Personality Flashcards
(31 cards)
What is personality?
Refers to a combination of lasting and distinctive behaviours, thoughts, motives and emotions that typify how we react and adapt to other people and situations.
TRUE OR FALSE: Personality is not a hypothetical construct.
FALSE. Personality is a hypothetical contrast because it cannot be directly measured or observed.
What is the trait theory?
Focuses on meaning, identifying and describing individual differences in personality in terms of traits.
What are the 4 main assumptions of the trait theory?
- Personality traits are relatively stable and therefore predictable over time.
- Personality traits are relatively stable across different situations.
- Personality consists of a number of different traits.
- Some traits are more closely interrelated that other traits and tend to occur together (dimensions)
What was Eysenck’s original proposition?
People could be classified into four basic personality types by combining two dimensions
What was the third dimension added to Eysenck’s trait theory?
Psychoticism
What were the two factors Eysenck believed created individual differences in personality?
- Genetic makeup
2. functioning of our brain and nervous system.
What is one strength of Eysenck’s Personality Questionnaire?
Provides foundation of development of valid and reliable personality assessment devices.
What is one weakness of Eysenck’s Personality Questionnaire?
Underestimates uniqueness of each individual.
How did Freud explore the psychodynamic theory?
Through ‘talking therapy’
What does the psychodynamic approach of personality emphasise?
Conscious forces and internal conflicts in its explanations of behaviours.
What are the three components of personality?
Id, ego and superego
What Is id? What principle does it operate on?
Id is the most primitive part of personality that demands immediate gratification, regardless of rules or feelings of others. Operates on the pleasure principle.
What Is ego? What principle does it operate on?
Ego is the realistic and logical part of personality. It operates on the reality principle.
What Is superego? What principle does it operate on?
Superego judges thoughts, feelings and actions according to morals and ideas of society. Operates by the moral principle.
What is a defence mechanism?
Unconscious processes by which the ego defends or protects itself against anxiety arising from unresolved internal conflicts.
What are the 9 types of defence mechanisms?
denial. repression, reaction- formation, regression, projection, rationalisation, sublimation, intellectualisation and displacement.
What is denial?
Refusing to believe something that is a cause of anxiety.
What is repression?
Preventing unacceptable thoughts or feelings from entering conscious awareness.
Thinking, feeling or behaving in a manner which is opposite to how you really think, feel or behave is what type of defence mechanism?
Reaction- formation
Going back to a younger, child- like, immature way of behaving is what type of defence mechanism?
regression
What is projection?
Shifting unwanted thoughts/ feelings to someone else.
Making up a socially acceptable explanation for unacceptable thoughts, feelings or behaviours, is what type of defence mechanism?
Rationalisation
What is sublimation?
Channelling unacceptable thoughts, impulses or wishes in a socially acceptable way.
