Psych Midterm 2: Personality
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Created by:
jennifernewwin on May 9, 2010
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33 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 What is the psychodynamic theory? | theory says that personality is an interplay of our unconsciousness. |
| According to Freud, what motivates human behavior? | psychic forces (instincts). These instincts can be in conflict. |
| What are life instincts? | They motivate us to survive like libido which is energy created by life instinct. |
| What is death instinct? | Responsible for aggression and destructiveness. |
| What are the levels of consciousness? | Conscious- what you're presently aware of. Preconscious- things we're not aware of but could be like what we like/don't like.. Unconscious- thougths, desires, wishes, things we want but don't really know. but these exter influence anyway. |
| Structure of personality (Freud)? | Id, ego, superego. Freud believed people are perpetually driven by the relationship between these three things. Clashes between id, superego and ego. Our personality is shaped by these clashes. |
| What does id do? | Completely unconscious... is like a little 2 year old kid. Is impatient, irrational, and wants what it wants right when it wants it. It functions on the "pleasure principle"—we want what makes us feel good. Aims for the reduction of all tension. "I just want to feel good."i.e. Veruca Salt |
| What does the superego do? | Balances the id. It's kind of like our conscientious or moral guide. acts as a "brake" on the id. It's the part of us that says "this is right or this is wrong" acts with as much appropriateness as our id. i.e. Judge Judy |
| What is the ego? | Reality principle is that knowing we can't always get what we want when we want it. Is the rational part of ourselves that helps balance our needs realistically. balance our needs/wants with reality. if ego can't reconcile the urge with reality, repression may occur. |
| What are defense mechanisms? | Unconscious tactics our minds use that help protect us from distress that is a result from conflicts between id and superego. types of defense mechanisms include projection, repression, rationalization, and denial. |
| How did neo-fruedian theorists extend theory? | Some of his followers didn't agree with him. they maintained some of his basic ideas but developed own approaches... Jung, Adler, Horney. |
| What are the negative critiques of psychodynamic approach? | based on case studies, only holds true on western values, does not take culture into account, not empircally tested. focuses on males and conclusions distorted by bias. |
| What are positive critiques of psychodynamic approach? | have influence modern western thinking in many areas. most comprehensive and influential theory of personality, support for defense mechanisms, some support for unconscious processes. |
| What are basic philospy of humanistic approaches in general? | Says that human beings are more than just drive/anxiety reduction or products of learning. focuses on things that set humans apart of others things like self-awareness, creativity, responsibility...etc. |
| What is the humanistic approach? | Humans strive for growth and enhancement. They are driven to reach higher potential. All behavior is meaningful to the person displaying it. |
| What did Carl Rogers believe? | Founder of humanistic approach. Believed in the person-centered approach to understand subjective human experiences. Also believed childhood experiences important in self-concept formation. |
| What is self-concept (humanistic approach)? | what you believe about yourself. your qualities, faults, your values. Rogers aruged that we try very hard to maintain a consisten self-concept. |
| What is conditional positive regard? | when a child believes they are valued only when they are behaving acceptably. "you are good when you do this...." Roger thinks that this is what makes children have problems later in life because the children think they have to be perfect in order to be self-worthy but that's an unhealthy and unrealistic ideal. They become rigid. |
| What is unconditional positive regard? | "unconditional love". the thinking that children are worthy no matter what. Children who are given unconditional positive regard is overall better for children because they are able to grow from their mistakes instead of getting upset. |
| What is the trait approach? | view personality as a combination of characteristics each of us possesses. Each person has different levels of personality traits. And these traits are tendencies of how we behave. Think of traits on a continuum. In stark contrast to psychodynamic and humanistic approach. This approach is more testable. |
| What are the assumptions of trait approach? | People are pretty much the same over the course of their lives as well as from situation from situation. Everyone is unique. |
| What is allport's trait theory? | Looked up personality words in dictionary and define 7 main traits. |
| What is the big 5 model (trait approach)? | R. Cattell narrowed it down to 5 main traits. O.C.E.A.N. Openness - the extent to which we are open to new ideas. Conscientiousness - high in this then turn in stuff on time. Extraversion- how open we are towards other people. How social we are. Agreeableness- high are going to be more trusting and helping towards other ppl. Neuroticism- high are going to be more anxious, secure, and self-pitying. |
| What are the critiques of the trait approach? | Useful in DESCRIBING individual differences and predicting behavior but does not explain WHY differences exist or how they develop. Underestimates influence of context. |
| What is the social-cognitive approach? | Views personality as the thoughts and action we learn though social interaction. We learn through our environment which affects our thinking and our personality/behavior. |
| What is reciprocal determinism? | interacting influences of personality and environmental factors. |
| What is self-efficacy? | level of confidence in ability to do something. determines whether or not we try and how well we actually do. |
| What are critiques of social-cognitive approach? | It's scientifically testable, less vaguely defined than psychoanalytic or humanistic. HOwever, real life is more complex than lab situations. Lacks dept of other theories. |
| What are projective measures? | explore the unconscious by presenting ambiguous stimulus items. ex. rorschach inkblot test, TAT (weird pictures that you have to interpret). |
| What are objective measures? | asks straightforward questions and are scored quantitatively. NEO |
| what is defensive pessimism? | we expect to fail and therefore enter test situations with dread. |
| What is positive psychology? | Looking at the good aspects of ppl not just what makes them weird or bad. |
| what is self-actualization | fulfilling one's potential |
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