Exam 1 Flashcards

Question

People low in agreeableness are ... + example

Answer 1

Mean, Harsh ex: Dr.House from the doctor show

Answer 2

Moody, Anxious, Insecure ® more likely to get knocked off course by everyday stressers ® More fatigue throughout the day ® Feel disconnected from life or other people ® Feel like they have woken up in a strange or unfamiliar place ® Substance abuse problems ® More frequent thoughts of suicide Sometime helpful: ® More aware of threats in the environment ® May be motivated to work hard at tasks to avoid feelings of anxiety

Answer 3

Calm, Relaxed, Stable -Like boats that remain on course through choppy waters

Answer 4

§ Different categories for people § Popular but scientist don't love it 1-Lacks predictive validity ® Not good at actually predicting real life outcomes (ex: Can't predict educational attainment, relationship compatibility) 2-Treats personality as categorical, but personality is a spectrum (ex: Height vs Religion; Height is dimensional while Religion is categorical ® People are complex 3-Poor reliability ® Person's score can be very different if they take it more than once § Makes everything sound good □ Sound reasonable and not all that bad □ Want test to be taken and to become popular; financial motive § Seem accurate □ Barnum statements: phrased vaguely and not specifically □ Easily applicable to a large quantity of people

Answer 5

§ Development began with the lexical approach □ Used large pools of trait adjectives in different languages □ Cross-cultural endeavor § Found a sixth factor: Honesty-Humility □ High end> honest, sincere, trustworthy, unselfish □ Low end> arrogant, conceited, greedy, egotistical □ Similar to the mentioned subcategories: § Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness to Experience

Answer 6

Hans Eysenck believed a personality taxonomy are inheritable and have a biological basis Ex: More irritable because different levels of hormones ○ Hans Eysenck Taxonomy (PEN)

Answer 7

§ Psychoticism □ Aggressive, egocentric, creative, impulsive, lacking empathy, antisocial § Extraversion □ Sensation-seeking, assertive, carefree, sociable, active § Neuroticism □ Irrational, shy, moody, tense, anxious

Answer 8

□ Super-trait ® Ex: Extraversion □ Narrow traits ® Ex: Sociable □ Habitual acts ® Ex: I am a party-goer □ Specific acts ® Ex: I danced wildly at a party

Answer 9

○ Factor analysis tells you which traits tend to go with each other, finding common underlying factors ○ Ex: certain offices are closer to one another as they are more related; psych + socio + physicists

Answer 10

= using the theory of evolution by natural selection to understand human psychology § Charles Darwin traveled to islands and identified different types of birds, after analysis noticed majority similarity; discovered process of natural selection (different islands => different requirements of survival => different characteristics for food) □ Speciation § Came from a long and unbroken chain of ancestors who accomplished surviving until reproductive age and reproducing

Answer 11

§ Initial genes -> Identical gene (no advantage) -> Randomly created mutant gene (ex: longer neck)for greater access to food & more offspring -> More common in the population § Gradual □ Over many generations (very long relative to our lifespans § What is advantageous for the environment

Answer 12

=physiological and psychological mechanisms designed to serve specific functions § Solve specific adaptive problems ex: Giraffes long neck development for reaching food Generated by evolution -Adaptive problem: falling off cliffs is dangerous and can happen accidentally -Adaptive solution: experience fear and anxiety in response to steep drop-offs

Answer 13

(Break down of a person's motivational needs; lowest to highest) § Immediate physiological needs § Self protection- protecting self from threats □ Individual differences in prejudice § Affiliation- forming cooperative relationships □ Individual differences in tendency to trust others § Status/Esteem- gaining high prestige in your group □ Individual differences in achievement motivation § Mate-acquisition- finding & attracting mates □ Individual differences in attitudes toward sex § Mate retention- keeping mates from cheating on you □ Individual differences in jealousy § Parenting- making sure to invest in your children, so that they flourish and reproduce □ Individual differences in nurturing behavior § Ex: Kin recognition, Jealousy, Envy

Answer 14

= an organism's ability to out-reproduce its peers § Increased by adaptations § Doesn't mean strongest § Most well-adapted to their environment § Producing offspring that reproduce § Has many ingredients, diverse array § Selection pressure

Answer 15

= any aspect of the environment that influences whether a particular trait is selected

Answer 16

= how the behavior arises; immediate explanations for a trait/behavior

Answer 17

= the functional, evolutionary history of the adaptation; functional explanations for a trait/behavior

Answer 18

-Proximate explanations -Ultimate explanations

Answer 19

Proximate explanations: ® Strong disgust reactions ® Against the law in most countries ® Strong social taboos; shunned -ex: cognition, physiology, aspects of the situation; -ex: Socialized to be aggressive, more testosterone, more violent thoughts & behaviors Ultimate explanations: ® Harmful for the individuals reproductive success ® Increases likelihood of harmful recessive mutations in offspring -ex: adaptive problems, design features -ex: aggressive men won more intrasexual contests, thus greater access to mates

Answer 20

Evolutionary context and Modern mismatch -Mismatches between current & ancestral environments

Answer 21

= humans evolved in small, close-knit groups where cooperation within the group and wariness of outsiders helped protect resources and maintain group cohesion. § Fear and anxiety evolved to help humans avoid immediate physical dangers, like predators, natural disasters, or hostile groups.

Answer 22

= today, in an interconnected world, extreme in-group favoritism and out-group suspicion can manifest as xenophobia, prejudice, or difficulty in forming diverse social or professional networks, which are often essential for success in a globalized society. § In today's world, where physical threats are less frequent but chronic stressors (e.g., work pressure, financial concerns) are common, the same fear and anxiety mechanisms can become maladaptive, contributing to generalized anxiety disorders, chronic stress, and other mental health issues.

Answer 23

= idea that short men compensate for their short stature -Adler inferiority complex theory □ Short men competing in ways that pose relatively less risk to make up for their disadvantage in height □ Short men act more aggressively toward other men when they can do so in an indirect way □ Think as a mismatch in personality, although important to compete for resources it is not as important today; survival not important on compacity to gather resources; hold over of ancestral past

Answer 24

= If feel inferior in one way, overcompensate in another way

Answer 25

1-Evolution creates biology, not psychology 2-Evolutionary Psych= genetic determinism 3-The naturalistic fallacy: natural = good 4-People are evolved from chimpanzees 5-Evolution is about survival of the species 6-Evolution always produces behavior that are good for the individual 7-Survival of the fittest refers to the biggest and strongest 8-Evolution is intentional 9-People always have the conscious goal of reproducing 10-People are the "end-product" of evolution 11-Evolutionary psychology replaces other perspectives in psychology

Answer 26

§ False dichotomy § Evolution creates the hardware and the software

Answer 27

§ Resolving the nature vs. nurture □ Not blank slate (behaviorism) or genetic determinism § Everyone has a different character and lived experience

Answer 28

§ Just because something is natural, doesn't mean it's right □ "Is" vs "ought" □ Many behaviors are natural but nevertheless morally reprehensible □ ex: murder (ancestors- eliminate the competition for mating purposes) § Being evolved does not mean something is unchangeable □ To fight such behaviors, we need to understand them

Answer 29

§ Obviously not true (ex: gold retrievers from huskies) § Humans and other contemporary primates evolved from a common anccestor § Common ancestors faced same types of selection pressures as other primates □ Adaptations that address these selection pressures are likely shared by our close primate relatives

Answer 30

§ It's about survival of the individual § Ultimately about reproduction of one's genes

Answer 31

§ Sometimes what's good for the genes is bad for the individual § ex: sexual cannibalism with spiders □ Evolutionary adaptive for the species □ Smaller male offers self as nutrition to the female after copulation

Answer 32

§ If hunters showed up killing the biggest and the strongest, they are longer it § Fitness refers to an organism's capacity for reproductive success

Answer 33

§ Random mutations occur by chance (selection doesn't) § Evolution is like a tinkerer, it works with what is has to change the design ex: different eye structure mutations due to different environments

Answer 34

§ People often just have the goal of having sex; feels good § Reproductive physiology takes care of the rest

Answer 35

§ Organisms evolve to face selection pressures § As pressures change so does evolution of the organism □ People are still evolving □ Ex: Lactose tolerance § Other species are highly evolved with respect to their selection pressures □ Ex: Cochoroaches fit for their environment

Answer 36

§ Evolutionary psychology incorporates both ultimate explanations and proximate explanations □ Most other fields in psychology (and social sciences) concentrate exclusively on proximate explanations § Complements other perspective ex: Incest □ Taboo, against law, disgusting □ People often have severe genetic defects

Answer 37

= organisms are biologically prepared to learn certain things very efficiently

Answer 38

= when developmental experiences turn certain genes on or off

Answer 39

○ Women's reproduction is limited to how many eggs they can produce § In humans and many other species, fertilized eggs must then be gestated for months § Men's reproduction is limited only by how many females they can fertilize § Different adaptive problems leading to different adaptive solutions ○ Women must invest more time and energy in mating § Optimal strategy is to be choosy ○ Men compete with each other for mating access

Answer 40

§ Women: □ Childbirth □ Child support § Men: □ Paternity uncertainty

Answer 41

○ Most violent acts are committed by males ○ Compete for reproductive activities; passing on genes □ Ex: If women prefer aggressive men, sexual pressure for men to be aggressive ○ Intrasexual competition § Males compete for mating privileges ○ Greater difference in the reproductive variability in one sex = more competition within that sex ○ This theory partially explains physical traits and behaviors ○ Traits that provide mating benefits are passed on ○ Strength, intelligence, attractiveness, aggression ○ Ex: strength- females choose males who will be able to protect their offspring ○ For males, aggression was on average a successful intrasexual competition strategy

Answer 42

= process for which men or women differential reproduce based off how fit they are in the eyes of the opposite sex

Answer 43

= feeling that someone you trust or care about; feeling that they don't want to be as close with you as you are or want with them; fear of abandonment and feel they don't love or like you ○ Higher in women ○ Women invested more heavily in offspring than men ○ Maintaining supportive relationships VERY important ○ Friendship patterns as well as romantic relationships

Answer 44

□ Challenging to study from an evolutionary perspective □ Compared to sex differences □ Less of a conceptual and empirical foundation □ The adaptiveness of me having one trait is contingent on me having (or not having) another trait. □ Aggressiveness is a better strategy if you are also strong, for example.

Answer 45

□ Universal adaptations expressed selectively as a consequence of different environments □ Contingencies with other traits □ Frequency-dependent selection

Answer 46

◊ Trait success varies with population frequency ◊ Common traits may decrease in advantage ◊ Rare traits can offer competitive benefits ◊ Balances alternative strategies within populations ◊ Ex: Women's mating strategies □ On average, women lean more towards long term mating □ Secure resources and commitment □ But imagine if all pursue long term, and now one is short terms □ Offering something no one else is offering, advantage □ As more choose short term, advantage goes down

Answer 47

◊ An adaptation that does occur but not the same for everyone ◊ From universal adaptation to behave a certain way based on certain experiences ◊ Environment } Individual differences= human nature + environment differences } ex: May be more jealous if a lot of attractive people around your partner } Sexual strategies theory ◊ Can come from: □ Environmental differences ◊ Ex: More independent if you had very distant parents □ Contingencies among traits ◊ Ex: If small and weak, not adaptive for me to have a strong temper

Answer 48

= the primary product of the evolutionary process □ Ex: sweating to regulate body temperature

Answer 49

= pattern of behavior as a consequence of father's parental investment in the child – Expectation that resources aren't reliable and relationships aren't lasting – Results in short-term mating strategy and relationships – Sexually active earlier and have more short-term partners – Average

Answer 50

◊ Ex: difference in personality according to height ◊ How will you get resources & social status □ If you’re intelligent and likeable: □ Cooperation with others may work well □ If not: □ An aggressive strategy may work better ◊ How will you find a mate? □ If you’re young and attractive: might pursue a lot of sexual partners □ If not: might look for just one

Answer 51

§ We are a social species □ Adaptive problems ® Food ® Protection ® Mates □ Important to be a part of the group (avoid being ostracized) § Social anxiety § Species-typical adaptation that prevents exclusion § Ex: Study on WW2 veterans □ Closest social bonds were their fellow veterans § Physical pain and social exclusion affect similar brain regions

Answer 52

§ Think of adaptations § Emotions are like little guides that point you toward goals that would have been useful in ancestral times § ex: pride > puff out chest > seem to have something others should pay attention to § Only makes sense if emotions are universally recognized the same way □ Certain emotions are □ Fear, surprise, anger, happiness, sadness, contempt, disgust □ Also nonverbally (Same between sighted versus blind)

Answer 53

= an emotion that involves feelings of revulsion and sometimes nausea § People around the world are disgusted by contaminated food and diseased substances § Showing people pictures of contaminated food increases body temperature (activating immune system)

Answer 54

§ Men: □ While a female can be sure a child is hers, a male cannot be sure a child is his □ If your partner has a child with another male, you aren't passing on your genes □ Should become more jealous when they suspect sexual infidelity □ "Did you have sex with him?" § Women: □ Want to keep your partner's resources and protection for yourself and your children □ Should become more jealous when they suspect emotional involvement □ "Do you love her?" § Emotional infidelity § Sexual infidelity

Answer 55

§ Women must invest more in children □ Value male's financial resources and social status § Men need a fertile female to bear children □ Value a female's physical appearance □ Youth & health= fertility § These sex differences are as strong as differences in height and muscle strength

Answer 56

§ Meta-analysis showed that on average males and females are actually very similar

Answer 57

= takes the average from many different studies

Answer 58

= deep emotional bond

Answer 59

= being sexually disloyal

Answer 60

= distress or worry about being negatively evaluated in social situations

Answer 61

Two types of personality change: -Mean level change -Rank order change

Answer 62

= the average level of the personality trait changing within a group □ Ex: this class's extraversion ® Class average today vs. everyone years later

Answer 63

= the order of individuals changed, but the mean level change stayed the stay

Answer 64

= the order of individuals may or may not change, decrease or increased mean level change

Answer 65

= Mean level changes trending as a person gets older (especially after age 50) ® Openness, extraversion, and neuroticism decreases ® Conscientiousness and agreeableness increases

Answer 66

= Change in relative trait level/position within a group

Answer 67

= when both tests with time in between have the same rank order ® Ex: Bayla is most extraverted while Michael is least extraverted now Years later, remain the same in ranking

Answer 68

= when both tests with time in between have different rank orders

Answer 69

= the same trait could manifest in different ways over the life span -temperament

Answer 70

= individual differences that arise early in life □ Involved with emotionality and arousability ® Emotionality – happy baby or unhappy baby ® Arousability – easily frightened? easily angered? □ Heritable (meaning, genetic basis)

Answer 71

***especially during adolescence*** § Women: □ Self-esteem decreases with age ® From childhood to adolescence □ Become more assertive, independent ® From adulthood onward § Men: □ Self-esteem increases ® From childhood to adolescence □ Ambition decreases -Become more realistic about what is attainable

Answer 72

= an effect that is due to the social times in which a person ex: Women in different time periods (self-sufficient -> house-wife -> enter college & workforce)

Exam 1 Flashcards

(96 cards)