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Psychology - Personality Study Notes
1. personality: An enduring set of internally-based characteristics that create uniqueness
and consistency in a person's thoughts and behaviors.
2. Traits: Internal based characteristics that make up one's personality
3. The operation of traits can vary along a continuum from a little (ex. not aggressive) to an extreme
degree (ex. highly aggressive).: Individual differences in personality reflect the types of and degree to which they possess certain traits.
4. three distinct elements of personality:: uniqueness, consistency, and explana- tion.
5. uniqueness: Personality traits are specific to each person. Even among monozy- gotic twins,
each twin has unique personality traits.
6. consistency: how an individual behaves overtime in similar situations
7. Explanation: personality provides an explanation to account for the expression of the
behavior—an inherited tendency
8. No single level of analysis or type of psychological perspective adequately explains the complexity
of personality regarding individual differences (i.e., uniqueness) and consistency over time and across situations.:
9. psychodynamic perspective: The Freudian notion that personality is a function of internal
processes and conflicts over which individuals have little or no conscious awareness or personal control.
10. conscious mind: All mental activities that a person is aware of and able to freely access.
11. preconscious mind: A level of consciousness that is not in the forefront of one's
thoughts; however, information can be retrieved and brought to conscious awareness.
12. unconscious mind: The largest and most influential part of the mind, according to Freud; the
unconscious mind is a seemingly unlimited storage facility containing the thoughts, feelings, memories, needs, desires, wishes, and past experiences that are considered too threatening to be in one's conscious mind.
13. According to Freud, to understand personality it is necessary to expose and gain access to the
content of the unconscious mind.: Failing to allow the expression of this content results in the
2 / 16 building up of pressure in the unconscious that, if not released, would appear in the form of hysterical reactions, such as paralysis of the legs.
14. free association: A technique of psychoanalysis in which a client is encouraged to freely
share thoughts, words, and anything else that comes to mind in order to gain insight into their unconscious thoughts, behaviors, and motivations.
15. The method of free association is used to test/reveal the unconscious mind's contents: He
assumed that because the associations are linked together emotionally in the unconscious, an analysis of the pattern of these connections would reveal their true meaning as expressions of past and present psychological trauma.
16. His most important technique for examining clues to the unconscious was the use of dream
analysis.: With dream analysis, the manifest content is what the dreamer remembers and, according to Freud, is the disguised content. The latent content is the expression of the unconscious mind and a reflection of a person's true feelings, needs, and desires.
17. id: The area of the mind that is unconscious and is driven by sexual and aggressive
impulses.
18. pleasure principle: The driving force of the id, where the focus is on the fulfillment of
all sexual urges (Eros) and aggressive impulses (Thanatos).
19. ego: The component of personality that mediates between the id and superego and
ultimately decides the course of action.
20. the ego develops out of the id and operates across all three levels of consciousness.: The
principal purpose of the ego is to meet the needs of the id within the constraints of the real world.
21. ego operates the reality principle: The world in which the ego operates where impulses from
the unconscious and id are rejected in their natural form and are expressed in socially acceptable ways.
22. superego: One's moral compass of what is right and what is wrong; this is learned from
parents, teachers, religious leaders, etc.
23. Like the ego, the superego exists at all three levels of conscious aware- ness: and is based on
a sense of morality reflecting family values, official laws, social conventions, religious beliefs,
4 / 16 remain buried in the unconscious, where they continue to create feelings of anxiety
34. Although such traumatic information may not surface at the conscious level,: it could appear
in a disguised form within dreams or other expressions of behavior.
35. An effective response to a buildup of anxiety would be to take direct action to resolve the conflict
and restore a sense of psychic balance.: In contrast, an ineffective response would be to continue to use the defense mechanism to avoid conflict, thereby increasing levels of anxiety. -ex. a student actively avoids studying for an upcoming exam, because thinking about the exam makes him feel really anxious. He avoid feeling anxious by plays video games then begins to prepare for the test, but he becomes even more anxious and decides to visit some friends instead, which invariably results in increased anxiety. When the level of anxiety becomes so severe and upsetting that it begins to impair Himmet's ability to think clearly and rationally when dealing with daily living, he may eventually be diagnosed with a mental condition referred to as an anxiety disorder
36. erogenous zone: a region of the body that serves as the source of enjoyment
37. fixation: According to Freud, if one did not successfully navigate a psychosexual stage, he or
she would become stuck at that stage, which would subsequently affect one's personality development and behavior in adulthood. -when the person is under stress, they may regress (or return) to this period of development to resolve earlier sources of frustration or relive a time of excessive gratification of their needs.
38. defense mechanisms seem to operate more at the conscious level of awareness as a
deliberate strategy to protect our self-image than as an unconscious response to weaken threatening impulses:
39. collective unconscious: According to Jung, the unconscious mind is intercon- nected with the
experiences of past generations of different people throughout the world. As evidence of this, Jung pointed to universal knowledge and tendencies that people share and shared concepts that he identified as archetypes.
40. archetypes: All universal knowledge is stored in the collective unconscious by a variety of
thought patterns and behavior rituals that persist over time. Jung proposed three of these archetypes were the persona (patterns of behavior used in social settings), the shadow (darker, more primitive side to personality), and the self, unites all aspects of one's personality.
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41. For Jung, the operational explanation of personality involves the expres- sion of archetypes at
the level of conscious awareness.: -The uniqueness of the individual is based on what archetypes express, depending on the time and place in which they live. -The consistency of an individual's behavior is based on which certain archetypes are expressed often across situations.
42. striving for superiority: Adler proposed that at a conscious level, individuals are motivated
by efforts to achieve excellence and improvements over for our past selves and to act in ways to benefit social interest.
43. striving for superiority should be guided by the principle of social interest-
: the goal of becoming a better person should be to make society better as you make yourself a better person. -Ex.a high school science teacher volunteers at the local science museum on the weekends to learn more about science and be a better teacher for her students while also helping to keep the museum open on the weekends so more community members can visit to better their knowledge and interest in science in their own efforts toward striving for superiority.
44. For Adler, the uniqueness of the individual is based on the selection
of specific strategies used when striving for superiority: The consistency of behavior is based on the extent to which the specific strategies used are selected in a similar manner over time and across situations.
45. social security: A concept of Karen Horney, where we need to be loved and connected to
others.
46. basic anxiety: When individuals feel unsafe, unloved, and powerless in their relationships,
they develop feelings of anxiety
47. basic hostility: According to Horney, people feel anger and hostility when in insecure
relationships, particularly when one's significant other makes no effort to forge a secure environment.
48. three basic strategies individuals use to reduce feelings of basic anxiety and establish a sense
of safety:: -moving toward people -moving away from people
7 / 16 level of awareness.: Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers are the two most influential people in the development of the humanistic perspectives.
56. Abraham Maslow (1971) considered the motivational core of personality to be the desire for
individuals to seek a state of self-actualization: the tendency to strive for self-improvement and self-enhancement to ultimately achieve one's fullest potential.
57. Maslow's Need Hierarchy: A theory to explain motivation as a series of five human needs
and the fulfillment of those needs. -physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness and love need, esteem needs, and self- actualization.
58. Esteem needs are characterized by the desire to have the respect of others and a sense of self-
respect.: Efforts to meet these needs might include securing the respect of others by taking a leadership role in an organization or running for office in the community.
59. Self-actualization needs are characterized by the desire for individuals to reach to one's
fullest potential: which incorporates an unending drive for self-improvement.
60. less than 1% of all people operate at the self-actualization level: striving for self-actualization
was a fundamental tendency of everyone and a life-long process.
61. Carl Rogers purported that the core element of an individual's personality is the self concept:
how someone perceives his or her unique set of characteristics, skills, qualities, and abilities
62. Self-esteem is how positively or negatively a person evaluates him- or her- self based on life
experiences: An individual's self-esteem is high when self-eval- uation is consistent with thoughts and actions. -Ex. a person may believe that he is a good tennis player based on the consistency of his winning matches
63. self-esteem may be low if a person's evaluation is inconsistent with life experiences: -Ex.
someone considers himself to be a good tennis player and consistently loses matches, then his self-esteem regarding his abilities at tennis declines markedly
64. Carl Rogers believed that the motivational source of personality was based on the individual to
develop a personal sense of self-awareness and self-ac- ceptance within the self-concept.: -Rogers assessed the current state of being (actual self) as well as the ideal level that one would like to achieve (ideal self). As the discrepancy between these two measures increases, self-esteem and self-worth decrease. -self-fulfillment can be hindered or helped by our relationships with others, depend-
8 / 16 ing on whether significant others (e.g., parents, teachers, friends, romantic partners) offer approval, acceptance, and love.
65. conditional positive regard: serves to stifle personal growth by placing limits on the
acceptance people give to others. -Ex. parents may show approval when their teenage daughter conforms to their wishes for her to go to medical school instead of her own desire to study social work
66. unconditional positive regard: based on the inherent goodness of people and the need for
unwavering love and acceptance from others. -includes displaying an attitude of acceptance and respect for an individual, no matter what that person says or does
- When such an attitude is displayed, Rogers believed individuals are more willing to take risks and test the limits of their abilities in an attempt to establish a more accurate sense of self without fearing the judgment of significant others.
67. misconception of the attitude of unconditional positive regard: is the total acceptance of
whatever individuals wish to do under any circumstances.
68. In contrast to the psychodynamic perspectives, the humanistic perspec- tives present a more
positive view of human nature operating on a more conscious level of awareness to make decisions and take action to seek self-improvement: focusing on building positive qualities in humans
69. social-cognitive perspective: principal processes by which people develop certain cognitions
(i.e., thoughts, feelings, beliefs, assumptions, perceptions, expec- tations) about themselves are based on noting the consequences of their behavior and observing the behavior of others across a variety of situations. -it is the unique expression of these cognitions that creates individual differences in personality
70. According to Albert Bandura a core element of personality is the self-sys- tem: is a set of
cognitions that people use to observe, evaluate, and regulate their behavior in different situations. -Ex. a shy student notices that at a specific pub on game day, those wearing a home-team ball cap seem to have an easier time striking up conversations with others than those not wearing one. Now he wears one.
71. Self-efficacy: the belief about one's ability to successfully perform in a given situation
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78. People who who displayed the ability to delay gratification when they were in preschool had
higher Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, were more likely to think and plan ahead, and were rated by their parents as being more mature and better able to cope with stress than those who displayed a weaker tendency to delay gratification: Children who displayed better abilities to control their impulses tended to have better physical health and reduced rates of substance abuse, and they were less likely to engage in criminal offenses
79. biological perspective: The perspective on personality assumes personality characteristics
are a function of various biological factors, including behavioral genetics, the neurological perspective, and an evolutionary perspective.
80. The behavioral genetics perspective examines: the degree to which con- tributions from
certain inherited biological factors (i.e., our genes) interact with environmental factors (i.e., our family environment or socioeconomic status) to determine the expression of certain personality characteristics in different groups.
81. concordance rate: The degree to which a characteristic, trait, or disease that occurs in one
twin similarly occurs in the second twin.
82. When personality traits have higher concordance rates for monozygotic twins than dizygotic
twins, it is assumed that the magnitude of the differences represents the level of heritability of the trait being assessed.:
83. heredity: the amount of variability in personality measures that can be account- ed for by a
genetic contribution -are calculated based on, and apply to, groups of individuals, not a specific individ- ual.
84. neurological perspective: The neurological perspective examines the extent to which
various physiological factors (i.e., hormones and neurotransmitters) and brain activity (i.e., arousal and inhibition) determine the expression of personality characteristics.
85. testosterone: A male sex hormone associated with dominance, aggression, and
persistence.
86. serotonin: A neurotransmitter associated with mood, anxiety, appetite and di- gestion,
sleeping, and other functions. Levels of serotonin have also been linked to a willingness to engage in thrill-seeking behaviors, which is considered a personality trait.
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87. high sensation-seekers tend to exhibit a larger pattern of arousal in the brain in response to a
new stimulus but a much faster reduction in arousal to that same stimulus when experiencing it again and again over time: Such a specific response pattern of excitement and boredom helps to explain why high sensation-seekers continue to take greater and greater risks (e.g., gamble more) to maintain their level of interest and avoid boredom.
88. reticular activating system (ARAS) is a network of structures in the mid- brain that acts as a
filter, is responsible for regulating arousal in the brain: - linked with the personality dimension of introversion and extraversion
89. introverts tend to have a level of cortical activity that is higher than aver- age: while extraverts
seem to have a lower level of arousal
90. The tendency for introverts to be more socially withdrawn seems to reflect their desire to reduce
the additional stimulation of being around others: the tendency of extraverts to seek out the company and stimulation of others seems to reflect their desire to increase the amount of activity to compensate for their generally lower-than-average level of arousal.
91. evolutionary perspective: uses evolutionary theory to account for differences in personality
because these differences are adaptive responses to the two funda- mental challenges of evolution: survival and reproductive success.
92. The personality characteristics associated with survival include conscien- tiousness: makes
individuals more likely to engage in health-promoting behaviors and avoid risks, and optimism, which makes individuals more likely to have fewer symptoms and quicker recovery when dealing with medical concerns
93. hostile Type A personality and neuroticism: -Individuals demonstrating this pattern of hostility
tend to suppress their feeling of emotional distress, frustration, and anger, thereby increasing the effects of these emotions on their overall health, which can often lead to abuse of tobacco, alcohol, and drugs to seek comfort. -Individuals exhibiting neuroticism tend to be overly moody, unstable, and overly anxious, which contributes to a general state of hyperarousal and tension.
94. functionally infertile individuals (FII): those for whom reproduction is possible but rates of
reproductive success are low.
95. females classified as high FII include harm avoidance: which results in less frequent sexual
13 / 16 including interrater reliability, test-retest reliability. Reliability is a necessary but not sufficient condition for validity.
105. validity: The accuracy of a measure.
106. psychometrician: one who knows about reliability and validity
107. Predictive validity is a criterion-related form of validity, meaning it is trying to ascertain
some outcome (e.g., job success): Another form of criteri- on-related validity is concurrent validity. The word concurrent reflects simultaneous assessment, whereas predictive implies forecasting into the future.
108. To determine the concurrent validity of a measure, you would adminis- ter the
personality measure and simultaneously assess the criterion.: With positive workplace behaviors and performance, you would sample employees in the job of interest, administer the personality measure, and then measure the outcome-based behaviors of interest (e.g., their current performance level, rate of absenteeism, productivity level).
109. Personal interviews involves asking questions to determine personality-
: The advantage of using interviews is the individual can respond in their own words with any responses they see fit. -disadvantage is the extent to which individuals are telling the interviewer the truth or simply saying what they think the interviewer wants to hear, which is a possibility in many other forms of psychological testing relying on self-report responses.
110. Observational assessment techniques measure personality: by using spe- cific guidelines
for recording what individuals do, think, and feel in naturalistic
111. behavioral observation: Recording behaviors as they occur while remaining as
unobtrusive as possible.
112. self-monitoring techniques: A person keeps track of the occurrence of a behavior
of interest by recording the frequency with which they engage in that behavior.
113. thought sampling technique: Individuals write down the nature and frequen- cy of the
thoughts they have in certain situations. Ex. having difficulties when meeting new people at a party (e.g., "I just know people are going to think I'm not interesting."
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114. The advantage of observational assessment techniques is that they make it possible to
assess a variety of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in a wide range of situations.: A disadvantage is that the same response may mean different things to different people, such as a lack of eye contact being interpreted as fear versus disinterest. -Another disadvantage is that we must trust individuals using the self-report tech- niques to be honest when recording their own behaviors, which can come into doubt when the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are of a negative (e.g., feelings or thoughts of depression or suicide) or socially undesirable (e.g., engaging in theft or sexual infidelity) nature.
115. fixed-format tests: Objective measures that require test takers to select a
response from one of those provided.
116. The advantages of single-dimension tests (T/F) are that they tend to be relatively short
and allow the testing professional to focus on the specific dimension of interest, such as shyness, creativity, locus of control, hostility, or sensation-seeking.: Multiple-dimension personality tests attempt to measure more than one dimension at a time.
117. Ex. the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) assesses three dimen- sions
-the NEO-Personality Inventory (NEO-PI) measures the Big Five dimensions of personality -the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) examines 16 factors of personality.: most widely used and extensively researched multidimensional per- sonality test is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI and MMPI-2)
118. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI): assesses both per- sonality traits
and the presence of mental illness. The MMPI is in its second version and is the most widely used objective personality measures used by trained psy- chologists.
119. The MMPI-2 assesses 10 trait-like clinical dimensions of personality and contains 567 test
questions to which individuals must respond in a fixed format by selecting from three response alternatives: true, false, or cannot say.: MMPI was originally designed to help diagnose individuals suffering from major psychological disorders.
120. MMPI-2 contains four validity subscales designed to assess the quality of the responses
of those taking the test.: These four measures identify biasing the nature of the responses for the following alternative motives:
16 / 16 highly criticized because there is a lack of reliability (without reliability, a measure is meaningless)
130. There are many different forms of projective techniques : Association, construction: -
Association techniques present a test stimulus to an individual and then ask him or her to respond with the first word, thought, or feeling that comes to mind.
Rorschach inkblot test: interpreting the inkblot image
131. Construction technique:: involve the individual creating something, such as a story,
from the test stimuli.
132. electrophysiological measures: involve linking certain bodily processes, such as
heart rate, muscle tension, and skin conductance (i.e., "sweating"), to different dimensions of personality.
133. Biochemical measures: involve linking an assortment of biochemical processes,
such as neurotransmitters, hormones, and genetic characteristics, to different dimensions of personality. -ex. could be used to test the assumption of the neurological perspective linking testosterone to aggression.
134. Cortical measures: involve linking certain levels of electrical activity in differ- ent
regions of the brain with different dimensions of personality.
- using functional magnetic imaging (fMRI) to examine the level of brain arousal of individuals with problematic (e.g., drug dependency, antisocial personality disorder) and healthy (e.g., adaptive responses to stress) personalities
135. An advantage of psychophysiological assessment techniques is: linking the expression
of individual differences in personality with objective measures of bodily processes to help us understand the nature and the extent of biological contributions to personality.
136. A disadvantage of these techniques is that the same bodily reaction can have different
meanings. -EX. an elevated heart rate is associated with both fear and excitement.: An- other disadvantage is that various regions of the brain have more than one function, which makes formulating specific conclusions difficult. -Ex. The frontal lobe performs complex functions, ranging from impulse control to abstract reasoning to a sense of self, reaching a specific conclusion about how this part of the brain affects personality is difficult.
