Intimacy

how quickly and easily you develop emotionally close relationships with others, is one of the traits that is not determined by genes, in comparison to traits which are influenced by genes

Impulsivity

tendency to act quickly without considering consequences

Openness to experience

curiosity, imagination, preference for novelty

Traditionalism

tendency to follow rules and established norms

Neuroticism

tendency to experience negative emotions like anxiety and sadness

Sensation-seeking

preference for excitement and stimulation

Personality

unique and stable pattern of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that characterize an individual over time and across situations

Traits

internally based characteristics that make up one's personality

extraversion

a personality trait encompassing the degree to which a person is socially outgoing, talkative, energetic, and drawn to novelty

Uniqueness

the particular blends of qualities, habits, and quirks that set you apart from others

Consistency

how an individual behaves over time in similar situations

Explanation

is observing regularity in personality traits and attributing behavior in any given instance to that trait

Uniqueness of the Individual

personality explains how the expression of each individual's thoughts and behavior is different

Consistency of behavior

personality describes how the behavior of the individual is consistent over time and across situations

Process of personality

personality accounts for the internal operations producing the unique and consistent expression of an individual's thoughts and behavior

Hysteria

a broad, often vaguely defined medical diagnosis—primarily applied to women—that described a range of emotional, behavioral, and physical ailments. Symptoms could range from anxiety to full-blown psychosis

Topographical theory of the mind

suggests that the way an individual feels and behaves is the result of three mental systems operating together

Conscious minds

consists of all thoughts, feelings, motivations, and goals that a person is currently aware of

Preconscious mind

contains memories and knowledge that a person may not be thinking in the present moment, but can be easily brought

Unconscious mind

the largest and most influential part of the mind, according to Freud; houses any thoughts or impulses that are considered too threatening to be in one's conscious mind

Free association

a client is encouraged to free share thoughts, words, and anything else that comes to mind in order to gain insight into their unconscious thoughts, behaviors, and motivations

Dream analysis

analyzing the content of dreams to uncover their hidden, unconscious meaning

Psychodynamic perspectives

- Personality is due to internal processes and conflicts - We aren't aware of what factors produce our personality - We can't change or control our personality

Id

responsible for our primal desires, but this aspect of our personality operates completely within the unconscious mind

Pleasure principle

the driving force of the id, where the focus is on the fulfillment of sexual urges and aggressive impulses

Eros

sexual impulses

Thanatos

unrestrained aggression

Ego

mediator between the impulsive demands of the id and the constraints of reality

Reality principle

governs the ego where impulses from the unconscious and id are rejected in their natural form and are expressed in socially acceptable ways

Superego

one's moral compass of what is right and what is wrong; this is learned from parents, teachers, religious leaders, etc.

Identification

the unconscious process by which a person internalizes the characteristics, values, behaviors, or beliefs of another individual, often someone they admire or see as a role model

Conscience

punishes the ego with feelings of guilt when one violates moral standards

Ego ideal

rewards the ego with feelings of pride when one acts "morally"

Reality anxiety

informs the ego of real danger (e.g., a car is drifting into your lane)

Moral anxiety

warns the ego that id impulses are about to erupt (e.g., you want to scream out loud while sitting in a boring class)

Neurotic anxiety

warns the ego that id impulses are about to erupt (e.g., you want to scream out loud while sitting in a boring class)

defense mechanisms

ways to avert the expression of id impulses without conscious awareness

Repression

a common defense mechanism where the ego removes the threatening stimulus from conscious awareness and forces unacceptable memories, thoughts, and feelings into the unconscious

Reaction formation

unacceptable thoughts and desires in the unconscious being expressed as their opposite in consciousness

Projection

attributing one's own unacceptable thoughts, feelings, impulses, and motives to others

Regression

reacting to a threatening situation with a response characteristic of an earlier stage of development

Sublimation

transforming inappropriate impulses and motives into socially acceptable and even valuable expressions

Denial

consciously refusing to perceive and believe painful facts or situations exist

Rationalization

creating an acceptable explanation to replace a true-but-threatening cause of behavior

Displacement

shifting the expression of an unwanted impulse from a threatening person to a less threatening one

psychosexual stages

a series of developmental phrases proposed by Freud in which a child's libido (sexual energy) focuses on different erogenous zones of the god.

erogenous zones

areas of the body where pleasure is concentrated at a certain age

fixated

when one did not successfully navigate a psychosexual stage, they would become stuck at that stage, which would subsequently affect personality development and behavior in adulthood

Regress

a defense mechanism where an individual reverts to an earlier stage of psychosexual development in times of stress

Oral stage

the first psychosexual stage (birth to around 18 months) where pleasure is centered on the mouth through sucking, eating, and oral exploration

Anal stage

19 months to 3 years old) when children start to gain control over bodily functions, most notably through toilet training. It is integral to developing the ego: managing internal urges within the limits imposed by the external world.

Anal-retentive

overly orderly and obsessed with rules, cleanliness, and control

Anal-expulsive

a personality type typified by being messy, defiant, or lacking self-discipline

Phallic stage

(3-6 years old) when a child's attention turns toward their own body, particularly the genitals--not in a sexualized, adult sense, but as part of a growing curiosity about anatomy, bodily functions, and gender differences

Oedipus complex

occurs during the phallic stage and is the time when boys develop an unconscious attraction to their mother and view their father as a rival for mom's affection.

Castration anxiety

the fear that their father might take away (castrate) their penis if they openly show him contempt

Electra complex

a girl's unconscious desire for her father and rivalry with her mother, leading to identification with the mother and development of gender identity

Latency period

(6-puberty) when sexual impulses are largely dormant (buried in the unconscious), and children turn their attention outward to the social world

Genital stage

(puberty-through adulthood) when sexual curiosity is directed towards outward excitement and forms romantic relationships

Carl Jung

physician and one of Freud's earliest and strongest supporters because of their mutual interest in the dynamics of consciousness

Collective unconscious

according to Jung, the unconscious mind is interconnected with the experiences of past generations of different people throughout the world. Jung pointed to universal knowledge and tendencies that people share and the shared concepts that he identified as archetypes as evidence of this

Archetypes

universal thought patterns triggered by specific situations, symbols, and images

Persona

the tendency for people to develop a certain pattern of behavior when in public to get along with others

Shadow

the dark and more primitive side of personality

Self

most important archetype, which serves to unite all other aspects of the individual's personality

Social-cognitive psychology

posits that personality is built by observing others and adapting behavior to fit different situations

Striving for superiority

Adler proposed that at a conscious level, individuals are motivated by efforts to achieve excellence and improvements over our past selves and to act in ways to benefit social interest

Social interest

Adler believed that the main purpose of a person's life should be to make society better as they strive to better themselves

Karen Horney's Interpersonal Perspective

Develop a sense of feeling safe and loved by others to avoid basic anxiety and basic hostility-- seeking social security

Social security

a sense of feeling safe and loved in our relationships

Basic anxiety

when individuals feel unsafe or powerless in their relationships develop feelings of anxiety

Basic hostility:

if caregivers continue to make no effort to provide a basic sense of security, resentment forms toward others

Moving toward people

the individual does and says certain things in the hopes that others will like and take care of them

Moving away from people

the individual withdraws emotionally in the hopes that others will not be able to harm them

Moving against people

individuals try to harm others first in hopes of preventing others from doing harm to them

Erikson emphasized ________ rather than Freud's primary focus on ______________

social and cultural influences, childhood desires and pleasures

humanistic perspective

believed that personality couldn’t be fully understood without considering the desire to grow, change, and find meaning.

Self-concept

the mental picture you have of who you are, including your traits, abilities, and values

Self-esteem

how positively or negatively a person evaluates him- or herself based on life experiences

Actual self

represents who you believe you are right now

Ideal self

reflects who you wish to be

Unconditional positive regard:

consistently receiving empathy, acceptance, and nonjudgmental support from others.

Conditional positive regard

when love and acceptance of a person are contingent upon their actions and behaviors

Self-system

a set of cognitions that people use to observe, evaluate, and regulate their behavior in different situations

Self-efficacy

a person's belief in their ability to succeed in a specific situation

Imposter syndrome

the constant worry that you're in over your head and will soon be found out as a fraud

Mastery experiences

building confidence through small, repeated successes over time

Locus of control

a person's belief in the extent to which they control what happens to them

External locus of control

the belief that one's life is shaped by outside forces such as luck

Internal locus of control

the belief that outcomes are largely the result of one's own actions and effort

Learned helplessness

when individuals come to believe that they have no control over the negative outcomes of their lives

Situationally adaptive locus of control

when individuals can assess their past experiences and realistically evaluate what aspects of a challenge they can affect and what lies beyond their control

Cognitive-affective processing system (CAPS) theory

rather than viewing personality as a rigid set of traits, it is viewed as a dynamic system made up of cognitive and emotional patterns-- what people expect, believe, fear, and value-- that interact within specific situations.

If-then behavioral signatures

stable patterns of variation that reflect how they tend to act in particular types of situations

Delay of gratification

ability to resist an immediate reward in favor of a larger or more meaningful reward later

Biological perspectives

assumes personality characteristics are a function of various biological factors, including behavioral genetics, the neurological perspective, and an evolutionary perspective

Behavioral genetics perspective

views personality traits not as fixed but as complex outcomes of the interaction between genetic blueprints and the experiences we encounter

Twin studies

look at the difference between monozygotic and dizygotic twins

Monozygotic twins (MZ)

identical twins with the same genetic makeup- one egg is released and fertilized by one sperm

Dizygotic twins

fraternal twins that develop from two separate fertilized eggs and are no more alike in their genetics than any other pair of siblings

Concordance rate

the degree to which a characteristic, trait, or disease that occurs in one twin similarly occurs in the second twin

Heredity

the amount of variability in personality measures that can be accounted for by a genetic contribution

Dispositional happiness

a personality trait that affects how happy a person generally is across their lifetime

Shared environment

the aspects of a family environment that are experienced similarly by siblings, such as parenting style, socioeconomic status, household rules, and cultural background

Non-shared environment

the unique experiences that differ between siblings, even in the same household--like having different friends, teachers, hobbies, illnesses, or birth order roles-- that contribute to differences in personality

Psychophysiological techniques

examine how physiological responses--such as heart rate, brain activity, and hormone levels--relate to personality traits

Biochemical measures

linking an assortment of physiological components, such as neurotransmitters, hormones, and genetic characteristics, to different dimensions of personality

Cortical measures

involve linking electrical activity in different regions of the brain with various dimensions of personality

Ascending reticular activating system

introverts have more arousal in the ARAS and they want to minimize the additional ARAS stimulation that occurs when being around others

Evolutionary perspective

looks at personality through the lens of survival and reproduction--two of the biggest challenges we face

Life history theory

posits that animals can adopt either a "fast" or "slow" life strategy depending on environmental pressures

Fast life strategy

when environmental pressures are unpredictable or harsh, animal matures quickly and focuses on short-term, risky rewards, such as sexual flings or stealing resources from others

Slow life strategy

when animals are raised in stable supportive environments they tend to gravitate towards delayed gratification, long-term planning, emotional regulation, and more investment in relationships

Lexical hypothesis

this hypothesis posits that important personality traits become encoded in language over time

Factor of analysis

a statistical method that searches for patterns of related behaviors

Sixteen personality factor questionnaire (16PF)

a trait-based personality measure that was developed from a list of personality traits; using factor analysis, a number of personality factors were found. The final measure of the 16PF is composed of items measuring 16 different personality characteristics/traits

Three-Factor Theory

a theory of personality that consists of three trait dimensions: extraversion/introversion, neuroticism/emotional stability, and psychoticism/impulse control. Each trait dimension has associated personality characteristics and specific biological components

Extraversion-Introversion

Extroverts have under-aroused ARAS, causing them to seek external stimulation

Neuroticism-Emotional stability

Sensitivity to autonomic nervous system (autonomic modulates calmness, so some people might fluctuate more in the system, causing a lack of stability)

Psychoticism-Impulse control

- Psychotic people are engaging in the world in a way which is not socially acceptable because they lack control-- more impulsive, aggressive, and lack of empathy - Linked to high testosterone

Neuroticism

the tendency to be touchy, restless, moody, and anxious

Psychoticism

reflects impulsivity, aggression, and a lack of empathy

Five-Factor Model (FFM)

a measure that identified five distinct components of personality often referred to as "the Big 5," and consists of the following factors: openness; conscientiousness; extraversion/sociability; agreeableness; and neuroticism

Openness

curious, imaginative, and intellectually adventurous

Conscientiousness

self-discipline, goal-setting, and reliability

Extraversion

characterized by sociability, assertiveness, and a natural inclination toward reward-seeking

Agreeableness

warm, generous, cooperative, and trusting

Neuroticism

more likely to experience negative emotions like anxiety, sadness, and irritability, as well as mood swings

Self-report techniques

structured surveys where individuals respond to a series of statements about their thoughts, feelings and behaviors

Behavioral observation

involves a psychologist recording an individual's behavior as they occur

Self-monitoring techniques

involve an individual recording their own behaviors as they occur

Thought sampling techniques

involve a psychologist recording the nature and frequency of an individual's thoughts in different situations

Likert scale

asks participants to rate how much they agree with a statement using numerical response options

Social desirability bias

the tendency for people to answer questions in a way that makes them look good or socially acceptable, rather than answering truthfully

Bogus pipeline

participants are falsely led to believe they are hooked up to a "lie detector"

Electrophysiological measures

link heart rate, muscle tension, and/or perspiration to different dimensions of personality

Biochemical measures

link neurotransmitters, hormones, and/or genetic characteristics to different dimensions of personality

Cortical measures

link levels of electrical activity in different brain regions with different dimensions of personality