FINAL

Question 1

What is Object Relations Theory?

Answer 1

A relational structural model in which an inborn drive to form and maintain relationships is the basic need from which other drives derive their meaning. Drives exist but they are psychological not biological.

Question 2

What is splitting and why do children do it?

Answer 2

WHAT: stemming primarily b/c anxiety over aggressive impulses, children split objects/feelings into good & bad aspects in effort to retain good as a part of the self & get rid of bad by projecting them onto others
WHY: allows children to treat the internalized object as clearly good or bad while continuing to trust & love the actual external person who is an intricate combination of both

Question 3

What is separation-individuation?

Answer 3

Begins about 4th month and leads to the formation of a stable self-concept near the end of the 3rd year. Separation implies physical differentiation & separateness from one’s primary caregiver. Individuation suggests psychological growth away from one’s primary caregiver & toward one’s unique identity.

Question 4

What are the two “forerunner phases” prior to separation-individuation?

Answer 4

Normal Autism & Normal Symbiosis - in which ego develops from a state of absolutely primary narcissism to a recognition of an external world (no real separation of self from caregiver at this time but developments may occur that promote/impede the process)

Question 5

What are the 4 phases (and ages) of separation-individuation?

Answer 5

1) Differentiation - development of a body image separate from that of mother (5-9 mos)
2) Practicing - perfecting motor abilities, developing physical independance (10-14 mos)
3) Rapprochement - increased awareness of separateness from mother with accompanying sensitivity to her absence that expresses conflict between urge to separate and fear of loss, and recognition that mothers have both good/bad aspects (14-24 mos)
4) Consolidation - unification of the good/bad in mother w/ image of her as separate entity in external world, beginning of child’s own individuality & separate personhood as seen in development of self-concept based on stable sense of “me” (2-3 yrs)

Question 6

Explain Kohut’s “self-theory”

Answer 6

Maintains that children need to be mirrored (have their talk/accomplishments acknowledged, accepted & praised. Idealization of parents enables them to develop goals. In time most children learn idealized notions are unrealistic, substitute a more realistic assessment instead. Narcissistic individuals are searching for idealized parent substitute that can never be found.

Question 7

What is the Nuclear Self?

Answer 7

Preliminary core self, emerges in the 2nd year. Nuclear self is bipolar - two poles are archaic nuclear ambitions & subsequent goals → create tension arc that fosters development of early skills & talents
Supportive/empathetic family relations permit nuclear self to grow & become cohesive leading to autonomous self

Question 8

What is the Autonomous Self?

Answer 8

Has both qualities of self-esteem & self-confidence, establishes both general ambition & precise goals → develops skills/talents to meet them
Shows healthy independence and flexibility in interpersonal relations

Question 9

What were Freud’s thoughts on narcissism?

Answer 9

He believed that narcissistic and borderline disorders would not be treated by psychoanalysis b/c they originated before the patient was able to talk, thus not amenable to verbal analysis.

Question 10

What are Kohut’s thoughts on the Oedipal Complex?

Answer 10

He believed the presence of a firm self was necessary for the Oedipus complex, and found that at the end of their analysis some of his patients had acquired an Oedipal constellation. This was considered the positive result the patient had never achieved before. Believed the Oedipal complex could be a “joyful” experience, but if it was filled w/ conflict it may be b/c narcissistic parents were unable to respond w/ empathy to young child, leading the child to turn to a fantasy life.

Question 11

Describe borderline personality disorder and who focussed on its research?

Answer 11

Kernberg as focussed on borderline personality disorder research. More common than schizophrenia or bipolar disorder but less well known, patients are unable to engage in introspection, develop insight, and work through problems. Frequently have strong mood swings, inclined to see significant others in their lives as all good or all bad. Display oral tendencies such as dependency needs or incorporative style but also powerful aggressive tendencies, particular w/ reference to Oedipal struggles

Question 12

What is transference-focused psychotherapy and how does it differ from classical psychotherapy?

Answer 12

Therapist plays more active role than in classical psychotherapy, and stress is placed on current behaviour rather than past events. A complete transference neurosis is not permitted to develop, nor is transference resolved through interpretation alone. Therapist clearly depicts & discusses patient’s seeming distortions of reality (such as the distorted view of the therapist).

Question 13

For Kernberg, where is the basis of personality formation?

Answer 13

Basis of personality formation lies in uniting the neuropsychological causes of primitive emotions with the first interpersonal experiences of babies/children
Personality disturbances caused by psychic structures that are built under the influence of early emotional events w/ significant others
*genetic predispositions/early traumas affect brain circuitry

Question 14

Describe reproduction of mothering

Answer 14

Process by which the mother-daughter relationship instills in the daughter maternal capacities and a desire to take on the role of mother in future relationships
Establishment of gender identity occurs in pre-Oedipal period, women’s personality is developed in a way that emphasizes ongoing interpersonal relations, but men grow to see themselves as distinct & different. There is a repression of relational needs in men & a need for reciprocal intimacy nourished in women.

Question 15

Contrast the paradigms for understanding human nature - traditional vs. Stone Centre

Answer 15

Process for development
Traditional: separation-individuation
SC: relationship-differentiation

Goal of development
Traditional: self
SC: connections

Model
Traditional: male
SC: female

Health
Traditional: self-sufficiency
SC: relational competence

Ill health
Traditional: dependency
SC: disconnections

Values
Traditional: individualistic
SC: connecting

Question 16

What is the Law of Effect?

Answer 16

Developed by Thorndike who studied the learning process by conducting experiments with animals. States that when a behaviour is accompanied by satisfaction, it tends to happen again. If the behaviour is accompanied by frustration, it tends to decrease. Not necessarily universal (sometimes increased efforts come out of frustration) but generally true.

Question 17

Define “habit” according to Dollard & Miller?

Answer 17

Some kind of learned association between a stimulus & response that makes them occur together frequently
Temporary structures b/c they can appear & disappear, they are learned thus can be unlearned

Question 18

What is Drive Reduction?

Answer 18

Primary dynamic underlying personality development & acquisition of habits. Drive = strong stimulation that produces discomfort. Learning can only occur if a response is followed by the reduction of a need/drive.

Question 19

What are Primary Drives?

Answer 19

Drives associated w/ physiological processes that are necessary for an organism’s survival
Ex: Hunger, thirst, need for sleep

Question 20

What are Primary Reinforcers?

Answer 20

An event that increases the likelihood of a particular response, reducing primary drives such as water, food, need for sleep.

Question 21

What are Secondary Reinforcers?

Answer 21

Originally neutral, but acquire reward value when they are associated w/ primary reinforcers. Money, for example → use it to buy food
Mother’s smile/praise → associated w/ state of physical well-being

Question 22

What is the Hierarchy of Response?

Answer 22

A tendency for certain responses to occur before others
Ex: animal runs to avoid a shock rather than bear it in pain.
If response is unsuccessful, organism will try next response in the hierarchy

Question 23

What are Miller & Dollard’s 4 main conceptual parts of the learning process?

Answer 23

Drive, Cue, Response, Reinforcement

Question 24

What are the 3 factors that influence modeling?

Answer 24

Characteristics of the model
Attributes of the observer
Reward consequences associated w/ behaviour

Question 25

What are the 4 processes of observational learning?

Answer 25

Attentional processes
Retention processes
Motor production processes
Motivational processes

Question 26

What are the 4 types of reinforcement in observational learning?

Answer 26

Extrinsic reinforcement
Intrinsic reinforcement
Vicarious reinforcement
Self-Reinforcement

Question 27

What is the source of the personality according to:

Object Relations:

Answer 27

Personality is shaped by relationships with significant others, as we begin life with certain genetic predispositions but only through interactions with others do we begin to build a self structure. An object (usually a person) is the aim of relational needs in human

Question 28

What is the source of the personality according to:

RCT:

Answer 28

Connections are the basic origins of growth. The process of relationship-differentiation, and relational development, such as the two-directional dynamic of the mother daughter relationship which provides us with a pattern for studying and learning about emotional connectedness and mutual empathy. The person unfolds in the matrix of significant relationships, develops capacity for entering into relationships and relational competence.

Question 29

What is the source of the personality according to:

trait theory:

Answer 29

Personality is a real entity, made up of traits which are neuropsychic structures within a person that influence behaviour (not simply labels we use to describe behaviour) that determines tendency or predisposition to respond to the world in certain ways that are consistent and enduring.

Question 30

What is the source of the personality according to: Behaviourism/Social Learning theory:

Answer 30

Behaviourism holds the belief that the stimulus-response theory of can account for all overt behaviour that psychologists seek to explain, and that that the term “personality” is unnecessary. Social learning is less reactive, stating the person is the agent/originator of the experience which considers modelling as well as intentionality, forethought and self-reactiveness/reflectiveness.

Question 31

What is the source of the personality according to: Cognitive theories

Answer 31

Based on the philosophical position of constructive alternativism: the assumption that any one event is open to a variety of interpretations and that we have to create our own ways of understanding the events that happen. In our efforts to understand the world we create constructs, or patterns, that make the world meaningful to us.

Question 32

What is the source of the personality according to: Humanist theories

Answer 32

According to Rogers it is an organized, consistent pattern of perception of the “I” and the “Me” that lies at the heart of an individual’s experiences. Maslow describes humans as “wanting” animals who are shaped by the drive to self-actualize or fulfill one’s potential, moving forward toward growth, happiness and satisfaction.

Question 33

What is the source of neurosis/psychopathology according to: Relational Cultural

Answer 33

Disconnections. Destructive relationships (often developed in early life, ex. our first relationships w/ significant others) may result in destructive relationships with food/alcohol/others later in life, parents who were cold, indifferent or hostile may result in narcissistic disorders

Question 34

What is the source of neurosis/psychopathology according to: Rogers

Answer 34

Conditional positive regard, which the child perceives the parent as imposing conditions of worth which may lead the child to introject values of others rather than self and lead to discrepancy between self-concept & experiences of the organism. Self-perception and congruence necessary for psychological health.

Question 35

What is the source of neurosis/psychopathology according to: Kelly

Answer 35

When a person clings to and continues to use personal constructs in spite of the fact that subsequent experience fails to validate them (cannot develop new ways to interpret the world or rigidly holds onto constructs that are useless instead of developing more successful systems)

Question 36

What is one thing RELATIONAL CULTURAL has added to our understanding of personality? What is one criticism?

Answer 36

A paradigm shift to put the focus on female’s experiences, replaced “self” with “connection” as the key focus of development and that connections are the basic origins of growth where disconnections derail us and block our growth.
Criticism → Not much laboratory research because of lack of specificity and operational definitions, not inclusive of marginalized groups (but working on incorporating this)

Question 37

What is one thing SKINNER has added to our understanding of personality? What is one criticism?

Answer 37

Developed upon the idea of classical condition to suggest operant conditioning is of far greater significance by using pigeons in his “Skinner box” to prove his theory of shaping, discrimination and generalization as well as the importance of schedules of reinforcement.
Criticism → Skinner presented his social philosophy as if it were empirical science, as there is no empirical evidence that humans are controlled by NOTHING except environment. Also, behaviour modification based on operant condition is often considered unethical.

Question 38

What is one thing BANDURA has added to our understanding of personality? What is one criticism?

Answer 38

Through his practice of observational learning, came up with distinction between imitation and modeling in his famous Bobo doll study where he found that when children observed adults behaving aggressively towards the doll they too were more likely to behaviour aggressively (model the behaviour) even if they did not mimic the behaviour (imitate).
Criticism → The Bobo doll experiment was criticized for being inapplicable in reality, as violent behaviour children will replicate on a doll they are not likely to replicate on other children

Question 39

What is one thing MISCHEL has added to our understanding of personality? What is one criticism?

Answer 39

Developed the Cognitive-Affective Personality System (CAPS) that considers both the stability of personality and the variability of behaviours across situations, stating that the processing of social information generates social behaviour.
Criticism → Most of the research has been done on European Americans, may not be characteristic of minority groups whose thinking is more likely to be circular and interpersonal.

Question 40

What is one thing ALLPORT has added to our understanding of personality? What is one criticism?

Answer 40

Allport’s theory bridges traditional academic psychology which emphasizes psychometrics and nomoethetic studies and clinical psychology which concentrates on a more idiographic approach to understanding personality which gave way to Cattell and the Big 5 personality theories.
Criticism → Concept of functional autonomy, as it was often difficult to differentiate between what he assumed and what he established through empirical procedures. Concept is not a construct that lends itself to operational definition, predictions, empirical tests, and he didn’t clearly describe the developmental processes that underlie functional autonomy.

Question 41

What is one thing CATTELL has added to our understanding of personality? What is one criticism?

Answer 41

Cattell introduced the formula of R=f(P,S) which stated that a response is a function of the person and the stimuli, and the idea of surface traits (overt behaviour) versus source traits (underlying variables that determine surface manifestation)
Criticism → His 16 basic source traits have positive versus negative connotations, (ex, trusting vs. suspicious, or strong conscience vs. lack of internal standards)

Question 42

What is one thing BIG 5 has added to our understanding of personality? What is one criticism?

Answer 42

There are five basic dimensions of which people vary, like a bell curve.These factors have been readily used when looking at job performance or person-job fit.
Criticism → the five factors are too broad and general, as someone who is high in N may be aggressive or they may be anxious and depressed and these are not similar at all yet they would be categorized as the same.

Question 43

What is one thing ROGERS has added to our understanding of personality? What is one criticism?

Answer 43

The idea that Unconditional Positive Regard leads to a positive self-regard, and that children internalize parents “I love you IF” (you get good grades, etc) to mean that they are not good enough as they are. This lead to Rogers Client Centered Therapy (later renamed Person Centered Therapy) putting emphasis on the therapy process just being two individuals talking and taking away the power dynamic, and giving the patient the acceptance they lacked.
Criticism → used self-reports in research which many scientific psychologists deemed unacceptable and thus rejected ins notion of the self b/c of the methods.

Question 44

What is one thing ROGERS has added to our understanding of personality? What is one criticism?

Answer 44

Re-explored the importance of dreams, stating that they reflect how we perceive, cope and give meaning to our world and that each dream has a theme (unity & inner consistency) and a motif (central thread through various dreams/goal one is moving toward)
Criticism → Ignored by academic psychologists because they cannot treat it as a scientific hypothesis, concepts such as intentionality are impossible to define operationally and test empirically.

Question 45

What is one thing KELLY has added to our understanding of personality? What is one criticism?

Answer 45

Developed The Rep Test, which allows us to reveal our personal constructs by comparing and contrasting a number of different people in our lives
Criticism → Kelly’s theory may have ignored the full range of human personality in his effort to do justice to the human intellect

Question 46

Unconsciousness According To:

Kelly:

Answer 46

Unconscious is not a dynamic unconscious but just parts of our construct(s?) that we are not aware of.

Question 47

Unconsciousness According To:

Rogers:

Answer 47

The experiences you deny, distort, or ignore. If you feel shame, you will distort or ignore it to carry on your behaviour. Did not believe self-structure was formed on the basis of denial or distortion.

Question 48

What is the self, according to ALLPORT Discuss whether the self is “real” or a social construct, and whether it is relational or independent.

Answer 48

Self is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine their characteristic behaviour & thought → made up central dispositions & secondary dispositions (rarely cardinal dispositions) Real → stated that one’s personality is really there, but unobservable b/c it cannot be measured empirically. It is dynamic, organized, psychophysical, determined & characteristic (unique)
Independent & relational → as child more independent governed by unlearned biological drives, needs appropriate security & affection from others to grow in direction of developing a proprium.

Question 49

What is the self, according to KELLY Discuss whether the self is “real” or a social construct, and whether it is relational or independent.

Answer 49

Self as a scientist - rational not mechanistic, we watch what we & others do & form hypotheses (personal constructs) based on what we will do in the future
Socially constructed → not just environment/heredity but attitudes, expectations, beliefs
Independent in that we create our own ways of understanding the events that happen, there is no reality outside our interpretations of it (but it does depend on our attitude of interactions with others, outside factors, etc)

Question 50

What is the self, according to ROGERS Discuss whether the self is “real” or a social construct, and whether it is relational or independent.

Answer 50

Self-Concept, composed of “me” and “I”,(accepted self is made from person’s valuing of its experiences vs. real self is all one’s lived experiences including feelings, introjected)
A social construct, relational. Based on conditional and unconditional positive regard as well as praise vs. blame from adults.

Question 51

What is the self, according to MISCHEL Discuss whether the self is “real” or a social construct, and whether it is relational or independent.

Answer 51

Self as a behavioural signature, consistencies found in distinctive and stable IF-THEN patterns of variability across situations
Real & relational → personality is stable (real), but there may be different reactions based on different situations they are in (relational) however these reactions are likely to remain the same over time

Question 52

Criticisms of:

Behaviourist:

Answer 52

Criticized for presenting philosophical assumptions as they were empirical evidence, such as his position that humans are nothing but organisms controlled by environment while he could. Also criticized for being unethical, changing/shaping someone’s personality to be more desirable. Criticized for not taking into account genetics, all based on environment.

Question 53

Criticisms of:

Social-Cognitive:

Answer 53

The Bobo doll experiment was criticized for being inapplicable in reality, as violent behaviour children will replicate on a doll they are not likely to replicate on other children. Also argued that this study was unethical, and that the children may have suffered long-term consequences b/c of the study → behaviour modification (use of modeling to change behaviour) also argued unethical like Skinner.

Question 54

Criticisms of:

Trait Theory

Answer 54

Cattell → His 16 basic source traits have positive versus negative connotations, (ex, trusting vs. suspicious, or strong conscience vs. lack of internal standards)
Big 5 → Also positive/negative connotations. Five factors are too broad and general, as someone who is high in N may be aggressive or they may be anxious and depressed and these are not similar at all yet they would be categorized as the same.