Chapter 13
three criticisms of the humanistic perspective
Its concepts are vague and subjective The individualism can lead to self-indulgence, selfishness, and an erosion of moral restraints It is naive - it fails to appreciate the reality of our human capacity for evil
Psychologists have two basic ways to study the effect of personal control:
One: correlate people's feelings of control with their behaviors and achievements Two: experiment, by raising or lowering people's sense of control and noticing the effects
The Big Five
Openness Conscientiousness Extraversion Agreeableness neuroticism
Carl Roger's Person-Centered Perspective's core belief
People are basically good and endowed with self-actualizing tendencies
Maslow's heirarchy of needs
Physiological needs Personal safety To love, be loved, and love ourselves Self-esteem Self-actualization and self-transcendence
Neo-Freudians veered away from Freud in two important ways:
Placed more emphasis on the conscious mind's role in interpreting experience and coping with the environment Doubted that sex and aggression were all-consuming motivations (emphasized loftier motives and social interactions)
genital
Puberty on Maturation of sexual interests
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI): created by used to can be compared with how is is keyed?
Starke Hathaway The most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests. Originally developed to identify emotional disorders (still considered its most appropriate use), this test is now used for many other screening processes Creation can be compared to Binet's intelligence test: both were designed to find problems that could be improved Empirically keyed
Social-cognitive perspective: suggested by views behavior as____ focuses on
Suggested by Albert Bandar Views behavior as influenced by the interaction between people's traits (including their thinking) and their social context Focuses on how we interact with our environment
ego
The largely conscious, "executive" part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality. Operates on the reality principle
superego
The part of personality that represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgement (the conscience) and for future aspirations Developed around age 4 or 5 Focuses on how we ought to behave Gives positive or negative feedback (pride or guilt)
7 things our unconscious actually involves:
The schemas that automatically control our perceptions and interpretations The priming by stimuli to which we have have consciously attended The right-hemisphere activity that enables split-brain patients' left hand to carry out an instruction the patient cannot verbalize Parallel process of vision and thinking Implicit memories that operate without conscious recall, and even among those with amnesia The emotions that activate instantly, before conscious analysis The self-concept and stereotypes that automatically and unconsciously influence how we process information about ourselves and others
Psychodynamic perspective (2)
Unconscious is a primary driver of behavior Sex is not the only motive
who began interest in the self?
William James
oral stage
0-18 months Pleasure centers on the mouth - sucking, biting, chewing
Three specific ways in which individuals and environments interact:
1. Different people choose different environments You choose the environment and it then shapes you 2. Our personalities show how we interpret and react to events For example, anxious people are attuned to especially threatening events. The thus view the world as threatening and react accordingly. 3. Our personalities help create situations to which we react How we view and treat people influences how they in turn treat us
two historically significant perspectives on personality:
1. Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory proposed that childhood sexuality and unconscious motivations influence personality 2.The humanistic approach focused on our inner capacities for growth and self-fulfillment
anal
18-36 months Pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder elimination; coping with demands for control
phallic
3-6 years Pleasure zone is genitals; coping with ancestral sexual feelings
latency
6 to puberty Dormant sexual feelings
Oedious complex
a boy's sexual desire toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for rival father Some psychoanalysts believe that girls experience a parallel Electra complex
regression
A defense mechanism in which an individual faced with anxiety retreats to a more infantile psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated
trait
a characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel or act, as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports
fixate
a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
a personality test that shows people to be feeling types or thinking types. All are affirmed
projective test
a personality test, such as Rorschach or TAT, that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of ones inner dynamics
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
a projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes
personality inventory
a questionnaire (often with a true-false or agree-disagree items) on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors; used to assess selected personality traits
self-serving bias
a readiness to perceive oneself favorable
Empirically derived-
a test developed by testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups
name two humanistic psychologists. they offered what kind of perspective?
Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers third-force perspective
phallic stage
Boys seek genital stimulation and develop both unconscious sexual desires for their mother and jealousy and hatred for their father, whom they consider a riva
who developed the psychodynamic perspective?
Carl Jung
collective unconscious
Carl Jung's concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species' history
id
Contains a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives. Operates on the pleasure principle
projection
Defense mechanism by which people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others "the thief thinks everyone else is a thief"
denial
Defense mechanism by which people refuse to believe or even to perceive painful realities
reaction formation
Defense mechanism by which the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites. Thus, people may express feelings that are the opposite of their anxiety-arousing unconscious feelings
rationalization
Defense mechanism that offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one's actions
displacement
Defense mechanism that shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable object or person, as when redirecting anger toward a safer outlet
what hormones tend to be higher in extraverts?
Dopamine and dopamine-related neural activity
Neo-Freudian perspective (2)
Emphasizes the conscious mind Sex is not the only motive
Types determined for MBTI by standing on what four dimensions?
Extraversion vs. Introversion Sensing vs. Intuition Thinking vs. Feeling Judging vs. perceiving
three pillars of positive psychology
First pillar of positive psychology: positive emotions Second pillar- positive character Third pillar- positive groups, communities, and cultures
humanistic psychologists did what two things?
Focused on how healthy people strive for self-determination and self-realization Studied people through their own self-reported experiences and feelings
criticisms of social-cogntive perspective
Focuses too much on situation and fails to appreciate a person's inner traits Genetic traits do matter
humanistic psychology was a reaction to what two other eras of psychology?
Freud and Skinner's behaviorism
psychoanalysis
Freud's theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts; the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions
heritability for Big Five
Heritability generally runs at about 50%
____ said that childhood anxiety, caused by the dependent child's sense of helplessness, triggers our desire for love and security.
Horney
unconscious
according to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. According to contemporary psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware
Unconditional positive regard
according to Rogers, an attitude of total acceptance toward another person
Self-concept
all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves in answer to the question "Who am I?"
personality
an individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting
Freud theorized that the ____ protects itself with defense mechanisms
ego
defensive self-esteem
focuses on sustaining itself, which makes failures and criticism feel threatening. Is fragile. Correlates with aggressive and antisocial behavior
Freud believed that our identification with the same sex parent is what gives us our ____
gender identity
according to Carl Roger's a growth-promoting climate includes what three conditions?
genuineness, acceptance, and empathy
Humanistic psychologists sometimes assessed personality by____
having people fill our a questionnaire that would evaluate self-concept.
attributional style
how our attribute performance (pessimism attributes it to lack of ability or situations beyond their control)
In Freud's view, human personality arises from a conflict between______. according to Freud, personality is the result of _____
impulses and restraint our efforts to solve this conflict
self
in contemporary psychology, assumed to be the center of personality, the organizer of our thoughts, feelings, and actions
free association
in psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing Freud thought it would follow chain of thought to the past where painful unconscious memories from childhood could be retrieved and released
defense mechanisms
in psychoanalytic theory, the ego's protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality
possible selves
includes the self you dream of becoming and the self you fear becoming Such possible selves motivate us by laying out specific goals and calling forth the energy to work toward them
All these defense mechanisms function ___(2)
indirectly and unconsciously
Adler believed that much of our behavior is driven by efforts to conquer childhood feelings of _____
inferiority, feelings that trigger our strivings for superiority and power (inferiority complex)
pleasure principle
instant gratification
British psychologists Hans Eysenck and Sybil Eysenck believed that we can reduce many of our normal individual variations to two or three dimensions,including what two?
introversion-extraversion and emotional stability-emotional instability.
secure self-esteem
is less contingent on external evaluations. To feel accepted for who we are, and not for our looks, wealth, or acclaim, relieves pressures to succeed and enable us to focus beyond ourselves.
According to Freud, Dreams' manifest content was a censored version of their ______
latent content
At any point in the oral, anal, or phallic stages, strong conflict could ____
lock, or fixate, the person's pleasure-seeing energies in that stage.
self-trancendence
meaning, purpose, and communion beyond the self
Personality traits rival socioeconomic status and cognitive ability as predictors of _____ (3)
of mortality, divorce, and occupational attainment
most serious problem of Freud's theories:
offer after-the-fact explanations of any characteristic yet fails to predict such behaviors and traits.
self-actualization
one of the ultimate psychological needs that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved; the motivation is to fulfill one's potential
self-esteem
one's feelings of high or low self-worth
spotlight effect
overestimating others' noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunders (as if we presume a spotlight is on us)
reality principle
satisfying the id's desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain
empathetic
sharing and mirroring our feelings and reflecting our meanings
self-control
the ability to control impulses and delay gratification
Barnum effect
the acceptance of stock, positive descriptions as applying to oneself Another technique is to "read" the person based on appearance
repression: definition- underlies___ explains why ____ often ____
the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness Underlies all other defense mechanisms Explains why we do not remember our childhood lust for our parent Often incomplete, with repressed urges seeping out in dream symbols and slips of the tongue
psychosexual stages
the childhood stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) during which the id's pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones
personal control
the extent to which people perceive control over their environment rather than feeling helpless
learned helplessness
the hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events
Freud's entire psychoanalytic theory rests on his assumption that____
the human mind often represses offending wishes, banishing them into the unconscious until they resurface, like long-lost books in a dusty attic.
reciprocal determinism
the interacting influences on behavior, internal cognition, and environment
Rorschach inkblot test
the most widely used projective tests, a set of 10 inkblots, designed by Hermann Rorschach; seeks to identify people's inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots Its validity has been questioned "its responsible use" is allowed Computer program now accompanies it to make it better
External locus of control
the perception that chance or outside forces beyond your personal control determine your fate
internal lotus of control
the perception that you control your own fate
identification
the process by which, according to Freud, children incorporate their parents' values into their developing superego
positive psychology
the scientific study of optimal human functioning; aims to discover and promotes strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive
factor analysis
the statistical procedure described in chapter 10 to identify clusters of test items that tap basic components of intelligence (such as spatial ability or verbal skill)
False consensus affect
the tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors (projection)
Terror-management theory
the theory of death related anxiety; explores people's emotional and behavioral responses to reminder of their impending death
implicit learning
you learn something before you consciously recognize what you are learning