chapter 11
Personality
Individual’s characteristic style of
behaving, thinking, and
feeling that is enduring
Self-Report (questionnaires)
Series of answers to a questionnaire that asks people to indicate the extent to which sets of statements or adjectives accurately describe their own behavior or mental state
MMPI
Well-researched clinical questionnaire used to assess personality and psychological problems
Projective Techniques
Standard series of ambiguous
stimuli designed to elicit unique
responses that reveal inner (unconscious) aspects of an individual’s personality
Rorschach Inkblot Test (best known projective test)
Individual interpretations of the
meaning of a set of
unstructured inkblots are analyzed to identify a respondent’s inner
feelings and interpret his/her personality structure.
Thematic Apperception Test
Respondents revealunderlying motives, concerns, and the way they see the social world through the stories they make up about ambiguous pictures of people.
Trait y
Relatively stable disposition to behave in a particular and consistent way
Psychodynamic Approach
Regards personality as formed by needs, strivings, and desires largely operating outside of awareness – motives that can also produce emotional disorders; discovered by Freud
Id (Pleasure Principle)
the part of the mind containing the drives present at birth; the source of our bodily needs, wants, desires, and impulses, particularly our sexual and aggressive drives
Ego (Reality Principle)
Component of personality, developed through contact with the external world, that enables us to deal with life’s practical demands (“Reality Principle”
Superego (Moral Principle)
Mental system that reflects the internalization of cultural rules, mainly learned from parents (“Morality Principle”
Personality formed before age of 6
the personality formed by the age of 6 or 7 isn't likely to deviate from its core trait
defense mechanisms
Unconscious coping mechanisms that reduce anxiety generated by threats from unacceptable impulses
Repression
Removing painful experiences and unacceptable impulses from the conscious mind: “motivated forgetting.
Rationalization
Supplying a false but reasonable-
sounding excuse for
unacceptable feelings and behavior to conceal one’s underlying motives
or feelings
Reaction Formation
Unconsciously replacing threatening inner wishes and fantasies with an exaggerated version of their opposite
Projection
Attributing one’s own threatening feelings, motives, or impulses to another person or group
Regression
reverting to immature behavior or early stage of development, a time when things felt more secure, to deal with internal conflict, and perceived threats
Displacement
shifting unacceptable wishes or drives to a neutral or less threatening alternative
Sublimation
Channeling unacceptable sexual or aggressive drives into socially acceptable and culturally enhancing activities
Identification
Helps deal with feelings of threat and anxiety by enabling us to unconsciously take on the characteristics of another person who seems more powerful or able to cope
Psychosexual Stages of Development (order)
Oral Stage and fixation
the first psychosexual stage, in which experience centers on the pleasures and frustrations associated with the mouth, sucking, and being fed.
Anal Stage and fixation
the second psychosexual stage, in which experience is dominated by the pleasure and frustrations associated with the anus, retention, and expulsion of feces and urine, toilet training
Phallic Stage and fixation
the third psychosexual stage, in which experience is dominated by the pleasure, conflict, and frustrations associated with the phallic, genital region, as well as coping with powerful incestuous feeling of love, hate, jealously, and conflict
Oedipus complex (jealousy)
a developmental experience in which a child's conflicting feelings towards the opposite sex parent are resolved by identifying with the same sex parent
Genital Stage
the fifth and final psychosexual stage, the time for the coming together of the mature adult personality with a capacity to love, work, and relate to others in a mutually satisfying and reciprocal manner
Humanistic Approach
An approach to psychology emphasizing a person's positive qualities, the capacity for positive growth, and the freedom to choose any destiny.
Human Needs
those basic physical, social, and political needs, such as food and freedom, that are required for survival and security
Potential and Goals
goal setting is a plan of action that helps people choose the right moves at the right time
Self-Actualization
Human motive toward realizing our inner potential
Existential Approach
Regards personality as governed by
an individual’s ongoing
choices and decisions in the context of the realities of life and death
Life and Death
all human behavior is driven by life and death instincts.
Angst and how we deal with angst
practicing mindfulness and meditatio
Flow
a state of mind in which a person becomes fully immersed in an activity.
Social-cognitive Approach
an approach that views personality in terms of how the person thinks about the situations encountered in daily life and behaves in response to them
Person and Situation
Question of whether behavior is caused more by personality or by situational factors
Personal Constructs
Dimensions people use in making sense of their experiences; originally proposed by George Kelly (1905–1967
Outcome Expectations
a person's assumptions about the likely consequences of a future behavior
Locus of Control
Person’s tendency to perceive the control of rewards as internal to the self or external in the environment
Self-concept
Person’s explicit knowledge of his or her own behaviors, traits, and other personal characteristics
Self-Narrative
is the story we tell about ourselves.
Self-verification
Tendency to seek evidence to confirm the self-concept
Self-esteem
Extent to which an individual likes, values, and accepts the self
Self-serving bias
People’s tendency to take credit for their
successes but
downplay responsibility for their failures; to protect self-esteem
Implicit Egotism
argues that people are generally unaware of their preference for things similar to themselves (i.e., own name).