Psy 3000 Exam 1

Front 1

How to weattempt to scientifically define personality?

What , how, andwhy?

Back 1

1.“What” =characteristics of the person and how these characteristics are organized inrelation to one another

2.“How” =the determinants of a person’s personality

3.“Why” =causes of, and reasons behind, an individual’s behavior

Front 2

Units of Analysis inmeasuring personality

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•Traits

•Types

Front 3

Structure ofPersonality

Back 3

Stable, enduring aspects of personality•

Qualitiesthat endure from day to day and from year to year•Thebuilding blocks of personality theory

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Hierarchy

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•Theoriesof personality differ in the extent to which they view the structures ofpersonality as being organized hierarchically•Theoriesthat emphasize the role of goals in personality functioning note that people’sgoals are related hierarchically•Theoriesthat focus on personality traits note that a small set of basic traitsorganizes lower-level personality tendencies•Otherapproaches argue instead that personality is a fluid, flexible system in whichdifferent parts influence one another, with little rigid, fixed hierarchicalstructure

Front 5

What are personalityprocesses

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•PROCESS= psychological reactions that change dynamically; that change over relativelybrief periods of time

•Rapid,dynamic flow of motivation, emotion, and action

•Personalitytheorists emphasize different motivational processes

Front 6

Genetic andEnvironmental Determinants of Personality

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•Geneticfactors contribute strongly to personality and individual differences •Scientificadvances enable the personality psychologist to pinpoint specific paths ofinfluence

•EnvironmentalDeterminants•Culture•SocialClass•Family•Peers

Front 7

Aspects of a goodtheory

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Toolbox metaphor

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•Thetoolkit metaphor suggests that the existence of multiple theories incontemporary personality psychology might not be such a bad thing

Front 9

L, O, T, S

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L= infothat can be obtained from a person's life history or life record.

O= infoprovided by knowledgeable observers such as parents, friends, orteachers.

T=info obtained by experimental procedures or standardized tests.

S= Selfreport data. Info provided by the subject himself or herself typically in the form of responses to questionnaires.

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LOTS (How they relate to each other)

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Researcherscan combine data sources, thereby adding to one’s confidence in researchfindings

Self report andTest data often contradict each other.S data and O dataare often because we have a diff view of ourselves than others

Front 11

Fixed measures Pros and Cons

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Exactly the same measures are administrated to all people in thestudy . Scores are computed in exact same way.

*Most common formof personality tests

*Some questionedmay be relevant to one person and not to another

*Doesn't tap intodifferent ranges of personality characteristics

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Flexible measures Pros and Cons

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Unstructured personality tests *subjective *visual tests*open ended

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Nomothetic

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fixedmeasures that are applied in the same manner to all persons. Generalconclusions about all people in general.

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Idiographic

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Flexibleassessment technique that is tailored to specific person beingstudied.

Front 15

What do EEG and fMRIdo and how are they different

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EEG= •recordelectrical activity neurons

moreelectrodes you have more accurate reading you will get.
FMRI= •detectsvariations in blood flow and produces a picture of the brain which shows theregions that contributed directly to the task being performed

Cansee how peoples brain reacts to things differently live. Magneticresonance imaging.

Front 16

Reliability Test-retest,internal consistency

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•extentto which observations can be replicated; whether measures are dependable orstable

•Internalconsistency: Do different items on the test correlate with one another, as onewould expect if each is a reflection of a common psychological construct?

•Test-retestreliability: If people take the test at two different times, do their scorescorrelate with one another?

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Validity Construct and Discriminant validity

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•VALIDITY=the extent to which observations actually reflect the phenomenon of interest ina given study•Atest with discriminantvalidity will be empirically distinct from other tests that already exist•Reliabilityis necessary for validityE

Front 18

Case Studies

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•in-depthanalyses of individual cases•Psychologisttries to develop an understanding of the structures and processes that are mostimportant to that individual’s personality•Aninherently idiographic approach•Maybe conducted for research or treatment?

Front 19

Correlation

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•statisticused to gauge the degree to which two variables and measures are linearlyrelated

•1.0(perfect positive) to -1.0 (perfect negative)

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Hysteria

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•“Hysterical”symptoms: emotional disorders that manifest themselves in physical symptoms(currently known as somatization disorder)

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Catharsis

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A release and freeing of emotions by talking about one’s problems

Thefundamental goal of psycho-dynamic theory that (ah ha! Moment) themoment where we figure out why there's an issue and that solves theproblem.

Front 22

Freud’s Levels ofConsciousness Conscious,preconscious, unconscious

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•Conscious levelincludes thoughts of which we are aware

•Preconscious levelcontains mental contents of which we easily could become aware if we attendedto them

•Unconsciousmental contents are parts of the mind of which we are unaware and cannot become awareexcept under special circumstances

Front 23

Manifest vs. latentdream content

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•Latentcontent of dreams: unconscious ideas, emotions, and drives that are manifested in the dream’s storyline 3

•Manifestcontent: the storyline of a dream

Front 24

Id, Ego, andSuperego

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Id=Operatesaccording to the pleasure principle

SuperEgo=Functions involve moral aspects of social behavior

Ego=Functionis to express and satisfy the desires of the id in accordance withopportunities and constraints that exist in the real world, and thedemands of the superego

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Life (libido) andDeath Instinct

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•Lifeinstinct (libido)•Includesdrives associated previously with both the earlier ego and sexual instincts•Impelspeople toward the preservation and reproduction of the organism

•Deathinstinct •Aim ofthe organism to die or return to inorganic state•One of the most controversial and leastaccepted parts of psychoanalytic theory•Death instinct often turned away fromoneself and directed toward others in acts of aggression

Front 26

Different Types andExamples of Defense Mechanisms

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Denial, Projection,

•Rationalization=A“mature” defense •Behavioris reinterpreted so that it appears reasonable and acceptable

•Isolation ( Impulse, thought, or act is not deniedaccess to consciousness, but is denied the normal accompanying emotion•Example: a woman may experience thethought or fantasy of strangling her child without any associated feelings ofanger)

•Repression= Thought or feeling is so disturbing it is buried in the unconscious

•Sublimation= Originalobject of gratification is replaced by a higher cultural goal that is farremoved from a direct expression of the instinct

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Psychosexual Stagesof Development

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•OralStage (birth-1 year)

•AnalStage(1-3 years)

•PhallicStage(3-6 years) LatentPeriod(6-puberty)

•GenitalStage(Puberty-Adulthood)

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Fixations, Oedipusand Elektra Complex

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•Collected parents’ reports ofparent-child interactions and analyzed children’s responsesto stories involving parent-child interaction•At around age four, children showincreased preference for the parent of the opposite sex and increasedantagonismtoward the parent of the same sex

•These behaviors diminish at around theage of five or six

Front 29

Erickson’s 4initial Psychosocial Stages and their agreement/disagreement withFreud’s stages

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Trust VS Mistrust (1st yr): Pos= feelings of goodness, trust, & optimism. Con= Badness, mistrust, pessimism.

Autonomy VS Shame/Doubt (2-3): Pos= will, self control, able to make choices. Con= Rigid, doubtful, self conscious, shame.

Initiative VS Guilt (4-5): Pos= Pleasure in accomplishments, activity, direction, and purpose. Cons= Guilt over goals, contemplated, and achievements initiated.

Industry VS inferiority (Latency): Pos= able to be absorbed in productive work, pride in completed product. Con= Sense of inadequacy and inferiority, unable to complete work.

Front 30

Marcia’s IdentityStatuses

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•Identity Achievement: individual hasestablished a sense of identity following exploration

•Identity Moratorium: individual is in themidst of an identity crisis

•Identity Foreclosure: individual iscommitted to an identity without having gone through a process of exploration

•Identity Diffusion: individual lacks anystrong sense of identity or commitment

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Pros and Cons ofProjective Tests

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•Projectivetests predict some types of outcomes but not others

•Thereare different ways of scoring projective tests

•Problems with inter-judge reliability•No guarantee that the person's thinkingstyle will manifest itself when confronted with abstract blotches

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Adler-Inferiority,Birth Order, Social Interest

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•Activemember of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society•Greateremphasis on social urges and conscious thoughts •Interestedin bodily inferiorities and how people compensate for them

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Freud's Personality Types

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Front 34

Jung –Archetypes,Collective Unconscious

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•Collective unconsciousholds cumulative experiences of past generations; is universal•Contains universal images or symbols, or archetypes

•Seen in fairy tales, dreams, myths, andsome psychotic thoughts

•Evidencefor archetypes being part of collective unconscious is their universalityacross cultures3D

Front 35

Object RelationsTheory-Kohut

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•Objectrelations theorists believe that the central events of early childhood involvemental representations of relations with other people

•allpersons seek self development, control over the self, and a positive self image

Front 36

Attachment Theoryand Different Attachment Styles

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•Secure attachment styles associated withexperiences of happiness, friendship, and trust

•Avoidant styles associated with fears ofcloseness, emotional highs and lows, and jealousy

•Anxious-ambivalentstyles associated with obsessive preoccupation with the loved person, a desirefor union, extreme sexual attraction, emotional extremes, and jealousy