Personality and Individual Differences Flashcards
What did Mischel say about consistency in adapting to situations (1968)
you’re constantly good at adapting your behaviour to new situations
How do humans maintain a sense of unity (2 answers)?
-the multiple components of the mind function as a complex, interconnected system
-we have a self and we encode everything with reference to ourselves which is the glue that binds memories
what aspects of personality occur outside of awareness?
unconscious thoughts and self reflection
What would Freud, and then Bandura, say about the likelihood of a girl who has been bullied at school going on to study medicine?
Freud- she’s too scared to study medicine because of bad experiences at school as a child
Bandura: she’s going to study medicine because she believes she can overcome anxiety and pursue her goals
explain LOTS
L- life data (grades, criminal record, maritial status)
O- observation data (parents, teachers, friends filling out questionnaire about said person)
T- test data (standardised tests like IQ, delay of gratification)
S- self report data (responses to questionnaires, self rating on traits)
what is trait perspective
we use traits to summarize, predict, and explain behaviour
who were the main researchers of trait perspective ?
Allport and Cattell (1897-1998), Eysenck (1916-1997)
What are the shared assumptions of dispositions between theories?
dispositions are the building blocks of personality, dispositions can be organized in a hierarchal way from specific to general
explain idiographic
studying particular things about individuals that make them different
What is the Lexical hypothesis?
if enough people behave in a certain way people will find a certain word for it (found 1800 trait words)
individual traits are separated into the three following:
-cardinal (greed, ambition)
-central (warm, honest)
-secondary (specific circumstances e.g. gets anxious in lifts)
What is positivism?
a philosophy that believes the goal of knowledge is only to describe what people experience, and that science should only study what is measurable. only accepts what can be seen and proved
What did Allport think about positivism?
thought is was bad for psychology. we only see nominal traits. neuropsychological structures are veridical traits. opposing view to Eysenck and Cattel.
What is the 16 traits personality?
by Cattell, inspired by the periodic table. you need 16 source traits to describe someone’s personality. everyone has each trait to some degree. measured by a 16 factor questionnaire. traits are clustered based on correlations to make source traits.
Is there evidence for 16 traits?
LOTS data, similar cross culture results, similar results among age groups, good predictor of real life behaviour, evidence of a genetic component
what are Eysenck’s 3 derived dimensions in factor analysis?
extraversion/introversion, neuroticism, psychoticism
why did Eysenck dislike psychodynamic and situational explanations of personality?
he believed that neuropsychology causes personality and brain states brain processes.
explain neuroticism, introversion and extraversion in the autonomous nervous system:
high neuroticism means strong and quick reactions.
high extraversion means chronically under aroused (needing more to stay aroused).
high introversion means chronically over aroused (hyper-aroused, less is more)
what do Allport, Cattell, and Eysenck agree and disagree on?
they agree traits are fundamental units of personality. they disagree on the number of dimensions and how to study them
McCrae and Costa (1989) arrived at 5 personality dimensions, what were they?
extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeable, openness
Describe the biological origin of the big five…
Minnesota study of twins who were raised apart. 59 pairs of identical twins raised apart and 47 pairs of fraternal twins who were raised together. the identical twins who lived apart were found to be more similar than the fraternal twins raised together.
what are the uses of trait approach?
vocational guidance, personnel selection, compatibility, baseline for clinical diagnosis
what are the limitations of Cattell, according to Allport?
individual behaviour cannot be predicted from looking at nominal traits. factor analysis gives you artificial clusters and is not as objective as it appears.
words that associate with behaviourism (Skinner, Watson):
rewards, punishments, responses, learning
What theory about behaviour was introduced by Bandura?
reciprocal determinism; exposure to life experience, learn that actions have consequence, develop internal morals and values, these guide our actions.
What is RCRT?
Role Construct Repertory Test. an idiographic test. list important people in your life called elements. pick three elements at a time and consider how two of these could be regarded similarly and differently from the third. these are constructs. continue until you used up your groups of three or you can’t think of constructs to use
what is Kelly’s Cognitive View?
situation does not blindly lead to behaviour. the situation is interpreted from personal constructs which determine behaviour
Personality paradox:
Mischel 1968. found that people’s behaviour isn’t as similar from situation to situation as trait perspective implies
What is RCRT used in?
counselling (idiographic use): psychotherapy, marital problems, maintaining friendships, adjusting to life changes
nomothetical use: Bannister and Fransella’s 1967 grid test of thought disorder (e.g. schizophrenia test)
What is the difference between weak situations and strong situations?
weak situations have a negligible power to influence your behaviour. strong situations give little freedom of behaviour
what does Mischel say on the delay of gratification in children?
dependent on how children interpret situations and qualities of the children themselves
what does delayed gratification in children correlate with?
academic and social competence
does Mischel believe people’s behaviour is consistent ?
people differ in how they categorize situations e.g. work vs home, thinking vs doing, boring vs excitement
what are the two types of goals?
-proximal: nearer goals that influence current behaviour
-distal: goals further in the future, ‘ultimate’ goals
describe Mischel’s evaluative standards?
action: e.g. writing an essay
evaluation: achieved/not achieved
self evaluative response: pride/anger
what are three differences between trait and social cognitive perspective?
-trait measures personality on a questionnaire. SC (social cognitive) says averaging behaviour is meaningless as variation per situation is what personality is
-traits cause behaviour. SC says traits are only a descriptor, explaining people’s action requires looking at cognitive thinking and emotional systems
-traits put emphasis on stable factor structures. social cognitive emphasis on people adapting to circumstances
What did Rogers conclude as a therapist?
the core of human nature is essentially positive
What self’s did the humanistic theory believe contributed towards self-concept?
actual self and ideal self
What did Roger’s believe would happen when actual self and ideal self are accomplished?
self-actualization
What was Maslow’s distinction between biological and psychological needs?
He believed that basic needs appeared in a pyramid in which each level had to be accomplished before reaching the next. The first base was simple physiological needs such as air, water, food, shelter, sleep, and sex. The pyramid progressed onto more psychological needs such as social aspects and esteem. And finally at the top of the pyramid was self actualization.
What is a self actualized person?
these people accept themselves as they are, maintain a responsible boundary between helping other but also themselves, react more positively to the individualism of other people, for strong relationships, have a creative brain, and can resist conformity.
What is one strength and one weakness of the humanistic perspective?
Strength: high validity due to trying to understand the entire person and focus on how they personally see their world
Weakness: not comprehensive due to exclusion of variables such as unconscious processes from research, and does not specifically cover how personality development, guilt, or depression occur.
What was Freud’s original field of study?
He was a neurologist in Vienne researching the comparison of foetal and adult brains
What is free association (Freud)?
free association is a treatment method whereby a patient leads the therapy session by talking about anything and everything on their mind with no particular structure. The therapist then searched for underlying thought patterns and deep psychological meaning in the patients words. This brings the unconscious to the conscious.
What theory did Freud come up with influenced by the conservation of energy principle?
Humans are energy systems. This is in the way that whatever energy a person experiences and fails to outlet or express will always find a different was to present itself in another form
What are the three personality components of the iceberg theory?
ID- impulses and desires
Superego- judgement and morality
Ego- conscious mediator between the id and superego
Explain pleasure principal and reality principal:
the pleasure principal is the reward system the ID is driven towards when it fulfils its desires, and the repulsions it experiences from pain. The reality principle is the rationality of the ego in deciding how to realistically progress given the information from the ID and superego.
What is a Freudian slip?
an accidental error in a sentence that can be regarded as revealing subconscious feelings
What are the five defence mechanisms carried out by the ego?
denial, projection, isolation & undoing, reaction formation & sublimation, repression
According to Freud what are the three early developmental stages?
oral, anal (ego develops), phallic (superego develops)
