PSY 10-12
Confederate
person who is aware of the experiment and works for the researcher. Confederates are used to manipulate social situations as part of the research design, and the true, naïve participants believe that confederates are, like them, uninformed participants in the experiment. In Asch's study, the confederates identified a line segment that was obviously shorter than the target line—a wrong answer. The naïve participant then had to identify aloud the line segment that best matched the target line segment
Carl Rogers
Ideal Self vs. Real Self (Congruence and Incongruence)
Psychosexual Stages of Development
In each psychosexual stage of development, the child's pleasure-seeking urges, coming from the id, are focused on a different area of the body, called an erogenous zone. The stages are oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.
Behaviorists view
personality as significantly shaped by the reinforcements and consequences outside of the organism. In other words, people behave in a consistent manner based on prior learning. B. F. Skinner, a strict behaviorist, believed that environment was solely responsible for all behavior, including the enduring, consistent behavior patterns studied by personality theorists.
The Oedipus complex occurs in the ________ stage of psychosexual development.
phallic
bystander effect
phenomenon in which a witness or bystander is less volunteer to help a victim or person in distress if others are present. Instead, they just watch what is happening.
What trait do both men and women tend to look for in a romantic partner?
physical attractiveness
Typically, bullying from boys is to ________ as bullying from girls is to ________.
physical harm; emotional harm
The id operates on the ________ principle.
pleasure
According to the ________ theory of emotion, emotional experiences arise from physiological arousal.
James-Lange
Which of the following theories of emotion would suggest that polygraphs should be quite accurate at differentiating one emotion from another?
James-Lange theory
Racism
prejudice and discrimination against an individual based solely on one's membership in a specific racial group.
Sexism
prejudice and discrimination toward individuals based on their sex. People often form judgments and hold expectations about people based on their age
ageism
prejudice and discrimination toward individuals based solely on their age.
Anorexia Nervosa
an eating disorder characterized by the maintenance of a body weight well below average through starvation and/or excessive exercise. Individuals suffering from anorexia nervosa often have a distorted body image, referenced in literature as a type of body dysmorphia, meaning that they view themselves as overweight even though they are not. Like bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa is associated with a number of significant negative health outcomes: bone loss, heart failure, kidney failure, amenorrhea (cessation of the menstrual period), reduced function of the gonads, and in extreme cases, death.
Introversion and Extraversion
The Eysencks viewed people as having two specific personality dimensions: extroversion/introversion and neuroticism/stability. According to their theory, people high on the trait of extroversion are sociable and outgoing, and readily connect with others, whereas people high on the trait of introversion have a higher need to be alone, engage in solitary behaviors, and limit their interactions with others
Rorschach Inkblot Test
The Rorschach Inkblot Test was developed in 1921 by a Swiss psychologist named Hermann Rorschach (pronounced "ROAR-shock"). It is a series of symmetrical inkblot cards that are presented to a client by a psychologist. Upon presentation of each card, the psychologist asks the client, "What might this be?" What the test-taker sees reveals unconscious feelings and struggles. The Rorschach has been standardized using the Exner system and is effective in measuring depression, psychosis, and anxiety.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
an expectation held by a person that alters his or her behavior in a way that tends to make it true. When we hold stereotypes about a person, we tend to treat the person according to our expectations. This treatment can influence the person to act according to our stereotypic expectations, thus confirming our stereotypic beliefs
regression
an individual acts much younger than their age. For example, a four-year-old child who resents the arrival of a newborn sibling may act like a baby and revert to drinking out of a bottle
Self-Efficacy (Bandura)
an individual's belief in her own capability to complete a task, which may include a previous successful completion of the exact task or a similar task. Albert Bandura theorized that an individual's sense of self-efficacy plays a pivotal role in motivating behavior. Bandura argues that motivation derives from expectations that we have about the consequences of our behaviors, and ultimately, it is the appreciation of our capacity to engage in a given behavior that will determine what we do and the future goals that we set for ourselves. For example, if you have a sincere belief in your ability to achieve at the highest level, you are more likely to take on challenging tasks and to not let setbacks dissuade you from seeing the task through to the end.
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexuality, Homosexuality, Bisexuality
an individual's emotional and erotic attractions to same-sexed individuals (homosexual), opposite-sexed individuals (heterosexual), or both (bisexual).
In order for the central route to persuasion to be effective, the audience must be ________ and ________.
analytical; motivated
Two-Factor Theory (Schachter-Singer)
another variation on theories of emotions that takes into account both physiological arousal and the emotional experience. According to this theory, emotions are composed of two factors: physiological and cognitive. In other words, physiological arousal is interpreted in context to produce the emotional experience. In revisiting our example involving the venomous snake in your backyard, the two-factor theory maintains that the snake elicits sympathetic nervous system activation that is labeled as fear given the context, and our experience is that of fear. It is important to point out that Schachter and Singer believed that physiological arousal is very similar across the different types of emotions that we experience, and therefore, the cognitive appraisal of the situation is critical to the actual emotion experienced. The relationship between our experiencing of emotions and our cognitive processing of them, and the order in which these occur, remains a topic of research and debate
Psychological Mechanism
are also known as psychological adaptations and are responsible for the particular set of behaviours that humans or animals have in response to various evolutionary circumstances. EPM's are generally tuned to respond to specific adaptive problems.
Intrinsically motivated behaviors
are performed because of the sense of personal satisfaction that they bring
extrinsically motivated behaviors
are performed in order to receive something from others.
Set Point Theory
asserts that each individual has an ideal body weight, or set point, which is resistant to change. This set-point is genetically predetermined and efforts to move our weight significantly from the set-point are resisted by compensatory changes in energy intake and/or expenditure
James-Lange Theory
asserts that emotions arise from physiological arousal. Recall what you have learned about the sympathetic nervous system and our fight or flight response when threatened. If you were to encounter some threat in your environment, like a venomous snake in your backyard, your sympathetic nervous system would initiate significant physiological arousal, which would make your heart race and increase your respiration rate. According to the James-Lange theory of emotion, you would only experience a feeling of fear after this physiological arousal had taken place. Furthermore, different arousal patterns would be associated with different feelings. Other theorists, however, doubted that the physiological arousal that occurs with different types of emotions is distinct enough to result in the wide variety of emotions that we experience
facial feedback hypothesis
asserts that facial expressions are capable of influencing our emotions, meaning that smiling can make you feel happier. Recent research explored how Botox, which paralyzes facial muscles and limits facial expression, might affect emotion. Havas, Glenberg, Gutowski, Lucarelli, and Davidson discovered that depressed individuals reported less depression after paralysis of their frowning muscles with Botox injections. Of course, emotion is not only displayed through facial expression
Self-Serving bias
attributions that enable us to see ourselves in favorable light (for example, making internal attributions for success and external attributions for failures)
According to social exchange theory, humans want to maximize the ________ and minimize the ________ in relationships.
benefits; costs
Dispositional (Dispositionism) Influences
holds that our behavior is determined by internal factors. An internal factor is an attribute of a person and includes personality traits and temperament. personality psychologists have promoted the dispositionist perspective.
Temperament refers to ________.
inborn, genetically based personality differences
Interpersonal topics
include helping behavior, aggression, prejudice and discrimination, attraction and close relationships, and group processes and intergroup relationships.
The United States is considered a ________ culture.
individualist
Normative Social Influence
influence resulting from a person's desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval
Informational Social Influence
influence resulting from one's willingness to accept others' opinions about reality
According to the actor-observer bias, we have more information about ________.
influences on our own behavior
Real Self
is the person you actually are
________ is a chemical messenger secreted by fat cells that acts as an appetite suppressant.
leptin
Cognitive Dissonance
psychological discomfort arising from holding two or more inconsistent attitudes, behaviors, or cognitions (thoughts, beliefs, or opinions). Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance states that when we experience a conflict in our behaviors, attitudes, or beliefs that runs counter to our positive self-perceptions, we experience psychological discomfort (dissonance).
Cognitive processes
refer to all characteristics previously learned, including beliefs, expectations, and personality characteristics
Inferiority Complex
refers to a person's feelings that they lack worth and don't measure up to the standards of others or of society. Adler's ideas about inferiority represent a major difference between his thinking and Freud's
Conformity (Asch)
refers to a series of studies directed by Solomon Asch studying if and how individuals yielded to or defied a majority group and the effect of such influences on beliefs and opinions
Gender Identity
refers to one's sense of being male or female. Generally, our gender identities correspond to our birth sex, but this is not always the case. When individuals do not feel comfortable identifying with the gender associated with their biological sex, then they experience gender dysphoria
Id
The unconscious id contains our most primitive drives or urges, and is present from birth. It directs impulses for hunger, thirst, and sex. Freud believed that the id operates on what he called the "pleasure principle," in which the id seeks immediate gratification. Through social interactions with parents and others in a child's environment, the ego and superego develop to help control the id
Physiological Mechanism
There are a number of physiological mechanisms that serve as the basis for hunger. When our stomachs are empty, they contract. Typically, a person then experiences hunger pangs. Chemical messages travel to the brain, and serve as a signal to initiate feeding behavior. When our blood glucose levels drop, the pancreas and liver generate a number of chemical signals that induce hunger
frustration aggression theory.
This theory states that when humans are prevented from achieving an important goal, they become frustrated and aggressive.
Peripheral Route
relies on association with positive characteristics such as positive emotions and celebrity endorsement. For example, having a popular athlete advertise athletic shoes is a common method used to encourage young adults to purchase the shoes.
Cyberbullying
repeated behavior that is intended to cause psychological or emotional harm to another person (via electronic communication). What is unique about cyberbullying is that it is typically covert, concealed, done in private, and the bully can remain anonymous.
Bullying
repeated negative treatment of another person, often an adolescent, over time. A one-time incident in which one child hits another child on the playground would not be considered bullying: Bullying is repeated behavior
According to the triangular theory of love, what type of love is defined by passion and intimacy but no commitment?
romantic love
________ occurs when the out-group is blamed for the in-group's frustration.
scapegoating
________ is an individual's belief in her capability to complete some task.
self-efficacy
Making internal attributions for your successes and making external attributions for your failures is an example of ________.
self-serving bias
Altruism is a form of prosocial behavior that is motivated by ________.
selfless helping of others
As a field, social psychology focuses on ________ in predicting human behavior.
situational factors
Collectivistic cultures are to ________ as individualistic cultures are to ________.
situational; dispositional
A(n) ________ is a set of group expectations for appropriate thoughts and behaviors of its members.
social norm
In the Stanford prison experiment, even the lead researcher succumbed to his role as a prison supervisor. This is an example of the power of ________ influencing behavior.
social roles
Arousal Theory
states that we each have our own optimal level of arousal, and we are motivated to pursue activities that maintain that level.
Binge-Eating Disorder
unlike with bulimia, binge eating disorder is not followed by inappropriate behavior, such as purging, but is followed by distress, including feelings of guilt and embarrassment. The resulting psychological distress distinguishes binge eating disorder from overeating
Drive-Reduction Theory (Homeostasis)
was first developed by Clark Hull in 1943. According to this theory, deviations from homeostasis create physiological needs. These needs result in psychological drive states that direct behavior to meet the need and, ultimately, bring the system back to homeostasis. Homeostasis is the state of steady internal conditions maintained by living things.
Confirmation Bias
we seek out information that supports our stereotypes and ignore information that is inconsistent with our stereotypes.
aggression
when they act violently toward another person. Aggression takes two forms depending on one's motives: hostile or instrumental
incongruence
which can lead to maladjustment. Both Rogers's and Maslow's theories focus on individual choices and do not believe that biology is deterministic.
reaction formation
which someone expresses feelings, thoughts, and behaviors opposite to their inclinations. In the above example, Joe made fun of a homosexual peer while himself being attracted to males.
Self-regulation is also known as ________.
will power
Locus of Control: Internal vs. External
lian Rotter proposed the concept of locus of control, another cognitive factor that affects learning and personality development. Distinct from self-efficacy, which involves our belief in our own abilities, locus of control refers to our beliefs about the power we have over our lives. In Rotter's view, people possess either an internal or an external locus of control. Those of us with an internal locus of control ("internals") tend to believe that most of our outcomes are the direct result of our efforts. Those of us with an external locus of control ("externals") tend to believe that our outcomes are outside of our control. Externals see their lives as being controlled by other people, luck, or chance.
Central Route
logic driven and uses data and facts to convince people of an argument's worthiness.
Personality is thought to be ________.
long term, stable and not easily changed
Animal research suggests that in male rats the ________ is critical for the ability to engage in sexual behavior, but not for the motivation to do so.
medial preoptic area of the hypothalamus
Which of the following is not one of the seven universal emotions described in this chapter?
melancholy
instrumental aggression
motivated by achieving a goal and does not necessarily involve intent to cause pain; a contract killer who murders for hire displays instrumental aggression.
Hostile aggression
motivated by feelings of anger with intent to cause pain; a fight in a bar with a stranger is an example of hostile aggression.
Discrimination
negative action toward an individual as a result of one's membership in a particular group.
In the Asch experiment, participants conformed due to ________ social influence.
normative
Social Facilitation
occurs when an individual performs better when an audience is watching than when the individual performs the behavior alone. This typically occurs when people are performing a task for which they are skilled.
humanism focuses
on how healthy people develop
According to your reading, nearly ________ of the adult population in the United States can be classified as obese.
one third
stages of psychosexual development
oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.
During the ________ phase of the sexual response cycle, individuals experience rhythmic contractions of the pelvis that are accompanied by uterine contractions in women and ejaculation in men.
orgasm
Attitude
our evaluation of a person, an idea, or an object. We have attitudes for many things ranging from products that we might pick up in the supermarket to people around the world to political policies.
Social Roles
pattern of behavior that is expected of a person in a given setting or group. Each one of us has several social roles. You may be, at the same time, a student, a parent, an aspiring teacher, a son or daughter, a spouse, and a lifeguard.
Altruism
people's desire to help others even if the costs outweigh the benefits of helping. In fact, people acting in altruistic ways may disregard the personal costs associated with helping.
Gender Dysphoria
a diagnostic category in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) that describes individuals who do not identify as the gender that most people would assume they are (and the discomfort that arises from the mismatch between the birth sex and gender identity). This dysphoria must persist for at least six months and result in significant distress or dysfunction to meet DSM-5 diagnostic criteria
Brianna is 18 months old. She cries frequently, is hard to soothe, and wakes frequently during the night. According to Thomas and Chess, she would be considered ________.
a difficult baby
In-Group
a group that we identify with or see ourselves as belonging to
Social Norms
a group's expectation of what is appropriate and acceptable behavior for its members—how they are supposed to behave and think. Because of social roles, people tend to know what behavior is expected of them in specific, familiar settings
Prejudice
a negative attitude and feeling toward an individual based solely on one's membership in a particular social group.
projection
a person refuses to acknowledge her own unconscious feelings and instead sees those feelings in someone else. Other defense mechanisms include rationalization, displacement, and sublimation.
Scripts
a person's knowledge about the sequence of events expected in a specific setting.
On his first day of soccer practice, Jose suits up in a t-shirt, shorts, and cleats and runs out to the field to join his teammates. Jose's behavior is reflective of ________.
a script
stereotype
a specific belief or assumption about individuals based solely on their membership in a group, regardless of their individual characteristics. Stereotypes become overgeneralized and applied to all members of a group
Collective Unconscious
a universal version of genetically-inherited memory traces which are common to all of us
Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart
a well-known study of the genetic basis for personality—conducted research with twins from 1979 to 1999. In studying 350 pairs of twins, including pairs of identical and fraternal twins reared together and apart, researchers found that identical twins, whether raised together or apart, have very similar personalities.
Need for ________ refers to maintaining positive relationships with others.
affiliation
In order to be classified as morbidly obese, an adult must have a BMI of ________.
40 or more
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
A second projective test is the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), created in the 1930s by Henry Murray, an American psychologist, and a psychoanalyst named Christiana Morgan. A person taking the TAT is shown 8-12 ambiguous pictures and is asked to tell a story about each picture. The stories give insight into their social world, revealing hopes, fears, interests, and goals. The storytelling format helps to lower a person's resistance divulging unconscious personal details. The TAT has been used in clinical settings to evaluate psychological disorders; more recently, it has been used in counseling settings to help clients gain a better understanding of themselves and achieve personal growth.
Self-Reporting Inventories (Likert Scale, MMPI)
A self-report inventory is a type of psychological test in which a person fills out a survey or questionnaire with or without the help of an investigator. Self-report inventories often ask direct questions about personal interests, values, symptoms, behaviors, and traits or personality types.
Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank (RISB)
A third projective test is the Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank (RISB) developed by Julian Rotter in 1950 (recall his theory of locus of control, covered earlier in this chapter). There are three forms of this test for use with different age groups: the school form, the college form, and the adult form. The tests include 40 incomplete sentences that people are asked to complete as quickly as possible. The average time for completing the test is approximately 20 minutes, as responses are only 1-2 words in length. This test is similar to a word association test, and like other types of projective tests, it is presumed that responses will reveal desires, fears, and struggles. The RISB is used in screening college students for adjustment problems and in career counseling
________ proposed the hierarchy of needs.
Abraham Maslow
Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow)
Abraham Maslow proposed a hierarchy of needs that spans the spectrum of motives ranging from the biological to the individual to the social. These needs are often depicted as a pyramid.
Intrapersonal topics
(those that pertain to the individual) include emotions and attitudes, the self, and social cognition (the ways in which we think about ourselves and others)
Maslow
Abraham Maslow, studied people who he considered to be healthy, creative, and productive, including Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and others. Maslow found that such people share similar characteristics, such as being open, creative, loving, spontaneous, compassionate, concerned for others, and accepting of themselves. When you studied motivation, you learned about one of the best-known humanistic theories, Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, in which Maslow proposes that human beings have certain needs in common and that these needs must be met in a certain order.
repression
According to Freud, unacceptable urges and desires are kept in our unconscious through a process called repression.
Fundamental Attribution Error
According to some social psychologists, people tend to overemphasize internal factors as explanations—or attributions—for the behavior of other people. They tend to assume that the behavior of another person is a trait of that person, and to underestimate the power of the situation on the behavior of others. They tend to fail to recognize when the behavior of another is due to situational variables, and thus to the person's state. This erroneous assumption is called the fundamental attribution error.
Cannon-Bard Theory
According to this view, physiological arousal and emotional experience occur simultaneously, yet independently. So, when you see the venomous snake, you feel fear at exactly the same time that your body mounts its fight or flight response. This emotional reaction would be separate and independent of the physiological arousal, even though they co-occur. The James-Lange and Cannon-Bard theories have each garnered some empirical support in various research paradigms. For instance, Chwalisz, Diener, and Gallagher conducted a study of the emotional experiences of people who had spinal cord injuries. They reported that individuals who were incapable of receiving autonomic feedback because of their injuries still experienced emotion; however, there was a tendency for people with less awareness of autonomic arousal to experience less intense emotions.
Individual Psychology (Adler)
Alfred Adler, a colleague of Freud's and the first president of the Vienna Psychoanalytical Society (Freud's inner circle of colleagues), was the first major theorist to break away from Freud. He subsequently founded a school of psychology called individual psychology, which focuses on our drive to compensate for feelings of inferiority. Adler proposed the concept of the inferiority complex.
Kinsey's Research
Among the results of Kinsey's research were the findings that women are as interested and experienced in sex as their male counterparts, that both males and females masturbate without adverse health consequences, and that homosexual acts are fairly common. Kinsey also developed a continuum known as the Kinsey scale that is still commonly used today to categorize an individual's sexual orientation.
Emotion vs. Mood
An emotion is a subjective state of being that we often describe as our feelings. The words emotion and mood are sometimes used interchangeably, but psychologists use these words to refer to two different things. Typically, the word emotion indicates a subjective, affective state that is relatively intense and that occurs in response to something we experience. Emotions are often thought to be consciously experienced and intentional. Mood, on the other hand, refers to a prolonged, less intense, affective state that does not occur in response to something we experience. Mood states may not be consciously recognized and do not carry the intentionality that is associated with emotion.
Elaboration Likelihood Model
An especially popular model that describes the dynamics of persuasion. The elaboration likelihood model considers the variables of the attitude change approach—that is, features of the source of the persuasive message, contents of the message, and characteristics of the audience are used to determine when attitude change will occur.
Five Factor Model
Another personality theory, called the Five Factor Model, effectively hits a middle ground, with its five factors referred to as the Big Five personality traits. It is the most popular theory in personality psychology today and the most accurate approximation of the basic trait dimensions. The five traits are openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. A helpful way to remember the traits is by using the mnemonic OCEAN.
Reciprocal Determinism
Bandura's idea that though our environment affects us, we also affect our environment. Bandura proposed the concept of reciprocal determinism, in which cognitive processes, behavior, and context all interact, each factor influencing and being influenced by the others simultaneously
analytical psychology
Carl Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and protégé of Freud, who later split off from Freud and developed his own theory, which he called analytical psychology. The focus of analytical psychology is on working to balance opposing forces of conscious and unconscious thought, and experience within one's personality. According to Jung, this work is a continuous learning process—mainly occurring in the second half of life—of becoming aware of unconscious elements and integrating them into consciousness.
Psychosocial Stage Theory of Development
Erikson proposed a psychosocial theory of development, suggesting that an individual's personality develops throughout the lifespan—a departure from Freud's view that personality is fixed in early life. In his theory, Erikson emphasized the social relationships that are important at each stage of personality development, in contrast to Freud's emphasis on aggression and sex. Erikson identified eight stages, each of which represents a conflict or developmental task. The development of a healthy personality and a sense of competence depend on the successful completion of each task.
Satiation (Leptin)
For most people, once they have eaten, they feel satiation, or fullness and satisfaction, and their eating behavior stops. Like the initiation of eating, satiation is also regulated by several physiological mechanisms. As blood glucose levels increase, the pancreas and liver send signals to shut off hunger and eating. The food's passage through the gastrointestinal tract also provides important satiety signals to the brain, and fat cells release leptin, a satiety hormone. The various hunger and satiety signals that are involved in the regulation of eating are integrated in the brain. Research suggests that several areas of the hypothalamus and hindbrain are especially important sites where this integration occurs.
________ is credited with the first comprehensive theory of personality.
Freud
Conscious and Unconscious
Freud compared the mind to an iceberg. He said that only about one-tenth of our mind is conscious, and the rest of our mind is unconscious. Our unconscious refers to that mental activity of which we are unaware and are unable to access. According to Freud, unacceptable urges and desires are kept in our unconscious through a process called repression.
Social-Cognitive Perspective
He presented a social-cognitive theory of personality that emphasizes both learning and cognition as sources of individual differences in personality. In social-cognitive theory, the concepts of reciprocal determinism, observational learning, and self-efficacy all play a part in personality development.
Heritability
Heritability refers to the proportion of difference among people that is attributed to genetics. Some of the traits that the study reported as having more than a 0.50 heritability ratio include leadership, obedience to authority, a sense of well-being, alienation, resistance to stress, and fearfulness
Individualistic vs. Collectivist
Individualist cultures and collectivist cultures place emphasis on different basic values. People who live in individualist cultures tend to believe that independence, competition, and personal achievement are important. Individuals in Western nations such as the United States, England, and Australia score high on individualism. People who live in collectivist cultures value social harmony, respectfulness, and group needs over individual needs.
Body Dysmorphia
Individuals suffering from anorexia nervosa often have a distorted body image, referenced in literature as a type of body dysmorphia, meaning that they view themselves as overweight even though they are not.
Which personality assessment employs a series of true/false questions?
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
Obesity
Morbid obesity is defined as having a BMI over 40. Note that although BMI has been used as a healthy weight indicator by the World Health Organization (WHO), the CDC, and other groups, its value as an assessment tool has been questioned
temperament
Most contemporary psychologists believe temperament (your disposition, your usual mood) has a biological basis due to its appearance very early in our lives. Research suggests that there are two dimensions of our temperament that are important parts of our adult personality—reactivity and self-regulation. Reactivity refers to how we respond to new or challenging environmental stimuli; self-regulation refers to our ability to control that response.
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
One of the most widely used personality inventories is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), first published in 1943, with 504 true/false questions, and updated to the MMPI-2 in 1989, with 567 questions. The original MMPI was based on a small, limited sample, composed mostly of Minnesota farmers and psychiatric patients; the revised inventory was based on a more representative, national sample to allow for better standardization. The MMPI-2 takes 1-2 hours to complete
Bulimia Nervosa
People suffering from bulimia nervosa engage in binge eating behavior that is followed by an attempt to compensate for the large amount of food consumed. Purging the food by inducing vomiting or through the use of laxatives are two common compensatory behaviors. Some affected individuals engage in excessive amounts of exercise to compensate for their binges. Bulimia is associated with many adverse health consequences that can include kidney failure, heart failure, and tooth decay. In addition, these individuals often suffer from anxiety and depression, and they are at an increased risk for substance abuse. The lifetime prevalence rate for bulimia nervosa is estimated at around 1% for women and less than 0.5% for men. As of the 2013 release of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fifth edition, Binge eating disorder is a disorder recognized by the American Psychiatric Association (APA).
Inverted-U Theory (Yerkes-Dodson Law)
Researchers Robert Yerkes and John Dodson discovered that the optimal arousal level depends on the complexity and difficulty of the task to be performed. This relationship is known as Yerkes-Dodson law, which holds that a simple task is performed best when arousal levels are relatively high and complex tasks are best performed when arousal levels are lower. (For average or typical tasks, moderate levels of arousal have been shown to be the best.)
Triangular theory of love
Robert Sternberg proposed that there are three components of love: intimacy, passion, and commitment
Which of the following findings was not a result of the Kinsey study?
Sexual desire and sexual ability can be separate functions.
Psychodynamic Approach (Freud)
Sigmund Freud's psychodynamic perspective of personality was the first comprehensive theory of personality, explaining a wide variety of both normal and abnormal behaviors. According to Freud, unconscious drives influenced by sex and aggression, along with childhood sexuality, are the forces that influence our personality. Freud attracted many followers who modified his ideas to create new theories about personality.
Consummate
Sternberg states that a healthy relationship will have all three components of love—intimacy, passion, and commitment—which is described as consummate love.
Individuals suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder have been shown to have reduced volumes of the ________.
hippocampus
Ideal Self
The ideal self is the person that you would like to be
Person-Situation Debate
The person-situation debate is a historical debate about the relative power of personality traits as compared to situational influences on behavior. The situationist critique, which started the person-situation debate, suggested that people overestimate the extent to which personality traits are consistent across situations.
After moving to a new apartment building, research suggests that Sam will be most likely to become friends with ________.
his next door neighbor
prosocial behavior
Voluntary behavior with the intent to help other people
congruence
We experience congruence when our thoughts about our real self and ideal self are very similar—in other words, when our self-concept is accurate. High congruence leads to a greater sense of self-worth and a healthy, productive life.
Observational Learning
We learn by observing someone else's behavior and its consequences, which Bandura called observational learning. He felt that this type of learning also plays a part in the development of our personality. Just as we learn individual behaviors, we learn new behavior patterns when we see them performed by other people or models. In observational learning, self-efficacy is a cognitive factor that affects which behaviors we choose to imitate as well as our success in performing those behaviors
Defense Mechanisms
When certain events, feelings, or yearnings cause an individual anxiety, the individual wishes to reduce that anxiety. To do that, the individual's unconscious mind uses ego defense mechanisms, unconscious protective behaviors that aim to reduce anxiety.
Oedipus complex
a boy's desire for his mother and his urge to replace his father who is seen as a rival for the mother's attention
________ is characterized by episodes of binge eating followed by attempts to compensate for the excessive amount of food that was consumed.
bulimia nervosa
Companionate
characteristic of close friendships and family relationships, consists of intimacy and commitment but no passion
When we seek out information that supports our stereotypes we are engaged in ________.
confirmation bias
The idea that people's ideas about themselves should match their actions is called ________.
congruence
Cognitive dissonance causes discomfort because it disrupts our sense of ________.
consistency
Romantic
defined by having passion and intimacy, but no commitment
Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Study
demonstrated the power of social roles, social norms, and scripts. To the surprise of the researchers, both the "prisoners" and "guards" assumed their roles with zeal. In fact, on day 2, some of the prisoners revolted, and the guards quelled the rebellion by threatening the prisoners with night sticks. In a relatively short time, the guards came to harass the prisoners in an increasingly sadistic manner, through a complete lack of privacy, lack of basic comforts such as mattresses to sleep on, and through degrading chores and late-night counts. The prisoners, in turn, began to show signs of severe anxiety and hopelessness—they began tolerating the guards' abuse. Even the Stanford professor who designed the study and was the head researcher, Philip Zimbardo, found himself acting as if the prison was real and his role, as prison supervisor, was real as well. After only six days, the experiment had to be ended due to the participants' deteriorating behavior.
Motivation
describes the wants or needs that direct behavior toward a goal. motivations can be intrinsic (arising from internal factors) or extrinsic (arising from external factors)
superego
develops as a child interacts with others, learning the social rules for right and wrong. The superego acts as our conscience; it is our moral compass that tells us how we should behave. It strives for perfection and judges our behavior, leading to feelings of pride or—when we fall short of the ideal—feelings of guilt.
The bystander effect likely occurs due to ________.
diffusion of responsibility
Attitudes describe our ________ of people, objects, and ideas.
evaluations
Jane believes that she got a bad grade on her psychology paper because her professor doesn't like her. Jane most likely has an _______ locus of control.
external
Carl mows the yard of his elderly neighbor each week for $20. What type of motivation is this?
extrinsic
Examples of cues used in peripheral route persuasion include all of the following except ________.
factual information
Prejudice is to ________ as discrimination is to ________.
feelings; behavior
When it comes to buying clothes, teenagers often follow social norms; this is likely motivated by ________.
fitting in
If someone is uncomfortable identifying with the gender normally associated with their biological sex, then he could be classified as experiencing ________.
gender dysphoria
out-group
group that we view as fundamentally different from us. For example, if you are female, your gender in-group includes all females, and your gender out-group includes all males.
If group members modify their opinions to align with a perceived group consensus, then ________ has occurred.
groupthink
Cognitive-Mediational Theory
that asserts our emotions are determined by our appraisal of the stimulus. This appraisal mediates between the stimulus and the emotional response, and it is immediate and often unconscious. In contrast to the Schachter-Singer model, the appraisal precedes a cognitive label.
Scapegoating
the act of blaming an out-group when the in-group experiences frustration or is blocked from obtaining a goal.
Metabolic Rate
the amount of energy that is expended in a given period of time, and there is tremendous individual variability in our metabolic rates. People with high rates of metabolism are able to burn off calories more easily than those with lower rates of metabolism
just-world hypothesis
the belief that people get the outcomes they deserve. In order to maintain the belief that the world is a fair place, people tend to think that good people experience positive outcomes, and bad people experience negative outcomes. The ability to think of the world as a fair place, where people get what they deserve, allows us to feel that the world is predictable and that we have some control over our life outcomes.
Empathy
the capacity to understand another person's perspective, to feel what he or she feels.
conformity
the change in a person's behavior to go along with the group, even if he does not agree with the group
Obedience (Milgram)
the change of an individual's behavior to comply with a demand by an authority figure. People often comply with the request because they are concerned about a consequence if they do not comply. In Milgram's famous shock study, In response to a string of incorrect answers from the learners, the participants obediently and repeatedly shocked them
Social Loafing
the exertion of less effort by a person working together with a group. Social loafing occurs when our individual performance cannot be evaluated separately from the group. Essentially individual group members loaf and let other group members pick up the slack.
Reciprocity
the give and take in relationships. We contribute to relationships, but we expect to receive benefits as well. That is, we want our relationships to be a two way street. We are more likely to like and engage with people who like us back
actor-observer bias
the phenomenon of attributing other people's behavior to internal factors (fundamental attribution error) while attributing our own behavior to situational forces.
Persuasion
the process of changing our attitude toward something based on some kind of communication.
ego
the rational part of our personality. It's what Freud considered to be the self, and it is the part of our personality that is seen by others. Its job is to balance the demands of the id and superego in the context of reality; thus, it operates on what Freud called the "reality principle." The ego helps the id satisfy its desires in a realistic way.
Self-disclosure
the sharing of personal information.
Group Polarization
the strengthening of an original group attitude after the discussion of views within a group. That is, if a group initially favors a viewpoint, after discussion the group consensus is likely a stronger endorsement of the viewpoint.
Situational (Situationism) influences
the view that our behavior and actions are determined by our immediate environment and surroundings. Social psychologists have tended to take the situationist perspective
Groupthink
thinking or making decisions in a way that discourages individual responsibility.
