ap psych unit 10 review - personality
Anal psychosexual stage
(18-36 months) -pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder elimination; coping with demands for control
Latency psychosexual stage
(6 to puberty) -dormant sexual feelings
Hans and Sybil Eysenck
British psychologists who believed that we can reduce many of our normal individual variations to two or three dimensions, including extraversion-introversion and emotional stability-instability -people all around the world have taken the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire -when their answers were analyzed, the extraversion and emotionality factors in vitality emerged as basic personality dimensions -the Eysencks believed that these factors are genetically influenced, and research supports this belief
Freud's Psychosexual Stages
Freud concluded that children pass through a series of psychosexual stages, during which the id's pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct pleasure-sensitive areas of the body called erogenous zones Stages: -oral -anal -phallic -latency -genital
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
Repression
banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness -underlies all the other defense mechanisms -explains why we do not remember our childhood lust for our parent of the other sex -Freud believed it is often incomplete, with repressed urges seeping out in dream symbols and slips of the tongue
Thematic Apperception Test
(TAT) -an projective test introduced by Henry Murray -a test in which people view ambiguous pictures and then make up stories about them (which express their inner feelings and interests) -one use of storytellings has been to assess achievement motivation
Culture and self
-cultures vary in the extent to which they give priority to the nurturing and expression of personal identity or group identity
Abraham Maslow
-proposed we are motivated by a hierarchy of needs (psychological--> safety--> love/belonging--> esteem --> self actualization) -when you achieve self esteem, you reach **self-actualization** (the process of fulfilling our potential) and **self-transcendence** (meaning, purpose, and communion beyond the self) -he developed his ideas by studying healthy, creative people rather than troubled clinical cases
Assessing Behavior
-social-cognitive psychologists explore how people interact with situations -to predict behavior, they often observe behavior in realistic situations -modern studies indicate that assessment center exercises are more recalling of some dimensions, such as communication ability, than others, such as achievement drive -these procedures exploit the principle that the best means of predicting future behavior is neither a personality test nor an interviewer's intuition, rather it is the person's past behavior patterns in similar situations
Defense Mechanisms
-tactics that reduce or redirect anxiety by distorting reality -Include: repression regression reaction formation projection rationalization displacement sublimation denial
Evaluating the psychoanalytic perspective
-today's developmental psychologists see our development as lifelong, not fixed in childhood -they doubt that infants' neural networks are mature enough to sustain as much emotional trauma as Freud assumed -they doubt that conscience and gender identity form as the child resolves the Oedipus complex at age 5 or 6 --> we gain our gender identity earlier and become strongly masculine or feminine even without a same-sex parent present
Rorschach Inkblot Test
most widely used projective test -people describe what they see in a series of inkblots -set of 10 inkblots designed by Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach seeking to identify people's inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots
Oral psychosexual stage
(0-18 months) -pleasure centers on the mouth (sucking, biting, chewing)
Phallic psychosexual stage
(3-6 years) -pleasure zone is in the genitals; coping with incestuous sexual feelings -Freud believed that boys seek genital stimulation, and they develop both unconscious sexual desires for their mother and jealousy and hated for their father, whom they consider a rival during this stage -given these feelings, boys supposedly also experience guilt and a lurking fear of punishment, perhaps by castration, from their father -Freud called this collection of feelings the Oedipus complex -some psychoanalysts believed that girls experienced a parallel Electra complex during this stage
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
(MMPI) -the classic personality inventory -although it assesses "abnormal" personality tendencies rather than normal personality traits, the MMPI illustrates a good way of developing a personality inventory -one if its creators, Starke Hathaway, compared his effort to that of Alfred Binet who developed the first intelligence test by selecting items that identified children who would probably have trouble progressing normally ni French schools -the MMPI items were empirically derived -today's MMPI-2 also has scales assessing work attitudes, family problems, and anger
neuroticism
(emotional stability vs. instability) calm - anxious secure - insecure self-satisfied - self-pitying
Genital psychosexual stage
(puberty on) -maturation of sexual interests
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
-Isabel Briggs Myers and her mother Katharine Briggs wanted to describe important personality differences (like Allport) -they attempted to sort people according to Carl Jung's personality types, based on their responses to 126 questions -the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, available in 21 languages, is taken by more than 2 million people a year, mostly for counseling, leadership training, and work-team development -It offers choices, then it counts the test-taker's preferences, labels them as indicating , and feeds them back to the person in complimentary terms (every type has its strengths, so everyone is affirmed) -this test remains mostly a counseling and coaching tool, not a research instrument
The Unconscious
-Sigmund Freud -Free Association -Theory of Personality (psychoanalysis)
Carl Rogers
-believed that people are basically good and are endowed with self-actualizing tendencies -believed that a growth-promoting climate required 3 conditions: genuineness, acceptance, and empathy -said people nurture our growth by being genuine (by being open with their own feelings, dropping their facades, and being transparent and self-disclosing) -people also nurture our growth by being accepting and offering us **unconditional positive regard** --> this is an attitude of grace, an attitude that values us even knowing our failings -people also nurture our growth by being empathic (by sharing and mirroring our feelings and reflecting our meanings)
Assessing the Unconscious
-projective test -thematic apperception test -rorschach inkblot test
the psychoanalytic perspective
-the unconscious -personality structure and development -defense mechanisms -other theories -assessing the unconscious -evaluating the psychoanalytic perspective
The Humanistic Perspective
-these psychologists focused on the ways "healthy" people strive for self-determination and self-realization -in contrast to behaviorism's scientific objectivity, they studied people through their own self-reported experiences and feelings EX: Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers --> offered a third-force perspective that emphasized human potential
Other theorists
Neo-Freudians Alfred Adler Karen Horney Carl Jung
Assessing Traits
Personality Inventories Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) Empirically Derived Tests
id
a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive desires -drives us to survive, reproduce, and aggress -operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification
Factor Analysis
a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of correlated test items that tap basic components of intelligence (such as spatial ability or verbal skill) EX: imagine that people who describe themselves as outgoing also tend to say that they like excitement and practical jokes and dislike quiet reading --> such a statistically correlated cluster of behaviors reflects a basic factor, or trait (in this case, extraversion)
Empirically derived test
a test (like the MMPI) developed by testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups
Neo-Freudians
accepted Freud's basic ideas: the personality structures of id, ego, and superego; the importance of the unconscious; the shaping of personality in childhood; and the dynamics of anxiety and the defense mechanisms -but they veered away from Freud by placing more emphasis on the conscious mind's role in interpreting experience and in coping with the environment; and they doubted that sex and aggression were all-consuming motivations -the tended to emphasize loftier notices and social interactions
Alfred Adler
agreed with Freud that childhood is important but believed that childhood social, NOT sexual, tensions are crucial for personality formation -proposed the still-popular idea of the inferiority complex -he struggled to overcome childhood illnesses and accidents, and he 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
Karen Horney
agreed with Freud that childhood is important but believed that childhood social, NOT sexual, tensions are crucial for personality formation -said childhood anxiety, caused by the dependent child's sense of helplessness, triggers our desire for love and security -countered Freud's assumptions that women have weak superegos and suffer "penis envy" -she attempted to balance the bias she detected in this masculine view of psychology
Projective test
aim to provide this "psychological x-ray" by asking test-takers to describe an ambiguous stimulus or tell a story about it -a personality test such as the Thematic Apperception Test and the Rorschach Inkblot test that is designed to trigger the projection of one's inner dynamics
Regression
allows us to retreat to an earlier, more infantile stage of development -EX: a nervous child sucking his thumb on the first day of school
Self
assumed to be the center of personality, the organizer of our thoughts, feelings, and actions
Internal Locus of Control
coined by Julian Rotter -those who believe that they can control their own destiny -it is proven that "internals" achieve more in school and work, act more independently, enjoy better health, and feel less depressed than do "externals" -they are better at delaying gratification and coping with various stressors, including marital problems
External Locus of Control
coined by Julian Rotter -the perception that chance or outside forces determine their fate
Projection
disguises threatening impulses by attributing them to others EX: saying "He doesn't trust me" may be a projection of the actual feeling "I don't trust him"
Displacement
diverts sexual or aggressive impulses towards an object or person that is psychologically more acceptable than the one that aroused the feelings EX: children who fear expressing anger against their parents may displace it by kicking the family pet
Individualism
giving priority to one's own goals over group goals and defining one's identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications
Collectivism
giving priority to the goals of one's group (often one's extended family or work group) and defining one's identity accordingly
Reciprocal Determinism
how Bandura viewed the person-environment interaction (the interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment) 3 ways in which individuals/environments interact: -different people choose different environment--> you choose your environment and it then shapes you -our personalities shapes how we interpret and react to events -our personalities help create situations to which we react (many experiments reveal that how we view and treat people influences how they in turn treat us)
openness
imaginative - practical preference for variety - preference for routine independent. - conforming
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
Sublimation
is the transformation of unacceptable impulses into socially valued motivations -is socially adaptive and may even be a well-sprig for great cultural and artistic achievements EX: Rather than acting on unacceptable urges to fight with others, people may play competitive sports in order to dominate and win
Personality Inventories
longer questionnaires convening a wide range oof feelings and behaviors which are designed to assess several traits at once -are scored objectively (even by a computer), but does not guarantee validity
Rationalization
occurs when we unconsciously generate self-justifying explanations to hide from ourselves the real reasons for our actions EX: alcoholics may say they drink with friends just "to be sociable"
Self-esteem
one's feelings of high or low self esteem -people who have high self-esteem have fewer sleepless nights; succumb less easily to pressures to conform; are more persistent at difficult tasks; are less shy, anxious, and lonely; and are just plain happier -those who have low self-esteem tend to be thin-skinned and judgmental (tend to be down on other things and people)
Conscientiousness
organized - disorganized careful - careless disciplined - impulsive
Self-serving bias
our readiness to perceive ourselves favorably -people accept more responsibility for good deeds than for bad, and for successes than for failure -most people see themselves as better than average
The Social-Cognitive Perspective
perspective on personality proposed by Albert Bandura which emphasizes the interaction of pour traits with our situations -mush as nature and nurture always work together, so do individuals and their situations -social-cognitive theorists believe we learn many of our behaviors either through conditioning or by observing others and modeling our behaviors after theirs (the "social" part) -they also emphasize the important of mental processes; what we think about our situations affects our behavior (the "cognitive" part) -this perspective is sometimes considered a cognitive-behavioral approach to personality, but it goes considerable beyond behaviorism -social-cognitive theorists focus on how we and our environments interact: how do we interpret and respond to external events? how do our schemas, memories, and expectations influence our behavior patterns?
Denial
protects the person from real events that are painful to accept either by rejecting a fact or its seriousness -EX: dying patients may deny the gravity of their illness
pleasure principle
seeks immediate gratification
reality principle
seeks to gratify the id's impulses in realistic ways that will bring long-term pleasure
extraversion
sociable - retiring fun-loving - sober affectionate - reserved
Agreeableness
soft-hearted - ruthless trusting - suspicious helpful - uncooperative
The Big Five Factors
the big 5 has been the most active personality research topic since the early 1990s and is currently our best approximation of the basic trait dimensions (CANOE) -conscientiousness -agreeableness -neuroticism -openness -extraversion
Reaction Formation
the ego unconsciously makes unacceptable impulses look like their opposites EX: timidity becomes daring, inadequacy becomes bravado, "I hate Dad" becomes "I love Dad"
ego
the largely conscious, "executive" part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality -contains our partly conscious perceptions, thoughts, judgements, and memories -operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id's desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain
superego
the part of the personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgement (the conscience) and for future aspirations -focuses on how we ought to behave -strives for perfection, judging actions and producing positive feelings of pride or negative feelings of guilt -its demands often oppose the id's, causing the ego to reconcile the two
self-actualization
the process of fulfilling our potential -Maslow based his description of this on a study of those who seemed notable for their rich and productive lives -he reported that these people shared certain characteristics (self-aware and self-accepting, open and spontaneous, loving and caring, and not paralyzed by other's opinions) -they focused their energies on a particular task, on they often regarded as their life mission -their interests were problem centered rather than self centered -preferred a few deep relationships rather than many superficial ones -many had been moved by spiritual or personal peal experiences that surpassed ordinary consciousness
The Trait Perspective
this perspective is traced back to a meeting between a curious 22 year old psychology student Gordon Allport and Sigmund Freud -this meeting led Allport to do what Freud did not-to describe personality in terms of fundamental traits (people's characteristic behaviors and conscious motives) -Allport came to define personality in terms of identifiable behavior patterns -he was concerned less with explaining individual traits than with describing them
Personal Control
whether we learn to see ourselves as controlling, or as controlled by, our environment *Psychologists have 2 basic ways to study the effect of personal control: -correlate people's feelings of control with their behaviors and achievements -experiment, by raising or lowering people's sense of control and noting the effects
