Personality Final

What is a self-schema?

- a knowledge structure that consists of cognitive generalizations about the self -ex. someone with a self-schema of independence will interpret behaviors as indicative of being independent and will not accept evidence that they are dependent

Name characteristics of physical environments that could increase aggression.

- crowding - noise - heat

Describe aggression in terms of the psychoanalytic theory.

- early theory: aggression was an intent to destroy objects which are the source of painful feelings - later: death instinct (thanatos) was theorized - modern: focus on parenting and development of self-control

Describe aggression in terms of the learning theory.

- frustration-aggression hypothesis: interference with achieving a goal leads to frustration, which results in aggression - displacement: aggression focused elsewhere, not at the source of frustration

Describe the modified frustration-aggression hypothesis.

- similar, but added cognitive component - expectancy: same situation can be experienced differently depending on expectations - arbitrariness or inequity: unfairness is more frustrating - intentionality: an accident is less frustrating - responsibility: a 2yr old breaking something is less frustrating than a 17yr old who knows better -negative affect leads to aggression (explains effect of env - heat leads to annoyed emotional state, etc)

Describe the James-Lange Theory of emotion. What is one piece of evidence for this theory?

-A stimulus produces a physiological response (ex increased heart rate) which then allows the person to feel the emotion (ex fear) -Stimulus -> physio response -> "fear" -use of Botox which paralyzes facial muscles is associated with decreased perception of emotion

What is one critique of emotion theories?

-Are emotions truly discrete and different, or is there just positive and negative balance? -maybe positive emotions blend, while negative ones are discrete -----positive emotions just signal you to keep doing what you're doing -----negative emotions are discrete, there are multiple different ways to deal with a bad thing (ex anger is confrontational while fear is withdrawn)

Describe physiological measures as a method of assessing personality. **scientific study**

-Autonomic nervous system changes as a result of emotional state -Heart rate, blood pressure -Skin conductance: detects sweating (emotional arousal or anxiety) -Hormonal assays: measuring hormones associated with personality (cortisol assoc stress reactions -> those with high anxiety will have higher cortisol) -Scans: EEG (measure of neuronal activity), fMRI (measure of blood flow/increased activation in specific brain areas)

Describe the ways in which culture may influence personality.

-Culture: sets of norms/expectations which guide behavior, exists in multiple levels (culture of Alma College -> culture of MI -> culture of US -> culture of westernized countries) -National character: traits associated with a given country/culture, usually stereotypes -Socialization: process by which we learn a culture's norms/expectations -Individualistic cultures: focus on the self, individual accomplishments (Westernized cultures) vs collectivist cultures: focus on interconnected self, group belonging (rest of the world) -Norms of a culture influence personality - ex. if talking a lot is considered disrespectful, those in that culture will likely be more introverted -Individualistic vs collectivist makes a difference too, ex. those in collectivist cultures will likely be more agreeable

Describe the psychoanalytic theory.

-Emphasized unconscious mind and drives -Topographical Model of Mind (hierarchical): -----conscious thought ~ things we are currently thinking about -----preconscious thought ~ things we could think about but currently are not -----unconscious thought: feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories outside of conscious awareness -Id: born with it, completely unconscious ~ libido (life drives, hunger, thirst, sex drive), aggression, pleasure principle (immediate gratification) -Ego: develops to deal with reality ~ reality principle, fulfills needs of id in ways that are actually possible -----Ego strength: delayed gratification -Superego: develops to deal with society's expectations, how we create morals/ideals -Motivations - libido (life drive), thanatos (aggression/death drive), catharsis (process of releasing) -Psychosexual development: -----oral (0-1.5): pleasure derived from mouth - if unresolved, oral incorporative (gullible) or oral sadistic (gossip, rumors) -----anal (1.5-3): potty training - if unresolved, anal retentive (stubborn, everything must be in order) or anal expulsive (messy, destructive) ------phallic (3-5): Oediupus/Electra crisis -----latency (5-puberty): no interest in sex -----genital (puberty+) -Anxiety: real (makes sense to be anxious), neurotic (id might get out of control), moral (might break society's moral codes) -Defense mechanisms: repression (not thinking about something), suppression (awareness of avoiding thinking about something), denial, projection, rationalization, intellectualization, reaction formation, regression

Describe Sigmund Freud. What were his main contributions to psychology?

-Freud: believed that symptoms of mental illness (thoughts, emotions, and behaviors) have psychological basis, learned hypnotism from Charcot in order to treat mental illness and hysteria. Foundational case for his theories was Anna O. who began to talk, eat, and drink again following hypnosis (talking cure -> talk therapy). -focused on dream analysis ~ manifest content (what happens in the dream), latent content (what the dream means) -introduced idea of non-biological basis of pathology, ideas led to modern talk therapy

What theories of personality fall under the umbrella of phenomenological theories?

-Humanistic approach -Social cognition

What does Erikson consider to be the most important task of adolescence? Why does he think this?

-Identity formation -you need an identity to succeed in later stages

Describe the interview as a method of assessing personality. **scientific study**

-Interviewers must display warmth, involvement, interest, and commitment as well as empathy and understanding -No standard method for conducting an interview which gives practically unlimited opportunity to explore areas that they believe will be helpful -Can be structured (same set of questions asked in a particular order, more like a test) or unstructured (begins anywhere, proceeds in any direction, changes topic at any time) -limited consensus about long-term reliability and validity due to variation in techniques, less structured tends to be less reliable (different questions asked with different goals = different results), may approach reliability of personality tests but there isn't evidence of this -Interviewer impacts behavior of interviewee

Define self-concept. How does self-concept evolve over the course of development?

-Knowledge of who you are -Helps to guide decision making -----prototype matching: we compare ourselves to those we perceive in a particular setting (am I similar to the type of people who are in this club?), we choose a situation with those similar to you - more used in low self-monitors because less behavioral adjustment is required -Begins as physical descriptors and ideas (short, red hair, girl, etc) and gradually becomes more complex and abstract (sarcastic, intelligent, etc) -You also develop understanding of your true self vs false/public self (who you are vs how you present yourself

What theories of personality does the term "behaviorism" encompass?

-Learning theory -Social learning theory

What are 3 types of stressors?

-Life-Event Stress: divorce, marriage, etc -Hassles: stress of everyday living, finding a parking space etc -Type A Personality (not supported in research): supposedly self-created stress

Describe passionate love. What are 3 conditions required for this?

-Love characterized by preoccupation with thoughts of the love object, desire to spend as much time as possible with them, and strong sexual arousal 1. raised in a culture that believes in the idea of romantic love and reinforces the idea in young people 2. presence of appropriate love object 3. intense emotional arousal interpreted by the individual as love

Describe Maslow's need hierarchy.

-Maslow's need hierarchy: physiological needs -> safety needs -> love and belonging -> esteem -> self-actualization -failure to gratify a need leads to dysfunction -higher needs appeared later in evolution but are even more necessary for survival and growth -higher need gratification requires better external conditions -D-needs: deficit needs: you don't have something and you NEED it (food, water - physiological) -B-needs: growth needs: betterment of self, you WANT to become a better version of yourself -self-actualized person associated with spontaneity and peak experience (things going as well as they can), related to "flow" (being in the zone and doing things just right, happens while concentrating on a task that's hard but not too hard) -self-actualization associated with self-awareness, creativity, self-acceptance, interest in the world

How stable is personality over time? **relatively enduring**

-McCrae & Costa: personality as underlying traits, stabilizes in early adulthood and then does not change much -Helson: personality as organization of motivation and resources, some things change during adulthood (ex succorance, motivation to help others, drops from the time women are new parents to when their children have grown up) -Maturity principle: traits mature during transition to early adulthood - increase in conscientiousness and emotional stability -Helson & Stewart: changes in impulsiveness, flexibility, ambition, autonomy, and need to achieve during adult years -Personality TRAITS may not change much but personality may change (changes in goals, motivations, etc can also change personality) -Test-retest six years apart on NEO-PI saw rank order stability ranging from .76 for neuroticism to .84 for openness to experience -Correlations about .50 for all age groups above adolescence

Describe the trait theories.

-Most influential ~ Allport: believed there are certain characteristics of individuals which remain stable over time - which traits occur together, how are patterns of traits organized in an individual? Cattell's Factor Analysis: examined nature and organization of traits, first examined 4500 trait names and reduced this list to 200 by grouping synonyms, scores were obtained on the degree to which individuals possessed these traits -> found 36 surface traits and a smaller number of source traits. Examined types of source traits - environmental mold traits (from env), constitutional source traits (from person), specific source traits (operation within a particular situation), and general source traits (operation in many situations) -Eysneck's Hierarchy: identified 3 important traits (PEN) - psychoticism, extraversion, neuroticism. Ascending Reticular Activating System ~ introverts and extroverts have different sensitivity to stimuli, introverts are more sensitive so will be over-stimulated more easily. -Gray's Behavioral Activation/Inhibition System (BAS/BIS): for some people, BAS is strong and they recognize opportunity for good things, for some the BIS is strong and they avoid things for fear of bad outcome

Describe different types of study designs and where they might be used. **scientific study**

-Naturalistic observation: observation of people within their natural environments, disguised or undisguised. Can allow researchers to observe people without them adjusting behavior because they know they're being watched - EX. A researcher may code for extraversion in a naturalistic study by noting every time a person talks to someone else. -Case study: close observation of a single person, usually an unusual case, difficulty with replicable observations. Used in specific cases which involve personality (such as changes in personality) which may be able to be tied to a source - EX. Phineas Gage experienced significant personality shift after damage to the frontal lobe, which showed that frontal lobe may be implicated in personality. -Correlational: asks whether things go together, measurement only, can include multiple measures at the same time (regression), two parts: sign (positive or negative correlation) and magnitude (strength of correlation. Often used with variables that cannot be manipulated within constraints of the research - EX. determining if certain traits are correlated with outcomes or preferences (mental illnesses, learning styles, etc) -Longitudinal: follows participants across the lifespan, correlational. This can assess how personality changes across the life span and in response to particular events that are not manipulated by researchers - EX. following a child and his parents divorce when he's a teen, they can see how this impacts personality. -Experimental: studies that establish causation, manipulate IV in order to determine its effects on DV - EX. having people with different levels of extraversion watch a funny movie or control movie (IV) and determine differences in reaction to the movie (DV) based on levels of extraversion.

Describe how development relates to personality, including how experiences in development may influence behavior.

-Nature and nurture are both related to personality development -Infant temperament -----easy/flexible -----active/feisty -----slow to warm/cautious -unclear relationship between temperament and traits -Attachment styles in infants/children: can impact later attachment in friendships/relationships -----secure -----avoidant -----anxious/resistant -----disorganized/disoriented

Do all relationships consist of all 3 components of love?

-No! -There may be just 1, different combinations of 2, or there may be all 3 -May also be different ratios of each ~ lots of passion, low commitment (but it's sorta there), etc

How does the psychoanalytic theory relate to personality?

-Our personalities develop according to how we are able to manage unconscious drives and deal with anxieties -Can also develop personality characteristics according to unresolved psychosexual stages (ex anal retentive matches with neuroticism) -Defense mechanisms may also contribute to personality (ex. someone who relies on projection will have a colder, more accusing personality)

How does the neoanalytic theory relate to personality?

-Personality is made up of competing forces (kind of relates to continuum idea, you move back and forth on the continuum as you develop personality) -Our personality is developed by exploring these conflicting parts of ourselves -Extroversion vs Introversion personality has significant impact on how you view the world -We are all born with similar patterns of thought, behavior, and emotion (seen cross-culturally, not all personality/ideas come from childhood experiences like Freud and other theorists describe)

How does the social learning theory relate to personality development?

-Personality is shaped by our expectations about the world and the people we interact with, observing and judging the actions of others, and the environment

Describe projective personality tests, providing two examples. **scientific study**

-Projective personality tests: tests that work with the idea that use of ambiguous stimuli will allow the person to project their personality into what they're seeing in the stimuli ~ TAT and Rorschach -----Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): presentation of cards with images of people, test taker develops a story for each picture - may have recurrent themes in their stories which reflect their experiences/traits (can get fairly high reliability with good coders) -----Rorschach Ink Blot: interpretation of ambiguous ink blots - can supposedly assess unique aspects of individual and broad dimensions of personality, scored by frequency of dimensions (quantitative) and analysis of response (qualitative), actually not reliable whatsoever, the coders personality is seen more than the patient

How is "stability" defined in personality psychology? **relatively enduring**

-Rank order stability: extent that people maintain relative rank over time (becomes stronger with age) -Mean level stability: change in actual scores over time, these don't change much -Absolute stability: the behavior in childhood is closely related to or similar to the behavior in adulthood (throwing tantrums as a child and as an adult) -Personality coherence: behaviors that the adult will exhibit are conceptually similar to those in childhood but different in form (throwing tantrums as a child and then being an irritable and uncooperative adult)

Differentiate between self-concept and self-esteem. What is one way sociologists use to describe how we develop these?

-Self-concept is our concept about the self ~ who we are, who we can be, etc -Self-esteem is esteem about the self ~ how we feel about ourselves -"Looking glass self:" we understand who we are based on how others see/treat us

How does the evolutionary theory relate to personality?

-Social behaviors such as extraversion and agreeableness are developed as a result of our need for belonging -Personality traits provide us with protective factors/benefits in surviving in the world

What is the difference between the "self as an object," "self as an agent," and "self as a concept?"

-The self as an object is our evaluation and understanding of ourselves as an object, considers whether we like or dislike ourselves -The self as an agent considers the self as a cause of behavior/outcomes -The self as a concept considers knowledge about the self, traits, attitudes, feelings etc

What are display rules?

-They tell us which emotions are okay to show and which are not, this differs across cultures and is often gendered -----it's not good for a man to show sadness so instead he'll punch a wall (aggression is cool) -----it's not good for a woman to show anger so instead she'll cry (sadness is cool) -some emotions are good to hide, such as envy

Describe the self-report as a method of assessing personality. **scientific study**

-This is a "wonderful" method (-Marc Setterlund) -You know yourself best -Cheap and easy -It's overused because of all of that stuff though -Problems: you may not truly know yourself that well, people lie (social desirability)

Describe traits. **patterns of behavior**

-Traits are distinguishing personal characteristics that are relatively stable and enduring -Personality tests assume that all humans possess the same traits, but in different levels (ex Big Five/Six) - these are continuums -Big 6 (HEXACO): Honesty/humility, emotional stability, extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience.

Describe Carl Jung. What were his main contributions to psychology?

-Was supposed to be Freud's successor until they got into it and basically broke up the band -emphasized self-actualization as a result of overcoming internal conflict -ideas about ways in which introverts/extroverts differ was the basis for the MBTI which is way too popular even though it's not reliable AT ALL, but it gives the illusion of "understanding"

Define self-complexity. Is it better to have a more or less complex self? Why?

-We have numerous versions of ourselves, and each person differs in the number of roles they hold (ex student, daughter, sister, girlfriend) -It is better to have a more complex self with more versions, because if you only have a few roles and you receive negative feedback on one of them, you will be more effected (ex. if you are just "daughter" and "student" and you get a bad grade, this will hurt more than if you have several identities which are still receiving positive feedback) -More versions of the self = fewer extreme moods, more emotionally stable

How did different theorists think about the idea of the "self?"

-William James wrote a whole chapter on it -Freud kind of worked with this theory with the id, ego, and superego -Behaviorists didn't care -Carl Rogers cared a lot about the self and value of the self

Is alcohol associated with aggression? Could this be related to other variables?

-Yes -Also yes, poverty/mental illness are associated with alcohol as well, it could be those factors contributing to aggression rather than the alcohol itself

Define affect, including a differentiation between emotion and mood.

-affect: term for anything considered to be related to emotion -emotion: tends to be stronger than mood but shorter in duration -mood: closely linked to emotion, less intense but longer lasting - may or may not be linked to a cause

What is disgust?

-an evolved mechanism to avoid contamination

Describe the evolutionary theory and its main founders.

-behaviors which make up personality serve an evolutionary function, help to keep us alive/thriving -Darwin: evolutionary biologist, developed theories of natural selection etc -Eckman & Friesan: studies of how emotion is displayed cross-culturally, there are 6 emotions displayed similarly on the face across cultures - evolutionary basis of emotion? -3 processes: genetic drift (genes that are passed down more become more common), natural selection (process by which spontaneous mutations provide some sort of advantage, and these are passed down), sexual selection (reproductive partners look for particular characteristics) -need to belong: evolutionarily necessary, we need other people to survive so we have evolved tendencies that allow us to fit within a group -self-esteem: functionally useless, serves as a monitor of how well we fit into our social group (sociometer model) - when we have group belonging, we have higher self-esteem

What are secondary emotions?

-combination of primary emotions, ex fear + surprise = alarm

Describe the learning theory.

-emphasizes the role of learning, forming associations, and reinforcement/punishment on acquisition of behaviors which shape personality -classical conditioning (Pavlov): UCS, UR, CS, CR -does not give a single f*ck about what's going on in the brain -Little Albert (Watson): learning to fear white fluffy things because Watson is mean -generalization: reacting the same to different stimuli (ex. Little Albert fearing all white fluffy tings) -discrimination: telling similar but different stimuli apart -habituation: getting used to a stimulus and responding to it less -counter conditioning: exposure to target of phobia to reverse phobia, use of relaxation techniques and stimulus hierarchy (ex. start with fake rubber snake and work up to holding real snake) -operant conditioning (Skinner): focuses on reinforcement and punishment in learning which behaviors to repeat -partial reinforcement: not receiving reinforcement every time, harder to extinguish these behaviors -radical behaviorism: scientific explanation should depend on as few assumptions as possible (don't include unobservable processes, internal events etc), the "mind" is fictional/irrelevant

Describe the phenomenological theories.

-emphasizes the ways in which we give meaning to the things around us, the ways we interpret the world drive behaviors which make up personality -phenomenology: study of subjective experience or the "meaning" that a person gives to events -mental or cognitive aspects of behavior/experience -focus is on the present situation and how the person understands it

Describe the humanistic approach.

-focuses on what a person has the potential to become, striving for betterment and understanding of feelings shape behavior -reaction to pessimism of psychoanalysis and coldness of behaviorism -4 principles -----1. experiencing person is of primary interest -----2. human choice, creativity, and self-actualization are preferred topics of investigation (belief that study of dysfunctional people leads to dysfunctional psychology, and study of lower organisms leads to incomplete psychology) -----3. meaningfulness must precede objectivity in selection of research problems (don't focus on what's easy and convenient) -----4. ultimate value is placed on the dignity of the person -self-actualization: focus on growth, continuous learning -people have a need for positive regard (warmth, love, acceptance) - conditional positive regard ("people only like me if I do xyz") stands in the way of self-actualization and leads to conditions of worth -clinical problems arise when one begins to deceive oneself and dissociate true feelings, generates discrepancies between objective and subjective world - leads to anxiety and blocks self-actualization

What is stress?

-force that causes some kind of strain

Define gender and gender identity.

-gender: aspects of oneself as male or female that may be due to culture and socialization; 5 parts -----1. biological and physical attributes -----2. symbolic and stylistic behaviors (walking, nonverbal communication) -----3. interests and abilities -----4. social relationships (how you relate to men vs women, how your gender identity is organized/expressed in relationships with others) -----5. perception of personal and social attributes (how personality traits relate to masculinity/femininity) -gender identity: one's inclusion of his or her gender as part of identity (how is your identity as male/female/etc interwoven into other parts of your identity)

Describe gender differences across development. Are these supported by research?

-gendered toy/activity preference seen before age 3 -men tend to pursue careers in architecture/engineering (mathematical, technical), whereas women choose careers as nurses/teachers (soft, nurturing) -males stereotypes as aggressive, rational, and ambitious and female stereotypes as passive, emotional, and nurturant -things that had previously been different between genders may become similar (ex levels of dependency), and vice versa -research has shown that men and women are close to the same in mathematical and verbal abilities -effect of males as more aggressive is only moderate -few psychological gender differences have been found, and most are quite small

Describe the genetic theory.

-genetics and genetic similarity between parent/child can lead to similar behaviors and personalities within families, shared environment of families is also important -Traits are likely to be polygenic (multiple genes contributing to one trait) -If all genes are pointing to one end, this leads to extremes (ex. all pointing to extraversion means you will likely be extraverted) -Genetic relationships: MZ twins = 100%, mother/father & child = 50%, full sibling/DZ twin = 50%, grandparent/grandchild = 25%, half siblings = 25% -Gene + environment interaction -Personality phenotype (expression of genes that we see) is combination of heritability, common environment, and non-shared unique environment -Heritable aspects of personality: temperament, Big 5 (heritability estimates .4-.7), shyness (potential gene involved)

What is self-clarity?

-how clearly you know yourself -high self-clarity is associated with high self-esteem -low self-clarity is associated with poor decision-making -those with low self-clarity will likely choose situations where they don't fit, which leads to low self-esteem

What is self-esteem? How do we develop our own self-esteem?

-how we feel about and value ourselves -we evaluate an average of ourselves across our important domains -----Crocker's domains (academics, physical appearance, competition, family, being virtuous, approval of others, being loved by God) -some have low variability in self-esteem and some have high variability (high is associated with depression and aggression)

Explain identity diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, and identity achievement.

-identity diffusion: low exploration of identity, low commitment to identity (who tf am I) -foreclosure: low exploration of identity, high commitment to identity (I am this and have not considered anything else) -moratorium: high exploration of identity, low commitment to identity (I am exploring identities - identity crisis) -identity achievement: high exploration of identity, high commitment to identity (I've explored things and this is who I am)

Describe Carl Rogers, including his Person-Centered Psychology.

-important views: -----the individual exists in a world of which they are the center -----the organism reacts to the world as it is perceived -----striving to actualize leads to goal of self-actualization -----behavior is goal-directed, when we behave it implies a goal -----the best vantage point is the internal frame of reference -----values attached to the self come from the self and others -----maladjustment occurs when people deny their experiences -----when we integrate our experiences we are more accepting of others -focus on the importance of listening to people -key ideas: love and acceptance are most important things leading to growth, refer to therapy recipients as clients rather than patients, major motivation for people is to grow and learn from experience

Describe companionate love.

-intimacy + commitment -love and affection we feel for those we are close with; friends, family, partner, etc -emphasis on caring

How do ambivalent/insecurely attached children feel about love later in life?

-love involves obsession (if you're not with me you're cheating on me) -emotional highs and lows -extreme sexual attraction and jealousy

How do avoidantly attached children feel about love later in life?

-love is full of emotional highs and lows -fear of intimacy

How do securely attached children feel about love later in life?

-love is happy, friendly, and trusting -accepts partner despite their faults

Is most aggression real, or is it more ritualistic?

-more ritualistic -tends to be more threats than actual fightings

Describe personal construct theory and its main founder. How does this relate to personality development?

-people form hypotheses about the world which guide behavior -personal construct theory: focuses on how a person, as perceiver, organizes his or her world and interprets, or construes, events -"bad" hypotheses will hinder effective behavior -emotions such as anxiety, threat, and guilt are products of inadequately changing construct systems -George Kelly: considered the average person to be a scientist

Describe objective personality tests, providing 2 examples. **scientific study**

-person is provided a written stimulus, no production of original material, usually choosing between two or more alternatives, scoring is objective with no judgments required -----MMPI: true/false questionnaire with over 500 items, used to measure specific disorders and related personality characteristics (poor long-term stability, new personality scales have been derived from subsets of these items) -----NEO-PI: assesses individuals on the Big 5 personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience, neuroticism)

Describe the neoanalytic theory.

-personality consists of competing forces (masculinity vs femininity, aggression vs sensitivity, conscious vs unconscious) -self-actualized person emerges out of struggle to balance competing forces -described that conflict lasts into adulthood (newer outlook which considered that development goes beyond adulthood) -Jung's Collective Unconscious: location of inherited primitive universal attitudes and archetypes (people are not aware of these) -----archetypes: powerful, primitive, part of unconscious ~ ex. the idea of "the hero," the "wise man;" shadow: animal side, darker instincts; persona: socially acceptable mask we wear in public -----archetypes as universal themes, symbols: the creation, the great flood, the trickster -Extroversion (orientation towards external objects/events) vs introversion (orientation toward inner experiences) ~ exist simultaneously in a person -Differ in several ways ~ thinking vs feeling, sensing vs intuiting (basis of Myers-Briggs)

How do the phenomenological theories relate to personality?

-personality is derived from how we interpret and experience the world in the present moment, individual differences in behavior can largely be described by differences in how we view the world -focus is on the subjective experience -humanistic theories see constraints and fears that block awareness of "now" as major contributors to neurotic behavior -social cognition theories consider that people form hypotheses about the world around them, if they form "bad" theories this may hinder effective behavior (ex assuming that everybody has negative feelings towards you will lead to negative behaviors and social withdrawal)

How does the learning theory relate to personality development?

-personality is the learned behaviors acquired through reinforcement -ex. if a child is repeatedly punished for talking, they will likely show introverted and quiet traits

What are some cognitions that may affect emotions?

-personalizing events (main character moment) -selectively attending to information -seeing event as general

Which theory is the opposite of radical behaviorism and why are they opposites?

-phenomenological theory is the opposite of radical behaviorism -radical behavioralism asserts that the "mind" is fictional and thought processes are not important in understanding behavior, while phenomenological theories assert that it is how we think about our world that leads to personality (disregard of thought vs strong emphasis on thought)

Define possible selves and possible self-complexity, providing a study which illustrates the effect of possible selves.

-possible selves: things we can imagine for ourselves in the future -Oyserman & Markus: when people have positive possible selves to pursue, they have better outcomes -possible self-complexity: those who can imagine a bunch of different possible things for the future are less impacted by bad news about one of those things -HOWEVER too many possible things can lead to indecision and confusion

Describe gender typing, relating it to the psychoanalytic and social learning theories.

-process of treating males and females differently begins at birth with different clothing and toys, different expectations of behavior as they get older, etc -there is little chance for genuine exploration of gender expression in humans, it is influenced by the social environment and culture immediately -psychoanalytic: process by which boys and girls develop sex differences is biological, gender roles are learned from identifying with same sex parent (biology determines which parent is "same sex") -social learning: emphasis on reinforcement boys and girls receive for acting "appropriately" according to norms/expectations of society (these norms differ between cultures but "appropriate" behavior is rewarded in every culture) -----ex. boys receive more physical stimulation and gross motor activity than girls

Mood congruent information is processed more ___ than mood incongruent information.

-quickly -ex if you're happy, you notice all the good things

Define self-awareness and provide an example of a test for this.

-recognizing oneself -rouge test: putting a small amount of red paint on a baby's face and having them look in a mirror, if they reach for the red spot on their own face this shows self-awareness (they recognize themselves even with the new feature) but if they reach for the mirror this shows lack of self-concept

Differentiate between self-concept and identity.

-self-concept is one's description of who one is -identity is one's definition of who one is, the things that most basically define who we are -something can be part of your self-concept, but not your identity (ex I'm messy but I don't consider this to be integral to who I am)

Describe intimacy.

-sharing of oneself with another -communication training is common to improve intimacy (dominant technique in couples therapy)

Explain the "strength of the situation." How does this relate to self-monitoring? Name a theorist who emphasized the situation. **observed across situations**

-some situations have strong demands about behavior -strong situations: people act similarly due to expectations (courtroom, church) -weak situations: more solitary without people to enforce behavior (alone, in the park) -situational selection: we select where we go, find situations that work for us -some people look to the situation to figure out how to behave (high self monitors), others don't (low self monitors) -3 components: motivation to read situation, ability to read situation, ability to enact appropriate behaviors -Low self-monitors display more of their personality -Mischell: asked if personality traits really predicted behavior, questioned almost everything about existing personality psych and stated that the current situation would better predict behavior

What is the difference between a state and a trait?

-state: response to stimulus/trigger -trait: consistent response across situations -these are predictive ~ ex anxiety - a person with state anxiety will experience trait anxiety more often

Define socialization. How does this relate to gender identity?

-the process whereby an individual learns to adjust to a group and behave in a manner approved by the group -children learn very early on what behaviors are expected of different genders and act accordingly, socialization is a major contributor to the development of gender identity and gendered behaviors

Describe Phinney's Model of racial/ethnic identity formation.

-unexamined racial identity -> unexplored (similar to diffusion) or accepted from parents (similar to foreclosure) -event triggering awareness -> prompts exploration (similar to moratorium) -adoption and incorporation of racial identity (similar to identity achievement)

Describe unidimensional and bidimensional theories of gender. Which is likely more accurate?

-unidimensional: as masculinity increases, femininity decreases; sees this as one horizontal line and you fall somewhere on it ~ M -------------*-- F -bidimensional: seen as a spectrum, a grid with two intersecting lines; one line is assoc with masculinity and one with femininity, you can be high in masculinity and high in femininity, low in both, or any other combination - this is likely more accurate and encompasses androgyny

Describe the social learning theory and its main founder.

-we learn behaviors which shape personality from watching others -process by which organism learns from observing the behavior of others -observers see someone engage in a behavior and get a reward -> learns that this behavior is good -this plays a part in how we learn gender roles Bandura: developed ideas of self-efficacy ~ assessment of whether or not you can be efficacious (accomplish something) -value of goal depends of difficulty level (we tend to choose goals which don't max out our difficulty) -sources of self-efficacy: evaluation of potential success focuses on past behaviors (if you could do it before you can do it now), success of models, signs (reminders, motivational sticky notes, etc), encouragement, emotion/arousal

Describe the appraisal theories of emotion.

-we look to the environment to understand emotions, something happens and you appraise "is this good or bad" and then you consider why it happened/how to respond -----primary appraisal: what does this mean (good or bad, implications) -----secondary appraisal: can I deal with this

How does the genetic theory relate to personality?

-you share genes with both of your parents which means that you may inherit some of their personality traits -the shared environment alongside heritability will increase likelihood of sharing personality traits with your parents

Describe 4 negative ways of coping with stress.

1. Confrontation: standing your ground 2. Distancing: acting as if nothing happened 3. (Over) Self-Control: keeping feelings to yourself 4. Escaping & Avoiding: binge eating, drug use etc

List the Big 6 Traits and their opposites.

1. Honesty/humility vs dishonesty/bragging 2. Emotional stability vs neuroticism 3. Extroversion vs introversion 4. Agreeableness vs coldness/hostility 5. Conscientiousness vs carelessness 6. Openness to experience vs closed-minded

Describe Cass's model of sexual orientation identity formation.

1. Identity confusion - who am I 2. Identity comparison - do I feel like this or this 3. Identity tolerance - I guess that's who I am, I can live with it 4. Identity acceptance - that's who I am, I accept it 5. Identity pride - I am proud of who I am 6. Identity synthesis - identity is woven into your life

Describe 3 positive ways of coping with stress.

1. Seeking social support: friends, family, etc 2. Planful problem solving: strategically and realistically approaching the problem 3. Reappraisal: reframing your thoughts about the problem

Describe Troiden's model of sexual orientation identity formation.

1. Sensitization - noticing you're different 2. Identity confusion - who am I 3. Identity assumption - I think I know who I am 4. Commitment - this is who I am

Describe 3 different types of love from philosophers.

1. eros (Plato): sexual and non-sexual connotations ~ love of your partner 2. philia (Aristotle): reciprocal love of friends ~ love of your friends 3. agape (St. Paul): love of God and all mankind ~ love towards people in general

Describe the 3 types of aggression.

1. instrumental: functions to get something, such as money, reward, or political power 2. proactive: has a particular aim (ex deciding to take on the bully and then creating the opportunity, involves planning) 3. reactive: the result of provocation (striking back at the bully when the bully started it)

According to Sternberg's triangular model, what are the 3 components of love?

1. intimacy: closeness and warmth, mutual understanding and communication (not sex) 2. passion: romance and excitement, sexual feelings 3. decision/commitment: cognitive component about how long the relationship is intended to last (hook up? happily ever after?)

What is the process forming racial/ethnic identity?

1. pre-encounter: unaware or unconcerned about differences 2. experiences leading to awareness of differences 3. period of conflict between old unawareness and new awareness 4. resolution and habituation 5. commitment to group and identity

What are the 4 self-motives?

1. protect the self (feeling good about ourselves by avoiding feeling bad -----self-handicapping: putting obstacles in your own way which makes success harder, can attribute failure to obstacle (ex procrastinating) 2. enhance the self (look at ourselves positively, seeking validation) 3. self-verification (searching for the truth about ourselves) -----wacky Buzzfeed quizzes, MBTI test 4. self-consistency (we want consistency with how we view ourselves and how others view us) -these motives can be in conflict (if you think you're good, 2 and 3 are the same; if you think you're bad, they point opposite directions - seeking good in 2, being bad in 3)

What are 2 reasons why we have emotions?

1. these serve to communicate, they tell other people (as well as ourselves) important information -----cross-cultural recognition of faces for primary emotions - happy, sad, anger, fear, disgust, surprise 2. these support social relationships, help us bond to one another (ex laughing together leading to bonding), 2 emotions have an explicit social purpose -----shame: the focus is on the self, something is wrong with the self -> feel the need to disappear, you DO NOT try to fix it -----guilt: the focus is on something that happened (ex behavior), you feel bad about that thing and you try to FIX whatever went wrong

Define aggression.

A behavior directed toward a person with the intention of harming that person, and the person is motivated to avoid the harm

Describe the Schacter-Singer 2 Factor Theory of emotion.

A stimulus produces a physiological response (ex increased heart rate) and the person must create a COGNITIVE LABEL of the emotion (ex I feel afraid) in order to feel the emotion

Which is more enduring over time, emotion or mood?

Mood

Why do we have these enduring patterns of behavior?

No one theory captures everything, these patterns come from several sources and the sources must be considered together rather than in isolation

Is a person just masculine or just feminine?

No! These exist on a continuum, a person displays different levels of each.

What is personality psychology?

The scientific study of relatively enduring patterns of behavior observed across situations -Scientific study: measurements of personality, research methods (types of study designs, etc) -Relatively enduring: stability and change, how stable is personality across the lifespan? -Patterns of behavior: how many patterns are there and which ones matter? Discussion of TRAITS -Observed across situations: power of the situation; do we see consistency across situations? Why or why not? How does culture/social setting impact behavior?

Describe the self-reference effect.

We remember things better when terms/concepts are connected to the self.

A person may have ___ or ___ emotionality.

high; low

People with ___ neuroticism, ___ agreeableness, ___ conscientiousness, and ___ extraversion have higher relationship satisfaction.

low; high; high; high