lecture 2

Question 1

What is the correlational method in psychology?

Answer 1

A research method used to study relationships among variables.

Question 2

Q: What is a variable in psychology?

Answer 2

A: Anything that can be measured, such as behaviors, events, or characteristics.

Question 3

Q: What is the correlation coefficient (r)?

Answer 3

A: A statistic that shows the strength and direction of a relationship between two variables.

Question 4

Q: What is the range of possible correlation coefficient (r) values?

Answer 4

A: Between -1.0 and +1.0.

Question 5

Q: What does the value of “r” indicate?

Answer 5

A: The strength of the relationship.

Closer to +1.0 or -1.0 → Strong relationship
Closer to 0 → Weak or no relationship

Question 6

Q: What does the sign of “r” indicate?

Answer 6

A: The direction of the relationship:

Positive (+) → Variables increase together (e.g., more smoking = more cancer).
Negative (-) → One variable increases while the other decreases (e.g., more smoking = fewer years to live).

Question 7

Q: Which of the following “r” values represents the strongest correlation?
A) -0.95
B) -0.24
C) +0.01
D) +0.75

Answer 7

A: -0.95 → The closer to -1 or +1, the stronger the correlation

Question 8

Q: What two aspects determine a correlation?

Answer 8

A:

Degree (Strength) → Closeness to -1 or +1.
Direction → Positive or negative relationship.

Question 9

Q: What was Li’s (1975) study on correlation and contraceptive use in Taiwan?

Answer 9

A: Found a strong positive correlation between # of appliances in the house and use of birth control.

Question 10

Q: What is a case study in psychology?

Answer 10

A: An in-depth analysis of an individual, group, or event using observations, interviews, tests, or records.

Question 11

Q: What is the Paradox of Progress?

Answer 11

A: Despite technological advances that save time, money, and effort, people do not seem happier or healthier.

Question 12

Q: What is the Hedonic Treadmill?

Answer 12

A: The tendency for people’s desires and expectations to rise with income, preventing a long-term increase in happiness.

Question 13

Q: What is Set Point Theory?

Answer 13

A: The idea that personality and happiness return to a genetically determined baseline after life events.

Question 14

Q: What is personality?

Answer 14

A: The distinctive and relatively enduring ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that characterize a person.

Question 15

Q: What are the three main characteristics of personality?

Answer 15

A:

Identity – Distinguishes a person from others.
Internal Causes – Behavior is primarily shaped by internal factors.
Consistency – Behaviors fit together in a meaningful way.

Question 16

Q: What are Freud’s three levels of consciousness?

Answer 16

A:

Conscious – Thoughts we are currently aware of.
Preconscious – Memories that can be accessed.
Unconscious – Hidden thoughts, urges, and desires.

Question 17

Q: What are Freud’s three personality structures?

Answer 17

A:

Id – Seeks pleasure and immediate gratification. (“I want it now!”)
Ego – Balances the id and reality (Reality Principle).
Superego – The moral compass, following societal rules.

Question 18

Q: What are defense mechanisms?

Answer 18

Conflict and Defense Mechanisms
* Freud believed that behavior is the result of ongoing internal conflict
among the id, ego, and superego.
* Conflicts stemming from sexual and aggressive urges are especially
significant.
* Conflicts arouse anxiety, so we use defense mechanisms –
unconscious reactions that protect a person from painful emotions

Question 19

Q: How did Carl Jung differ from Freud?

Answer 19

A:

Believed in a collective unconscious shared by all humans.
Introduced archetypes, universal symbols and patterns.

Question 20

Q: What are Jung’s archetypes?

Answer 20

A: Inherited tendencies to interpret experiences in certain ways (e.g., hero, shadow, mother figure).

Question 21

Q: What is Eysenck’s Extraversion-Stability Model?

Answer 21

A: A theory that personality is based on two main factors:

Introversion – Extraversion
Stability – Instability

Question 22

Q: What is the Five Factor Model (Big Five)?

Answer 22

A: Five universal personality traits:
OCEAN:

Openness (Curious vs. Cautious)
Conscientiousness (Organized vs. Careless)
Extraversion (Outgoing vs. Reserved)
Agreeableness (Compassionate vs. Detached)
Neuroticism (Anxious vs. Calm)

Question 23

Q: What was Cattell’s 16 Personality Factors?

Answer 23

A: A personality model based on 16 basic traits derived through factor analysis.

Question 24

Q: What is the Nature vs. Nurture debate in personality?

Answer 24

Nature: Genetic influences on personality.
Nurture: Environmental factors shape behavior.

Question 25

Q: What was the study of Jim Twins?

Answer 25

A: Identical twins separated at birth but showed striking personality similarities when reunited, supporting genetic influence on personality.

Question 26

Phineas Gage * 1848 * Memory and movement intact, could learn new things * But, personality changed dramatically * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= oOkISlxST38

Question 27

Personality and Personality Traits Personality: * An individual’s unique constellation of consistent behavioral traits * Has a quality of consistency across situations * Distinctiveness is central to the concept of personality We usually describe personality in terms of traits: – Trait: a durable disposition to behave in a particular way in a variety of situations. – Most trait theories assume that some traits are more basic than others.

Question 28

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory * Psychodynamic theories: – Include a variety of theoretical models derived from Freud’s work (somewhat controversial) – Focus on unconscious mental forces that shape our personalities – Key theories: Carl Jung and Alfred Adler * Main assumptions: – Personality is governed by unconscious forces we cannot control – Childhood experiences play significant role in determining adult personality – Personalities are shaped by how individuals cope with sexual urges

Question 29

Development: Psychosexual Stages * Freud believed that basic elements of adult personality: ▪ Are in place by age five ▪ Result from the outcome of five psychosexual stages * In each stage: ▪ Children must cope with immature sexual urges that influence adult personality ▪ Fixation occurs if the child fails to move forward from one stage to another

Question 30

Adler’s Individual Psychology * Striving for superiority, not sexuality, is most important drive * Compensation efforts used to overcome inferiorities by developing one’s abilities – When unsuccessful, people develop inferiority complex or exaggerated feelings of weakness and inadequacy – People may overcompensate for perceived inferiorities * Birth order as an important factor governing personality first suggested by Adler

Question 31

Evaluating Psychodynamic Perspectives * Psychodynamic theory contributions: – Unconscious forces can influence behavior – Internal conflict may play key role in psychological distress – Early childhood experiences can influence adult personality – People rely on defense mechanisms * Psychodynamic theory criticisms: – Poor testability; depend too heavily on clinical case studies – Many hypotheses challenged by empirical evidence – Male-centered, even sexist, view of personality

Question 32

Habits * Learned actions performed automatically with little cognitive effort * Crucial characteristics: – Cued or triggered by specific contexts – Learned incrementally through repetition; take time to develop – Habit formation: fueled by the experience of positive and negative reinforcement – Habits become automatic

Question 33

Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory * Observational learning: when an organism’s responding is influenced by the observation of others (models) * Unique in that it requires that we: – Pay attention to others’ behavior – Understand the consequences that follow others’ behavior – Store this information in memory

Question 34

Evaluating Behavioral Perspectives * Behavioral perspectives have been credited for being: – Rooted in empirical research rather than clinical intuition – Most thorough account of why people are only moderately consistent in their behavior * Behavioral perspectives have been criticized for being: – No longer very behavioral (with the rise of Social Cognitive Theory) – Overly dependent on animal research

Question 35

Rogers’s Person-Centered Theory * Self-concept: collection of beliefs about one’s own nature, unique qualities, and typical behavior – Our ideas about ourselves match our actual experiences = congruent with reality – Our ideas about ourselves do not match reality = incongruence that undermines our well-being

Question 36

Self-Concept and Its Development Humans have a need for affection, love, and acceptance in early years of life – Conditional = children do not feel worthy of love; develop an incongruent self-concept – Unconditional = children feel worthy of affection no matter what; develop congruent self-concepts

Question 37

Maslow’s Theory of Self-Actualization and Hierarchy of Needs * Motives are organized into a hierarchy of needs: – Systematic arrangement, according to priority – Basic needs are met before less-basic needs are aroused. * Highest need is need for selfactualization, the fulfillment of one’s potential

Question 38

Eysenck’s Theory

Answer 38

Personality mostly determined by one’s genetic inheritance * Some people can be conditioned more readily than others due to inherited differences in physiological functioning * Variations in extraversion-introversion – Proposed that introverts are more easily aroused by events, which make them more easily conditioned than extraverts

Question 39

The Evolutionary Approach to Personality * Examines behavioral processes in terms of their adaptive value for members of a species over the course of many generations * Personality has a biological basis because natural selection has favored certain personality traits over the course of human history – David Buss: the Big Five traits are present across cultures because they had significant adaptive value

Question 40

Narcissism Narcissism: personality trait marked by an inflated sense of importance, a need for attention and admiration, and a sense of entitlement. – Not widely discussed outside of psychoanalytic circles until the 1980s – Narcissists have highly positive but easily threatened self-concepts – Two types: grandiose and vulnerable – Collective narcissists are attracted to conspiracy theories that justify their hypervigilance about threats to their group

Question 41

Individualism and Collectivism Personality is often studied in relation to two cultural syndromes: 1. Individualism: putting personal goals ahead of group goals and defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes 2. Collectivism: putting group goals ahead of personal goals and defining one’s identity in terms of the group Individualism and collectivism foster cultural disparities in selfenhancement

Question 42

Projective Tests Ask individuals to respond to ambiguous stimuli in ways that may reveal aspects of their personalities – Difficult for subjects to engage in intentional deception – Sensitive to unconscious features of personality – Scientific evidence on projective tests is unimpressive and problematic Assessing Your Personality * Common projective tests: 1. The Rorschach test consists of a series of ten inkblot pictures. * Respondents are asked to describe what they see in the inkblots. 2. The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) consists of a series of pictures of various scenes. * Respondents must tell a story that explains what is happening in the picture.

Question 43

The Neoanalysts ✤ Psychoanalysts who disagreed with certain aspects of Freud’s thinking and developed their own theories. ✤ Alfred Adler, Erik Erickson, Carl Jung etc. ✤Many believed that Freud did not give social and cultural factors enough weight in the development of personality. ✤ In particular, believed that Freud stressed infantile sexuality too much. (You think?!?!)

Question 44

Hereditability in religousness

Question 45

at 5 behavior stats to show seen in heart rate and behavior kids dont accept unfair sharing or feel it differently

Answer 45

coppied mr nice body language not at all for mr nasty