Unit 7 - Stress and Personality

Question 1

General Adaptation Syndrome

Answer 1

Occurs over a long period of time and has three stages.
1. Alarm Stage: Body prepares for attack.
2. Resistance: Body uses up a great amount of energy.
3. Exhaustion: Health problems.

Question 2

Tend and Befriend Response

Answer 2

Reaction to stress that create social networks that provide protection, especially in women. The hormone linked to this is oxytocin.

Question 3

Psychophysiological Illness

Answer 3

Stress-related physical illness.

Question 4

Psychoneuroimmunology

Answer 4

Study of how psychological, neural, and endocrine processes affect the immune system.

Question 5

Lymphocytes

Answer 5

White blood cells part of the immune system. During stress, energy is mobilized away from the immune system.
B lymphocytes: fight bacterial infections.
T lymphocytes: attack cancer cells, viruses, and foreign substances.

Question 6

Coronary Heart Disease

Answer 6

Clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle.

Question 7

Type A Personality

Answer 7

Competitive, hard-driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger-prone; more likely to develop coronary heart disease.

Question 8

Type B Personality

Answer 8

Easygoing, relaxed people.

Question 9

Psychoanalysis

Answer 9

Freud’s theory; attributes our thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts.

Question 10

Unconscious Mind

Answer 10

Reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories (repression).

Question 11

Free Association

Answer 11

Therapy strategy used by Freud; ask patients to say whatever came to their minds.

Question 12

Dream Analysis

Answer 12

Interpretation of the manifest and latent contents of dreams.

Question 13

Id - Pleasure Principle

Answer 13

Unconscious; strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives; operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification.

Question 14

Ego - Reality Principle

Answer 14

Executive; mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality; operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id’s desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain.

Question 15

Superego - Honorable Conscience

Answer 15

Unconscious; standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations; Morality Principle; Too strong = feelings of guilt

Question 16

Psychosexual Stages

Answer 16

Personality formed during the first few years of life divided into psychosexual stages.

Question 17

Oedipus Complex

Answer 17

Boy’s unconscious sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father; results in feeling guilt and fear of punishment.

Question 18

Identification

Answer 18

Superego gains strength that incorporates their parents’ values.

Question 19

Fixation

Answer 19

Unresolved conflicts; causes the person to be locked into certain behaviors. Ex. Oral Fixation, Anal Fixation

Question 20

Defense Mechanisms

Answer 20

Methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality.

Question 21

Psychodynamic Theories

Answer 21

Modern-day approaches; focus on the unconscious and childhood experiences.

Question 22

Collective Unconscious

Answer 22

Common reservoir of images derived from our species’ past.

Question 23

Archetypes

Answer 23

Are inherited universal concepts like mother or hero.

Question 24

Projective Test

Answer 24

Provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics; lack of validity.

Question 25

Thematic Apperception Test

Answer 25

People express their inner feelings and interest through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes.

Question 26

Rorschach Inkblot Test

Answer 26

Seeks to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots; lacks validity

Question 27

False Consensus Effect

Answer 27

Modern Version of Freud’s Projection; Tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors.

Question 28

Terror Management Theory

Answer 28

Supports Freud’s idea that we unconsciously guard against anxiety; explores people’s emotional and behavioral responses to reminders of their impending death.

Question 29

Humanistic Perspective/Self-Actualization

Answer 29

Emphasized the importance of self and fulfillment of potential (self actualization)

Question 30

Carl Rogers - Unconditional Positive Regard

Answer 30

Attitude of therapist is genuine, accepting, and empathetic.

Question 31

Criticisms of Humanism

Answer 31

Difficult to test or validate; underestimate the inherent capacity for evil.

Question 32

Traits

Answer 32

Characteristic pattern of behavior.

Question 33

Factor Analysis

Answer 33

Statistical Approach used to describe traits.

Question 34

Personality Inventory

Answer 34

Questionnaires assessing several traits at once; compared to established norms.

Question 35

Eyesenck Personality Test

Answer 35

Two polar dimensions;
Extroversion: enjoy being around people
Introversion: concerned primarily with one’s own thoughts and feelings. Emotional stability or emotional instability (arousal)

Question 36

The Big 5 (OCEAN or CANOE)

Answer 36

Five broad domains or dimensions of personality that are used to describe human personality.
Openness: curious, creative
Conscientiousness: organized, dependable
Extraversion: outgoing, sociable
Agreeableness: tolerant, trusting
Neuroticism: anxious, temperamental.

Question 37

Criticisms of Trait Perspective

Answer 37

Does not really explain personality, only describes behavior; overestimates the consistency of behaviors.

Question 38

Person-Situation Controvery

Answer 38

Walter Mischel; Behavior in various situations is different; traits are not good predictors of behavior.

Question 39

Barnum Effect

Answer 39

Personality traits; given high accuracy ratings.

Question 40

Social Cognitive Perspective

Answer 40

Bandura; personality is based off of interaction between a person and their social context.

Question 41

Reciprocal Determinism

Answer 41

Personality as the result of interaction of behavioral, cognitive, and environmental interactions.