Chapter 11: Personality
What are the strengths of the five factor model?
1) strikes right balance between accounting for wide variation in personality while avoiding overlapping traits 2) same 5 factors emerge in large number of studies 3) shows up across wide range of participants, including children, adults in other cultures, etc. - universal
According to Freud, fixations occur throughout the psychosexual stages due to: A. either deprivation or overindulgence in pleasurable experiences at a given stage. B. INdulgence in pleasurable experiences at a given stage. C. an optimal amount of pleasurable experiences at each stage. D. deprivation of pleasurable experiences associated with each stage.
A
Freud's term of psychoanalysis refers to both his theory of _____ and his method of treating _____. A. personality; patients B. emotional disorders; patients C. patients; personality D. emotional disorders; personality
A
What is essential in order to predict someone's behavior? A. One must know something about the person's personality and situation. B. One must know something about the person's situation. C. One must know something about the person's personality. D. One must know the person's age and socioeconomic status.
A
When you ask your friends to tell you their favorite number, they tell you the number of the house where they grew up, demonstrating: A. implicit egotism. B. self-concept. C. self-esteem. D. narcissism.
A
what makes up our self concept
A person's self-concept is an organized body of knowledge that develops from social experiences and has a profound effect on a person's behavior throughout life.
How might self-esteem have played a role in evolution?
According to evolutionary theory, then, we have evolved to seek out belongingness in our families, work groups, and culture, and higher self-esteem indicates that we are being accepted.
What is angst, and how is it created?
According to the existential perspective, the difficulties we face in finding meaning in life and in accepting the responsibility of making free choices provoke a type of anxiety existentialists call angst (the anxiety of fully being).
how does self-concept influence behavior?
Although we can gain self-knowledge in private moments of insight, we more often arrive at our self-concepts through interacting with others. Young children in particular receive plenty of feedback from their parents, teachers, siblings, and friends about their characteristics, and this helps them to form an idea of who they are. Even adults would find it difficult to hold a view of the self as "kind" or "smart" if no one else ever shared this impression. The sense of self, then, is largely developed and maintained in relationships with others.
In a _____, "moody" and "anxious" may be associated with the trait of neuroticism. A. factor analysis B. trait hierarchy C. personality structure D. projective test
B
Initial trait research that relied on a dictionary as a source of possible traits yielded: A. between 10 and 50 traits. B. more than 18,000 traits. C. a concise list of 5 traits. D. between 500 and 1,000 traits.
B
Simon is very interested in his neighbor Sally but has anxiety about his attraction to her because his friends would not approve. Every time he sees her, he acts very rude and says mean things to her, despite his intense attraction to her. This is an example of what type of defense mechanism? A. sublimation B. reaction formation C. rationalization D. displacement
B
Unlike the behavioral approach, social-cognitive personality researchers believe that the _____ of the environment influences personality. A. reinforcers B. interpretation C. context D. punishers
B
how can fixation influence adult personality?
Conflict resulting from a person's being deprived or, paradoxically, overindulged at a given stage could result in fixation, a phenomenon in which a person's pleasure-seeking drives become psychologically stuck, or arrested, at a particular psychosexual stage
According to the psychodynamic approach, activities such as football and dancing are a form of _____ and allow unconscious wishes and desires to be transformed into socially acceptable behaviors. A. repression B. reaction formation C. identification D. sublimation
D
The two major kinds of measures used by psychologists to measure personality are: A. the MMPI and the TAT. B. naturalistic observations and projective techniques. C. personality inventories and naturalistic observations. D. personality inventories and projective techniques.
D
Which description is MOST appropriate for people with highly reactive behavioral activation systems? A. introverted B. depressed C. psychologically ill D. extraverted
D
_____ are the differences in the way situations are interpreted by different people. A. Person-situation controversies B. Social-cognitive approaches C. Mental intra-selective experiences D. Personal constructs
D
What neurological differences explain why extraverts pursue more stimulation than introverts?
Eysenck suggested that extraverts pursue stimulation because their reticular formation is not easily stimulated.
How do comparisons with others affect self-esteem?
If people see the actual self as falling short of the ideal self (the person that they would like to be), they tend to feel sad or dejected. When they become aware that the actual self is inconsistent with the self they have a duty to be, they are likely to feel anxious or agitated
How do psychologists identify the core personality traits?
OCEAN -openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism
highs and lows on traits openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism
Openness to experience: - High - imaginative, variety, independent - Low - down-to-earth, routine, conforming Conscientiousness: -High - organized, careful, self-disciplined - Low - disorganized, careless, weak-willed Extraversion: -High - social, fun loving, affectionate -Low - retiring, sober, reserved Agreeableness: -High- softhearted, trusting, helpful - Low - ruthless, suspicious, uncooperative Neuroticism: -High - worried, insecure, self-pitying - Low- calm, secure, self-satisfied
What is the advantage of an internal, over an external, locus of control?
People who believe they control their own destiny are said to have an internal locus of control, whereas those who believe that outcomes are random, determined by luck, or controlled by other people are described as having an external locus of control internal - tend to be less anxious, achieve more, and cope better with stress
Compare the reliability of personality inventories and projective tests.
Personal Inventories: many people have a tendency to respond in a socially desirable way, such that they underreport things that are unflattering or embarrassing. Perhaps even more problematic is that there are many things we don't know about ourselves and so are unable to report! Projective Tests: despite the rich picture of a personality and the insights into an individual's motives that these tests offer, we should understand projective tests primarily as a way in which a psychologist can get to know someone personally and intuitively not reliable or valid in predicting behavior
Are there significant personality differences between the genders?
Research has shown that there are small differences in the personalities of men versus women; however, these differences are largely absent during childhood and don't emerge until adolescence, suggesting that they may be learned based on cultural expectations
Do researchers in social cognition think that personality arises from past experiences or from the current environment?
Researchers in social cognition believe that both the current situation and learning history are key determinants of behavior. The social-cognitive approach looks at how personality and situation interact to cause behavior, how personality contributes to the way people construct situations in their own minds, and how people's goals and expectancies influence their responses to situations.
how does our self-narrative contribute to our self-concept?
Self-narrative organizes the highlights (and low blows) of your life into a story in which you are the leading character and binds them together into your self-concept
What is self esteem? Why do we want to be high in it?
Social Status - People with high self-esteem carry themselves in a way that is similar to how high-status animals of other social species carry themselves. Belongingness - Evolutionary theory holds that early humans who managed to survive and pass on their genes were those able to maintain good relations with others, rather than being cast out to fend for themselves. Thus, self-esteem could be an inner gauge of how much a person feels included by others Security - Existential and psychodynamic approaches to personality suggest that the source of distress underlying negative self-esteem is ultimately the fear of death
Does personality or the current situation predict a person's behavior?
Social-cognitive research indicates that behavior in one situation does not necessarily predict behavior in a different situation.
How well do measured personality traits predict behavior according to the social-cognitive approach?
Some situations are particularly powerful, leading most everyone to behave similarly, regardless of personality. (funeral) But in more moderate situations, personality can come forward to influence behavior
What is the existential approach to personality?
The existential approach is a school of thought that regards personality as governed by an individual's ongoing choices and decisions in the context of the realities of life and death.
According to Freud, how is personality shaped by the interaction of the id, superego, and ego?
The id motivates the tendency to seek immediate gratification of any impulse. If governed by the id alone, you would never be able to tolerate the buildup of hunger while waiting to be served at a restaurant but would simply grab food from tables nearby. The superego acts as a kind of conscience, punishing us when it finds we are doing or thinking something wrong (by producing guilt or other painful feelings) and rewarding us (with feelings of pride or self-congratulation) for living up to ideal standards. The ego is a regulating mechanism that enables us to delay gratifying immediate needs and function effectively in the real world. It is the mediator between the id and the superego. The ego helps you resist the impulse to snatch others' food and also finds the restaurant and pays the check.
why do critics say Freud's psychosexual stages are more interpretation than explanation?
The psychosexual stage theory offers a compelling set of story lines for interpreting lives once they have unfolded, but it has not generated clear-cut predictions supported by research.
How might traits explain behavior?
The trait may be a preexisting disposition of the person that causes the person's behavior, or it may be a motivation that guides the person's behavior.
Why don't traits always reflect knowledge of behavior?
The traits we use to describe ourselves are generalizations, and not every episode in our life stories may fit them. In fact, research suggests that the stores of knowledge about our behaviors and traits are not very well integrated
What does it mean to say that personality is in the eye of the beholder?
When one person describes another as a "conceited jerk," for example, you may wonder whether you have just learned more about the describer or the person being described -The consideration of anticipated events emphasizes the person's own, subjective perspective and often seems intimate and personal in its reflection of the person's inner life (hopes, fears, and aspirations). - prior events are our histories which shape us
Why is it possible to have too much self-esteem?
a few people take positive self-esteem too far—a trait called narcissism, a grandiose view of the self combined with a tendency to seek admiration from and exploit others. At its extreme, narcissism is considered a personality disorder
what are personal constructs?
dimensions people use in making sense of their experiences
How is "flow" created?
engagement tasks that match one's abilities creates a mental state of energized focus called flow (not too challenging to create anxiety but not too basic to create boredom)
How does the humanistic- existential approach differ from the trait and psychodynamic approaches?
humanistic-existential approach integrates the meaning of life and death to focus on how a personality can become optimal - trait approach views personality as a largely stable and consistent disposition - psychodynamic operates mostly outside of conscious awareness and aims to satisfy basic desires
What is the advantage of measurements taken with the EAR and social media.
it allows psychologists to study people as they actually behave out in the world while interacting with others (versus in the lab under experimental conditions)
How do outcome expectancies and personal goals combine to form personality?
outcome expectancies, a person's assumptions about the likely consequences of a future behavior. So we learn to perform behaviors that we expect will have the outcome of moving us closer to our goals. Outcome expectancies combine with a person's goals to produce that person's characteristic style of behavior. We do not all want the same things from life, clearly, and our personalities largely reflect the goals we pursue and the expectancies we have about the best ways to pursue them.
What impact does self-verification have on our behaviors?
people derive a comforting sense of familiarity and stability from knowing who they are - disconcerting if someone sees us another way
what are the various defense mechanisms we use to reduce anxiety?
repression - removing painful experiences and unacceptable impulses from the conscious mind: "motivated forgetting" (Not lashing out physically in anger; putting a bad experience out of your mind) rationalization - supplying a reasonable-sounding explanation for unacceptable feelings and behavior to conceal (mostly from oneself) one's underlying motives or feelings (Dropping calculus, allegedly because of poor ventilation in the classroom) Reaction Formation - unconsciously replacing threatening inner wishes and fantasies with an exaggerated version of their opposite (being ruse to someone you're attracted to) Projection - attributing one's own threatening feelings, motives, or impulses to another person or group (judging others as being dishonest because you believe that you are dishonest) Regression - reverting to an immature behavior or earlier stage of development, a time when things felt more secure, to deal with internal conflict and perceived threat (using baby talk, even though you are able to use appropriate speech, in response to distress) Displacement - shifting unacceptable wishes or drives to a neutral or less threatening alternative (slamming a door; yelling at someone other than the person at who you are angry) Identification - dealing with feelings of threat and anxiety by unconsciously taking on the characteristics of another person who seems more powerful or better able to cope (a bullied child becoming a bully) sublimation - channeling unacceptable sexual or aggressive drives into socially acceptable and culturally enhancing activities (diverting anger to the football or rugby field, or other contact sport)
What do twins tell us about personalities?
simply growing up in the same family does not make people very similar but genes do
What does it mean to be self-actualized?
the need to be good, to be fully alive, and to find meaning in life
what is believed to occur in each psychosexual stage?
n the first year and a half of life, the infant is in the oral stage, the first psychosexual stage, in which experience centers on the pleasures and frustrations associated with the mouth, sucking, and being fed. Infants who are deprived of pleasurable feeding or indulgently overfed are believed to have a personality style in which they focus on issues related to fullness and emptiness and what they can "take in" from others. Between 2 and 3 years of age, the child moves on to the anal stage, the second psychosexual stage, in which experience is dominated by the pleasures and frustrations associated with the anus, retention and expulsion of feces and urine, and toilet training. Individuals who have had difficulty negotiating this conflict are believed to develop a rigid personality and remain preoccupied with issues of control. Between the ages of 3 and 5 years, the child is in the phallic stage, the third psychosexual stage, in which experience is dominated by the pleasure, conflict, and frustration associated with the phallic-genital region, as well as coping with powerful incestuous feelings of love, hate, jealousy, and conflict. According to Freud, children in the phallic stage experience the Oedipus conflict, a developmental experience in which a child's conflicting feelings toward the opposite-sex parent are (usually) resolved by identifying with the same-sex parent. Between the ages of 5 and 13, children experience the latency stage, the fourth psychosexual stage, in which the primary focus is on the further development of intellectual, creative, interpersonal, and athletic skills. At puberty and thereafter, the genital stage is the fifth and final psychosexual stage, representing the coming together of the mature adult personality with a capacity to love, work, and relate to others in a mutually satisfying and reciprocal manner.