Personality Flashcards
What is the psychoanalytic perspective of personality?
Explains behavior and personality in terms of unconscious processes. Assumes personality is formed in early childhood.
What is the unconscious?
storehouse of impulses, wishes, and inaccessible memories that affect our thoughts and behavior
What are the id, ego, and superego?
id (DEVIL) - most primitive part of personality. wants to immediately satisfy desires. “I’m hungry now! I don’t care if I’m at a funeral”.
ego (ANGEL) - internalized morals and values of society. “That’s not right … You can wait to eat AFTER THE FUNERAL”
superego - gratification of impulses must be delayed until the situation is appropriate. Mediates id. Reality principle. balance between id and superego
*id is unconscious and ego and superego is conscious. think of the iceberg analogy
What are Freud’s defense mechanisms?
Unconscious mental processes aimed at protecting self from experiencing unpleasant emotions
Regression – person reverts to a previous phase of development (going back to when things were better) (8 yo child gets baby sibling, so he pees bed and stuff)
Projection – person attributes his or her own unacknowledged feelings or impulses to others (two spouses: one’s cheating. That cheater feels guilty and blames the other for cheating)
Repression – thoughts that are too anxiety-provoking to acknowledge are kept from conscious awareness (push unwanted memories/thoughts so far back that one no longer remembers it)
What are each of Freud’s first 3 psychosexual stages (e.g., oral stage)?
oral - birth-18 months. Explore world through mouth. Dependence - need someone to feed them and if needs are met, they learn that they can trust people.
Anal - ages 18 mos.-3 yrs. Conflict with parents about compliance and defiance. Attitudes toward order and disorder, messiness and cleanliness.
Phallic - ages 3-6. Identification with father – develop feelings of similarity and connectedness. Electra complex (girls) and Identification with mother.
What are oral and anal fixations?
Oral fixation - tend to chew on fingernails, candy always in mouth, cigarettes.
Anal fixation - uptight
What is the Oedipus complex?
Oedipus complex – boy desires exclusive relationship with mother (Greek legend – Oedipus kills father and marries mother).
What is psychological determinism? What are Freudian slips?
all thoughts, emotions, and behaviors have causes(everything we do has an unconscious cause). Unsatisfied drives and unconscious wishes (accidentally leaving sweater in friend’s room).
freudian slips - slip of the tongue, wrong word/name.
What are projective tests?
present ambiguous stimulus to which person may respond
What are the Rorschach and TAT?
Rorschach inkblot tests – individual views a set of inkblots and tells what each inkblot resembles
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) – individual asked to make up a story about each of a series of ambiguous drawings
What is the humanistic perspective of personality?
self actualization - our behavior results from fulfilling highest potential.
What is Rogers’s concept of unconditional positive regard?
being given the sense that individual is valued by parents and others
What are Eysenck’s 2 personality factors?
Introversion-extraversion – degree to which basic orientation is turned inward toward the self or outward toward external world
Emotional stability-neuroticism – emotionality
What are the Big Five traits?
Openness to experience – imaginative, witty (creativity)
Conscientiousness – cautious, dependable (reliability)
Extraversion – enthusiastic, sociable (gregarious)
Agreeableness – friendly, cooperative (easy-going)
Neuroticism – nervous, worrying (easily upset)
What is Rationalization?
explaining away actions in a seemingly logical way to avoid uncomfortable feelings
Day off from work: Wants to get lots of work done. Hours later I’m really tired. If I take a nap, I’ll be more focused
