster on a variety of mental tasks; suggest that brain mechanisms specifically involved in information processing are more efficient in persons scoring high on intelligence measures.

content of emotional life

refers to the typical emotions a person is likely to experience over time. For example, someone characterized as angry or hot-tempered should have an emotional life that contains a good deal of anger, irritability, and hostility. -the notion of this leads us to consider the kinds of emotions that people are likely to experience over time and across situations in their lives.

possible selves

representations of what we could become, what we would like to become, and what we are afraid of becoming; many ideas each person has about who they might become, hope to become, or fear they will become. -the self you desire -the self you fear -the possibilities: for example: could you become a performing musician? a doctor? etc. -These act as a connection to our futures: --they influence our behavior --they change what we pay attention to --they make certain information salient --they act as inspiration and incentive for behavior --they act as a deterrent for behavior under some conditions

cohort effects on college age students study

researchers found a clear, steady increase in externality, suggesting that the average college student in 2002 had a more external locus of control than the average college student in 1960 -college students in 2002 were more likely to think their life outcomes were due to external forces: could be explained by the increasing in blaming misfortunes on outside forces, which promotes the use of self-serving biases; could also be due to an increase in negative social indicators: for ex: higher divorce rates

objective self-awareness

seeing yourself as an object of others' attention -often this is experienced as shyness, and for some people this is a chronic problem

3 components of the self

self-concept, self-esteem, and social identity

motivational profiles: self-handicapping

self-handicapping represents the absence of Approach Motivation in the achievement domain as well as the presence of the Avoidance Mechanism

prevention focus

self-regulation focus in which the person is concerned with protection, safety, and the prevention of negative outcomes and failures. Behaviors with this focus are characterized by vigilance, caution, and attempts to prevents negative outcomes.

marriage and happiness

studies find that marriage is positively related to happiness for both males and females across cultures.

Izard

suggests that primary emotions are distinguished by their unique motivational properties; emotions are understood to guide behaviors by motivating a person to take specific adaptive actions. For example: -Fear motivates us to avoid danger and seek safety -Interest motivates us to learn and acquire new skills

overgeneralizing distortion

taking one instance and generalizing to many or all other instances. -"Blowing things out of proportion" -Example: after doing poorly on a practice exam, a depressed person might say to himself, "I'm a total failure." --> He might have failed at one exam, but that doesn't mean he's a total failure.

field-dependents

tend to rely on social information and frequently ask others for their opinions. They're attentive to social cues and generally are oriented towards others. They show a strong interest in others, prefer to be physically close to others, tend to get along well with others, and tend to gravitate to social situations. -these people tend to favor the social sciences and education -they tend to process information in chunks and are good at seeing the connections among categories of information.

perspective taking

the ability to take the perspectives of others, or to see oneself as others do, to step outside of oneself and imagine how one appears to other people -final unfolding of the self-concept during the teen years -this is why many teens go through a period of extreme self-consciousness during this time, focusing much of their energy on how they appear to others.

defensive pessimism

the adaptive value of anticipating problems and harnessing one's anxiety to motivate effective action; using anxiety, worry, and pessimism in a constructive way; a strategy in which a person facing a challenge expects to do poorly. -There's a group of individuals who may feel ANXIOUS and that drives them to this approach to the threatening situation. -They're motivated by the fear of failure; they often end up succeeding at tasks in which they feel fear about failure -Those who are anxious and have low self-esteem and who engage in this may see an increase in self-esteem. -Causes them to work hard at what they fear failing at, often causing them to do well at it, thus bumping up their self-esteem. -the impact of failure can be lessened if it's expected in advance -Downside to this strategy is that the negativity of these people annoys others

fixed mindset

the belief that one's intelligence, talents, and other abilities are set in stone

growth mindset

the belief that, with effort, perseverance, and drive, one can develop one's natural qualities. **Teach children to: -love challenges -be intrigued by mistakes -enjoy effort -keep on learning

mean world syndrome

the cynical mindset of general mistrust of others subscribed to by heavy TV viewers

content of emotional life: hedonic balance

the degree of pleasantness in a person's life over time; this balance between positive and negative affect, between good and bad days in a person's life over time, best represents the content of emotional life.

self-discrepency theory

the difference between our actual self, our ideal self and our ought self affects our emotional health -short term and long term effects

self-complexity

the view that we have many roles and many aspects to our self-concept -for some of us our self-concept is more simple, being made up of just a few categories -other people have a more complex/differentiated self-concept -For people with high self-complexity, a failure in any one aspect of the self is buffered because there are many other aspects of the self that are unaffected by that event -For a person low in self-complexity, the same event might be devastating because the person defines themselves mainly in terms of that one aspect. -under condition of identifiable and objective stress, higher self-complexity is weakly but significantly associated with superior well-being

social identity

the way we present (or describe) ourselves to others

internal locus of control

the general expectancy that reinforcing events are under one's control and that one is responsible for the major outcomes in life. People high on this believe that outcomes mainly depend on their personal efforts. -In general, this is conducive to well-being -it's been found to predict a variety of real-world outcomes. For example, people at age 10 with this were found to have a decreased risk of obesity at age 30 compared to people with an external locus of control. -College students with this completed their degrees in a more timely manner than students with an external locus of control -adults with this are found to have higher credit ratings than those with an external locus of control -this is associated with a tendency toward being more in charge of one's life -some situations are simply beyond our control (i.e. a loved one dying from an untreatable illness), yet people can still feel as though they're to blame, which is when this mindset might be a handicap to personal coping with the outcome.

learned helplessness

the hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events; people appear to generalize their experiences of helplessness from one problem-solving situation to another. -First studied in dogs and then generalized to humans. -In real life, this can occur whenever people are stuck in an unpleasant situation that's apparently outside of their control. Such circumstances may cause people to give up trying to solve their problem. -When a problem situation looks as if it has no solution/is inescapable that's the time to ask others for help/seek outside opinions.

evaluation apprehension

the idea that shy persons are apprehensive about being evaluated by others -they fear that others will evaluate them negatively

conclusions about money and happiness

the most reasonable conclusion is that below a very low income level, a person is very unlikely to be happy. -being able to meet the basic needs of life appears crucial -once those needs are met, research suggests that there is little to no evidence that further wealth increases happiness -what people do with their money may have more to do with their potential happiness: for example, studies have shown that spending money on others can have a larger positive impact on happiness than spending the same amount on oneself. -using money to help others may be a universally rewarding experience that contributes to the buyer's personal happiness

external locus of control

the perception that chance or outside forces beyond your personal control determine your fate; a general expectancy that events are outside of one's control.

shyness

these people are anxious about interacting with others; therefore, they often avoid opportunities to socialize. May do this by: -avoiding face-to-face interactions and socializing online -researchers have found that young adults with social anxiety are more likely to excessively use the internet -social anxiety found to be correlated with problematic Facebook usage -persons with social anxiety also found to spend more hours/week online gaming than persons without social anxiety

catastrophizing distortion

thinking that the worst will always happen -"failing this exam means i'm incapable of learning"

resolving identity crises

two steps: 1. Person decides which values are most important to him/her 2. Person transforms abstract values into real life strategy/ desires and behaviors

shy persons

want to have contact with others, to be socially involved, and to have friends/be a part of the group but their self doubt and self-consciousness prompts them to pass up opportunities to socialize -they handicap themselves by not entering groups, not speaking to unfamiliar people, not approaching others, etc. -they deny themselves the opportunity to learn and practice the very social skills they need to overcome their shyness -Research has shown that parents who are too controlling and protective toward their children often have children who are shy and anxious -these people also tend to interpret social interactions negatively; they're more likely to interpret a comment as a criticism than as a helpful suggestion -persons who are high in sociability are distinguished by being especially anxious and fearful -persons who are low in sociability simply avoid others because of their excessive self-consciousness -appear to have a more reactive amygdala

parents of children with an ILC

were found: -to be highly supportive -to offer praise for effort and achievement -to be consistent in their discipline -to emphasize effort, education, responsibility, and thinking -to continue to foster an internal orientation by encouraging independence **Warmth, supportiveness, and parental encouragement seem to be essential for the development of this locus of control**

intention

what people want to happen/want to achieve in their lives. People's differences in goals are part of/reveal their personalities.

cultural context of intelligence

what's defined as "intelligent behavior" will obviously differ across cultures. For example, Western cultures emphasize verbal skills (written and oral) and math and spatial skills necessary in a technologically advanced culture. -because of these considerations, we should always view intelligence as comprised of the skills valued in a specific culture.

actual self vs. ideal self discrepency

when actual self doesn't = ideal self -Thinking about this can cause --disappointment --sadness --pessimism --despondence -Motivational focus: approach -Attention focus: cues to achievement and successful goals -Effect of procrastination: NA -Emotional response to failure: disappointment, sadness, pessimism, despondence -Emotional response to success: pleasure

actual self vs. ought self discrepency

when actual self doesn't = ought self -Thinking about this can cause: --guilt --embarrassment --anxiety & distress -Motivational focus: avoidance -Attention focus: harm avoidance -Effect of procrastination: agitation, anxiety, guilt -Emotional response to failure: guild, embarrassment, distress, anxiety -Emotional response to success: relief

contrast

your social identity differentiates you from others, makes you unique in the eyes of others.