Chapter 14

Question 1

Personality

Answer 1

• A distinctive and relatively stable pattern of behaviour, thoughts, motives, and emotions that characterizes an individual
• Pattern may consist of many distinctive traits

Question 2

Traits

Answer 2

a characteristic of an individual, describing a habitual way of behaving, thinking, or feeling

Question 3

Psychoanalysis

Answer 3

A theory of personality and a method of psychotherapy that emphasizes uncuncious motives and conflicts

Originally formulated by Sigmund Freud

Question 4

Psychodynamic

Answer 4

explains personality in terms of unconscious energy dynamics within the individual

Question 5

Structure of Personality

Answer 5

ID, Ego, and Superego

Question 6

ID (Instinctive drives)

Answer 6

part of personality that contains inherited psychic energy, particularly sexual (libido) & aggressive impulses

Question 7

Ego

Answer 7

part of personality that represents reason, good sense, and rational self-control

Question 8

Superego

Answer 8

the part of personality that represents conscience, morality, and social standards

Question 9

Defence Mechanism

Answer 9

When the id and superego are in conflict, the ego deals with this tension through the use of defense mechanisms

• Methods used by the ego to prevent unconscious anxiety or threatening thoughts from entering consciousness
• Many mechanisms proposed but some more common than others

Question 10

Types of Defence Mechanisms (6)

Answer 10

Repression, projection, replacement, reaction formation, regression, denial

Question 11

Repression

Answer 11

the selective, involuntary pushing of threatening or upsetting information into the unconscious

Question 12

Projection

Answer 12

a person’s unacceptable or threatening feelings being repressed and then attributed to someone else

Question 13

Displacement

Answer 13

when people direct their emotions (especially anger) toward things, animals, or other people that are not the real object of their feelings. (Called sublimation when serves a higher cultural or social purpose)

Question 14

Reaction formation

Answer 14

when a feeling that produces unconscious anxiety is transformed into its opposite in consciousness

Question 15

Regression

Answer 15

when a person reverts to a previous phase of psychological development

Question 16

Denial

Answer 16

when people refuse to admit something unpleasant is happening, that they have a problem, or that they are feeling a forbidden emotion
Protects self image and preserves illusion of invulnerability

Question 17

Freud’s Psychosexual

Answer 17

A series of different forms of sexual energy into which personality develops as the child matures

Question 18

Stages of Freud’s ‘Psychosexual’ (5)

Answer 18

oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital

Question 19

Oedipus Complex

Answer 19

conflict in the phallic stage where a child desires the parent of the other sex and views the same-sex parent as a rival

Question 20

Fixated

Answer 20

The level when conflict and anxiety aren’t resolved and they become fixated at that level

Question 21

Jungian theory & collective unconscious

Answer 21

The universal memories and experiences of humankind, represented in symbols, stories, and images (archetypes) that occur across all cultures

Question 22

Archetypes

Answer 22

symbolic images that appear in myths, art, stories, and dreams.

• Shadow
• Anima/Animus

Question 23

Shadow

Answer 23

bestial, evil side of nature

Question 24

Anima/Animus

Answer 24

Feminine and masculine

Question 25

Object-Relations school

Answer 25

Emphasized the importance of the infant’s first two years of life and the baby’s formative relationships, especially with the mother

Question 26

Psychodynamic theories guilty of three scientific failings:

Answer 26

1. Violating the principle of falsifiability 2. Drawing universal principles from the experiences of a few atypical patients 3. Basing theories of personality development on retrospective accounts of adults

Question 27

Objective inventories

Answer 27

- Standardized questionnaires requiring written responses | - Typically include scales on which people are asked to rate themselves

Question 28

Core Personality Traits

Answer 28

Allport evaluated personality traits based on their influence on a person’s life

Question 29

Central Traits

Answer 29

aspects of personality that reflect a characteristic way of behaving, dealing with others, and reacting to new situations

Question 30

Secondary Traits

Answer 30

changeable aspects of personality

Question 31

Factor analysis

Answer 31

often used to identify clusters of behaviours that are measured by a common underlying factor

Question 32

Most researchers agree on the centrality of five core traits in personality

Answer 32

1. Extroversion versus introversion 2. Neuroticism (negative emotionality) versus emotional stability 3. Agreeableness versus antagonism 4. Conscientiousness versus impulsiveness 5. Openness to experience versus resistance to new experience

Question 33

The Big Five

Answer 33

Culture can influence the expression of traits & how they are reflected in language (even nonverbal signs) -Big Five are relatively stable, but may reflect maturational changes over lifespan

Question 34

Animal Personalities

Answer 34

- Research has argued that some nonhuman species show ‘personality’ - Ratings of personalities of dogs between dog, owners, their friends, and neutral observers all showed strong agreement (Dimensions of extroversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, and openness to experience)

Question 35

What aspects of personality may have an inherited component?

Answer 35

Temperaments and heritability

Question 36

Temperaments

Answer 36

- Physiological dispositions to respond to the environment in certain ways - Present in infancy and in many nonhuman species and assumed to be innate (Include reactivity, soothability, impulsivity, positive and negative emotionality)

Question 37

Heritability

Answer 37

- A statistical estimate of the proportion of the total variance in some trait that is attributable to genetic differences among individuals within a group - Often examine adoption and twin studies (heritability for traits in twins around .50) - Canadian researchers have found that similarities in personality increase with age

Question 38

If genetic theories are correct, we may not be able to transform personalities drastically

Answer 38

Implications for realistic goals in therapy | Focus on living with temperaments we have

Question 39

Be careful not to oversimplify support for genetic influences

Answer 39

Genetic predisposition ≠ genetic inevitability | Don’t overlook role of environment & experience

Question 40

Three primary aspects of environmental influence that have been examined:

Answer 40

1. Situational and Social learning 2. Parental Influence 3. Peer Influences

Question 41

Situational and Social Learning

Answer 41

Display different behaviours in different contexts Central personality traits acquired from learning history & expectations/beliefs Acknowledgement that people can have a core set of traits and their behaviour can vary across situations

Question 42

Reciprocal Determinism

Answer 42

In social-cognitive theories, the two-way interaction between aspects of the environment and aspects of the individual in the shaping of personality traits Accounts for aspects of non-shared environments

Question 43

Parental Influence

Answer 43

Western belief that child-rearing practices are the strongest influence on children’s personality development Especially in cases where public is looking for someone to blame for horrible events

Question 44

Belief that personality primarily determined by parental treatment discounted on the basis of three sources of evidence: (3)

Answer 44

1. The shared environment of the home has little if any influence on personality 2. Few parents have a single child-rearing style that is consistent over time and that they use with all their children-different children may require different styles 3. Even when parents try to be consistent in the way they treat their children, there may be little relation between what they do and how the children turn out

Question 45

Peer Influences

Answer 45

Conformity to dress, habits, language, & rules of peers can be highly influential Identification with peer group is key to survival of the next generation (peer acceptance very important) Peers shape expression of personality traits, with emphasis on some and downplaying others Personality may also influence the types of peers we are drawn to in the first place

Question 46

Culture

Answer 46

A program of shared rules that governs the behaviour of members of a community or society and a set of values, beliefs, and attitudes shared by most members of that community May be as influential as any biological process

Question 47

Individualistic cultures

Answer 47

Cultures in which the self is regarded as autonomous, and individual goals and wishes are prized above duty and relations with others

Question 48

Collectivistic cultures

Answer 48

Cultures in which the self is regarded as embedded in relationships, and harmony with one’s group is prized above individual goals and wishes (pg. 28)