Personality Psychology Lecture 18 Outline of Last Lecture Constructs Similarity pole Construct pole Person as scientist Types of constructs Verbal Preverbal Submerged Core Peripheral Construct system hierarchy Range of convenience Focus of convenience REP Test Cognitive Complexity Bieri Linville Anxiety Fear Threat Growth and Development Psychotherapy Fixed Role Therapy Evaluation Outline of Current Lecture Self regulation Schemas Motives Self enhancement motive Self verification motive Higgins Self efficacy and Anxiety Stress Stress inoculation RET rational emotive therapy ABC These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute Current Lecture Self Regulation we are proactive affect things that may or may not happen in the future ability to regulate ourselves emotionally behaviorally cognitively o Capacity to motivate ourselves using thoughts about ourselves to influence our motivation o Set goals o Plan strategies o Evaluate modify behavior o Bandura Cervone 1983 from textbook Studied whether or not feedback goals have an effect on how much effort people put into something Having goals with feedback is important in determining how much effort someone puts into something impact motivation o Mischel s Paradigm The Marshmallow Test Schemas describes an organized pattern of thought or behavior that organizes categories of information and the relationships among them o Self schemas knowledge structure Validated by reaction time measures Motives o Self enhancement motive biased toward positive views of the self overestimate our own attributes enhance our own self image compared to people who aren t doing so well o Self verification motive motivated to experience self as consistent predictable can be positive or negative if we believe we are bad at something we prefer to have it validated Goals are Central to Motivation o Learning goals learn something for the sake of learning it think about the task and all you can learn from it o Performance goals aim to Show people how smart you are Avoid embarrassment when you don t know something Make a good impression Higgins 1987 1996 o Ideal how we would like to behave think feel ought how we should behave think feel standards o Actual ideal self discrepancies sadness If we are not how we wish we could be sadness o Actual ought self discrepancies anxiety If we are not doing what we should be doing anxiety Self Efficacy Anxiety o Perceptions of low self efficacy experience high levels of anxiety o Not the threatening event per se but the perceived inefficacy in coping with it that is so fundamental to anxiety o Perceived Inefficacy Depression Those prone to depression Impose excessively high goals standards Blame themselves for falling short of these goals Low self efficacy may contribute to diminished performance falling even further below standards additional self blame Beliefs that goals are beyond one s capabilities because they are unrealistic abandoning the goal maybe apathy but not to depression o o Depression occurs when a person feels inefficacious in relation to a goal but believes the goal to be reasonable Stress when one views circumstances as taxing or exceeding resources endangering well being our reaction to stressors stress Lazarus Folkman Primary appraisal is something at stake is there a threat or danger Secondary appraisal What if anything can be done Problem focused coping attempts to cope by altering features of a stressful situation ex financial problems get part time job Emotion focused coping attempts to improve internal emotional state ex someone you care about gets a medical diagnosis researching the diagnosis can distract you Some coping methods influenced by personality factors many strongly influenced by situational context Greater level of stress efforts to cope poorer the physical health greater the likelihood of psychological symptoms Greater sense of mastery better physical psychological health Planful problem solving more adaptive than escape avoidance or confrontative coping Stress Inoculation Meichenbaum 1995 Relaxation training Cognitive restructuring strategies help people be more aware of the thoughts that automatically come to mind catch themselves and step back to look at something rationally Problem solving strategies teach a person how to use effective problem solving strategies defining the problem developing solutions pros and cons etc Rational Emotive Therapy RET Albert Ellis 1962 1997 People do not respond emotionally to events in the world but to their beliefs about those events we cause our own stress because of what we believe as opposed to the truth ABC of Rational Emotive Therapy An Activating A event may lead to a Consequence C such as an emotional reaction we create beliefs between A and C ex A asking someone out C consequence B belief You ask someone out you get rejected your belief is that you are no good or don t deserve love Our B s about A largely determine our response to it The beliefs that cause psychological distress are irrational