Personalities Exam 2

Front 1

Allport’s criteria for an “adequate” theory of personality

Back 1

1. Personality has to be contained within people
2. People are filled with variables that contribute their behavior
3. The motives for our behavior are in our present, not out past
4. The unit of measure used by the theory must be capable of a “living synthesis”
5. It must account for self awareness

Front 2

explain Allport’s concept of trait

Back 2

- A neuropsychic structure having the capacity to render many stimuli functionally equivalent, and to imitiate and guide equivalent and meaningfully consistent forms of adaptive and expressive behavior

Front 3

-Implications of allports definition of traits:

Back 3

1. Traits have a mind/body connection
2. Traits account for the consistency in human behavior
3. Traits organize experiences
4. Traits will guide behavior

Front 4

criteria that Allport employs for inferring the presence of
a trait.

Back 4

1. The frequency with which a person adopts a certain type of adjustment (Temporal Consistency)
2. The range of situations in which the person adopts this mode of acting (Situational consistency)
3. The intensity of the person’s reaction in keeping with this preferred behavior

Front 5

distinguish the concept of traits from the concept of habits

Back 5

A trait synthesizes a number of specific habits, you preformed actions (habits) because of the way you are (trait

Front 6

distinguish among the various types of traits that Allport discusses

Back 6

Cardinal Traits: a trait that influences almost everything he/she does.
Central Dispositions: traits that summarize who you are
Secondary Dispositions: similar to habits or attitudes but still more general, ex. Preference for certain types of food or clothes

Front 7

To define Allport’s concept of Proprium

Back 7

- Personality consists of both biological and psychological structures
- These structures are continuous in nature and require organization
- This organization agent is the proprium and includes all of the facts about a person that makes him or her unique
- The proprium develops slowly over time

Front 8

To elaborate the 7 developmental stages suggested by Allport

Back 8

1. The sense of bodily me- first year
2. The sense of self-identity- second year
3. The sense of self-esteem- third year (doing things on your own)
4. The sense of self-extension-fourth year (showing what they have to the world)
5. The emergence of self image- (4-6 years) (conscious develops, morals, norms)
6. The emergence of the self as a rational coper (6-12 years) (problem solving)
7. The emergence of the propriate striving- (12 years through adolescence) future

Front 9

To compare and contrast need reduction (homeostatisis) and need induction
(hetereostasis) approaches to motivation

Back 9

- Up until stage seven we had been need reduction, but from stage seven on we are need induction, we are focused on future goals not on past states, and we are growing through solving problems

Front 10

Allport’s criteria for an “adequate” theory of motivation

Back 10

1. It must recognize the contemporary nature of motives
2. It must allow for the existence of several kind of motives
3. It must recognize the importance of cognitive processes
4. IT must recognize that each person’s pattern of motivation is unique

Front 11

To define functional autonomy and elaborate the principles that governs this
Concept

Back 11

- Functional autonomy: the concept denoted that the reason why a person engages in a form of behavior may not be the same reason which originally caused the behavior to be exhibited.
- Perseverative Functional autonomy: this refers to repetitious activities in which one blindly engages and which once served a purpose but no longer does
- Propriate Functional autonomy: this refers to the interest, values, goals, attitudes and sentiments that comprises the persons proprium

Front 12

functional autonomy principles that governs this
Concept

Back 12

1. The principle of organizing the energy level (satisfy basic needs first)
2. The principle of mastery and competence ( we want to get better at more)
3. The principle of propriate patterning

Front 13

characteristics that Allport associates with normal healthy
Adults

Back 13

1. The capacity for self-extension
2. The capacity for warm human interaction
3. Ability to demonstrate security and self-acceptance
4. Ability to demonstrate realistic perceptions
5. Ability to demonstrate self-objectification
6. Ability to demonstrate an unifying philosophy of life

Front 14

explain the logic behind the statistical technique of factor analysis

Back 14

- A mathematical technique for explaining a particular set of variables, persons, or occasions in terms of smaller number of factors
- The purpose of this technique is to simplify the complicated, to see if there is an underlying structure to what may look like randomness
- It presumes that variables that covary will measure the same personality trait
- Correlation:
- The statistic quantifies the relationship between two variables, it may range from -1.0 to +1.0 indicting direction (+,-) and magnitude, any absolute # from 0 to 1

Front 15

To describe the various categories of traits that Cattell described

Back 15

surface traits, source traits, ability traits, dynamic traits, tempermental traits

Front 16

To explain why Cattell can be labeled a determinist

Back 16

- Behavior is a function of a finite number of variables
- If these variables are completely known, human behavior can be predicted with complete accuracy

Front 17

To describe the three main factors required to predict behavior

Back 17

1. All of the traits that a person possesses
2. All of the situational modulators (e.g: temporary body state of required social roles)
3. The situational importance weights for each of these traits and situational modulators to the present context

Front 18

To describe the components of the specification equation

Back 18

Pj=sjaA+sjtT+sjeE+sjmM+sjrR+sjsS

Pj= performance or behavior in situation j
A= ability traits
T= Temperament
E= Ergic Tension present
M= Metaergs
R= Roles called for by the situation
S= Temporary body states
Sj= a weighting indicating the importance of each of the influences in situation j.

Front 19

To compare and contrast Cattell’s and Eysenck’s research approach to
assessing traits

Back 19

- Research approach: Cattell: bottom-up: data creates theory. Eysenck: Top dowm: data tests theory.
- Number of traits: Cattell: large number. Eysenck: small number
- Factor analysis strategy: Cattell: first order factor analysis. Eysenck: Higher order factor analysis

Front 20

To describe the components of Eysenck’s hierarchical model of personality

Back 20

- Types, Traits, Habitual responses, Specific responses

Front 21

To identify the Big Five traits

Back 21

Openness to experience: assesses proactive seeking and appreciation of experience for its own sake, toleration for and exploration of the unfamiliar.
- Conscientiousness: assesses the individual’s degree of organization, persistence, and motivation is goal-directed behavior, Contrast dependable, fastidious people with those who are sloppy and lackadaisical
- Extroversion: assesses quantity and intensity of interpersonal interaction; activity level; need for stimulation; and capacity for joy
- Agreeableness: assesses the quality of one’s interpersonal orientation along a continuum from compassion to antagonism In thoughts, feelings and behaviors.
- Neuroticism: assesses adjustment vs. emotional stability. Identifies individual prone to psychological distress, unrealistic ideas, excessive cravings and maladaptive coping responses

Front 22

To discuss the six sources of validating evidence for the five-factor model

Back 22

1. Stability of Factors
2. Cross-cultural agreement on factors
3. Agreement of self and other ratings
4. Connection to biology
5. Diagnosis of personality disorders
6. Predictive utility

Front 23

define the fundamental lexical hypothesis

Back 23

Posits that over time humans have observes which individual differences are particularly important in their interaction with each other and have developed terms for easy reference to them