Psychology Final Exam

Fundamental attribution error

This is the tendency, when analyzing others' behavior, to overestimate the influence of personal traits and underestimate the effects of the situation

How are trait theories developed

Trait theorists started with a thesaurus and tried to group descriptors into clusters of behavioral tendencies that occur together. Each personality is uniquely made up of multiple traits This theory holds that a traits are continuous dimensions

Sublimation

Transforming forbidden thoughts and impulses into constructive behaviors Convert base impulse into a socially responsible behavior

What are Trait Theories of Personality

Unlike Psychoanalytic and Humanistic Theories, there is no attempt to explain behavior and thus, no belief that people are driven to be positive or negative. Rather, Trait Theory only tries to describe behavior as it is.

Similarity

We are attracted to people who are similar to ourselves in attitudes, beliefs, interests, age, religion, race, education, intelligence, smoking behavior, economic status, and even level of physical attractiveness

Id

We are born with our Id, which operates on the pleasure principle (wants immediate gratification) Unconsciously asking to satisfy basic drives to survive, reproduce, and be aggressive Irrational, impulse-driven, unrealistic

Conditions that strengthen conformity

When you feel incompetent or insecure. When a group has at least three people When everyone else agrees When you admire the group's status and attractiveness When you have not already committed to another response When you know they are being observed When your culture encourages respect for social standards

Role of Familiarity/ Mere-Exposure

Which just means that exposure creates a sense of familiarity and people show increased liking for things they are familiar with

Obedience

Yielding to a direct request from a person in a position of authority or higher social status.

self-fulling prophecy

a belief that leads to its own fulfillment

Distinctive

different from the way other people might react

Attitudes and Behavior

feelings influenced by beliefs, that predispose reactions to objects, people, and events, behaviors are what we do

unconditional positive regard

from others (an attitude of acceptance of others despite their failings)

defense mechanisms

in psychoanalytic theory, the ego's protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality

Consistency

is associated with personal strength and intellectual superiority; Is the hallmark of logic, rationality, stability, loyalty, and honesty.

central route

offers evidence and arguments to trigger thoughtful responses

Inconsistency

on the other hand, is undesirable and associated with being confused, two-faced, fickle, irrational, disjointed, unstable, uncertain, scatterbrained

What are traits

stable, enduring qualities/attributes that predispose individuals to behave consistently across situations

Psychoanalytic Perspective

the focus is on the unconscious mind rather than the conscious mind.

social psychology

the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another

elaboration likelihood model

theory identifying two ways to persuade with attitude: a central route and a peripheral route

Normative social influence

to gain approval (we want to be liked and fear the consequences of appearing deviant)

Self-regard

unwavering regard for the self

peripheral route

uses incidental/superficial cues to try to produce fast but relatively thoughtless changes in attitudes

informational social influence

want to make correct judgements and assume that by agreeing with others will be right

Oral

(0-18 months)- Pleasure centers on the mouth-sucking, biting, chewing

Anal

(18-36 months)- Pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder elimination; coping with demands for control

Phallic

(3-6 years)- Pleasure zone in the genitals; coping with incestuous sexual feelings

Latency

(6 years to puberty)- A phase of dormant sexual feelings, cannot become fixated in this stage

Genital

(puberty on)- maturation of sexual interests

Physical Attraction

The first thing we notice about a potential partner and it is most powerful predictor of initial liking

Proximity

The measure of physical distance/closeness between people We are most likely to like those who are close by

Repression

The process of banishing anxiety-provoking thoughts and impulses from conscious awareness Preventing recall of anything that might remind one of a source of anxiety

Denial

The process of refusing to acknowledge a source of anxiety Refusing to believe or even perceive painful realities.

Conitive Dissonance

The state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change. Dissonance occurs because people are motivated to feel (and appear) consistent.

Social influence

The study of how our attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors are influenced by the opinions, desires, and direct requests of others.

Conformity

The tendency to change perceptions, opinions, or behaviors in ways consistent with social/group norms. It can be automatic or deliberate

Passionate love

The type of love we typically feel at the beginning of a relationship that is full of excitement and sexual arousal Arousal + Attribution = Attraction

external attribution

The weather, traffic, parking, roommate, family, emergency, etc. made the person late

Humanistic Personality Theories (Positive Psychology)

Theories that view personality with a focus on the potential for healthy personal growth Believed that humans had a drive for self-actualization

Intellectual Bloomers Study

Pygmalion Effect is a psychological phenomenon in which high expectations lead to improved performance in a given area.

Reaction formation

Behaving in the opposite way of your true feelings Switching unacceptable impulses into their opposites.

Kitty Genovese

28 year old bartender Stabbed outside of the apartment building where she lived in Queens Two weeks after the murder, The New York Times published an article erroneously claiming that 38 witnesses saw or heard the attack, and that none of them called the police or came to her aid

Personality

A complex set of psychological qualities that influence an individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaving across different times and situations

Companionate Love

A deep affectionate attachment felt for those with whom our lives are intertwined, usually experience later in a relationship Characterized by feelings of trust, calmness, and bonding

Attractiveness Stereotype

A gating mechanism (gatekeeping)- we don't get to know the stuff underneath if they do not meet a minimum level of attractiveness

What are Projective Tests

A type of personality test that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one's inner feelings and reveal unconscious motives

self-actualization

According to Maslow, one of the ultimate psychological needs that arises after basic physical and psychological Neds are met and self-esteem is achieved; the motivation to fulfill ones potential

How are defense mechanisms developed

All defense mechanisms functioned indirectly and unconsciously. Just as the body unconsciously defends itself against disease, so also does thee ego unconsciously defend itself against anxiety.

social cognition

An important aspect of studying social psychology is understanding how people select, interpret, and remember social information Examines how our beliefs shape our conclusions about what "really happened" People observing the same event often report seeing different things

Behaviors and Attitudes

Attitudes can shape out behaviors, but behaviors can also shape out attitudes. Our attitudes (and subsequent behaviors) are sometimes based on thoughtful consideration of facts, but other times they are based on more superficial aspects of the situation

Projection

Attributing your forbidden thoughts or impulses to someone else Disguising one's own threatening impulses by attributing them to others.

What is the take-away from this debate?

Behavior is influenced by the interaction of our inner disposition with our environment A person's average traits are persist over time and are predictable over many different situations But traits cannot predict behavior in any one particular situation At any moment the immediate situation powerfully influences a person's behavior

Neuroticism

Calm, secure, self-satisfied, Anxious, insecure, self-pitying The degree to which people are anxious, angry, hostile, self-conscious, insecure, and vulnerable as opposed to being more emotionally stable Negatively correlated with happiness, relationship success, and health

Rationalization

Creating a false, but plausible excuses to justify our unacceptable behavior Offering self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening unconscious reasons for one's actions.

Regression

Dealing with anxiety by reverting back to a more immature pattern of behavior (a retreat to an earlier developmental stage) Retreating to a more infantile psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated.

Superego

Develops around 3-5 years old and focus on ideal behavior; strives for perfection This is our internalize set of ideals, or moral conscious, telling us what is right/wrong; what w "ought" to do Learned from society

Conscientiousness

Disorganized, careless, impulsive, Organized, careful, disciplined The extent to which people are diligent, disciplined, well-organized, punctual, and dependable as compared to unreliable, irresponsible, and careless Higher GPA and better job performance

What are the enduring benefits of Freud's work?

Drew attention to the unconscious mind Showed importance of human sexuality Identified forms of defense mechanisms and unconscious terror-management defenses Addressed conflict between biological impulses and social restraints

social-responsibility norm

Expectation that people have a responsibility to help those who depend on them and/or are less fortunate than them

Reciprocity norm

Expectation that we will help the people who have helped us and vice-versa. We will return benefits for benefit

Male attraction theory

Females have to carry/deliver/feed babies and thus need to show signs of fertility and health, men prefer younger women with hour glass figures

What are some enduring benefits/uses of Humanistic Personality Theories?

Focus directly on improvement Had a pervasive impact on counseling, education, parenting, and management with its emphasis on a positive self-concept, empathy, and the thought that people are basically good and can improve Laid groundwork for positive psychology Renewed interest in concept of self

Psychosexual stages of development

Freud believed that personality forms during the first few years of life as children pass through five psychosexual stages During these stages the Id's pleasure-seeking energy (the libido) focuses on different pleasure sensitive body areas (called erogenous zones) Unresolved conflicts at any stage can leave a person's pleasure-seeking impulses fixated at that stage and unable to move on to full, healthy development

Iceberg model of the mind

Freud beloved the mind is like an iceberg. He thought most things in our mind (memories, desires, thoughts) are hidden "below the surface" in our unconscious

psychoanallytic theory

Freud observed patients with disorders that had no physical explanations and concluded their problems reflected psychological issues He believed ailments were the result of unacceptable thoughts and feelings hidden away in the unconscious mind Freud developed the first comprehensive theory of personality, which included the unconscious mind, psychosexual stages, and defense mechanisms

internal attribution

He/she is not punctual, responsible, conscientious person (they come to class late)

Bystander Effect

Tendency for a bystander to be less likely to give help if other bystanders are present, (the more people present at an emergency, the less likely anyone is to help)

Why aren't more people actualized?

Humanistic theorists believed that only 1% of humans have reached self-actualization This is because it is hard to do- it is easy to get bogged down by habit, cultural pressure, insecurity To become self-actualized, one must have enough courage to sacrifice safety for personal growth rather than let fear derail self-actualization

Person-Situation Debate

Important controversy between the fields of personality and social psychology centered around the question, "Which is more important for determining what people do, the person or the situation?" Both are important, each illuminates different aspects of the human condition

Altruism

Is an unselfish concern for the welfare of others

Role of Convenience

It is convenient to enjoy the rewards of those who are close by (think about how much more work a long-distance relationship is)

Ego

Operates on the reality principle seeking to gratify the Id's impulses/desires, while also considering what the Superego's would deem moral/proper behavior This is executive decision maker The Ego is what a person consciously thinks and does

Trajectory of love over the course of a relationship

Love transitions from Passionate to Companionate In all relationships, passionate love transitions to a calmer companionate love Attraction and sexual desire endure, without obsession of the earlier stage

Female attraction theory

Males are tasked with supporting partners during the demanding reproduction process and thus need to show signs of being a good provider, women prefer older men who can provide (have wealth, status, power, ambition, influence)

Example of an objective test

Minnesota Multi-phasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

What are critiques of Freud's work?

Modern day research contradicts many of Freud's ideas Freud's scientific methodology is lacking He used many after the fact explanations, which gives us no ability to predict behaviors and traits We now know that development is lifelong, not just fixed in childhood Oedipus complex questioned Repression is challenged by PTSD Gender identity develops earlier than Freud theorized and is possible without influence of same-sex parent in home Belief that dreams disguise and fulfill wishes is disputed The idea that suppressed sexuality causes psychological disorders is doubtful

Rorschach Test

Most widely used projective test, a set of 10 inkblots, designed by Hermann Rorschach Seeks to identify people's inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots; People must say what they see. What you say tells the therapist about what you have in your unconscious

Chameleon effect

Non-conscious mimicry of the postures, mannerisms, facial expressions, and other behaviors of one's interaction partners.

Reasons why "good" people may not help

People are most likely to help when they notice an incident, interpret it as an emergency, and assume responsibility for helping. Odds for being helped are also increased if the person appears to deserve help or is a woman Similarity to self, unhurried or in a good mood, feeling guilty, focused on others and not preoccupied also raises likelihood of being helped

Milgram's shock study

People obeyed orders even when they thought they were harming another person Strong social influences can make ordinary people conform to falsehoods or exhibit cruel behavior In any society, great evil acts often grow out of people's compliance with lesser evils

Festinger's Peg Turning study

People were asked to complete a boring task, and then asked to lie and say it was interesting- this created dissonance People could reduce the dissonance by changing their attitude about the study and deciding that they actually enjoyed the task People who received $1 experienced thee most dissonance and thus the most motivation to change their attitude. People who received $20 didn't experience as much dissonance, because they had a legitimate reason for telling a white lie.

Conditions that strengthen obedience

Person giving orders was nearby and was perceived as a legitimate authority figure. Research was supported by a prestigious institution. Victim was depersonalized or at a distance. There were no role models for defiance.

What are Objective Tests?

Personality Inventories consisting of a series of statements that you endorse/agree with Designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors assessing several traits at once Test items empirically derived, and tests objectively scored

Openess

Practical, prefers routine, conforming, Imaginative, prefers variety, independent The degree to which people are curious, flexible, imaginative, artistic, and unconventional as opposed to conforming and less creative Tends to be correlated with being political liberal and having artistic ability

What are critiques of Humanistic Personality Theories?

Presents vague and subjective concepts Advances individualism and self-centered values (which could encourage selfishness and self-indulgence) Offers naively optimistic assumptions Fails to appreciate the reality of our human capacity for evil and lacks adequate balance between realistic optimism and despair

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes Story gives insight into your personality

Displacement

Redirecting an impulse from a dangerous target to a safe target Shifting sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person.

Asch's line study

Researcher asked people to judge line length The trick was that he had confederates give the wrong answer before the participant got to give his answer. Oddly enough most participants conformed to the wrong answer because they didn't want to feel isolated/alone.

Why do wee make this error

Result of selective attention When we act, our attention is focused on environment When we see another person act, out attention is focused on them (not the environment)

Extraversion

Retiring, sober, reserved, Sociable, fun-loving, affectionate The extent to which people are outgoing, sociable, upbeat, friendly, and talkative as opposed to cautious, reclusive, and shy Positively correlated with popularity and physical attractiveness

Agreeableness

Ruthless, suspicious, uncooperative, Soft-hearted, trusting, helpful The degree to which people are trusting, sympathetic, cooperative, and good-natured as compared to suspicious, antagonistic, and aggressive Have a good sense of humor and be psychologically well-adjusted as well as honest

What are the needs listed in Maslow's Hierarchy?

Self-actualization Esteem needs Belonging needs Safety needs Physiological needs

Attribution theory

an attribution is the "why" we give when something happens, and attribution theory looks at how we go about assigning/deciding "why" for the events in our life

Consistent

relatively stable over time and across situations