Chapter 14- Personality

Question 1

personality

Answer 1

people’s typical ways of thinking, feeling and behaving

Question 2

traits

Answer 2

relatively enduring predisposition that influences our behaviour across many situations

Question 3

Three Broad influences on personality

Answer 3

1. genetic factors
2. shared environmental factors
3. Non environmental factors

Question 4

1. genetic factors

Answer 4

it does not matter how and by whom we are raised, our personalities have been linked to our biological parents genetic makeup

Question 5

2. shared environmental factors

Answer 5

-experiences that make individuals within the same family more alike.

-if parents try to make both of their children more outgoing by reinforcing them with attention and succeed in doing so, their parenting in this case is shared environmental factors

Question 6

Non shared environmental factors

Answer 6

-experiences that make individuals within the same family less alike.

-If a parent treats one child more affectionately than another, and as a consequence this child ends up with a higher self esteem than the other child, the parenting in this case is no shared environmental factor

Question 7

nomothetic approach

Answer 7

scientific approach that seeks out general principles in nature, rather than principles specific to an individual

Question 8

Idiographic approach

Answer 8

scientific approach that focuses on identifying the unique configuration of characteristics and life history experience within a person

Question 9

molecular genetic study

Answer 9

investigation that allows researchers to pin point genes associated with specific personality traits

Question 10

novelty seeking

Answer 10

a trait that refers to the tendency to search out and enjoy new experiences

Question 11

psychic determinism

Answer 11

the assumption that all psychological events have a cause

Question 12

Id

Answer 12

reservoir of our most primitive impulses, including sex and aggression

Question 13

pleasure principle

Answer 13

tendency of the id to strive for immediate gratification

Question 14

superego

Answer 14

our sense of morality

Question 15

ego

Answer 15

psyche’s executive and principle decision maker

Question 16

reality principle

Answer 16

tendency of the ego to postpone gratification until it can find an appropriate outlet

Question 17

defence mechanisms

Answer 17

unconscious manoeuvres intended to minimize anxiety

Question 18

repression

Answer 18

motivated forgetting of emotionally threatening memories or impulses

Question 19

denial

Answer 19

motivated forgetting of distressing external experiences

Question 20

reaction formation

Answer 20

transformation of an anxiety provoking emotion into its opposite

Question 21

projection

Answer 21

unconscious attribution of our negative characteristics to others

Question 22

displacement

Answer 22

directing an impulse from a socially unacceptable target onto a safer and more socially acceptable target

Question 23

rationalization

Answer 23

providing a reasonable sounding explanation for unreasonable behaviours or for failures

Question 24

sublimation

Answer 24

transforming a socially unacceptable impulse into an admired goal

Question 25

erogenous zone

Answer 25

sexually arousing zone of the body

Question 26

oral stage

Answer 26

psychosexual stage that focuses on the mouth

Question 27

anal stage

Answer 27

psychosexual stage that focussed on toilet training

Question 28

phallic stage

Answer 28

psychosexual stage that focuses on the genitals

Question 29

oedipus complex

Answer 29

conflict during phallic stage in which boys supposedly love their mothers romantically and want to eliminate their fathers as rivals

Question 30

latency stage

Answer 30

psychosexual stage in which sexual impulses are submerged into the unconscious

Question 31

genital stage

Answer 31

psychosexual stage in which sexual impulses awaken and typically begin to mature into romantic attraction toward others

Question 32

neo-freudian theories

Answer 32

theories derived from freud’s model, but that placed less emphasis on sexuality as a driving force in personality and were more optimistic regarding the prospects for long term personality growth

Question 33

style of life

Answer 33

according to Adler, each persons distinctive way of achieving superiority

Question 34

inferiority complex

Answer 34

feelings of low self esteem that can lead to overcompensation for such feelings

Question 35

collective unconscious

Answer 35

according to Jung, our shared storehouse of memories that ancestors have passed down to us across generations

Question 36

archetypes

Answer 36

cross culturally universal symbols

Question 37

social learning theorists

Answer 37

theorists who emphasize thinking as a cause of personality

Question 38

reciprocal determinism

Answer 38

tendency for people to mutually influence each others behaviours

Question 39

radical behaviourists are determinists

Answer 39

they believe that all of our actions are products of pre existing genetic and environmental casual influences

Question 40

self actualization

Answer 40

drive to develop our innate potential to the fullest possible extent

Question 41

our personality consists of three components

Answer 41

1. organism 2. self 3. conditions of worth

Question 42

1. organism

Answer 42

the organism is our innate and substantially genetically influence blueprint.

Question 43

2. self

Answer 43

the self is pit self concept, the set of beliefs about who we are

Question 44

3. conditions of worth

Answer 44

expectations we place on ourselves for appropriate and inappropriate behaviour

Question 45

peak experiences

Answer 45

transcendent moment of intense excitement and tranquility marked by a profound sense of connection to the world

Question 46

factor analysis

Answer 46

analyses the correlations among responses on personality inventories and other measures

Question 47

big five repeatedly

Answer 47

five traits that have surfaced repeatedly in factor analyses of personality measures

Question 48

lexical approach

Answer 48

approach proposing that the most crucial features of personality are embedded in our language

Question 49

these five dimensions are

Answer 49

1. openness to experiences 2. conscientiousness 3. extroversion 4. agreeableness 5. neuroticism

Question 50

1. openness to experiences

Answer 50

sometime just called “openness”, open people tend to be intellectually curious and unconventional

Question 51

2. conscientiousness

Answer 51

conscientious people tend to be carful and responsible

Question 52

extroversion

Answer 52

extroverted people tend to be social and lively

Question 53

agreeableness

Answer 53

agreeable people tend to be sociable and easy to get along with

Question 54

neuroticism

Answer 54

neurotic people tend to be tense and moody

Question 55

structured personality tests

Answer 55

paper and pencil question consisting of questions that respondents answer in one of a few fixed ways

Question 56

Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory

Answer 56

widely used structured personality test designed to asses symptoms of mental disorders

Question 57

empirical method of test construction

Answer 57

approach to building tests in which researchers begin with two or more criterion groups and examine which items best distinguish them

Question 58

face validity

Answer 58

extent to which respondents can tell what the items are measuring

Question 59

rational/theoretic method of test construction

Answer 59

approach to building tests that requires tests developers to begin with a clear- cut conceptualization of a trait and then write item to asses that conceptualization

Question 60

projective test

Answer 60

test consisting of ambiguous stimuli that examinees must interpret or make sense of

Question 61

projective hypothesis

Answer 61

hypothesis that in the process of interpreting ambiguous stimuli, examinees project aspects of their personality onto the stimuli

Question 62

Rorschach inkblot test

Answer 62

projective test consisting of ten symmetrical inkblots

Question 63

Thematic Apperception test

Answer 63

projective test requiring examinees to tell a story in response to ambiguous pictures

Question 64

graphology

Answer 64

psychological interpretation of handwriting

Question 65

P.T Barnum effect

Answer 65

tendency of people to accept high base rate descriptions as accurate