Terms concepts Definitions examples Personality characteristics emotions thoughts behaviors that are relatively stable over time and across circumstances Personality traits smaller aspects of who we are characteristics of the person a dispositional tendency to act in a certain way over time e g introverted How have scientists What is unconscious psychodynamic theories studied personality Personal experience humanistic approaches Social cognitive approach how people act on a social level and how Type and trait approaches approaches describing behavioral they think dispositions o Type broader o Traits smaller units of behavior that make up personality Freudian or Influence on how we think about ourselves personality psychodynamic Practiced through the 1930s approach Thought the role of unconscious influences personality o E g lay on couch talk about your life psychologist would give insight into what problems you are experiencing Struggle between id superego and ego Introduced concept of unconscious defense mechanisms Freud s topographical Thought 2 3 of our lives is unconscious almost everything that s model Id superego ego Id unconscious seeking pleasure relevant Small amount preconscious that we may be able to access Very small amount conscious things we are aware of Superego dictates moral and behavioral messages from society and parents Ego mediates between Id Superego Why Freud became Female Sexuality book unpopular o Penis envy theory o Females are inferior and are jealous of males Developed idea of phallic symbol things that resemble a penis that Defense mechanism Freudian concept symbolize male power it s unconscious you defend your emotions to make yourself feel better Common defense Denial something is making us anxious or uncomfortable and ignore it mechanisms to feel better can be the source of a problem b c don t cope with issue can still affect life problem Repression not remembering unpleasant memories also can be a Projection something about self that makes you uncomfortable you focus on that quality in other people and criticize them Reaction formation deal with a discomfort of self by emphasizing the opposite extreme such as extreme homophobic preacher who turns out to be gay himself o Study the likelier people are to say homophobic statements the more they are aroused by images representing the same sex Rationalization rationalizing your behavior justifying it you know you are doing something wrong so you give yourself a reason why you are doing it e g lying on your taxes and telling yourself everyone does it Displacement taking your emotions out on others e g kicking your dog conflict Sublimation using a socially acceptable path to take out unacceptable emotions e g becoming a surgeon to inflict pain on others Regression you become immature or act younger to deal with internal Identification coping by assuming someone else s qualities who is better than us Person situation Whether situations or people cause behavior controversy Personal constructs Rules ideas people use to understand their lives Outcome expectancies What you expect to occur in the future Self concept What we know about ourselves Self verification We look for proof for our self concepts Self serving bias People emphasize their effort in their success but de emphasize it in their failures The humanistic Personality as choice existential approach People are inherently good positive view Focus on how healthy choices create personality Humanistic approach optimistic view of human nature goodness potential for growth Existentialist approach individual negotiates the issue of meaning and the reality of death dealing with meaning of life and reality of death personality is the individual s choices in view of that Angst can arise Self actualizing the human motive toward realizing our inner potential tendency Flow A human need to engage in tasks that match our abilities that cause a E g so engaged in rock climbing that you didn t realize you were there Social cognitive an approach that views personality in terms of how the person thinks approach about the situations encountered in daily life and behaves in response state of focus for hours to them A way of thinking how we respond to other people E g an optimistic person may have a family member die but they acknowledge how full their own life is and the other positive things in their life despite the death Approaches to Projective approaches studying personality Self report inventories Narrative approach Projective approach Open to subjective interpretation Self report inventories Personality inventories use multiple choice forced choice Rorschach inkblot test a set of inkblots are shown to a person they tell you what they see their response tells you about their personality Thematic apperception test TAT ambiguous slides shown to a person include people asked to tell a story about the image o Self report Understanding something about yourself through situations e g if this happens do you do x or y o Frequently used o MMPI 2 most common personality test used over 500 questions assesses personality and psychological problems difficult reading level Other shorter tests exist Rotter s Locus of control scale o Where is control located how much control do we have o Are events due to luck or the choices we make Comorbidity When a person has more than one disorder Preparedness theory Some people are more likely to have certain fears Narrative approach What you do when getting to know friends make determinations about their personality by asking them about their life what their parents are like etc Dan McAdams personality researcher Core traits Big five classic the traits of a five factor model o Conscientiousness o Agreeableness o Neuroticism o openness to experience o extraversion To memorize use mnemonic CANOE or OCEAN What type of a A hierarchical one structure do traits Can have overarching category such as neuroticism have Can be divided up into subcategories e g anxious low self esteem moody shy Further subcategories In a personality test ask questions that target the subcategories Hans Eysenck posits three superordinate personality traits overarching traits o 1 Emotional stability v emotional instability neuroticism o 2 Extraversion v introversion seeking vs avoiding stimulation o 3 Psychoticism impulsivity aggression Habitual response vs specific response what you do out of habit vs in Realized that extraversion is most relevant to neurophysiological