Chapter 12 - Personality

Grant Clay

Period 3

11/16/08

AP Psychology Outline

Chapter 12: Personality

Red – Definition

Blue - Important Points

Green - Important People & Contributions

1. Personality – An Individual’s Unique Constellation of Consistent Behavioral Traits.
   
   1. Personality Trait – Durable Disposition to Behave in a Particular Way in a Variety of Situations.
   2. Factor Analysis – Raymond Cattell - Correlations Among many Variables are Analyzed to Identify Closely related Clusters of Variables.
2. 5-Factor Model of Personality Traits
   
   1. Robert McCrae & Paul Costa

                                                               i.      Extraversion – Outgoing, Sociable, Upbeat, Friendly, Assertive.

                                                              ii.      Neuroticism – Anxious, Hostile, Self-Conscious, Insecure, Vulnerable.

                                                            iii.      Openness to Experience – Curiosity, Flexibility, Imagitiveness, Artistic, Unconventional.

                                                            iv.      Agreeableness – Sympathetic, Trusting, Cooperative, Modest, Straightforward.

                                                             v.      Conscientiousness – Diligent, Disciplined, Organized, Punctual, Dependable.

3. Psychodynamic Perspectives
   
   1. Sigmund Freud
   2. Psychodynamic Theories – All Diverse Theories descended from work of Sigmund Freud, which focus on Unconscious Mental Forces.
   3. Structure of Personality

                                                               i.      ID – Primitive, Instinctive Component of Personality that Operates according to Pleasure Principle.

1.        Pleasure Principle – Which Demands Instant Gratification of its Urges.

                                                              ii.      Ego – Decision-Making Component of Personality that Operates according to Reality Principle.

1.        Reality Principle – Seeks to Delay Gratification of the ID’s Urges until Appropriate Outlets and Situations can be Found.

                                                            iii.      SuperEgo – Moral Component of Personality that Incorporates Social Standards about what Represents Right and Wrong.

4. Levels of Awareness

                                                               i.      Conscious – Whatever One is Aware of at a Particular Point in Time.

                                                              ii.      PreConscious – Material Just Beneath the Surface of Awareness that can be Easily Retrieved.

                                                            iii.      Unconscious – Thoughts, Memories, and Desires that are Well Below the Surface of Conscious Awareness but that Nonetheless Exert Great Influence on Behavior.

                                                            iv.      Freud Believes Conflicts in Aggression and Sexual Impulses in the ID, Ego, and SuperEgo determine Behavior.

5. Anxiety & Defense Mechanisms

                                                               i.      Anxiety is Caused by Unconscious Conflicts between Ego, ID, and SuperEgo.

                                                              ii.      Defense Mechanisms – Largely Unconscious Reactions that Protect a Person from Unpleasant Emotions such as Anxiety and Guilt.

                                                            iii.      Rationalization – Creating False but Plausible Excuses to Justify Unacceptable Behavior.

                                                            iv.      Repression – Keeping Distressing Thoughts and Feelings Buried in the Unconscious.

                                                             v.      Projection – Attributing one’s own Thoughts, Feelings, or Motives to Another.

                                                            vi.      Displacement – Diverting Emotional Feelings (Usually Anger) from their Original Source to a Substitute Target.

                                                          vii.      Reaction Formation – Behaving in a Way that is exactly the Opposite of one’s True Feelings.

                                                         viii.      Regression – Reversion to Immature Patterns of Behavior.

                                                             ix.      Identification – Bolstering Self-Esteem by Forming an Imaginary or Real Alliance with some Person or Group.

6. Psychosexual Stages

                                                               i.      Psychosexual Stages – Developmental Periods with a Characteristic Sexual Focus that Leave their Mark on Adult Personality.

                                                              ii.      Fixation – Failure to Move Forward from One Stage to Another as Expected.

1.        Oral Stage – 1st Year.

2.        Anal Stage – 2nd Year

3.        Phallic Stage – Age 4

a.        Oedipal Complex – Children Manifest Erotically Tinged Desires for Their Opposite Sex Parent, Accompanied by Feelings of Hostility toward their Same-Sex Parent.

4.        Latency & Genital Stages – Age 6 to Puberty.

4. Jung Analytical Psychology
   
   1. Carl Jung
   2. Personal Unconscious – Houses Material that is not Within one’s Conscious Awareness Because it has been Repressed or Forgotten.
   3. Collective Unconscious – Storehouse of Latent Memory Traces Inherited from People’s Ancestral Past.
   4. Archetypes – Emotionally Charged Images and Thought Forms that have Universal Meaning.
   5. Introverts – Tend to be Preoccupied with the Internal World of their Own Thoughts, Feelings, and Experiences.
   6. Extraverts – Tend to be Interested in the External World of People and Things.
5. Adler’s Individual Psychology
   
   1. Alfred Adler
   2. Striving for Superiority – A Universal Drive to Adapt, Improve Oneself, and Master Life’s Challenges.
   3. Compensation – Efforts to Overcome Imagined or Real Inferiorities by Developing One’s Abilities.
6. Behavioral Perspectives
   
   1. B.F. Skinner Ideas adapted to Personality
   2. Behaviorism – Theoretical Orientation based on the Premise that Scientific Psychology should Study only Observable Behavior.
   3. Claimed there Was no Free Will.
   4. Personality is a Product of Conditioning.
   5. Your Personality is Shaped over a Lifetime.
7. Bandera’s Social Cognitive Theory
   
   1. Albert Bandera
   2. Social Cognitive Theory – People are Shaped by their Environments, and People shape their Environments with Goals, etc.
   3. Reciprocal Determinism – Internal Mental Events, External Environmental Events, and Overt Behavior all Influence one Another.
   4. Observational Learning – When an Organism’s Responding is Influenced by the Observation of Others, who is called Models.
   5. Model – A Person whose Behavior is Observed by Another.
   6. Self-Efficacy – One’s Belief about One’s Ability to Perform Behaviors that Should Lead to Expected Outcomes.

                                                               i.      Higher Self-Efficacy or Higher Self-Confidence leads to better Performance.

8. Michel & Person-Situation Controversy
   
   1. Walter Michel
   2. Behavior is Characterized by more Situational Specificity rather than Consistency.
9. Humanist Perspectives
   
   1. Humanism – Theoretical Orientation that Emphasizes the Unique Qualities of Humans, Especially their Potential for Personal Growth.
   2. Phenomenological Approach – One has to Appreciate Individuals’ Personal, Subjective Experiences to Truly Understand their Behavior.
10. Rogers’s Person Centered Theory
    
    1. Carl Rogers
    2. Self-Concept – Collection of Beliefs about one’s own Nature, Unique Qualities, and Typical Behavior.
    3. Incongruence – Degree of Disparity between one’s Self-Concept and one’s Actual Experience.
    4. Congruence is when Self-Concept is very similar to Actual Experience, and has less Anxiety.
    5. Incongruence is when Self-Concept is very different from Actual Experience, and has More Anxiety.
11. Maslow’s Theory of Self-Actualization
    
    1. Abraham Maslow
    2. Hierarchy of Needs – A Systematic Arrangement of Needs, According to Priority, in which Basic Needs must be Met Before Less Basic Needs are Aroused.
    3. Need for Self-Actualization – Need to Fulfill one’s Potential.

                                                               i.      Highest Need in Maslow Hierarchal “Pyramid.”

4. Self-Actualizing Persons – People with Exceptionally Healthy Personalities, Marked by Continued Personal Growth.
11. Biological Perspective
    
    1. Eysenck’s Theory
    2. Hans Eysenck
    3. “Personality is determined in Large Part by a Person’s Genes.”
12. Terror Management Theory
    
    1. Theory to Explain why People need Self-Esteem.
    2. Culture gives People a Sense of Order.
    3. Self-Esteem works as an Anxiety Buffer.
    4. When People consider their Own Death, they Become more defensive of their Culture.
13. Culture & Personality
    
    1. Individualism – Involves putting Personal Goals ahead of Group Goals and Defining one’s Identity in Terms of Personal Attributes Rather than Group Membership.
    2. Collectivism – Putting Group Goals before Individual Goals and Defying one’s Identity in Terms of the Groups one Belongs to.
    3. The Big 5 Traits are Similar across Cultures.
    4. Self-Enhancement – Focusing on Positive Feedback from Others, Exaggerating one’s Strength, and Seeing oneself as Above Average.
    5. Western Cultures favor Individualism, Asian Cultures favor Collectivism.