Personality Flashcards
(27 cards)
Allport (1961) - definition of personality
A dynamic organisation, inside the person, of psychophysical systems that create the person’s characteristic patterns of behaviours, thoughts, and feelings
Weinberg & Gould (1999) - definition of personality
characteristics or blend of characteristics that makes a person unique
What are the two approaches to studying personality?
idiographic approach
nomothetic approach
What is the idiographic approach?
emphasis uniqueness of an individual
What is the nomothetic approach?
focuses on traits that occur across groups of people
identify underlying structure of personality
What are the two strands of personality theorising?
Clinical strand (e.g Freud)
Individual differences strand (more nomothetic, e.g Francis Galton)
What are Freud’s levels of consciousness?
1- conscious mind
2- preconscious (memories unconscious but can be easily recalled when we want)
3- unconscious
What is repression?
active process of keeping material unconscious
aim is to hide unacceptable nature
Freuds - role of dreams
manifest content - description of dream
latent content - true meaning of the dream
What are the 3 biological drives that motivates all human behaviour?
sexual drives to reproduce
Life preserving drives
Death instinct
Freud - structure of personality
Id
Ego
Superego
What is the Id?
Develop first in child
Unconscious part of personality
Irrational + impulsive
Pleasure principle - wants immediate gratification
What is the Ego?
Develops second and child develops
Conscious parts
Rational, responsible, balances
Operates on reality principle
What is the Superego?
Develops last
Conscious part
Holds values and morals
morality principle
What is meant by intrapsychic conflict? (Freud)
the personality structures are in constant conflict
Freud - 5 psychosexual stages
Oral
Anal
Phallic
Latency
Genital
When and what is the oral stage?
birth to 1 year
Pleasure zone is the mouth
Over stimulation leads to oral receptive personality type
Under stimulation leads to an oral aggressive personality
When and what is the anal stage?
18 months to 3 years
pleasure zone is anal region
Excessive control leads to an anal-retentive personality type / anal-expulsive
When and what is the Phallic stage?
3 to 5 years old
Pleasure zone is the genitals
Boys develop oedipal complex
Girls develop the electra complex
When and what is the Latency stage?
5 to 12 years
Resting period in child’s development
Energies taken up socialising
Child develops defence mechanisms
When and what is the Genital stage?
12 to 18 years
Puberty and mature sexual interest in others occurs
By what stage is personality fully developed by?
end of phallic stage (age 5)
What are the 12different defence mechanisms?
repression
regression
denial
displacement
reaction formation
conversion reaction
rationalisation
intellectualism / isolation
phobic avoidance
projection
sublimation
undoing
What is reaction formation?
acting in opposite tendency
e.g dislike someone but act overly nice to them
