personality Flashcards
(218 cards)
1
Q
What is the 2018 definition of personality?
A
The distinctive and relatively enduring ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that characterize a person’s response to life situations.
2
Q
What is the 2019 definition of personality?
A
Personality refers to psychological systems that contribute to an individual’s enduring and distinctive patterns of experience and behaviour.
3
Q
What do the two definitions of personality have in common?
A
Both emphasize that personality is enduring and distinctive.
4
Q
What is the key difference between the 2018 and 2019 definitions of personality?
A
One focuses on outward behaviour; the other on internal psychological systems.
5
Q
Why is personality considered a ‘fuzzy’ concept?
A
Because while intuitively understood, it is difficult to define precisely.
6
Q
Can someone have multiple personalities?
A
Yes, conditions like Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and bicultural identities suggest this is possible.
7
Q
What did Allport (1961) say about personality?
A
Everyone seems to know what personality is, but no one can define it precisely; it derives from ‘persona’ (mask).
8
Q
What are the three levels of personality differences?
A
Human universals, group differences, and individual differences.
9
Q
What do personality theories aim to understand?
A
The whole person by synthesising across different areas of psychology.
10
Q
What two aspects does personality research usually address?
A
Human nature (common features) and individuality (unique traits).
11
Q
What is the idiographic approach?
A
Focuses on individual uniqueness and idiosyncrasies.
12
Q
What is the nomothetic approach?
A
Focuses on traits common across people.
13
Q
How does personality psychology help in understanding psychopathology?
A
It explains personality disorders like borderline and antisocial personality disorder.
14
Q
What are key features of borderline personality disorder (BPD)?
A
Unstable self-image, emotions, relationships, and impulsivity.
15
Q
What are key features of antisocial personality disorder?
A
Repetitive irresponsibility, delinquency, and criminal behaviour.
16
Q
How does personality psychology contribute to understanding normal functioning?
A
By informing how to optimise socialisation, meet psychological needs, and foster belongingness.
17
Q
How do personality and social psychology differ in explaining behaviour?
A
Personality psych focuses on internal traits; social psych focuses on situational context.
18
Q
What is the person vs. situation debate?
A
Whether behaviour is better explained by stable traits or changing social contexts.
19
Q
How was personality understood in the 1930s?
A
As the main determinant of behaviour (e.g., extraverts go to parties).
20
Q
What dominated in the 1950s and 60s?
A
Behaviourism: behaviour is shaped by situation and environment.
21
Q
What was the dominant model in the 1980s?
A
Person × Situation interaction.
22
Q
How has personality psychology evolved by the 2000s?
A
Personality is seen as a complex, dynamic interaction between person and context over time.
23
Q
What is meant by ‘personality within situations’?
A
The scientific study of how individuals feel, think, and behave in social contexts.
24
Q
What does ‘nature’ refer to in personality psychology?
A
Genetic and biological influences.
25
What does ‘nurture’ refer to in personality psychology?
Environmental and cultural influences.
26
What is epigenetics in personality?
The interaction between genes and the environment (e.g., maternal stress and fetal development).
27
What is maternal stress and fetal programming?
Prenatal stress can influence personality development via physiological pathways.
28
How do gene-environment interactions shift over time?
Genetics are more influential early; environment becomes more important later in life.
29
What is determinism in personality?
The idea that all behaviour is caused and not freely chosen.
30
What is free will in personality?
The belief that people make autonomous choices.
31
Why is causality important in personality theory?
It helps explain and treat personality-related problems.
32
Does personality change over time or stay the same?
Personality tends to be stable, but behaviour can change by situation.
33
What is the personality paradox?
Personality is generally stable, but people’s behaviour varies across different contexts.
34
What is the goal of science in personality psychology?
To discover accurate, evidence-based knowledge about personality.
35
What is critical appraisal in personality research?
Critically evaluating and questioning theories.
36
What does logical coherence refer to in personality theory?
The internal consistency and clarity of theoretical concepts.
37
What is empirical research in personality psychology?
Using observational or experimental data to support theories.
38
What strengthens personality research?
Replication — repeating studies to confirm results.
39
What is psychoanalysis?
A controversial and complex theory of the mind as well as a form of psychotherapy.
40
Which parts of Freud’s theory are not assessable?
His theory of sexuality and psychosexual stages of development.
41
What remains relevant today from Freud’s work?
His interest in the brain, unconscious processes, and hysteria.
42
Who was Anna O?
A patient of Josef Breuer in the 1880s who suffered from conversion hysteria (paralysis, hallucinations, speech issues).
43
How was hypnosis used in Anna O’s treatment?
It helped her recall and express traumatic memories, providing emotional release.
44
What is conversion hysteria?
The transformation of blocked emotional expression into physical symptoms.
45
What method did Freud adopt from this case?
The clinical case study method.
46
What concept did Freud introduce based on Anna O’s case?
Repression: traumatic memories are blocked from consciousness and redirected into bodily symptoms.
47
How did Freud’s method change after hypnosis?
He abandoned hypnosis and developed free association.
48
How does repression differ from suppression?
Repression is automatic and unconscious, whereas suppression is conscious.
49
Why are not all psychological processes conscious?
Freud proposed the unconscious mind, distinct from what some called the subconscious.
50
What is the goal of psychoanalytic therapy?
To make the unconscious conscious.
51
What is the psychodynamic theory of mind?
The mind is a dynamic system of conflicting forces and desires.
52
Why do we repress desires according to Freud?
Due to moral conflict, shame, guilt, and anxiety — especially during the Victorian era when sexual desires were taboo.
53
What are defense mechanisms?
Automatic, unconscious ways to manage internal conflict.
54
What is denial?
Refusing to acknowledge reality or facts that are too distressing (e.g., ignoring addiction).
55
What is projection?
Attributing your own unacceptable thoughts or feelings to others.
56
What is reaction formation?
Acting in the opposite way of one’s true feelings (e.g., being friendly to someone you dislike).
57
What is sublimation?
Redirecting unacceptable impulses into socially acceptable activities (e.g., channeling anger into exercise).
58
What are the three parts of Freud’s structural model?
Id (biological drives), Ego (self), Superego (morality and ideals).
59
How does the ego function?
It mediates between the id’s desires and the superego’s moral demands.
60
What dominates the infant personality?
The id, driven by the pleasure principle (impulsive, unsocialised desires).
61
What is the ego’s role in development?
Operates under the reality principle — considers consequences of actions.
62
What is the role of socialisation in personality?
Teaches which desires are punished (e.g., aggression, sexuality).
63
What does the superego produce?
Shame, guilt, and conflict; begins repression and defense development.
64
What does Freud say about being human?
It involves controlling primal urges and compromising with societal norms — he believed we are inherently savage.
65
What are criticisms of Freud’s theory?
Pessimistic view of humanity, gender bias, overemphasis on the id, reliance on subjective case studies, untestable.
66
What clinical value remains in Freud’s work?
The concept of defense mechanisms — useful in diagnosing psychopathology.
67
What role do dreams play in psychoanalysis?
Dreams reveal unconscious desires — fundamental to Freud’s theory.
68
What is wish fulfillment in dreams?
Dreams express unfulfilled desires (e.g., dreaming of food when hungry).
69
What is primary process thinking?
Primitive, image-based thinking that occurs in dreams.
70
What evidence supports Freud’s dream theory?
The Minnesota Starvation Experiment — participants dreamed obsessively about food.
71
What do nightmares represent according to Freud?
Psychological conflict — repressed desires emerging during sleep.
72
What does Freud believe about bizarre dreams?
All dreams have meaning, especially related to repressed wishes.
73
Who discovered REM sleep?
Aserinsky and Kleitman (1953).
74
What is paradoxical sleep?
REM sleep: brain is active even though the body is asleep.
75
Do dreams only occur in REM sleep?
No — vivid dreams can occur before REM, and dreaming can happen without REM in brain-damaged patients.
76
What brain system is linked to dreaming and desire?
The mesolimbic mesocortical dopamine pathway — damage to it prevents dreaming even if REM sleep continues.
77
What is neuropsychoanalysis?
A modern field combining Freudian theory with neuroscience.
78
What are Panksepp’s primary emotional systems?
Lust, fear, rage, care, panic, play — cross-species systems tied to basic emotional drives.
79
How is the 'id' viewed in neuropsychoanalysis?
As rooted in neurological systems responsible for primitive emotional responses.
80
What is radical behaviourism according to John Watson?
A form of radical environmentalism: we are blank slates shaped entirely by our environment.
81
What was Watson’s response to psychoanalysis?
He rejected instincts and internal drives, focusing instead on learned associations.
82
What is Watson’s view of personality?
There is no inner personality; it is the sum of observable behaviours built over time through habits.
83
How did Watson define personality?
As the end product of habit systems — what we habitually do.
84
What classic study illustrates behaviourism?
Pavlov’s classical conditioning with dogs.
85
What did B.F. Skinner reject?
All mentalistic explanations — he focused only on observable behaviour.
86
What type of behaviour did Skinner study?
Voluntary behaviour shaped by reinforcement and punishment.
87
Which animals did Skinner primarily study?
Rats and pigeons.
88
How did Skinner define personality?
As a history of reinforcement and punishment; observable behavioural responses.
89
What is Skinner’s stance on free will?
He rejected it — behaviour is determined by environmental contingencies.
90
What is the implication of having no agent of control in behaviour?
We don’t make real choices; we are simply controlled by our environment.
91
What does 'the unbearable automaticity of social life' refer to?
Behaviour can be triggered by subtle environmental cues without conscious awareness.
92
What did Holland, Hendriks, and Aarts (2005) find?
Environmental cues (e.g., crumbs) can prompt cleaning behaviour automatically.
93
What did Williams and Bargh (2008) find?
Holding warm coffee led participants to rate people more positively than when holding cold coffee.
94
What are strengths of behaviourism?
Strong experimental support and practical applications.
95
What are criticisms of behaviourism?
It’s overly simplistic and ignores innate human traits.
96
What did Maze (1983) argue?
Behaviourism ignores what humans do by nature — it sees us only as teachable.
97
What was Chomsky’s (1959) critique of Skinner?
Skinner’s theory doesn’t explain language development — grammar learning requires cognition, not conditioning.
98
What does Bandura’s theory combine?
Behaviourist learning principles and cognitive factors like thought processes.
99
What does the Bobo doll study show?
Children imitate adult aggression through observational learning.
100
What role does gender play in the Bobo doll study?
Children were more likely to imitate same-gender role models — a cognitive comparison process.
101
What is reciprocal determinism?
The idea that behaviour, personal factors, and environment all influence one another.
102
What is Bandura’s view of agency?
People can act on and influence their environment — behaviour is not purely passive.
103
What is the self-system in Bandura’s theory?
A set of cognitive and emotional processes regulating behaviour in response to situations.
104
Why must we understand cognitive processes to study personality in context?
Because people actively process environmental input rather than being passively shaped by it.
105
What is self-observation?
Monitoring one's own behaviour in relation to internal standards.
106
What is judgement in Bandura’s self-system?
Evaluating one’s behaviour against personal and social standards.
107
What is self-reaction?
Emotional responses to behaviour, such as guilt or pride (self-punishment or reward).
108
What is agency?
The ability to intentionally influence one's life circumstances.
109
What are the key features of human agency?
Intentionality, self-regulation, self-reflection, and forethought.
110
What is self-efficacy?
A person’s belief in their ability to succeed at specific tasks.
111
What influences self-efficacy?
Enactive attainments (success), vicarious experience (observing others), verbal persuasion, and emotional states.
112
What are strengths of Bandura’s theory?
Strong empirical basis, practical applications, especially in education and therapy.
113
What is a key criticism of Bandura’s theory?
It doesn’t account for evolutionary or biological influences.
114
What does the CAPS model build on?
Bandura’s ideas — personality as a system of cognitive and emotional units interacting with context.
115
How does CAPS explain behaviour?
As emerging from interactions between psychological processing and situational features.
116
What are encoding strategies in the CAPS model?
Cognitive efforts to interpret or make sense of experiences and events.
117
What are behavioural signatures?
Stable, unique patterns in how individuals respond to different situations.
118
What is the benefit of behavioural signatures?
They explain how people can behave differently in various situations yet still show consistent patterns.
119
What is a major strength of the CAPS model?
It addresses both consistency in personality and behavioural variability across situations (personality paradox).
120
What is a key limitation of the CAPS model?
It’s difficult to test due to the complexity of variables and the need for extensive data to map 'if...then' patterns.
121
Who founded personality psychology at Harvard?
Gordon Allport.
122
What was the title of Allport’s textbook?
Personality: A Psychological Interpretation (1937).
123
What key distinction did Allport introduce?
The idiographic vs nomothetic distinction.
124
What did Allport believe traits were?
Dispositions or tendencies to act in consistent ways over time and situations.
125
Are traits stable or changeable?
Generally stable and biologically based (nature over nurture).
126
How does the nomothetic approach define traits?
As universal dimensions that apply to all individuals.
127
What is the significance of trait dimensions?
They help predict likely behaviours and role success.
128
What is the lexical hypothesis?
Important personality differences become encoded in language.
129
What is factor analysis in personality research?
A statistical method that groups related personality descriptors into clusters.
130
What does a factor study involve?
Participants rate themselves on various adjectives; traits that cluster together reveal dimensions.
131
What kind of approach did Eysenck use?
A nomothetic, measurable approach based on self-report assessments.
132
What three traits did Eysenck propose?
Introversion/Extraversion, Neuroticism, Psychoticism.
133
What characterises extraversion?
Sociability, expressiveness, sensation-seeking, easily bored — 'stimulus hungry.'
134
What characterises introversion?
Reserved, inward, reflective, prefers solitude — 'stimulus shy.'
135
What is neuroticism?
Emotional reactivity — high scores indicate anxiety, moodiness, and irritability.
136
What does normality on the neuroticism scale indicate?
Lower emotional reactivity but still capable of feeling emotion.
137
What is psychoticism?
Non-conforming, antisocial traits — associated with aggression, egocentrism, impulsivity.
138
Who did Eysenck say score high on psychoticism?
Artists, criminals, and those with psychotic disorders.
139
What did Eysenck link extraversion to?
Low nervous system arousal — extraverts seek stimulation.
140
What did he link neuroticism to?
Higher limbic system (emotional brain) activation.
141
What did he link psychoticism to?
High testosterone and low dopamine (though inconsistently supported).
142
What were the implications of Eysenck’s theory?
Suggests a genetic basis for personality and general trait stability.
143
What are criticisms of Eysenck’s theory?
Mixed biological evidence; psychoticism not actually linked to psychosis-proneness.
144
What part of Eysenck’s theory is still widely researched?
Extraversion and introversion — foundational for the Five Factor Model (FFM).
145
What hypothesis is the FFM based on?
The lexical hypothesis.
146
What does the FFM describe?
Stable, enduring tendencies to think, feel, and behave consistently.
147
What are the Big Five traits (OCEAN)?
Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism.
148
What is Openness?
Imagination, creativity, intellectual curiosity.
149
What is Conscientiousness?
Discipline, organisation, goal orientation.
150
What is Extraversion?
Sociability, assertiveness, emotional expressiveness.
151
What is Agreeableness?
Trustworthiness, cooperativeness, kindness.
152
What is Neuroticism?
Emotional instability, anxiety, and vulnerability.
153
What did Alderotti et al. (2023) find in a meta-analysis?
Higher income is associated with high C, O, E, and low N, A.
154
Can FFM traits change?
Yes — evidence shows they can change with age and experience.
155
What happens around age 30 in trait development?
People become less N, E, O and more A, C.
156
What explains these trait changes?
Intrinsic maturational processes.
157
How universal is the FFM?
Replicated across 6 continents and 50+ cultures — likely human universals.
158
What did McCraw (2004) argue?
Traits are highly heritable and largely unaffected by life experience.
159
What is situationism?
The idea that behaviour is more influenced by the situation than stable traits.
160
What do FFM traits fail to do?
They describe behaviour but do not explain why it occurs.
161
Is personality always stable?
Not entirely — therapy and life experiences can reduce traits like neuroticism.
162
How does the DSM-5-TR define personality disorders?
a) Enduring patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting b) Culturally deviant c) Pervasive and inflexible d) Cause distress or impairment
163
What are Cluster A personality disorders?
Paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal — appear odd or eccentric.
164
What are Cluster B disorders?
Antisocial, borderline, histrionic, narcissistic — dramatic, emotional, erratic.
165
What are Cluster C disorders?
Avoidant, dependent, obsessive-compulsive — anxious or fearful behaviour.
166
What is the categorical model of personality disorders?
Each disorder is a separate, qualitatively distinct syndrome.
167
What are the problems with the categorical model?
High overlap between disorders, extreme variability, and poor inter-rater reliability.
168
What is an alternative to the categorical model?
A dimensional model using FFM — disorders as extremes on trait dimensions.
169
What does the DSM-5 dimensional model include?
Criterion A: impaired personality functioning, Criterion B: pathological personality traits
170
What did Widiger (2017) suggest about treatment?
That FFM and AMPD provide better, more targeted treatment options.
171
What are the clinical strengths of AMPD?
Improved diagnostic reliability, better clinical relevance, and strong psychometric support.
172
Is it confirmed that AMPD is better than categorical models?
Not yet — evidence is promising but still inconclusive.
173
Why is personality assessed?
For research and evidence-based practice in various applied settings.
174
How is personality assessment used in organisational psychology?
For recruitment and role suitability.
175
How is personality assessment used in forensic psychology?
To identify perpetrator characteristics.
176
How is personality assessment used in clinical psychology?
For diagnosing personality disorders (e.g., DSM-5).
177
How is personality assessment used in health psychology?
To assess traits linked to health outcomes (e.g., stress and heart disease).
178
What makes a good personality assessment tool?
It must be both reliable (consistent) and valid (accurate).
179
Why can it be hard to assess a test’s quality?
Reliability and validity are not always easy to determine.
180
What is inter-rater reliability?
Agreement between different testers (e.g., figure skating judges).
181
What is test-retest reliability?
Consistency of scores across multiple testing times.
182
What is internal consistency?
Consistency among the test’s items measuring the same construct.
183
What is construct validity?
Whether the test measures what it claims to (e.g., self-esteem vs arrogance).
184
What is convergent validity?
When multiple measures of the same construct produce similar results.
185
What is divergent validity?
When measures of different constructs yield different results.
186
What is discriminant validity?
When a test distinguishes between groups it’s supposed to.
187
What is predictive validity?
When test results accurately predict future outcomes.
188
Why is theory important in assessment?
It guides what to measure among 400+ constructs and approaches.
189
What does McAdams’ theory address?
Both nomothetic and idiographic approaches, and personality change/stability.
190
What is the first level of McAdams’ model?
Dispositional traits — stable, broad traits like those in OCEAN.
191
What is the 'psychology of a stranger'?
Knowing someone’s trait profile without knowing them intimately.
192
What is the second level of McAdams’ model?
Characteristic adaptations — personal goals, motives, and learned responses.
193
What is the third level of McAdams’ model?
Narrative identity — understanding the self through one’s life story.
194
How are traits commonly assessed?
Through self-report personality inventories.
195
What types of questions do self-report inventories use?
Closed-ended formats like Likert scales or yes/no questions.
196
What are advantages of self-report inventories?
Standardised, easy to score, and allows comparison across people.
197
What is social desirability bias?
Responding in a way that makes one appear more favourable.
198
What is acquiescence bias?
Tendency to agree with statements regardless of content.
199
What is malingering?
Faking bad to appear worse (often for personal gain).
200
What are limits of self-report accuracy?
Memory errors, poor insight (e.g., in children), coaching and cheating.
201
What is a forced-choice format?
Choosing between equally desirable statements.
202
Why use forced-choice formats?
Reduces social desirability and acquiescence biases.
203
What are indirect assessments?
Methods that infer personality through interpretation, not self-reflection.
204
When are indirect assessments useful?
When self-report isn’t possible, or in assessing personality pathology.
205
What are projective tests?
Tests like Rorschach or TAT, where personality is inferred from responses to ambiguous stimuli.
206
What is an advantage of projective tests?
They are difficult to fake.
207
What are disadvantages of projective tests?
Issues with reliability, validity, and scoring — though standardised scoring has improved them.
208
What approach underlies personality interviews?
Humanistic and idiographic — focuses on the unique person.
209
What are unstructured interviews?
Free-form conversations with no set structure.
210
What are structured interviews?
Follow a strict format with specific questions.
211
What is a semi-structured interview?
A mix: structured core questions with flexibility (e.g., McAdams’ life story interview).
212
What are advantages of interviews?
Rich information from multiple channels (e.g., voice, facial expression), deep personality insight.
213
What is the interviewer effect?
Respondents may answer differently based on the interviewer’s characteristics.
214
What is a drawback of interview data analysis?
Qualitative analysis is time-consuming and open to subjective interpretation.
215
What is personality × situation assessment?
Measuring how personality varies across situations using methods like experience sampling.
216
What are mixed methods assessments?
Combining qualitative and quantitative data.
217
What is big data assessment?
Analysing large-scale digital data (e.g., social media profiles) to infer personality.
218
Why is cross-cultural research in personality assessment important?
To address cultural bias and account for global diversity in personality understanding.
