Personality
characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaving that is unique to each individual and remains relatively consistent over time and situations
Idiographic approach
focuses on creating detailed descriptions of a specific persons unique personality characteristics
Nomothetic approach
examine personality in large groups of people, with he aim of making generalizations about personality structure
Personality trait
describes a persons habitual patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving
First persons to tally words to describe an individuals physical and physiological attributes
Gordon Allport
Barnum effect
Scientist Bertam Forer gave research participants a personality test and then generated a description of subjects personalities which they believed was based on their test responses, participants found them convincing and rated them 4/5 on how accurate when all the participants were given same description
Factor analysis
used to group items that people respond to similarly (ex: terms friendly. warm, kind are similar meaning and can be grouped to a factor)
Five factor model
trait based theory of personality based on the finding that personality can be described using five major dimensions
Individuals high on openness..
are the dreamers and creatives; they tend to be more open to new things
Individuals low on openness
are the defenders of the system, preferring the conventional, the tried and true. they avoid the unknown and find security in the known.
Highly conscientious people are..
the organizers, efficient, self disciplined, and dependable. they are the ones who meet deadlines, plan ahead to achieve their goals and are comfortable with schedules and lists
Low conscientious people are…
easy going ones, fun to hang out with, but not great for group projects, tend to be disorganized, careless with details, and have difficulty meeting deadlines, uncomfortable w/ schedules
Extraversion are the..
socializaers and sensation seekers. they are comfortable in more stimulating environments and love company of others, outgoing and energetic. They are fun to be around, but sometimes take things too far puts them at high risk for dangerous activities
Introverts are the..
quiet ones, they like social contact, introverts also need time for solitary actives. can be overwhelmed by the high levels of stimulation. tend to be more cautious and reserved
Highly agreeable people..
are warm and friendly people, easy to like and be friends with. kind compassionate, helpful.. place a lot of value on getting along with people and generally willing to put own interests side in order to please others
Low agreeable people..
are the type who put themselves first. they value being authentic more than pandering others needs. more assertive, tend to be seen as cold, unfriendly unkind.
People high in neuroticism are..
often difficult to deal with as their emotional volatility and general tendency to experience negative emotions makes them not much fun to be around, tend to be sensitive, get frustrated over small things. most vulnerable to anxiety and depressive disorders
People low in neuroticism are…
prototypical mentally healthy people, tend to be secure and confident let go of negative emotions easily. Excellent at managing emotions and considered stable
Acronym for 5 factor model
ocean
HEXACO model of personality
6 factor theory that generally replicates the 5 factor FFM and adds one additional factor; honestly-humility
High on honestly and humility ..
tend to be sincere, honey, faithful and modest
Low on honestly and humility
deceitful, greedy, pompous
Dark triad
refers to three traits; Machiavellians, psychopathy, and narcissism- that describes a person ho is cosmically destructive, aggressive, dishonest, and likely commit harm in general
Machiavellianism
tendency to use people and to manipulative and deceitful. individuals scoring high tend to lack respect for others and focus predominantly on their own self interest. treat theories as means to their own desired ends
Psychopathy
general tendency toward having shallow emotional responses, scoring high veer toward highly stimulating actives and tend to feel little empathy for others. get thrill out of conflict, exerting control, harming other w/ little remorse
Narcissism
reflects an egotistical preoccupation with self image and excessive focus on self importance. Can be charming but difficult to have relationships with tend to put themselves first.
Right-Wing authoritarianism
highly problematic set of personality characteristics involve 3 key tendencies
3 key tendencies
- obeying orders and deferring to the established authorities in society
- supporting aggression against those who dissent or differ from the established social order
- believing strongly in maintaining the existing social order
3 main temperaments were identified in study that followed child 3 years old to adulthood
- well adjusted
- undercontrolled
- inhibited
10 years later children who were under controlled had become
much more likely to engage in externalizing behaviour and somewhat more internalizing behaviours
10 years later children who were inhibited developed
strong internalizing behaviour patterns
At 21 children who were under controlled were showing
serious relationship difficulties
State
temporary physical or psychological engagement that influences behaviour
4 general aspects of situations that are most likely to influence our behaviour
- locations
- associations
- activities
- subjective states
Reciprocal determinism
behaviour, internal factors, and external factors interact to determine one another and that our personalities are bas on interaction among these three aspects (albert bandura)
Behaviourist account of personality
behaviourists thought that what physiologists call personality was an expression of relationships between behaviour, rewards and punishment. avoid referring to personality traits and dispositions, but focus on how past experiences predict future behaviour
WEIRd stands for
western educated industrialized rich and democrativ
2 challenges in cross cultural research
- how to translate measures of personality such that they will mean exactly the same thing in diff languages
- how to ensure that people are using he exact same reasoning process when answering them
To essentialize a cultural different is to..
attribute that difference to something fundamental to the cultures, some sort of basic difference between the essences of each culture
People who inherit short copies of the serotonin transporter gene from parents seem..
predisposed to anxiety, shyness and experiencing negative emotional reactions in interpersonal situations
Humorism
explained both physical illness and disorders of personality as resulting from imbalances in key fluids in the body
Phrenology
theory that personality characteristics could be assessed by carefully measuring the outer shell
Arousal theory of extraversion
arguing that extraversion is determined by peoples threshold for arousal
Ascending reticular activating system (ARAS)
plays a central role in controlling this arousal response.
Behavioural activation system (BAS)
is a “GO” system, arousing the person to action in the pursuit of desired goals
Behavioural inhibition system (BIS)
is more of a “danger” system, motivation the person to action in order to avoid punishments or other negative outcomes
Extraversion brains
extraverts have a larger medial orbitofrontal cortex and generally have less activation in the amygdala. greater sensitivity reward. have underachieve amygdala due to not paying attention to danger fear.
Neuroticism brains
smaller dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, smaller hippocampus and larger mid-cingulate gyrus
Agreeableness brains
less brain volume in area called left superior temporal sulcus, greater volume in area called posterior coagulate cortex
Conscientiousness brains
larger brain volume in middle frontal gyrus in left prefrontal cortex
Openness to experience
greater activation in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
Sigmund freud
pioneer in study of personality and treatment of psychological disorders
Conscious mind
current awareness, containing everything you are aware of right now
Unconscious mind
much more vast and powerful but inaccessible part of your consciousness, operating without your cancerous endorsement or will to influence and guide your behaviours
Fruedian slip
their conscious mind intends to say something appropriate to the circumstances, but their unconscious mind leads them to say that they were really thinking
Id
represents a collection of basic biological drives, including those directed toward sex and aggression
Id is fuelled by ..
libido
Superego
comprised of our values and moral standards, tells us what we ought to do
Ego
decision maker, frequently under tension, trying to reconcile the opposing urges of the id and superego
2 key ways the 3 egos give rise to personality
- different people will have deep personality differences because of the relative strengths oh their id, ego, and superego
- how we react to anxiety, because its what we feel result of the tension between
Defence mechanism
unconscious strategies the ego uses to reduce or avoid anxiety
Repression
keeping distressing information out of conscious awareness by burying it in the unconscious
Denial
refusing to acknowledge unpleasant information, particularly about oneself
Rationalization
attempting to hide one/s true motives by providing what seems like a reasonable explanation for unacceptable feelings or behaviours
Displacement
transfomring an unacceptable impulse into a less unacceptable or natural behaviour
Identification
unconsiously assuming the chacteristcs of a more powerful person in order to reduce feelings of anxiety or negative feelings of oneself. by doing so makes themselves feel better
Projection
keeping yourself unaware of undesirable qualities that you possess by instead attributing those qualities to other groups or people
Reaction formation
altering an impulse that one finds personally unacceptable into its opposite
Sublimation
transforming unacceptable impulses into socially acceptable or even pro-social alternatives
Fixation
becoming preoccupied with obtaining the pleasure associated with a particular stage
The oral stage
birth to 18 months, fixated with mouth sensation
The anal stage
2-3 yrs old. can cause you to be extremely uptight and clean or disorganized and messy disorganized on parent and training
The phallic stage
3-6 yrs. body attention shifts to genitals. become attached to mom sexually and resent father
Castration anxiety
fear of castration by ones father
Penis envy
sexual interest in father because having a child with a man provides the girl with a penis, which she continues to envy
The latency stage
5-13 yrs. libido is directed on more productive activities than sexual nature. gain many of their intellectual, social, physical skills
The genital stage
puberty to adulthood. when have contact with another person in sexual and loving relationship
Projective tests
personality tests in which ambiguous images are presented to an dinvidual to elicit responses that reflect unconscious desires or conflicts
Rorschach inkblot test
which people are asked to describe what they see on the inkblot, psychologists interpret this description using a standardized scoring and interpretation method
Thematic apperception test (TAT)
asks respondents to tell stories about ambiguous pictures involving various interpersonal situations
Carl jung
analytical psychology
Analyitcal psychology
focuses on the role of unconscious archetypes in personality development
2 main types of unconscious
- personal
- collective
Personal unconscious
vast reposityory of experiences and patterns that were absorbed during the entire experimental unfolding of the persons life
Collective unconscious
separate, non-personal realm of the unconscious that holds the collective memories and mythologies of human kind, stretching deep into out ancestral past
Archetypes
images and symbols that reflect common truths held across cultures, such as universal life experiences or types of people
Alfred adler
differentiated himself from freud by arguing for the importance of social dynamics and conscious thoughts as determents of behaviour
Inferiority complex
struggle many people have with feelings of infinity, which stem from experiences of helpfulness and powerlessness during childhood
Karen Horney
disagreed with freud, focused on importance of social and cultural factors,a arguing that to understand personality one should focus on the functioning of a persons present self rather than unconscious
Person-centred perspective
people are basically good and given the right environment their personality will develop fully and normally
Self-actualization
is the drive to grow and fulfill one’s potential