PSY2012 GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE COVERS CHAPTERS 14 15 AND SOME OF 16 Chapter 14 Personality Who We Are How do you define personality What does it mean if someone is extraverted Ex social outgoing optimistic less traditional What does it mean if someone is conscientious Causes of Personality Nature vs Nurture Do genes influence how extraverted we are Or does environment How much How would we use a family to determine this Behavioral genetic methods attempt to disentangle the effects of genetic factors shared environmental factors Personality Stable tendencies within individuals that influence how they respond to their environments anything outside the genetic proteins based sequence being raised in the same environment makes you similar nonshared environmental factors things that make siblings different friends instruments sports Twin and Adoption Studies Identical MZ 100 same genetics Fraternal DZ 50 same genetics Concordance rate The statistical probability that one individual will share a trait with another individual typically a twin or other related person High concordance rate MZ DZ evidence for shared environment Low concordance rate MZ DZ evidence for nonshared environment Numerous personality traits are influenced by genetics but all are much below a 1 0 correlation Demonstrates nonshared environmental influence Shared environment plays little to no role in adult personality Supported by twin and adoption studies Shared environment together MZ twins reared apart no shared environment similar in personality to MZ twins raised Adoption studies children more like their biological parents than adoptive parents Genes play a huge role in our personality A NOTE OF CAUTION in our lives Remember genes code for proteins not specific behaviors Genes have indirect influences of traits while the environment influences how these are displayed Sigmund Freud Vietnamese neurologist who developed first comprehensive theory of personality Psychoanalytic Theory Developed by Freud Rest on 3 primary assumptions Psychic determinism Symbolic meaning and drives Unconscious motivation Everything we do is done for a reason outside our conscious awareness There s also meaning to everything we do behaviors can be symbolic of urges primal urges for sexuality and aggression Structure of Personality Freud thought that the psyche consisted of three components Id basic instincts operates on pleasure principle Primal forces existing in subconscious Freud thinks that anything everyone wanted to do is because of an underlying feeling to have sex or kill Ego principal decision maker reality principle We don t act upon those urges because of the ego Delays gratification or engages symbolically Superego sense of morality People who are able to keep these in check are considered healthy Crazy people tend to have a hyped up and uncontrollable id Anxiety Defense Mechanisms The ego will try to minimize anxiety via defense mechanisms Good thing Everybody uses them Bad thing when you use the same one repeatedly Repression Projection Sublimation Motivated forgetting of emotionally threatening memories or impulses Unconscious attribution of our negative qualities onto others Ex Accuse bf gf of cheating when you re the one who really wants to cheat Transforming a socially unacceptable impulse into an admired goal Stages of Psychosexual Development Freud believed that we pass through stages Insisted that sexuality begins at infancy Individuals who get fixated on a stage and have difficulty moving on Stages 1 oral 2 anal 3 phallic latency 4 5 genital Five major criticisms Unfalsifiability Failed predictions Questionable conception of the unconscious Reliance on unrepresentative samples Flawed assumption of shared environmental influence Trait Models Intersected primarily in describing and understanding the structure of personality Used statistical techniques to reduce diversity of personality descriptors to underlying traits 5 traits that have repeatedly appeared in such studies Big 5 and Behavior Predict many real world behaviors Job performance and grades in school Physical health and lifespan Relatively similar traits seen across cultures but different prevalence rates extraversion neuroticism agreeableness conscientiousness openness to experience Alternative Trait Models Big 3 Positive Emotionally extraversion Negative Emotionally neuroticism Constraint Impulse Control agreeableness conscientiousness openness Can personality change Some variability prior to age 30 but little thereafter Evaluated Scientifically Mischel s argument concerning behavioral inconsistency Response was that traits are predictors of aggregate not isolated behaviors Primarily describe individual differences rather than what causes them Personality Assessment How do we measure personality Need two key criteria Reliability Validity Structured Personality Tests Paper and pencil tests consisting of questions in one of a few mixed ways Chapter 15 Psychological Disorders When Adaptation Breaks Down Psychopathology abnormal psychology is after seen as a failure of adaptation to the Failure analysis approach tries to understand mental disorders by examining breakdowns in What is mental illness environment functioning Not a clear cut definition What is abnormality Clear line between normal and abnormal Subjectivity Not just black and white Continuum model measures normal vs abnormal everyone deviates is dysfunctional or distressed at some times in some ways it s a matter of degree not either or Characteristics of Mental Disorder The 4 D s Dysfunction also called impairment Does the symptom cause the person to be unable to function properly Symptoms interfere with everyday life Can the person still work Can the person maintain friendships Causes impairment Distress Deviant Is the person uncomfortable as a result of the behavior or symptom causes distress to the individual or to those around him her Are behaviors unusual vs typical In terms of STATISTICALLY how rare are these symptoms Not normative Dangerousness Behaviors and feelings that are potentially harmful excessive aggression suicidality self injury burning scratching skin Potential harm to the individual DSM IV TR Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th Edition Criticisms of the DSM IV high level of comorbidity meaning that the presence of two or more unrelated disease conditions exist at the same time in the same person Reliance on categorical rather than
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