Personality Flashcards
This section comprises 3-5% of the Psychology GRE subject test. When finished with this deck, you should have a better understanding of the following: Theories, Structure, Assessment, Personality and Behavior, Applications and Issues.
List:
William Sheldon’s three personality types
- endomorphy
- ectomorphy
- mesomorphy
These definitions of personality were based on body type.
Define:
Ectomorph
In Sheldon’s personality system, ectomorphs are people with lanky-thin body-types. These people tend to be reserved, introverted, private, and thoughtful.
An endomorph usually has a stout, round, often fatty, body type. These people tend to have what sorts of personality traits?
- a fun-loving nature
- general good humor
- affectionate
- tolerance
- relaxed
Jeff is a man with large forearms and is generally fairly muscular. He is competitive, adventurous, courageous, and often takes risks; which of Sheldon’s personality types does he fit?
Mesomorph
Define:
humanism
Humanism is a theory of personality psychology that emphasizes humans’ free will and focuses on therapy that is client-centered.
Define:
psychodynamic theory
This theory was created by Sigmund Freud. It hypothesized that forces in the unconscious mind define one’s personality and control behaviors and emotions.
Name three components in Freud’s structural psychoanalytic theory of personality.
- id
- ego
- superego
What are the four broad theories of personality?
- psychoanalytic
- humanistic
- social-cognitive
- trait theories
Social cognitive was founded in Behaviourism.
What are the defining characteristics of stage theories?
Stage theories believe people develop in stages, or steps, in the same order, without skipping a step, and one stage can be distinguished from all other stages.
What are the stages of Freud’s psychosexual stage theory?
- oral stage (birth to one year)
- anal stage (one to three years)
- phallic stage (three to five years)
- latency stage (six years to puberty)
- genital stage (puberty onward)
Freud referred to life energy as __________.
libido
Although Freud contended that the subconscious plays a major role in behavior, its contents are not accessible. They become accessible through __________ , _______, or revealing the __________ of dreams.
psychoanalysis; freudian slips; latent content
This level, just below the level of conscious awareness, contains thoughts, memories, feelings, and images that are easily recalled.
preconscious
Freud believed in dream analysis; he composed a list of __________, items or events that appeared in dreams but in reality represent other items or events in the subconscious.
Freudian symbols
On which principle does the id operate?
the pleasure principle
The id seeks to maximize pleasure while minimizing pain.
The superego, the acknowledged opposite of the __________, is an internal representation of society’s rules, morals, and obligations.
id
The_________ and the _______ are two subsystems of the superego.
conscience; ego-ideal
Name two things that the ego allows us to accomplish in everyday life?
- functioning in the environment
- acting logically
On which principle does the ego operate?
the reality principle
What is the reality principle?
the set of desires that can be satisfied only if the means to satisfy them exists and is available
What kind of thought is the ego most involved in?
conscious thought
What is the purpose of defense mechanisms?
The purpose of defense mechanisms is to manage anxiety produced by the id-superego conflict.
When I say, “Maggie is afraid of spiders” when, in reality, I am afraid of spiders, I am employing which defense mechanism?
projection
Repression, a type of defense mechanism, describes the process by which anxiety-provoking memories or desires are moved to the __________.
subconscious
If, after an argument, a child shows anger not towards his friend, with whom he is angry, but to a stuffed animal, what defense mechanism is he exhibiting?
displacement
Define:
suppression
Suppression is the Freudian defense mechanism that involves deliberate forgetting of anxiety-provoking material.
In __________, the ego completely reverses a desire to make itself safer or more socially acceptable.
reaction formation
What defense mechanism uses logic to excuse emotional or irrational behavior?
rationalization
Regression involves reverting to what kind of behaviors?
childish behaviors
Which defense mechanism involves the channeling or redirecting of sexual or aggressive feelings into a more socially acceptable outlet?
sublimation
What describes man’s inherent envy towards woman’s ability to nurture and sustain life?
womb envy
_______, a system initially outlined by Sigmund Freud, is a kind of long-term psychotherapy that involves unconvering unconscious/repressed conflicts that arose in psychosexual development
Psychoanalysis
Typically, what does psychoanalytic assessment involve?
a one-on-one therapist and patient relationship in which the therapist uses techniques (such as free association and dream recall) to gain access to the unconscious
If I say “knife” and encourage my patient to say any words s/he may associate with that word, no matter how unrelated they may seem, I am trying to use what psychoanalytic technique?
free association
Freud developed a system of dream interpretation based on what premise?
The dreaming mind is more relaxed, so that the unconscious desires and repressions can be revealed through dream analysis.
What are some indications that a patient is exhibiting resistance to psychoanalysis?
- missing sessions
- unwillingness to free associate
- withholding dream information
- refusal to participate in therapeutic activities
- changing topics
Define:
transference
The feelings and behaviors that the patient develops for the therapist that are reflections of past and current relationships.
The emotions that the therapist develops toward a patient are called ________.
countertransference
In Karen Horney’s theory of personality, what is important in forming the basis of the adult personality?
interactions between the child and the parent as the child deals with basic anxiety
What characterizes basic anxiety, a main tenet in Karen Horney’s theory of personality?
the feeling of being alone in an unfamiliar or hostile world
How does one overcome basic anxiety in Karen Horney’s psychological system?
- withdrawal from people who provoke basic anxiety
- deliberate movement towards people who remove basic anxiety
- conflict with people who can be overcome
Carl Jung’s theory of personality is based on the idea that the mind comprises pairs of __________.
opposing forces