Exam 1: Personality Theories

Vague, ambiguous, and general statements that people tend to accept as descriptive of their unique personalities.

The underlying causes within the person of individual behavior and experience.

1. organization and coherence of individuality

2. Consistency

3. Uniqueness, not the same as the other

What are the terms we use to describe other’s personalities and characteristics

How we react, respond, and cope. How does one think of interactions and experiences.

How much does one change in their lifetime. Maturation

Everyday unscientific beliefs about personality, accuracy is questionable, false consensus

Pay attention to things that are only consistent with their thinking.

Assumption that people who are more ‘attractive’ are more intelligent/are better than the average person.

Consistency, same result overtime

Accuracy, measuring something that is stable

Testing is the same, sample of people you use to create the norms should match people eventually going to be taking the test.

purpose or focus of the test, self reporting may not be honest, all tests are correlational.

The application of a personality theory to the study of an individual’s life. Context of the person’s life and the need to have a complex understanding to create a theory.

The process of learning your own group’s culture

The process of taking on another (usually the dominant) group’s culture.

A personality that fits with society’s expectations for the person in certain settings…code switching.

Personality is strongly influenced by the unconscious, unconscious is dynamic and originates in early experience.

The father of psychoanalysis

Top: conscious

Waterline: Unconscious

Underwater: Preconscious

Pleasure principle, primitive impulses, I want when I want it.

Society’s rules internalized, moral compass, may be judgemental, hold themselves to a high standard, guilt.

Reality principle, compromise between ID and SuperEgo, rational and logical, defense mechanisms.

Unconscious drives

Life (sex) and death (aggression)

Haven’t resolved things from childhood.

Sexual energy manifests itself in the mouth area. Optimism, passivity, dependency, gullible, indecisive. Fixation can include smoking or overeating.

Toilet training, can create issues of control, anal retentive (organized, controlled) Fixation includes so focused they can’t get anything done, anal expulsive (messy, disorganized) no time management skills, stingy with money/overspending.

Genital zone, fantasy of parental partner.

Males are competitive with dad for mom

Females are in competition with mom for dad

Fear to have their penis cut off by same sex parent, requires them to identify with same sex parent to rid of anxiety.

Fixation at phallic stage, weak superego, penis envy, problems with sex.

Pause in between the psychosexual stages

Development of the genital character (didn’t get stuck in the previous stages, personality is done developing)

Unconsciously repressing unacceptable impulses. Forgetting something that is too painful to remember.

An individual does not acknowledge something painful, not dealing with reality (conscious)

An interaction between individuals where anger is involved, but realizing there is love present (opposite is detachment)

A person’s unacceptable impulse being associated with someone other than themselves (I’m not angry you are)

having anger/passion at someone or something but taking it out on a less threatening source/object.

Borrowing or merging one’s identity with someone else (phallic stage).

Identifying with the aggressor (may be unconscious) in an effort to feel less threatened.

Giving a plausible reason for their behavior but it is false.

Excessive or distorted thinking to avoid emotionality, feeling is threatening. (using academics to distract them)

Expressing unacceptable impulses in a socially acceptable/healthy way (occupational choice)

The total, integrated personality, typically midlife where we form ourselves

Unconscious provides what is missing from conscious

Gatekeeper to consciousness, (fixation is never having an identity crisis)

Person is out of balance with themselves

The process of becoming a fully developed person, all psychic functions developed

Adapts to the world (how the world and people see you) mask; social rules, if we identify too much w a persona, it can be problematic.

Holds the part of ourselves that we don’t like, gatekeeper of the unconscious. Aspects of the psyche that are inconsistent with self concept.

Man’s inner feminine, unconscious fulfill inner from finding a woman partner.

Woman’s inner masculine

Shadow + Anima + Animus, unique experiences

Shared consciousness that is universal, inherited genetic bases, biological predisposed reactions

Wanting to connect to something that is mothering (mary)

Images (concepts) that are similar to all people

Priest, doctor, conveys laws and order, rational (not very empathetic.

Represents the ego, fights the shadows, not very bright but always comes through in the end.

Breaks the rules, minor things not crimes, shadow figure in collective unconscious.

About the self, internal, development of our whole developed selfs.

pathway, bridge, journey.

Personality characteristic that describes personality, continuous variable.

A category of people with very similar characteristics all or nothing personality types.