Psych 101 Ch. 10-12 Exam #5

Conflict

initially external, and then it is internalized

Validity

Degree to which a test measures what it is supposed to measure

Charles Spearman

Developed factor analysis -Mathematical technique to study intelligence and determine which traits are basic to others

B.F. Skinner

Emphasized the effects of reinforcement on behavior

Psychosocial development

Erikson's theory of personality and development, which emphasizes social relationships and eight stages of growth

Inferiority complex

Feelings of inferiority hypothesized by Adler to serve as a central motivating force

T or F: •Actually, there are no basic personality traits -We are all conditioned by society to behave in certain ways

Fiction

T or F: •Biting one's fingernails or smoking cigarettes is a sign of conflict experienced during early childhood

Fiction

T or F: •Psychologists can determine whether a person has told the truth on a personality test

Fiction

T or F: •The most well-adjusted immigrants are those who abandon the language and customs of their country of origin and become like members of the dominant culture in their new host country

Fiction

Oral Stage

It is the first stage of psychosexual development, during which gratification is hypothesized to be attained primarily through oral activities. Oral traits include dependency, gullibility, and excessive optimism or pessimism. Oral fixation could cause adults to desire for activities like smoking, overeating, alcohol abuse, and nail biting. They could also form a desire for dependent and clinging relationships.

Forced-choice format

Items must be answered in a limited and specified manner. Respondents are asked to show which of two or more statements are true for them

conditonal positive regard

Judgment of another person's value on the basis of the acceptability of that person's behaviors. Accepting a person only when they behave in a desired manner. May lead to the development of conditions of worth

Collective unconscious

Jung's hypothesized store of vague memories that represent the history of humankind

Analytical psychology

Jung's psychodynamic theory, which emphasizes the collective unconscious and archetypes

psychodynamic theory pt. 2

only the tip of human personality rises above the surface of the mind into conscious awareness. Material in the preconscious can become conscious if we direct our attention to it. Unconscious material tends to remain shrouded in mystery.

Psychodynamic theory

Sigmund Freud's perspective, which emphasizes the importance of unconscious motives and conflicts as forces that determine behavior. •States that personality is characterized by conflict

behavior

the result of conflict between opposing inner forces

Behaviorism

the view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2).

Humanism

The view that people are capable of free choice, self-fulfillment, and ethical behavior. Places more importance on self-awareness

Existentialism

The view that people are completely free and responsible for their own behavior. Psychological salvation requires giving personal meaning to things and making personal choices

T or F: •2,500 years ago, a Greek physician devised a way of looking at personality that remains in use today

True

T or F: •Bloodletting and vomiting were once recommended as ways of coping with depression

True

Characteristics of Scientific Personality Tests

Validity, Reliability, Standardization

The Sociocultural Perspective

View that focuses on the roles of ethnicity, gender, culture, and socioeconomic status in personality formation, behavior, and mental processes

Humanistic-Existential Perspective

based on humanism and existentialism

Acculturation, Adjustment, and Self-Esteem

•Self-esteem is connected with patterns of acculturation among immigrants -Complete assimilation, biculturalism, and complete separation •Self-esteem is highest among those who do not surrender their culture

Individual psychology

Adler's psychoanalytic theory, which emphasizes feelings of inferiority and the creative self

Reliability

Consistency or stability of test scores from one testing to another

Approaches to personality

- Psychodynamic Approach - Humanistic-Existential Approach - Trait perspective -Learning-theory perspectives - Sociocultural perspective

Learning-Theory Perspectives

-Behaviorism -Social-cognitive theory

Levels of awareness

-Conscious •Region that pokes into the light of awareness -Preconscious •Contains ideas outside one's awareness -Unconscious •Contains primitive instincts •Some urges are kept below the surface via repression

Social-cognitive theory pt. 2

-Does not account for self-awareness -Does not pay enough attention to genetic variations in explaining individual differences

Evaluation of the Learning Perspective

-Emphasize observable behaviors and environmental conditions as determinants of behavior -Elaborate on conditions that foster learning

Big Five: The Five Factor Model

-Extraversion -Neuroticism -Conscientiousness -Agreeableness -Openness to experience

Sigmund Freud's Theory of Psychosexual Development

-Levels of Awareness -psychoanalysis

Stages of Psychosexual Development

-Oral -Anal -Phallic -Latency -Genital

Hippocrates

-Personality depends on the balance of four basic fluids (humors) in the body -Disease reflected imbalance in fluids -Balance was restored through bloodletting and vomiting

Criticism of Behaviorism

-Watson and Skinner ignored the notions of choice, personal freedom, and self-direction

Four Basic Fluids

-Yellow bile is associated with a choleric (quick-tempered) disposition. -Blood is associated with a sanguine (warm, cheerful) disposition. -Phlegm is associated with a phlegmatic (sluggish, calm, cool) disposition. -Black bile is associated with a melancholic (gloomy, pensive) temperament.

Social-Cognitive Theory

A cognitively oriented learning theory in which observational learning and person variables, such as values and expectancies, play major roles in individual differences •Developed by Albert Bandura -Focused on learning by observation and on cognitive processes that underlie personal differences •Asserts the importance of person variables -Behavior cannot be predicted with situational variables alone •Prediction of behavior is based on: -Expectancies about the outcome -Subjective value of the outcome •Self-efficacy expectations -Belief that one can accomplish certain things -Positive self-efficacy results in high self-esteem and achievement motivation

Ego identity

A firm sense of who one is and what one stands for

Unconditional positive regard

A persistent expression of esteem for the value of a person, but not necessarily an unqualified acceptance of all of the person's behaviors. Accepting that one has intrinsic merit regardless of present behavior

Individualist

A person who defines herself or himself in terms of personal traits and gives priority to her or his own goals Cross-cultural research reveals that people in the United States and many northern European nations tend to be individualistic. The self is separate from other people

Collectivist

A person who defines herself or himself in terms of relationships to other people and groups and gives priority to group goals Many people from cultures in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America tend to be collectivistic. The self is complete only in terms of relationships to other people

Types of Personality Tests - Projective Tests

A psychological test that presents ambiguous stimuli onto which the test-taker projects his or her own personality in making a response. •There is no one correct response Individuals project their personalities into their responses

Introversion

A trait characterized by intense imagination and the tendency to inhibit impulses

Extraversion

A trait characterized by tendencies to be socially outgoing and to express feelings and impulses freely

Neofreudians

Anyone that cam after Frued and so their theories were shaped by him Ex: Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, Karen Horney, Erik Erikson

Erik Erikson

Believed Freud placed too much emphasis on sex Spoke of psychosocial development, not psychosexual development Labeled stages of development according to traits, not erogenous zones Argued that ego identity, not genital sexuality, was key goal of adolescence

Gordon Allport

Catalogued 18,000 human traits -Served as a basis for personality research

Phallic stage

Characterized by a shift of libido to the phallic region -Could lead to the Oedipus or Electra complex

Ego

Characterized by self-awareness, planning, and delay of gratification

Gender-schema theory

Cognitive view of gender-typing that proposes that once girls and boys become aware of their anatomic sex, they begin to blend their self-expectations and self-esteem with the ways in which they fit the gender roles prescribed in a given culture

Oedipus complex

Conflict of the phallic stage in which the boy wishes to possess his mother sexually and perceives his father as a rival in love

Electra complex

Conflict of the phallic stage in which the girl longs for her father and resents her mother

psychosocial development

First stage is labeld as the stage of trust versus mistrust becasue one of the two outcomes are possible: (1)A warm, loving relationship with the mother and others during infancy might lead to a sense of basic trust in people and the world. (2)A cold, ungratifying relationship with the mother and others might generate a general sense of mistrust.

John B. Watson

Focused on observed and measurable behavior and not undetectable mental structures

Superego

Functions as a moral guardian and sets forth high standards for behavior

The Structure of Personality

Id, Ego, Superego

self-actualization

Innate tendency to strive to realize one's potential

Genital stage

Mature stage of psychosexual development, characterized by preferred expression of libido through intercourse with an adult of the other gender. -Causes displacement of sexual feeling onto other adults or adolescents of the opposite gender

psychoanalysis

People are encouraged to talk about anything that comes to their mind while they remain comfortable and relaxed. -Method of investigation used to explore the unconscious mind -Encourages individuals to speak freely about anything that comes to their mind

Latency

Phase of psychosexual development characterized by repression of sexual impulses

Gender Typing

Process by which males and female come to display behavior patterns consistent with stereotypical masculine and feminine gender roles

Standardization

Process by which one obtains and organizes test scores from various population groups, so that the results of a person completing a test can be compared to those of others of his or her gender, in his or her age group, and so on

Id

Psychic structure, present at birth, that represents physiological drives and is fully unconscious

Personality

Reasonably stable patterns and emotions, motives, and behavior, that distinguish one person from another

Creative self

Self-aware aspect of personality that strives to achieve its full potential

Anal stage

Stage where gratification is attained through anal activities Anal fixation leads to anal-retentive traits or anal-expulsive traits. Anal-retentive traits include excessive self-control, perfectionism, a strong need for order, and exaggerated neatness and cleanliness. Anal-expulsive traits include carelessness, messiness, and even sadism.

Conditions of worth

Standards by which the value of a person is judged

Types of Personality Tests - Objective Tests

Tests whose items must be answered in a specified, limited manner; tests whose items have concrete answers that are considered correct

History of the Trait Perspective

The four basic fluids: Yellow bile is associated with a choleric (quick-tempered) disposition. Blood is associated with a sanguine (warm, cheerful) disposition. Phlegm is associated with a phlegmatic (sluggish, calm, cool) disposition. Black bile is associated with a melancholic (gloomy, pensive) temperament.

Acculturation

The process of adaptation in which immigrants and native groups identify with a new, dominant culture by learning about that culture and making behavioral and attitudinal changes

Karen Horney

believed that genuine and consistent love can alleviate the effects of even the most traumatic childhood. Agreed with Freud that childhood experiences are important Believed that social relationships are more important than sexual and aggressive impulses Denied that girls feel inferior to boys

neo-Freudians

followers of Freud who developed their own competing psychodynamic theories

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

widely used structured personality test designed to assess symptoms of mental disorders and contains empirically constructed scales

Contemporary Trait Theories

•Assumed that traits are heritable and are embedded in the nervous system

Use of Personality Tests

•Behavior-rating scales -Assess behaviors in classrooms or mental hospitals •Making important decisions -Aptitude and interest scales are used to gain insights on whether a person is suited for certain occupations *With behavior rating scales, trained observers usually check off each occurrence of a specific behavior within a certain time frame

Self-Esteem and Positive Regard pt. 2

•Client-centered therapy -Aims at getting in touch with genuine feelings, accepting them, and acting on them •Self-ideals -Mental images of what one is capable of becoming •One is motivated to reduce the difference between one's self-concepts and self-ideals

Evaluation of the Sociocultural Perspective

•Considers roles of ethnicity, gender, culture, and socioeconomic status in personality formation •Enhances sensitivity to cultural differences and expectations •Enables appreciation of the richness of human behavior and mental processes

The Five Factor Model

•Cross-cultural applications -Helps define personality structures of people from varying cultures •Relationship with inborn temperament -Personality matures over time

Carl Jung

•Developed analytical psychology •Downplayed the importance of sexual instinct •Believed that people have a personal and a collective unconscious

Alfred Adler

•Developed individual psychology •Believed that people are motivated by an inferiority complex -Feelings of inferiority elicit a drive for superiority •Believed that self-awareness plays a major role in the formation of personality -Concept of the creative self

gender Typinf pt. 2

•Evolutionary perspective -These are shaped by natural selection •Biological perspective -These may be related to prenatal levels of sex hormones •Social-cognitive perspective -Gender-typing is the result of observational learning •Gender-schema theory -Children develop a gender schema in order to organize their perceptions of the world

Evaluation of the Humanistic-Existential Perspective

•Focus on personal and conscious experiences •Drawbacks -Conscious experience is private and subjective -Does not address development of traits and personality types

Hans Eysenck's Trait Theory

•Focused on the relationship between two dimensions •Organized personality traits according to where they were situated along these dimensions

The Trait Perspective

•Freud linked development of certain traits to children's experiences in each stage of psychosexual development

Observational learning

•Known as modeling or cognitive learning •Involves observing others to acquire knowledge •Occurs even when the learner does not perform the observed behavior -Does not require direct reinforcement

Excessive gratification

•Leads to a tendency for the infant to expect to get anything it wants

Insufficient gratification

•Leads to fixation

Abraham Maslow and the Challenge of Self-Actualization

•Maslow's hierarchy of needs argued that people have a conscious need for self-actualization -People follow unique paths to self-actualization -Major threat to individual personality development: Control by others

Self-Esteem and Positive Regard

•People develop a need for self-esteem -Unconditioned positive regard -Conditioned positive regard *Conditions of worth developed

Traits

•Reasonably stable elements of personality that are inferred from behavior -Account for consistent behavior in different situations

Carl Rogers's Self Theory

•Self -Ongoing sense of who and what one is -Sense of how and why one reacts to the environment -How one chooses to act on the environment •Self theory -Focuses on the nature of the self and the conditions that allow the self to develop freely

The Self-Concept and Frames of Reference

•Self-concept -One's impressions of the self and evaluations of his/her adequacy •Frames of reference -Unique way in which one looks at the self and the world

Evaluation of the Psychodynamic Perspective

•Shifted focus to examine problems as having a psychological source •Helped focus attention on far-reaching effects of childhood experiences •Criticisms -Vagueness of psychic structures -Suspicion regarding Freud's clinical method for gathering evidence

Evaluation of the Trait Model

•Tests have been developed to assess the fit between personalities and certain jobs -Expressed in terms of abilities, personality traits, and interests •Limitation -More descriptive than explanatory

Biological factors and temperament

••Genetic factors are involved in shyness and behavioral inhibition in children ••Children with antisocial personality exhibit low responses to threats and stressors

Biology and Traits

••Heritability of extraverted personality is estimated to be 40%-60% ••Brain levels of dopamine are involved with extraversion