MB1 - Personality Expand Cards

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  • Created by: Psych951
  • Created on: 11-05-18 15:50

What is Personality?

  • Definitions
  • Organisation
  • Scientific usefulness
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What is Personality Expanded

  • Individual, distinctive, relatively enduring ways of behaving. – Patterns of behaviour and thought responses
  • Dynamic organisation of psychophysical systems – Primarily internal
  • Scientific usefulness: Comprehensive, factual framework; Predictive power; Stimulate new knowledge.
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Psychodynamic Perspective

  • Psychoanalytic theory
  • Personality as an energy system
  • Structures of personality
  • Anxiety 
    • Defence mechanisms
    • Examples of defence mechanisms
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Psychodynamic Perspective Expanded

  • Psychoanalytic theory = Using dream interpretation and free association to explore unconscious drives
  • Personality is an energy system = Instincts generate psychic energy (libido) that drives behaviour due to need for release of energy.
  • Structures of personality:
    • Id = Core, psychic energy, unconscious, pleasure principle
    • Ego = Executive (balances id and superego), conscious, reality principle.
    • Superego = Ideal self, control impulses, morality principle.
  • Anxiety caused by ego managing impulses that threaten to get out of control – Dealt with through rational or irrational coping methods
    • Defence mechanisms = unconscious mental operations that minimise anxiety by distorting reality to release impulses.
    • Defence mechanisms Inc. repression (prevent negative feelings reaching conscious), denial, displacement, intellectualisation, projection, rationalisation, reaction formalisation and sublimation
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Psychosexual Personality Development

  • Development
    • Fixation
    • Regression
  • Stages
  • How personality develops (process)
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Psychosexual Personality Development Expanded

  • Development in which id’s pleasure seeking is focussed on specific pleasure-sensitive areas
    • Fixation = Arrested development with instincts focussed on a particular theme due to too much or little stimulation. = Libido has been permanently invested in stage
    • Regression = Psychological retreat to earlier stage due to current conflict
  • Stages:
    • Oral = infancy, mouth, self-indulgence or dependence
    • Anal = 2-3, elimination, compulsion or messiness
    • Phallic = 4-5, sexual organs, Oedipus/Electra, identification
    • Latency = 6-12, dormant sexual desire
    • Genital = 12+, normal sexuality.
  • Process:
    • Stages are associated with particular conflict that must be resolved before the moving to next stage
    • Resolution of conflicts requires expenditure of sexual energy and the more energy that is expended at a particular stage, the more the important characteristics of that stage remain with the individual as he/she matures psychologically.
    • The variety of characteristic e.g. organised or disorganised depends on whether stimulation was high or low.
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Neoanalytic Approach

  • Disagree with Freud
  • Adler
    • Object relations theory
  • Jung and the unconscious
    • Archetypes
  • Evaluation of psychodynamic
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Neoanalytic Approach Expanded

  • Disagree with certain aspects of Freud’s approach. – Too much emphasis on sexuality
  • Adler = Humans driven by social interest not selfish urges
    • Object relations theory = Mental representations of self and others that may be realistic or distorted due to early caregiver experiences (replaced by Bawlby’s theories)
  • Jung = Personal unconscious = Driven by individual experience - Collective unconscious = Consists of memories accumulated throughout history from entire human race - These types of unconscious drive personality development, not Freud's
    • Archetypes = Inherited tendencies to interpret experiences in certain ways
  • Evaluation of psychodynamic:
    • Lack of empirical support and rigorous testing
    • Supported by cognitive evidence of unconscious
    • Rich detail
    • Not falsifiable
    • Cultural and gender bias
    • Correct about importance of childhood experiences but over emphasises sexuality
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Humanist Perspective Expanded

  • Phenomenology
  • Kelly's personal constructs theory
  • Roger's theory of self
    • Congruency
    • Developing self-esteem and self-concept 
  • Evaluation of Humanist approach
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Humanist Perspective Expanded

  • Phenomonology - Focus on the presence, direct experience and individuals - Positive view of individual potential
  • Kelly’s personal construct theory = Goal to find personal meaning
    • Personal constructs = Cognitive categories to organise info about reality according to what they perceive to be important – Habitual categorisation tendencies.
  • Roger’s theory of self = Natural forces direct us to self-actualisation – Organised, consistent perceptions about oneself
    • Desire for self-consistency/congruence = when inconsistent, anxiety develops so either alter self-concept or distort reality.
    • Self-esteem/self-concept development and maintenance - Need for positive self-regard – Conditions of worth cause incongruence – Self-verification and self-enhancement
  • Evaluation:
    • Relies on self-report
    • Tested and measured
    • Self-actualisation is hard to define and measure
    • Positive psychology movement. 
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Trait Perspective

  • Type theories vs. Trait theories
  • Personality traits
  • Lexical approach vs. Factor analysis
  • Disagreements
  • Eysenck's super traits
  • Five-factor model
  • Stable personality
  • Evaluation
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Trait Perspective Expanded

  • Type theories categorise people into groups who share common personalities whereas trait theories define personality by degree to which have certain traits.
  • Personality traits = Relatively stable characteristics that establish individual identity
  • Identifying traits: Lexical approach = basis of everyday language or factor analysis = identify clusters of behaviour that correlate.
  • Disagreement on how many traits e.g. Catell’s 16 vs. Eysenck’s 2
  • Eysenck’s super traits: Extraversion and neuroticism.
  • Five factor model = Openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism (OCEAN) – Predict behaviour based on these traits – Measured by NEOP-PI – May be universal
  • Basis of personality theories is that it is stable, but responses change over time. – Some dimensions more stable than others – Propose average level of traits that fluctuate depending on situations.
  • Evaluation:
    • Value of identifying, classifying and measuring stable traits = Precise
    • Lack of focus on interaction of traits
    • Description not explanation. 
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Biological Perspective 1

  • Genetics 
    • Comprehensive twin study
  • Individual differences in brain functioning
  • Eysenck's model
  • Gray's reinforcement sensitivity theory
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Biological Perspective 1 Expanded

  • Genetics = Higher concordance between MZ twins on many psych characteristics – No individual gene for traits but interaction between many genes.
    • Study looking at MZ and DZ reared together and apart found high cause of variation by genetic and personal experience but little for shared environments
  • Individual differences in brain functioning affect personality – Eysenck’s and temperament.
  • Eysenck’s model: Own average level of arousal in brain (chemical and neural activity) and personality reflects attempt to achieve optimal arousal - Extroverts low arousal, introverts high, Neurotics have sudden and large shifts, stable have predictable, slower, small shifts.
    • Supported by MZ similarity on super traits and brain region correlates
    • Environment effects personality too but biological basis of responses to experiences.
  • Gray’s reinforcement sensitivity theory = Same spectrum of personality as Eysenck but due to sensitivity of biological systems to reward and inhibition/punishment determined by basic biological factors not arousal.
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Biological Perspective 2

  • Temperament 
  • Evaluation 
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Biological Perspective 2 Expanded

  • Temperament = Individual differences in responses from early life that influence personality – Biological differences e.g. inhibited people have higher physiological arousal, stress hormone secretion and amygdala activity. – Not destiny, affected by environment e.g. certain temperaments may only arise in or be strengthened by certain situations.
  • Evaluation: Cutting edge approach; Sophisticated technology; Rigorous and credible; Early stages e.g. how does early biological origins interact with situational factors. 
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Social-Cognitive Perspective 1 Expanded

  • Approach
    • Reciprocal determinism
  • Rotter's likelihood of behaviour 
    • Locus of control
  • Self-efficacy
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Social-Cognitive Perspective 1 Expanded

  • Combined cognitive and behaviourist = interaction of thinking with social environment to produce learning experiences/behaviour.
    • Reciprocal determinism = Person (personality, cognitive processes), environment (stimuli, reinforcement) and behaviour (type, frequency, intensity) all influence on another in a pattern of two-way causal links.
  • Rotter: Likelihood of behaviour in situation determined by expectancy and reinforcement value – Conditioning within cognitive framework – Expectancy concepts affect personality
    • Locus of control = degree of personal control – I-E scale measures LoC – Internal locus of control are more self-determined, successful, resistant to social influence etc
  • Self-efficacy = belief about ability to perform behaviours needed to reach valued outcomes
    • Determined by previous performance expectancies, observational learning, verbal persuasion and emotional arousal
    • Strong predictor of future performance
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Social-Cognitive Perspective 2

  • What is CAPS?
    • The variables
  • Explaining the stable personality/changing behaviour paradox
    • Behavioural signatures
  • Evaluation of the social-cognitive perspective
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Social-Cognitive Perspective 2 Expanded

  • Mischel and Shoda’s cognitive-affective personality system (CAPS) = Organised system of 5 variables that interact with each other and environment to produce distinctive patterns of behaviour that create personality
    • 5 variables = Encoding (personal constructs), beliefs and expectancies, goals and values, affects (emotions) and competencies and self-regulation.
  • Explains paradox between personality consistency and behavioural inconsistency – Behaviour depends on situation and how situation relates to CAPS i.e. how it is encoded, what goals are involved etc. which creates distinct behavioural signatures
    • Behavioural signatures are consistent responses in certain situations - representations of personality – Personality coherence from signatures rather than each individual behaviour/over-all average behaviour
  • Evaluation:
    • Scientific
    • Incorporates best of cognitive and behavioural
    • Measured and researched with precision
    • Resolve issue of personality consistency
    • Need to advance models and understand circumstances that they work in.
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Culture, Gender and Personality

  • Cultural differences affect personality
  • Gender schemas
  • Limitations 
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Culture, Gender and Personality Expanded

  • Cultural differences affect personality
    • Complexity and Interdependence (collectivist) of cultures affect diversity and conflict between values
    • Individualistic = personal traits better predictors of behaviour and opposite for collectivist
  • Gender role socialisation produces schemas of gender roles that affect personality – Gender schemas differ between cultures.
  • Limitation = Can’t explain all cultural differences as only 40% embrace individualistic vs collectivist – Findings aren’t robust
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Assessment of Personality

  • Requirements when measuring personality
  • Interviews
  • Behavioural assessment
  • Remote bhevaiour sampling
  • Personality scales
  • Projective tests
    • Rosarch test
    • Thematic apperception test
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Assessment of Personality Expanded

  • Measuring personality – Needs to be reliable and valid, able to predict
  • Interviews = Structured so measuring same thing between participants – General appearance, voice patterns, facial expressions etc. should be looked at too
    • Interviewer may affect responses and depends on interview honesty.
  • Behavioural assessment = Explicit coding of behavioural categories
    • Trained observers for high reliability
    • Can measure behavioural signatures
    • Requires precision.
  • Remote behaviour sampling = Self-reported behaviour and feelings in random daily lives
    • Behaviour across many different situations collected quickly
  • Personality scales = Objective measures with standard questions –
    • Easy scoring and comparison
    • Issue of individuals false responding
    • Rational theoretical approach = items based on theorist’s conception of trait.
  • Projective tests = Ambiguous stimuli and ask for interpretation – Project inner feelings and perceptions
    • Rorschach test = 10 inkblots and analyse what responses may symbolise
    • Thematic apperception test = Write story based on pictures then analyse themes. 
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