personality and the self Flashcards
personality
organized combination of attributes, motives, values and behaviors unique to each individual
- dispositional traits, characteristic adaptions and life stories/narratives
dispositional traits
enduring characteristics (ex: introversion and extroversion)
characteristic adaptions
situation-specific (goals, coping mechanisms, etc…)
self concept
perception of unique traits
self esteem
evaluations based on positive and negative self-perceptions; make up self concept
identity
overall sense of who they are, where they are heading, and where they fit into society
theories of personality
- psychoanalytic
- Neo-Freudian Erik Erikson (psychosocial)
- trait theory
- social learning theory
psychoanalytic theory
Freud; personality formed during first 5 years
- theory of psychosexual development
- Id, ego, superego
Neo-Freudian Erik Erikson
theory of psychosocial development: eight stages with different conflicts and different resolutions
- social influence has big role
- there is a potential for growth
- we all go through the same stages
trait theory
personality is a set of dispositional trait dimensions along which people can differ
The big five:
- openness and experience,
- conscientiousness,
- extraversion,
- agreeableness, and
- neuroticism
The self
conceptual system made of ones thoughts and attitudes about oneself
Social learning theory
rejects universal stages of personality development
- Bandura
- peoples behavior is influenced by situation/enviornment
Infants/toddlers personality
- infants have a sense if self by the 1st month of life, but becomes more distinct at 8 months
- 18-20 months children recognize themselves in the mirror
Late adulthood personality
- research supports Erickson’s view that we are capable of growth during middle adulthood
- completely psychosocial growth
- elderly adults confront the psychosocial issue of integrity vs despair in prep for dying
- life review
adolescents personality
- middle teens: agonize over the contradictions in behavior and characteristics
- study: 7th grades < 9th graders when reporting contractions in characteristics (orders felt internal conflicts - confusion and negative emotions)
- identity begins to develop one that incorporates numerous aspects of self (values, goals, political beliefs, ethnic, etc…)
