Psychology 202 Midterm 3
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Zoidberg121 on December 6, 2011
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71 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Personality | A distinctive and relatively stable pattern of behaviors, thoughts, motives, and emotions that characterizes individuals throughout their lives. |
| Freud's Psychoanalytic Approach | Our behavior results from the integration of these three personality systems: the id, the ego, and the superego. • Unconscious motives have more power than conscious motives. • Unconscious is revealed in dreams, slips of the tongue, and more. • The framework of this theory is still considered useful in modern day. |
| Freud's influence on modern psycho-dynamic theories | The psychodynamic theories emphasize the movement of psychological energy within the person in terms of conflicts, motivations and attachments formed in early childhood. There are five common characteristics of psychodynamic theories: Emphasis on intrapsychic dynamics. An assumption that adult behavior/problems are determined by early childhood experiences. A belief that psychological development occurs in fixed stages, during which predictable issues must be resolved. A focus on fantasies and symbolic meanings of events as the unconscious perceives them (psychic reality) as the main motivators in personality. A reliance on subjective rather than objective methods of investigation of personality. |
| Jung's Challenges to Psycho-dynamic Theories | Jung differed from Freud on the nature of the unconscious and its influence, as well as the strength of the ego. ... |
| Id | One of Freud's structure of personalities. Reservoir of unconscious energies and instincts. o Seeks to reduce tension and gain pleasure. (Pleasure Principle) o When there is tension, id responds to it using a series of reflexes. Discharging tension: physical symptoms, mental images. Competing group of instincts: Life/sexual instincts fueled a a psychic energy called libido. Death/aggression instincts. |
| defense mechanisms | ... |
| scientific personality test | Scientifically valid and useful in research Multiple true/false items. Gives information on needs, values, interests, self-esteem, emotional problems and typical ways of responding. example. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is used to access personality and psychological disorders. |
| unscientific personality test | Extremely popular. Example: Myers Briggs Type Indicator. Research shows that this test does not predict behavior in the workplace or in relationships. From a scientific standpoint, 2,500 of the personality tests used by the government and industry are useless. |
| Ego | Referee between the needs of instincts and the demands of society. Rational mediator seeking satisfaction for the id's wants but waiting until the needs can be met in a suitable and socially appropriate way (Reality Principle). Operates consciously and unconsciously. |
| Superego | "You can't have it, it's BAD FOR YOU." |
| Example of Id | An infant that has been left unfed for hours is becoming hungry. Hunger is an instinct and the tension rises. The pleasure principle means the id will try to reduce the tension --> wishful reflex action as it begins to suck on its own fist. "I want it and I want it RIGHT NOW!" |
| Example of Ego | The ego gets the small child to take its fist out of its mouth and search for something that will really satisfy its needs -- the bottle of milk in the corner of the crib. "Let's see if we can get the low fat version, or maybe we can take a very small helping." |
| Superego | Represents morality. Rules of parents and society as well as power of authority. Judges the wishes and activity of the id: Guilt/shame If you are breaking, or thinking about breaking, the rules. Conscience Pride/satisfaction If you are doing something well. Ego Ideal |
| Controlling Superego | rigid, moralistic, bossy. |
| Controlling Id | personality likely to be impulsive and driven by selfish desires |
| Weak ego | the person is unable to balance the needs of the id with social duties and realistic limitations. |
| Seven Defense Mechanisms | Reaction Formation, Regression, Denial, Sublimation, Displacement, Projection, Repression |
| Denial | The person does not even recognize that something unpleasant is happening. ("Suppression" is when you know the bad event is happening but you consciously decide to put it out of your mind). Example: You are aware that the relationship between a close friend and her boyfriend is on the rocks but your friend is not even aware that there is a problem in their relationship. Jump to the top of the page. |
| Sublimation | If displacement serves a useful purpose. Freud believed society helps people sublimate their unacceptable impulses for the sake of the society. Example: An angry child who would like to stab people who make him mad, but is terrified of being hurt himself lest he dies, displaces these emotions into a career of a successful physician. |
| Displacement | Emotions (especially anger) are directed at people, animals or other things that are not the real object of your feelings. Example: A child is angry at his parents for sending him to his room for misbehavior. On the way, he punches his sister, kicks the dog, and breaks a favorite toy. |
| Projection | Unacceptable or threatening feelings repressed then attributed to someone else. Example: You hate your teacher but you believe that he hates you (and he doesn't even know your name). |
| Repression | A threatening idea, memory or emotion is blocked from consciousness. Example: "Forgetting' you flunked chemistry 2 years ago, or that your high school sweetheart dumped you that summer. |
| Reaction Formation | When threatening unconscious anxiety is transformed into its opposite in consciousness. Example1: The fervent, zealous, antipornography crusader may be using this defense mechanism to hide the fact from himself that pornography is quite stimulating for him. Example2: A mother who is angry and resentful at the birth of an unexpected child who has ruined her professional career, becomes an overly protective mother who is always making sure that no harm will come to her child. |
| Regression | Person reverts back to a previous phase of personality development -- that is, if an event overwhelms one's current coping strategies, the person may revert to strategies that worked in earlier phases of their life. Example: After major natural disasters, e.g. tornados or earthquakes, school-aged children will suddenly begin to wet the bed, suck their thumbs, and want to sleep with their parents for reassurance. These are behaviors characteristic of an earlier age. |
| Jung's Archetypes | Common themes about human existence that are universal. Mythical figures that guide --- the Hero's quest, the Nurturing Mother, the Wicked Witch. Most people report a common archetype when giving a detailed narrative of their "life story'. |
| Jung's Collective Unconscious | Apart of the unconscious that contains the universal memories, symbols and images that shape the behavior of humankind. |
| Anima | feminine archetype in men. |
| Animus | masculine archetype in women. |
| Problems with Archetypes | If you try to repress these archetypes If you expect your partner to behave like the ideal archetype. |
| Jung's Traits | Introversion and extroversion |
| Jung's Confidence in the Ego | Ego has more influence on behavior than in Freud's theory. Future goals and desires to fulfill oneself are powerful motivators. Jung anticipated the humanistic movement |
| Objects Relation School | The need for attachment in early life highlighted the social nature of human development. First 2 years of life are critical for personality development. Child has need for a powerful mother. Basic human drive -- the need to be in relationships. |
| "Object" | The child's perception of other people, most notably a symbolic representation of its mother, rather than an accurate description of the person. |
| Object Relations | The relationships between these representations unconsciously affects personality, and influences how we relate to others -- trust or suspicion, acceptance or criticism. |
| central tension (Object Relation School) | The child's perception of other people, most notably a symbolic representation of its mother, rather than an accurate description of the person. |
| Male-Female Development (Object Relation School) | All children identify first with the mother. Boys must break away from mother to establish a masculine identity. Male identity is less secure because it is based on NOT being like a woman. Men's identity boundaries are more rigid, women's boundaries are more permeable. |
| Consequences of Male-Female Developement (Object Relation School) | Men: permitting close relationships. Women: increasing their individual autonomy. |
| criticisms of Freud's psycho-dynamic theory - Violates Principle of Falsifiability | Impossible to confirm or disconfirm. |
| criticisms of Freud's psycho-dynamic theory - drawing universal principles from a few atypical patients is risky. | Freud overgeneralized, Freud did not confirm his ideas with larger samples of people. ex. Freud thought that only little girls envied boys (that they wanted a penis). Research shows that little boys also envy girls (they want to be pregnant). Freud believed that sexual curiosity and masturbation were only typical of abused children (whereas they are typical for many larger populations) |
| criticisms of Freud's psycho-dynamic theory - basing theories of development on retrospective accounts and fallible memories of patients is risky. | Memory is inaccurate. retrospective accounts cause illusion of casualty (if A comes before B, A must have caused B) |
| Response to criticisms of Freud's psycho-dynamic theory | more empirical methods being used to evaluate psycho-dynamic theories As a result -identification of non-conscious processes. -evidence for defense mechanisms. -people are unaware of the motives for self-defeating actions. |
| Big Five Personality Traits | 1) Extroversion vs. Introversion 2) Neuroticsism vs. Emotional Instability Neurotic - negative emotions anxiety - instability and negativity worriers - complainers and defeatists. 3) Agreeableness - capacity for for friendly relationships vs the tendency for hostile relationships. 4) Conscientious vs. Impulsive preserving or easily giving up responsible or undependable self-disciplined or impulsive 5) Openness to new Experience vs. Resistance to new experience imaginative vs. preferring the familiar |
| Trends of Big Five Personality Traits | Ages 16-21: Most neurotic, least agreeable and least conscientious By 30: People become less negative, more agreeable and more conscientious Older: Becomes less extroverted and less open to new experiences. |
| The effect of genes and environment on temperament and its consistency | disposition to respond to environment appears so early in life that it probably has a genetic basis. Temperament: Reactivity, mood, responsibleness, soothability and positive and negative emotionality. Kagan's study of reactive/nonreactive temperamant style in children. -80% are in the middle. -20% of children fall to extremes. A Highly Reactive Temperament: Easily excitable, shy, timid, respond negatively to novel situations. Non Reactive Temperament: Easy-going, curious and extroverted. |
| Biological Connection to Temperament | (Kagan Study). When placed in mildly stressful mental tasks, increased activity in sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. (association with physiological arousal) (similar physiological arousal found in rhesus monkeys) |
| Effect of Environment on Temperament Overtime | (Kagan Study) -15% of extremely reactive babies stayed the same. -0% become vivacious and fearless. -85% become average. environment moves temperament towards health, not the other extreme. |
| Heritability | A statistical estimate of the proportion of the total variance in some trait within a group that is attributable to genetic differences among the individuals within the group. In other words, a way to learn how much of a trait in a group has a biological basis. Example of Heritability: In a group of well nourished people, most of the height differences (heritability) will be accounted for by their genetic differences (because the environment is generally the same for the group). - only applies to the group as a whole. Table manners are an example of low heritability. |
| Behavioral Geneticists | Concerned with the genetic basis of personality. |
| How to Compute Heritability | -NOT WITH FAMILIES: they share the same genes and environment. -Twins: Fraternal (dizygotic) come from two different fertilized eggs, they are only "wombmates". Maternal (monozygotic) come from the same fertilized egg and have the same genes. If maternal twins are more alike on a trait than fraternal twins, that trait must be genetic. -Adopted Children - Check to see if a trait compares more with biological parents (genes) or adoptive parents (environment) |
| Separated Twins Strategy | Avoids the problem that fraternal twins may not have the same kind of environment as identical twins. Twins separated early in life and reared apart, share their genes but not their environments. Therefore any similarity should be primarily genetic. |
| How Heritable are Personality Traits? | Within a group, 50% of the variation in a particular trait is due to genetic differences. Studies: Child rearing habits and shared environments have no significant effect on personality traits. Experience not shared with family members are the only environmental contribution to personality differences. |
| Social Cognitive Learning Approach To Personality | traits result from your learning history and your resulting expectations and beliefs. Example: A child studies hard, gets good grades (rewards), and comes to expect (belief) that hard work will pay off in similar situations --> "industrious child". |
| Reciprocal Determinism | Interactions between environment and aspects of an individual. Combines nature and nurture. Conclusion: Our temperaments and other genetic components (nature) have us prefer one type of situation over another but the rewards and punishments from the environment (nurture) shape how be behave in those situations. |
| How do Parents have the greatest Impact on Children's Personality? | Our temperaments and other genetic components have us prefer one type of situation over another but the rewards and punishments from the environment shape how be behave in those situations. 1) Shared environments has little-no effect on personality. Adopted children and adopted parents have no personality correlation. 2) Parents' child rearing tactics are inconsistent. 3) Even when parents try to be consistent, there is little effect. Reciprocal determinism suggests parents and children continually influence each other. Example: highly reactive and fearful children eventually shift away from the extreme based on how parents reacted to their reactivity. Traits that are highly heritable can be strengthened or diminished by experience. Boys who were are high risk (genetically) for antisocial behavior are "often" rescued if they get consistent parental discipline and parents who set high standards and expectations. |
| Individualist Culture | "Self" regarded as autonomous. Self = collection of individual personality traits. "I am a third grade teacher." Sense of self remains stable across situations. |
| Collectivist Culture | Group harmony more important than the individual. "Self" is defined in terms of relations. "I am the fourth son of Emily of the Swift Water Clan, and whose maternal uncle is Bob of the Slow Talker Clan." Sense of self varies across social situations. |
| Monochronic Cultures | Time is linear, time is valued. Europe, Canada, United States. |
| Polychronic Culture | Time is parallel with need of friends and family. Mexico, Southern Europe, South America, Middle East. |
| Maslow - Striving for Self-Actualization | Emphasis on positive aspects of human nature: joy laughter love happiness peak experiences -A rare moment of rapture cause by: achievement of excellence. the experience of beauty. Personality development is a progression toward the state of self-actualization. (The state of self-actualization is not the same as the state of California!) Striving for a life that is meaningful, challenging and productive. Studies "healthy" individuals rather than patients to understand personality. |
| Carl Rogers - Fully Functioning Person | Tried to understand the "fully functional person" who: Experiences congruence. Harmony between their self-image and their true feelings, perceptions and wishes. Trusting, warm, and open to experience. Unconditional Positive Regard Important element in developing a fully functional person Love and support for who we are without conditions. Conditional Regard "I'll love you if you behave well and I won't love you if you behave badly." Lead to suppression or denial of personality that are unacceptable to those they love. Suppression leads to Low self-regard. Defensiveness Unhappiness Scores high on "neuroticism". |
| Rollo May - Existential Search for the Meaning of LIfe | emphasized the difficult aspects of the human condition (loneliness, anxiety and alienation). Adds existentialism to American psychology. Search for the meaning of life. Need to confront death. Living with the burden of responsibility for our actions. Responsibility of free will can create anxiety and despair. We may escape from freedom into narrow certainties, and blame others for misfortunes. Personality reflects the ways in which we: cope and struggle to find meaning to existence. use freedom wisely. face suffering and death wisely. |
| Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Stages | Things children do actually reflect a predictable interaction between a child's maturational stage and their experiences with the world. |
| Assimilation | Child makes constant mental adaptions to new experiences and observations. Fit new information into our present system of knowledge (schemas - networks of associations and beliefs). A child has a schema of a dog through playing with a beagle. |
| Accommodation | The child modifies their existing schemas because of the presence of undeniable and new information. Child shouts "doggie" when he sees a cat, and the cat is highly offended with that label. He will modify "dog" to exclude cats and creates a new schema for "kitty". |
| Four Stages of Cognitive Development | Sensimotor Stage, Preoperational Stage, Concrete Operation Stage, Formal Operation Stage |
| Sensimotor Stage | (birth to two years) Children learn through concrete actions. Coordinating sensory information with bodily operation. Object Permanence: Something still exists even if you cannot see it. This marks the beginning of the child's capacity to use mental imagery and symbols. |
| Preoperational Stage | (2 to 7 years old) Use of symbols, accelerated talking. Lacks operational thinking (reasoning). Operations = actions that can be reversed in your imagination --- like math processes. Egocentric - can only see the world from their own frame of reference. Cannot grasp the concept of conservation. Notion that physical properties do not change when their form and appearance appears to change. Example: When an equal amount of water is poured into a short fat glass and a tall skinny glass, the child will believe that there is more water in the tall glass. |
| Concrete Operations Stage | (7-12) Can engage in concrete operations (rather than abstract thinking). Now understands the principles of: Conservation Reversibility Cause and Effect Can categorize things. Can order things serially (e.g. smallest to largest, shortest to tallest). Understands the notion of identity. |
| Formal Operations Stage | Formal Operations Stage (twelve years on) Can engage in abstract thinking (like in college). Can reason about situation they have not experienced first hand. Can think about future possibilities. Can compare and classify ideas. |
| Critisms of Piaget's Cognitive Development | -transition from one stage to another is not clear cut, preschoolers are not as egocentric as Piaget thought. Development depends on culture and education, Children understand more than Piaget gives them credit for. Probably born with "mental modules " for numbers, spatial relations, core categories. 4 month olds understand some of the basic principles of physics (what goes down must come up?) Will look longer if they observe an "impossible event". Some 3 month olds can show an understanding of object permanence. 1 week old infant can recognize a difference in numbers (moral don't try to cheat an infant in cards). Infants as "scientist in the crib" Comes into the world ready to form theories about how the world works. Tests those theories in their interaction with the environment. Piaget overestimates cognitive abilities of adults:Not all adults develop formal operations or reflective judgment -- they will think concretely unless a specific problem requires abstract thought. |
| Language Acquisition Device (LAD) | an innate mental module that allows young children to develop language if they are exposed to conversation. The "language acquisition device" is not the family telephone. Language is too complex to be learned by simple imitation. Child can infer the "deep structure" of a sentence from the "surface structure". Surface Structure - The way the sentence is actually spoken. Deep structure - The meaning of the sentence. Syntax = rules "Mary Kissed John" and "John was kissed by Mary" have the same deep structure. |
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