Flashcards in Personality Deck (41):
1
Personality
those relatively stable, permanent characteristics that are unique to an individual and influence the way they think, feel and behave
2
Trait
a personality characteristic that endures over time and across different situations
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What are the assumptions of trait theories?
1) stable and thus predictable over time
2) stable across situations
3) personality consists of different traits and you have more or less of each
4) some traits are more closely interrelated
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Eysenck
2 main personality factors; extraversion and neuroticism based on levels of cortical arousal + testosterone levels
PEN
5
McCrae and Costa Big 5
openness to experience conscientiousness extraversion agreeableness neuroticism
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Openness to experience
degree of intellectual curiosity, creativity, imaginative and independent. Appreciation for art, adventure and abstract concepts
HIGH: creative, open to new things, accepts abstract concepts
LOW: dislikes changes/new ideas, not imaginative
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Conscientiousness
ones tendency towards self discipline, competence, thoughtfulness, how much deliberate intention/thought person puts into behaviour.
HIGH: attention to detail, set schedule, spend time preparing
LOW: dislike structure, makes messes, procrastinates important tasks
8
Extraversion
high energy/positive emotions/sociability
HIGH: centre of attention, starts convo, says before thinks, energised when around people
LOW: prefer solitude, difficulty making convo
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Neuroticism
characterised by tendency to experience unpleasant emotions (emotional ability and impulse control)
HIGH: dramatic mood shifts, experiences stress, feels anxious
LOW: emotionally stable, rarely sad/depressed, handles stress
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Agreeableness
tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather than suspicious and antagonistic
HIGH: care about others, feels empathy and concern
LOW: little interest in others, insult and belittle others
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what are the strengths of mccrae and costa?
- empirically tested and validated
- flexible descriptions of personality and its structure
- provides foundation of valid personality assessments
- environmental and biological causes
- traits relatively stable their study on adults over 6 yrs showing 0.63 correlation
12
what are the weaknesses of mccrae and costa?
- mask individual differences 'pigeon hole' into simple description
- underestimate socio-cultural/ contextual influences
- traits poor predictors as changes situationally
- Mischel argued doesn't explain how personality changes over time, predicting only 10% or less of behaviour can be accounted to scores on personality tests
13
Humanistic Theories
approach which studies the whole person and uniqueness of each individual
Is a rebellion against the limitations of behaviourist and psychodynamic psychology
believes that all people are born good and are striving to each their full potential
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Assumptions of Humanistic theories
1) people have free will
2) people are good and have innate need to improve
3) people are motivated to achieve potential and self actualise
4) subjective/conscious experiences of individual is most important
5) rejects scientific methodology
6) rejects comparative psych ( to animals)
15
According to carl rogers, what are the three factors that influence self actualisation?
- the way others treat them
- the way they view themselves
- how they deal with negative influences
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what is self concept
perceptions and beliefs people have about themselves. built up over time through interactions and the environment
17
3 parts of self concept
1) self worth: what we think about ourselves developed in childhood (attachment relationships) and later in significant others (POSITIVE REGARD)
2) self image: how we see ourselves; affects how we think, feel and behave and our inner personality
3) ideal self: person we like to be
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Positive Regard and 2 types
how other people evaluate and judge us in social interaction
1) Unconditioned Positive Regard: parents, significant others, humanistic therapist offer love, acceptance regardless of mistakes leading to confidence/growth
2) Conditioned Positive Regard: praise, positive feedback depends on displaying appropriate behaviour
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Self Actualisation + congruence
ideal self = self image, we have basic motive to self actualise and fulfil ones potential and achieve highest level of human being ness we can.
Main determinant whether reached is childhood experiences
Only occur in state of congruence, we want to feel, experience and behave in way that is consistent to our self image and ideal self ( if aligned self worth increases)
Incongruence = when some of their experience is unacceptable to them or denied in the self image = may use defence mechanisms to cope
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Fully functioning person
An individual who is 'actualising' is a fully functioning person. Ideal and one that people do not ultimately achieve (ever changing)
1. Open to Experience
2: Existential Living
3. Trust feelings
4. Creativity
5. Furfilled life
21
Maslow's 5 needs + Summary
physiological/ safety (basic)
love and belonging/ esteem (psychological needs)
self actualisation (self fulfilment needs)
- humans motivated by hierarchy of needs
- organised in order of prepotency basic needs must me more or less met (not all or none) before higher needs
-order not rigid but flexible based on external circumstances and individual differences
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Maslow on Self Actualisation
Studied 28 people he considered to be self actualised ie Einstein and Lincoln and identified 15 characteristics
- spontaneous in thought and action
- able to look at life objectively
- concerned for welfare of humanity
- accept themselves and others for what they are
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Strengths of Humanistic theories
- positive
- looks at all qualities of an individual/ complete picture of development
- strong link to social influence on development
- considers psych and client relationship as paramount to successful resolution
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Limitations of Humanistic theories
- romantic and simple
- focus on self fulfilment
- doesnt recognise evil
- difficult to generalise to minorities
- methodological flaws
- people can move up without meeting lower needs
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Hierarchy of Needs across Culture
Tay and Diener (2011)
Participants completed 2 parts (1 on basic needs and safety needs and then indications of well being across 3 measures; life evaluation, pos and neg feelings)
Found that universal human needs appear regardless of culture but ways needs that are prioritised varies.
Well being can be achieved by meeting psycho-social needs rather than individual needs. (social element to well being/SA)
26
what is social cognitive theory?
learning by observation and modelling and is a way to acquire social skills and many non-social behaviours
27
Examples of Humanistic theories in education
Group discussions, individualised learning can, group work tasks, the right of every student to achieve success.
28
3 factors of SCT that contribute to personality differences
1. Behaviour - individual behaviour/response in situation
2. Environment - the context in which behaviour occurs that influence ability to succeed or perform it
3. Personal - levels of self efficacy that determine likelihood of behaviour occurring
(Reciprocal determinism)
29
Reciprocal determinism
Personality (behaviour, thoughts, feelings) are determined by interactions between personal, behavioural and environmental factors rather than fixed traits.
30
what is self efficacy + example
a belief in ones capacity to execute certain behaviours (belief you can do things)
Used for medical patients with chronic illness --> success in these conditions depends on self belief of personal agency over situation. Higher SE gives greater perception of control (internal locus of control rather than external)
31
what are personality signatures + study
consistency in traits can be found in distinctive but stable patterns of if then situations emphasises the importance of physical, social, and environmental forces in shaping behaviour
Mischel and Shoda 1995 --> studied individual who were similar in average levels of behaviour ie aggression differed depending on situation supporting 'if then' behaviour signatures
32
what does mischel's social cognitive theory suggest?
personality results from a two way interaction between a person's characteristics and the environment
Traits more consistent within situation than between different ones 'trait vs state'
- personality signatures
- self regulation
- marshmallow experiment
33
self regulation
the ability to set and work towards goals
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Marshmallow Experiment
Aim: examined processes and mental mechanisms that enabled young child to forgo immediate gratification and wait for better , delayed reward
Method: Pre schoolers presented with marshmallow and offered choice of eating snack immediately or waiting 15 minutes to get 2.
Results: Children differ in ability of self controls Continued to follow participants and found children who showed more self regulation were more successful in high school than those who did not.
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Bandura's social learning theory principles
People learn by observing others behaviour
Cognition plays an important role in learning
The same set of stimuli may provoke the same responses The world and a person’s behaviour are interlinked Personality is an interaction between three factors
People have control over their actions
SELF EFFICACY and RECIPROCAL DETERMINISM
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4 Criteria of self efficacy
1) Mastery experience
2) social modelling
3) improving physical/ emotional states
4) verbal persuasion
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what are the variables to predict behaviour?
competencies, cognitive strategies, expectancies, subject values and self regulatory systems
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Strengths of SCT
- empirical evidence
- widely applicable
- explain learning and influence on the self and how these affect/ unaffected by particular situations
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Limitations of SCT
- ignore effect of unconscious
- doesn't look at irrational behaviour
- clinical data
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Subjective Experiences Humanistic
- argue that objective reality is less important than a person's subjective perception and understanding of the world.
- personality is studied from the point of view of the individual’s subjective experience (how they interpret events)
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