Psychology Midterm #2

36 flashcards · Other · by Hiba Godil

1. personality

   characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving that is unique to each individual, and remains relatively consistent over time and situations

2. idiographic approach

   creating detailed descriptions of a specific person's unique personality characteristics (one of the broad approaches for personality measurement) Ex: ppl are the way they are bc of their personal experiences or work history

3. nomothetic approach

   examine personality in large groups of people, with the aim of making generalizations about personality structure (one of the broad approaches for personality measurement) Ex: understanding what personality factors/traits are relevant to understanding people in general. The concept of being an extravert bc it can be used to describe everyone (on a relative scale)

4. Barnum effect

   the idea that people will believe a personality profile describes them really well even when it is false and not generated to describe them at all. It's easier to make people believe that you are measuring their personality than it is to actually measure it.

5. factor analysis

   is used to group items that people respond to similarly Ex: friendly, warm, kind have similar meanings that can be clustered together

6. Five Factor Model (FFM)

   a trait based theory of personality based on the finding that personality can be described using 5 major dimensions. Has become the most popular trait based approach for academic personality researchers. Big five dimensions: OCEAN (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism)

7. HEXACO model of personality

   a six factor theory that generally replicates the five factors of the FFM and adds one additional factor; Honesty-Humility. low HH: more selfish, anti-social, and violent tendencies, also more entitled

8. Dark Triad

   Machiavellianism, aggressive and narcissism - describe a person who is socially destructive, aggressive, dishonest and likely to commit harm in general. Taken together, they also describe a person who gives excessive importance to the self and little to no importance to others. Machiavellianism: a tendency to be manipulative and deceitful

9. Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA)

   a problematic set of personality characteristics that also predisposes people to certain types of violent or anti-social tendencies. They think everything is black & white. RWA involves 3 key tendencies: obeying orders & deferring to the established authorities supporting aggression against those who differ from the established social order believing strongly in maintaining the existing social order

10. state

    a temporary physical or psychological engagement that influences behaviour. Ex: momentarily bad/good actions The most common aspects that influence our behaviour and when our personality traits are expressed: locations (work, school, home) associations (with friends/family, alone) activities (awake, rushed, studying) subjective states (mad, sick, happy, drunk)

11. reciprocal determinism

    based on the idea that personality emerges from the interactions between behaviour, internal (personal factors), and external (situational) factors, all of which mutually influence each other

12. response styles

    characteristic ways of responding to questions. The influence of culture when responding to these questions. Ex: in one culture it is okay to talk highly positive things about yourself, whereas in another culture it is considered rude/boastful

13. humourism

    the theory that explains both physical illness and disorders of personality as resulting from imbalances in key fluids in the body. How western medicine was guided.

14. phrenology

    the theory that personality characteristics that could be assessed by carefully measuring the shape of the skull

15. arousal theory of extraversion

    theory that states that extraversion is determined by people's threshold for arousal

16. ascending reticular activating system

    plays a central role in controlling this arousal response

17. behavioural activation system (BAS)

    is a "GO" system, arousing the person to action in the pursuit of desired goals. Is responsive to rewards but unresponsive to possible negative consequences.

18. behavioural inhibition system (BIS)

    is more a "danger" system, motivating the person to action in order to avoid punishments or other negative outcomes. Associated with greater negative emotional responses and avoidance motivation.

19. the id (Freud's theory)

    represents a collection of basic biological drives, including those directed toward sex and aggression. Operates according to the pleasure principle. Aka what we want to do.

20. Superego (Freud's theory)

    is comprised of our values and moral standards. Aka what we should do.

21. ego (Freud's theory)

    the decision maker, frequently under tension, trying to reconcile the opposing urges of the id and superego

22. Defense mechanism

    unconscious strategies the ego uses to reduce or avoid anxiety. Ex: denial, projection, repression

23. fixation

    involves becoming preoccupied with obtaining the pleasure associated with a particular stage as result of not being able to adequately regulate themselves and satisfy their needs at that stage

24. projective tests

    personality tests in which ambiguous images are presented to an individual to elicit responses that reflect unconscious desires or conflicts. Popular approach to try and develop more standardized techniques for probing the unconscious. Ex: Rorschach inkblot test: ppl are asked to describe what they see in an inkblot and psychologists interpret this description using a standardized scoring and interpretation method. Ex: Thematic Apperception test (TAT): asks respondents to tell stories about amb…

25. analytical psychology

    Founded by Carl Jung. Focuses on the role of unconscious archetypes in personality development. The belief that are there are 2 main types of unconsciousness. Personal unconsciousness: a vast repository of experiences and patterns absorbed during the persons life Collective unconsciousness: a separate, non-personal realm of the unconsciousness that holds the collective memories and mythologies of humankind, stretching deep into our ancestral past (not held within the individual person)

26. archetypes

    are images and symbols that reflect common patterns of experience across all cultures

27. inferiority complex

    Founded by Alfred Adler. The struggle many people have with feelings of inferiority, which stem from experiences of helplessness and powerlessness during childhood.

28. person-centred perspective

    founded by Carl Rogers. Founded on the assumption that people are basically good, and given the right environment their personality will develop fully and normally Self - actualization: the drive to grow and fulfill your potential

29. rule based categorization

    categorizing objects or events according to a certain set of rules or by a specific set of features

30. graded membership

    the observation that some concepts appear to make better category members than others

31. exemplar

    a specific example that best represents that category

32. prototype

    a mental representation of an average category member

33. semantic network

    an interconnected set of nodes (or concepts) and the links that join them together to form a category

34. priming

    the activation of individual concepts in long term memory. Weakest when applied to large, physical concepts but very powerful when applied to the way language activities concepts and categories

35. linguistic relativity

    the theory that the language we use determines how we understand (and categorize) the world

36. algorithms

    problem-solving strategies based on a series of rules. Very logical and follow a set of steps.