WK 6 Personality 1

Question 1

Personality definition

Answer 1

complex organisation of cognition, affects and behaviours that give direction and pattern

Question 2

general theories about personality are about

Answer 2

• structure

- individual differences

Question 3

Research approaches to personality

Answer 3

• clinical
• correlational
• experimental

Question 4

Clinical approaches focus on

Answer 4

involvement of systematic, in-depth research of individuals

Question 5

methods of clinical approaches are

Answer 5

-observation and self-report

Question 6

Correlational approaches focus on

Answer 6

establishing association between sets of measures on which people have found to differ. Not studying person as whole, but relationships between elements. (currently dominant method)

Question 7

methods of correlational approaches

Answer 7

measurement based on self-report

Question 8

Experimental approaches focus on

Answer 8

the systematic manipulation of variables to establish causal relationships

Question 9

methods of experimental approaches

Answer 9

experimental manipulation

Question 10

Influential approaches to personality

Answer 10

• Genetic
• temperament
• heritability
• Trait

Question 11

Genetic approach

-temperament variables

Answer 11

• inhibition to the unfamiliar
• impulsivity
• dopamine drives sensation seeking
• seratonin inhibits sensation seeking

Question 12

Genetic approach

-heritability

Answer 12

wide range of personality traits are quite heritable, tested using twin studies

Question 13

Trait approach

Answer 13

assumes that all people have enduring characteristics or traits which personality is described as a set of these

Question 14

assumptions in trait models

Answer 14

• mapped on continuum from low to high
• normally distributed
• do not change much

Question 15

how are traits acquired

Answer 15

• genetics (e.g. anxiety levels appear to be quite heritable)
• experience (e.g. trust levels appear to be learned)

Question 16

Trait approaches-

nomothetic vs idiographic approaches

Answer 16

N- compares traits to wider norms (continuum)

I- emphasises uniqueness of individual

Question 17

Researcher Raymond Cattell

Answer 17

16 traits. interested in environment vs heritability.
1/3 genetics
2/3 environment

Question 18

Researcher Hans Eysenck

Answer 18

3 super traits:

• extraversion-introversion
• nueroticism
• psychoticism

Question 19

5 factor model

Answer 19

5 overarching traits which represent amalgam of lesser traits or facets (OCEAN)

• Openness to experience
• Conscientiousness
• Extraversion
• Agreeableness
• Neuroticism

Question 20

Development of personality (theories)

Answer 20

• Psychoanalytic
• Object Relations
• Social-cognitive
• Humanistic approaches

Question 21

Whose theory is psychoanalytic

Answer 21

Freud

Question 22

Freuds topographic model

Answer 22

• conscious mental processes
• pre-conscious mental processes
• unconscious mental processes

Question 23

Freud and drives

Answer 23

society wont let us directly express our urges (instinctual drives), though these give us the power to work, love, play, create art

Question 24

Freuds structural model

Answer 24

• Id: concerned with pleasure
• superego: concerned with ideal (morality)
• ego: concerned with actual (reality)

Question 25

Freuds 13 defence mechanisms

Answer 25

unconscious mental processes used by the ego to protect person from experiencing emotional states:

• repression
• denial
• projection
• reaction formation (opposite)
• sublimation (bad behaviour to socially acceptable)
• rationalisation
• displacement (directing anger away)
• regression (early childhood behaviour)
• passive agression
• isolation
• undoing (mentally replaying)
• identification with the agressor
• reversal (like recation-formation)