Psychological perspective - Non-Biological Flashcards
(22 cards)
Personality
Made up of characteristic patterns, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that make each person unique
Arises from within the individual and remains fairly consistent throughout life.
Key Theories of Personality
Type Theories
Suggest a limited number of personality types related to biological influence.
Trait Theories
Personality results from internal characteristics that are genetically based
People have certain basic traits that vary in strength and intensity
Traits must be consistent, stable, and vary from person to person
Gordon Allport’s Trait Theory
Developed a list of over 4000 traits categorized into three levels:
Cardinal Traits: Rare, dominating, and define a person’s entire personality (e.g., narcissistic, Christ-like)
Central Traits: General characteristics forming the foundation of personality (e.g., intelligent, honest, shy)
Secondary Traits: Attitudes or preferences that appear in specific situations (e.g., public speaking anxiety)
Raymond Cattell’s Trait Theory
Narrowed Allport’s 4000 traits down to 171, then 16 key personality traits
Developed one of the most widely used personality assessments.
Hans Eysenck’s Model of Personality
Hans Eysenck’s Model of Personality
Based on three universal traits:
Psychoticism: Difficulty dealing with reality, antisocial, hostile, manipulative
Extraversion/Introversion: Outgoing vs. reserved personality traits
Neuroticism: Emotional instability vs. stability.
The Big Five Personality Traits (Five-Factor Model)
Openness: Level of adventure and creativity
Conscientiousness: Level of thoughtfulness and structure
Extraversion: Social engagement and emotional expressiveness
Agreeableness: Level of cooperation and care for others
Neuroticism: Mood stability and emotional resilience
Hostile Attribution Bias (HAB)
Tendency to interpret others’ actions as hostile
Higher HAB leads to increased aggression and reactive behaviours
HAB and Social Information Processing
Steps in processing social information:
Encoding social cues
Assigning meaning (interpretation)
Determining goals
Accessing possible responses
Selecting a response
Performing a behavioral act
Aggressive children focus on threatening social cues, interpret information in a hostile manner, and generate aggressive responses
HAB and Aggressive Schemas
Cognitive frameworks shape how people understand stimuli.
Hostile schemas form through repeated exposure to aggression.
Reducing exposure to violence and teaching conflict resolution can help decrease HAB and aggression.
Attribution Theories
Fiske & Taylor
Heider
Jones & Davis
Kelley
Fiske & Taylor (1991) – Attribution Theory
Explores how people explain the behavior of themselves and others
Heider (1958) – Dispositional vs. Situational Attribution
People attribute behaviours to either internal (dispositional) or external (situational) causes
Jones & Davis (1965) – Correspondent Inference Theory
Focuses on when people infer that behaviour corresponds to an individual’s personality; behaviour is considered intentional when it is freely chosen, unusual, and socially impactful.
Kelley (1967) – Covariation Model
Explains how people attribute behavior based on three factors:
Consistency: Does the person behave the same way in similar situations?
Distinctiveness: Does the person behave differently in different situations?
Consensus: Do others behave similarly in the same situation?
High consistency, low distinctiveness, and low consensus suggest dispositional attribution, whereas high distinctiveness and high consensus suggest situational attribution.
Social Learning Theory
Learning occurs through observation, imitation, and reinforcement
Classical conditioning-Ivan Pavlov
A learning process in which an association is made between a neutral stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus. This results in the neutral stimulus eliciting a response similar to the natural stimulus.
Pavlov presented food (UCS) to dogs, which caused them to salivate (UCR). He then paired a bell (neutral stimulus) with the food. After repeated pairings, the dogs began to salivate (CR) to the bell (CS) alone.
Operant Conditioning- B.F. Skinner
A learning process in which behavior is shaped by consequences. Behaviors that are followed by positive consequences (reinforcement) become more likely, and behaviors followed by negative consequences (punishment) become less likely.
The Skinner Box: This was a controlled environment, often a small box, designed to study animal behavior. It typically contained a lever (for rats) or a key (for pigeons) that the animal could manipulate to receive a reward (like food) or avoid a punishment (like an electric shock).
Observational Learning Albert Bandura (1977)
Learning that occurs by observing the behavior of others (models).
Children watched an adult interact with a Bobo doll (e.g., hitting, kicking). Children who observed aggressive behaviour were more likely to imitate that behaviour.
Attachment Theory (John Bowlby)
A theory that describes the enduring emotional bond that develops between an infant and their primary caregiver.
The idea of the attachment theory is That infants are born with a biological predisposition to form attachments with caregivers, which serves as a survival mechanism.
Four main types of attachment
Secure, Anxious-Ambivalent (Resistant), Anxious-Avoidant, and Disorganized.
44 Thieves Study
A study conducted by John Bowlby in which he examined the backgrounds of 44 juvenile thieves.
Many of the juvenile thieves had experienced early separation from their mothers (prolonged separation during childhood). This led Bowlby to suggest a link between early maternal deprivation and antisocial behaviour.
Nature vs. Nurture Debate
Nature (Biological Influences): Genes, hereditary factors, physical appearance, personality characteristics
Nurture (Environmental Influences): Childhood experiences, upbringing, social relationships, cultural background.
