Week 9 + Chapter 12 Flashcards
(41 cards)
Idiographic Approaches
a qualitative approach that emphasizes the uniqueness of each individual.
Nomothetic Approaches
A quantitative approach to studying personality that focuses on common traits or dimensions that apply to all people.
Idiographic vs Nomothetic
An idiographic approach might involve having someone share their life story. No attempt is made to describe all people using the same classification scheme.
In contrast, nomothetic approaches emphasize sharedness and assume that all people can be described or categorized using the same system.
Projective Measures
Projective tests; a test of personality based on Freudian theory that provides an ambiguous stimulus onto which test takers ‘‘project’’ their personality.
Example; The Rorschach Inkblot Test, contains ten different inkblots, some in color and others in black and white (Rorschach, 1921). The job of the participants is to describe what each inkblot looks like to them. These responses are written down by the examiner and scored according to a manual.
- Have poor validity and reliability
Objective Measures
Standardized tools for assessing personality that rely on structured, clear scoring (often multiple-choice or true/false).
Example:
The Big Five Inventory is an objective measure of personality traits.
Psychodynamic theory
A psychological perspective that emphasizes the role of unconscious processes, early childhood experiences, and inner conflicts in shaping behavior and personality.
focus on the psychological drives and forces within individuals that explain human behavior and personality. The theories originate from Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis, which focused on the unconscious mind as the source of psychological distress and dysfunction.
Ego
according to Freud, the decision-making part of personality that operates on the reality principle
Ego – Rational self, balances id and superego
ID
Id – Instinctual desires (pleasure-seeking)
components of Freud’s personality theory containing primitive drives present at birth
Superego
Superego – Moral conscience
according to Freud, the part of personality that represents moral conscience
Defense Mechanism
in Freud’s personality theory, a protective behavior that reduces anxiety
Humanistic Approaches
study of people as inherently good and motivated to learn and improve
Self Actualization
the process of fully developing personal potentials
Person-centered
A therapeutic approach emphasizing the individual’s subjective experience and capacity for self-growth.
Example:
In therapy, letting a client lead the conversation and focusing on their feelings is a person-centered method developed by Carl Rogers.
unconditional positive regard
Accepting and supporting a person regardless of what they say or do.
Example:
A parent who continues to love and support their child even after they make a mistake offers unconditional positive regard.
Self-concept
People’s description of their own characteristics
Self-Schema
a cognitive organization that helps us think about the self and process self-relevant information
A major implication of having a self-schema is that we process self-relevant information differently than information about others.
self-esteem
a judgement of the value of the self
Interdependent self-construal
Seeing the self as connected with others and emphasizing relationships, roles, and group memberships.
Example:
A person from a collectivist culture who defines themselves as “a daughter, a team member, and a good friend” has an interdependent self-construal.
Self-Construal
The way a person understands, defines, and thinks about themselves in relation to others and the social world. It shapes how people perceive their identity and interact socially.
Independent self-construal
Viewing the self as unique, autonomous, and separate from others.
Example:
Someone who describes themselves as “creative, ambitious, and self-reliant” shows an independent self-construal.
Reciprocal determinism
a social-cognitive learning theory of personality that features the mutual influence of the person and that of the situation on each other.
A concept from Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory that explains how behavior, personal factors (like thoughts and emotions), and the environment all interact and influence one another in a continuous loop.
Self-efficacy
is the belief that you can handle a challenging situation and obtain future rewards.
self-handicapping
Creating obstacles or excuses to avoid self-blame in case of failure.
Example:
Not studying before a test and blaming a bad grade on being tired is a form of self-handicapping.
Self-regulation
consists of conscious executive efforts to control our thoughts, motives, feelings, and behaviors
In self-regulation, we make distinctions between what is good for the current self (eating a yummy treat) and what is good for the future self (having good health).
