Intro To Personality

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human nature?

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describing what all humans have in common

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individual differences

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what some have in common and the uniqueness of each individual

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determinism

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belief that all behavior is caused and is therefore not free

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empiricism

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contention that an attribute is determined by experience rather than by genetics. within epistemology, it is the belief that all knowledge is derived rom sensory experience

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environmentalism

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belief that the determinants of behavior are found in the environment instead of in person

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epiphenomenalism

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contention that mental events are the by products of bodily events. Bodily events cause mental events but mental events cannot cause bodily events. Mental events, therefore, can be ignored in the analysis of human behavior.

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epistemology

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study of the nature of human knownledge

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hedonism

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contention that the major motive in life is to seek pleasure and avoid pain

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heuristic function of a theory

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theory's ability to generate new information

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human nature

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those qualities that characterize all humans. One task of the personality theorist is to specify the nature of human nature

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idiographic research

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intense study of a single person

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individual differences

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important ways in which humans differ from one another. One of the tasks of the personality theorist is to describe and explain individual differences

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interactionism

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contention that the mind influences the body and the body influences the mind. That is, the mind and the body are causally related

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introspection

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self-examination. Direction one's thoughts inward to discover the truth about one's self

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Mind-body problem

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problem of specifying how something mental (cognitive) can influence something physical, such as the body, and vice versa

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nativism

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contention that an attribute is determined by genetics rather than by experience

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nativism-empiricism controversy

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aka. the nature-nurture controversy

argument concerning the extent to which an attribute, such as intelligence, is influenced by inheritance as opposed to experience. Nomothetic research. Study of groups of individuals

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Paradigm

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term used by Kuhn to describe a theoretical viewpoint shared by many researchers

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parallelis

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contention that an environmental event causes both mental and bodily reactions at the same time. According to this proposed answer to the mind-body question, bodily and mental phenomena run parallel to each other and are therefore not causally related

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person variables

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variables contained within persons thought to be responsible for their behavior. Traits, habits, memories, information- processing mechanisms, and repressed early experiences exemplify person variables

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persona

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latin word meaning mask

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physical monism

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aka materialism

contention that no mind-body problem exists because no mind exists. No mental events occur, only physical events

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principle of falsifility

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aka principle of refutability

Popper's contention that a scientific theory must make risky predictions; that is, it must make predictions that could conceivably be false and, if so, would refute the theory

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principle of verification

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the stipulation that scientific propositions must be capable of objective, empirical testing that is available to any interested person

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rationalism

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belief that knowledge can be gained only by exercising the mind, for example, by thinking, deducing, or inferring

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risky predictions

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predictions that run the risk of being incorrect. According to Popper, for a theory to be considered scientific it must make risky predictions

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science

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epistemological pursuit that combines the philosophical schools of empiricism and rationalism

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scientific theory

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combination of the philosophical schools of rationalism and empiricism, with two major functions. 1, to synthesize (explain) many observations, and 2, to generate new info

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self

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concept employed by several personality theorists to account for the facts that human behavior is smooth running, consistent, and well organized. The concept of self has also been used to explain why we are aware of ourselves as individuals

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self- actualization

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situation that exists when a person is acting in accordance with his or her full potential

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situation variables

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those variables found in the environment thought to be responsible for behavior

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synthesizing function of a theory

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a theory's ability to organize and explain several otherwise disjointed observations

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teleological behavior

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purposive behavior

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hysteria

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describe a wide variety of symptoms such as paralysis, loss of sensation, and disturbances of sight and speech

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who believed in the Id, Ego, and the Superego?

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Freud

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what is the id?

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pure, unadulterated, instinctual energy, and exists completely on the unconscious level.

-part of mind shared with lower animals

-governed by the pleasure principle

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How does the id satisfy bodily needs

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reflex action and wish fulfillment

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reflex action

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responding automatically to a source of irritation

ex//sneezing in response to irritant in the nose

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wish fulfillment

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conjuring of an image of an object or event that is capable of satisfying a biological need

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what is the ego?

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develops and attempts to match the images of the id with objects and events

-the executive of the personality

-governed by the reality principle

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cathexis

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to describe the investment of psychic energy in the thoughts of objects or processes that will satisfy a need

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anticathexis

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energy expended to prevent undesirable cathexis

-because it causes anxiety

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Freud was conscious or unconscious focused?

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unconscious

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transference

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the patient responds to the therapist as if they were an important person in the patient's life

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countertransference

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the therapist becomes emotionally involved with the patient

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libido or libidinal energy

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energy associated with life instincts

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thanatos

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death instinct

-responsible for aggression

-freud believed that it was the tendency toward self destruction

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superego

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the moral component of the personality

-consists of the conscience and the ego ideal

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repression

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the most basic ego-defense mechanism

-all other ego-defense mechanisms will first use repression.

-keeps anxiety provoking thoughts in the unconscious mind and out of awareness

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displacement

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substitutes a nonanxiety provoking goal for the one that causes anxiety.

-

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sublimation

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displacement involving a sexual impulse and tributes positively to society

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displaced aggression

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aggression is displaced from its primary goal to a safer one or one that is more socially acceptable

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identification

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affiliating oneself with someone or something that will enhance one's feeling of worth.

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denial of reality

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involves the refusal to accept the reality of some event because to do so would cause anxiety

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projection

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involves seeing in other people, objects, or events qualities that are true about oneself but would cause anxiety if recognized

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reaction formation

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repressing anxiety provoking impulses and exaggerating opposite impulses

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rathionalization

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giving "logical" explanations for behavior that would cause anxiety if it were not "explained away"

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Intellectualization

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a potentially anxiety provoking idea is stripped of its emotional component by the intellectual (rational) analysis of the ide.

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regression

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returning to a stage of the development where fixation had occurred when stress is encountered

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oral stage

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-first of the psychosexual stages

-oral incorporated character

-oral sadistic character

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anal stage

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-second of the psychosexual stages

-anal expulsive character

-anal retentive character

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phallic stage

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-third of the psychosexual stages

-oedipus complex

--->boys experience castration anxiety

--->girls experience penis envy

-largely determines adult sexual preferences

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latency stage

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-fourth of the psychosexual stages

-sexual interests are repressed and displaced to other activities such as learning and peer group activities

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genital stage

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-final stage of psychosexual stages

-individual emerges as the adult he or she is destined to become after various experiences during the preceding stages

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How did Freud investigate the unconscious mind?

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-free association

-dream analysis

-analysis of everyday experiences

-humor

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latent content

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true meaning

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manifest content

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apparent meaning