Personality Psychology Exam 1

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Personality definitions

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#1: dynamic organization within the person of those psychophysical systems that determine their unique adjustments to their environment (allport)

#2: description of what people are like and how they're likely to think feel and act (weiner)

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Two aims of personality psychology

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1. Understand the whole person including the motives and dynamics underlying their behavior. Study individuals as unique wholes. Evaluation of human nature is the essential intellectual task (hogan)

2. Personality psychology tells us how each person is : like all others, like some others and like no others

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Personality psychology definition

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Science of human nature and individual differences

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Tensions facing personality psychology

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Reduction: allegiance to single theory

Pluralism: multiple theories have utility

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Units of personality

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Traits, cognition and motives

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Testing v. Assessment

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Testing: behavioral sample obtained and scored using a standardized process. May be high inference (subjective) or low inference (objective)

Assessment: interaction between trained examiner and examinee. Goal is to answer a referral question. Comprehensive. Multiple sources of data (including tests)

examiner and examinee. Goal is to answer a referral question. Comprehensive. Multiple sources of data (including tests)

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A memory test allows an examiner to assess and examinees memory loss

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4 types of clues

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Self data: ask person directly (questionnaires/interviews)

Informant data: ask someone else (parents/teachers)

Behavioral data: watch the examinee (natural data/lab data)

Life Outcomes: the result of personality (medical records work history etc)

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Case of Anna O

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Became mute and developed a cough after caring for sick father. Could be spontaneously hypnotized

Significance: tells us that symptoms have meaning beyond the surface

Unexpressed emotions related to trauma do not dissipate, then the result is hysteria.

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Topographic model of the mind

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Conscious: memories thoughts desires in awareness

Preconscious: outside awareness, can readily be made conscious

Unconscious: typically inaccessible due to content

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Iceberg

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Freud: the data clues of psychoanalysis

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Experiments "break the frame" don't draw key data from patients

Key data comes from the clinical method (case study and intense observation)

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Adler: inferiority and compensation

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1. Organ inferiority: natural compensation

2. Masculine protest (child perceives powerlessness) psychological application of organ inferiority

3. Striving for superiority: perfection striving. We select and pursue fictional goals.

4. Style of life and social interest: adulthood style of life is a patterned way of compensating

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Horneys social psychoanalytic approach

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Children realize powerlessness relative to adults

Basic evil: parental mistreatment indifference lack of warmth inconsistency (results in basic hostility, repressed because of needs and fear)

Basic anxiety: develops in response (feeling of being small and helpless. Child's goal is to sustain parental contact despite hostility)

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Aspects of self (3)

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Actual self: objectively existing person

Real self: how one perceives self, damaged, cleaved by basic evil (despised real self: perception of self as damaged and despicable)

Idealized self: unrealistic and perfectionistic (image of what self should be)

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Deductive v. Inductive approach

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Deductive: an approach to psychology in which the conclusions follow logically from three premises or assumptions

Inductive approach: an approach to psychology in which observations are systematically collected and concepts are developed based on what the data reveal

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Nomothetic

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seeking to formulate laws

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Idiographic

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involved in the study of individual cases

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Barnum Effect

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The tendency to believe in the accuracy of vague generalities about ones personality

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horoscopes

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Internal Consistency Realiability

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Degree of consistency between subparts or equivalent parts of a test

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test-retest reliability

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the degree of consistency between the results of the same test taken on different occassions

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discriminant validation

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the extent to which an assessment is not relatied to what it should not be related to

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convergent validation

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the extent to which an assessment is related to what it should be related to

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criterion related validation

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the extent to which an assessment predits outcome criteria that were produced by different assessment methods

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contruct validity

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the extent to which a test truly measures a theoretical construct

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ethnic bias

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a type of bias in which a test fails to take into account the relevant culture or subculture of the person being tested

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MMPI/MMPI2

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a comprehensive self report personality test that is focused on assessing psychopathology

MMPI2: updated version that tried to exclude all outdated questions

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Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

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one of he most commonly used projective tests. Attempts to see how a person places order on a vague stimulus (like a painting)

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face validity

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tests apper to be valid, at face value

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criterion/predictive validity

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test predicts outcome criterion concurrent=now predictive=future

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reliability

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consistency of replicated measurements

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social desirability bias

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Tendeny of survey respondants to answer in a way that is favored by the experiemtor or test administrator

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Acquiescence response set

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A bias in which people are more likely to agree than disagree with anything that is asked of them

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Norm referenced tests

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report whether test takeers preformed better or worse then teh hypotheitcal average person. Scores are compared against others of a staistically selected group of test takers.

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projection preformancce based testing

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an assessment technique that attempts to study personality through use of relatively unstructured stimulus, task or situation

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split half reliability

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a test is split into two parts and an individuals scores on both halves are compared

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ineter-rater reliability

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the agreement between experiementers on an individuals score

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classical test theory

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predicts outcomes of psychological testing such as difficulty of item or ability of test takers. Helps to understand and improve test reliability.

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True Score

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the portion of a score which depicts the actual quantity of the trait held by the person being tested.

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Standard error of measurement

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estimates how repeated measures of a perosn on the same instrument tend to be distributed around his or her "true" score. The true score is always unkown because we cant construct a measure that perfectly represents it.

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hysteria

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a term used for various forms of mental illness for which no organic cause could be found and which could sometimes be cured by psychological and social influences

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free association

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a method used in psychoanalysis in which an individual reports everything that comes into awareness

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manifest content

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the part of dreams or other aspects of psychological experience that is remembered and consciously considered.

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latent content

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the part of dreams or other aspects of psychological experience that underlies the conscious portion and reveals hidden meaning.

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oral stage

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Freudian stage of psychosexual development before age 1, when infants are driven to satisfy their drives of hunger and thirst.

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anal stage

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Freud's stage of psychosexual developments around age 2, during which children are toilet trained

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Phallic Stage

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Freudian stage of psychosexual development around age 4 in which a childs sexal energy is focused on the genitals.

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Castration Anxiety

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according to Freud, an unconcious fear of castration that results from boys struggle to deal with his love for his mother while knowing he cant overcome his father.

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Oedipus Complex

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Freud- describes a boys sexual feelings for his mother and rivalries with his father.

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Penis Envy

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Freud- described the phenomenon in which a girl develops feelings of inferiority and jealousy over her lack of a penis.

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Latency Period

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Freud- age 5-11 in which no important psychosexual developments take place and during which sexual urges are not directly expressed but are instead channeled into other activities.

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Genital Stage

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Freud- psychosexual development beginning at adolescence in which attention is turned toward heterosexual relations

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defense mechanisms

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in psychoanalytic theory the process that distort reality to preotect the ego

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repression

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defense mechanism that pushed threatening thoughts into th unconcious.

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reaction formation

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a defense mechanism that pushed away threatening impulses by overemphaszing the opposite in one's thoughts and actions

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hydraulic displacement model

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freuds concept that suggests that unacceptable impulses build up like steam in a boiler and must be released.

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Sublimation

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defense mechanism: dangerous urges are transformed into positive socially acceptable motivations

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Regression

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defense mechanism: when one returns to earlier safer stages of their life to escape present threats.

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Rationalization

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defense mechanism: post hoc logical explanations are given for behaviors that were actually driven by internal unconscious motives.

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Free recall

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procedure in which a person studies a word list and then reports as many words as they can remember

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Forced choice recognition

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a procedure in which a person studies a word list then cchooses which words appeared on the list from pairs of words

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Infantile Amnesia

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the phenomenon of adults being unable to remember what happened to them before the ages of 3 or 4.

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Explicit Memory

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A memory that can be consciously recalled or recognized

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Implicit memory

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a memory that is not consciously recalled but that nevertheless influences behavior or thoughts

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Anterograde Amnesia

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The inability to form new conscious memories

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erogenous zone

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the surface areas of the human body that, when stimulated, produce erotic or sexual sensations and reactions. hard-wired into the body

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electra complex

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A girls psychosexual competition with her mother for posession of her father

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The talking cure

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The basis of psychoanalysis. Also known as chimney sweeping. Form of psycotherapy that relies on verbal interaction.

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reaction formation

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the tendency of a repressed wish or feeling to be expressed at a conscious level in a contrasting form

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hypermnesia

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unusual power or enhancement of memory, typically under abnormal conditions such as trauma, hypnosis, or narcosis

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reality principle

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the egos control of the pleasure seeking activity of the id in order to meet the demands of the external world

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Neo Analytic Approach

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The approach to personality psych that is concerned with the individuals sense of self (ego) as the core of personality

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psyche

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the essence of human mind, spirit or soul.

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personal unconscious

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Jung: the component of the mind that contains thoughts and feelings that are not currently a part of conscious awareness

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collective unconscious

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Jung: component of the mind that contains a deeper level of unconsciousness made up of archetypes that are common across all people

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Archetypes

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emotional symbols that are common to all people and have been formed since the beginning of time

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Extroversion

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Jung: describes the directing of the libido, or psychic energy, toward things in the external world

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Individual Psychology

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Adler: stresses the unique motivations of individuals and the importance of each persons perceived niche in society

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Organ inferirority

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Adler: everyone is born with some physical weakness at which point incapacity and disease are most likely to take place, but the body attempts to make up for the deciency in another area.

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Aggression drive

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Adler: an individual is driven to lash out against the inability to achieve or master something as a reaction to perceived happiness.

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Masculine protest

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Adler: An individuals attempt to be competent and independent rather than merely an out growth of his or her parents

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Perfection Striving

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Adler: an individuals attempt to reach fictional goals by eliminating his or her preceived flaws.

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Fictional Goals

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Adler: Strivings for self improvement that vary from person to person but that reflect an individuals view of perfection

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Occupational Tasks

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Adler: a fundamental social issue in which one must choose and pursue a career that makes one feel worthwhile

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Societal Tasks

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Adler: a fundamental social issue in which one must create friendship and social networks

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Love Tasks

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Adler: fundamental social issue of finding a suitable life partner

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Basic Anxiety

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Horney: A childs fear of being alone helpless and insecure that arises from problems with ones parents

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Real Self

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Horney: concept of inner core of personality that we perceive about ourselves, including our potential self realization

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Despised Self

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Horney: concept of the part of personality consisting of perceptions of our inferiority and short comings, often based on others' negative evluations of us and our resulting helpessness.

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Ideal Self

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Horney: concept of the self that we view as perfection adn hope yo achieve as molded by perceived adequacies.

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Neurotic Trend

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Horney: Strategy or pattern of interaction that becomes the predominant mode by which a neurotic individual defends against anxiety

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Neurotic Need

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Horney: a need that is a dominant focus for a neurotic individual