Psych 121 Final EXAM notes PDF

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Psych 121 FINAL EXAM MASTER SHEET Psych 121 – Personality

Personality – characteristics ways that people differ from one another Includes: -

Thoughts

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Feelings

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Behaviors

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Goals

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Interests

Personality traits – reflect basic dimensions on which people differ Trait Approach – idea that there are a limited number of personality dimensions -

Each individual fall somewhere on each dimension

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Involves the idea that traits are on a continuum – could be low, medium, or high

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Suggests that there aren’t distinct personality types

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Traits reflect a distribution

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Ex. The idea of being introverted or extroverted

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Trait approach for this idea is that introversion is on one end of a continuous distribution and extroversion is on the other end of the same continuum for the trait approach, introversion and extroversion would not be viewed as being two distinct types of people rather it would be a relatively low or a high score along a continuous distribution

Three Criteria that Characterize Personality Traits 1) Consistency – personality traits need to be consistent across situations. For example, is an individual is talkative at home they tend to be talkative at work 2) Stability – traits stable over time. For example, if a person is talkative at 30, they tend to be talkative at 40 3) Individual Differences – people differ from one another on behaviors related to a trait. For example, using speech isn’t a trait as most people engage using speech to

communicate. However, there are differences between people in terms of speech frequency – so being talkative is a difference

Challenges with Trait Approach Identifying – discovering what the major traits are that people tend to differ in – scientists for many decades generated hundreds of new traits so it was difficult to keep track Reducing – the need for systematically reducing the traits into categories – this allows for the discovery of basic traits that describe most of the differences in people

Allport and Odbert -

Researchers who searched the dictionary for all descriptions of personality

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Individual This is that are most relevant in people’s lives will eventually become encoded into their language comma the more important such a difference comma the more likely it is to become expressed as a single word

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Used a lexical hypothesis – based on the idea that all important personality characteristics should be reflected in language we use to describe people

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To understand the ways in which people differ from one another, need to find words people use to describe each other

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Used statistical techniques to determine which words went together

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Ex. Everyone who said they were friendly also said they were sociable then this means psychologists only need a single trait to capture individual differences in these characteristics

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Found more than 18,000 words in the English dictionary that are used to describe personality traits

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Lead to the development of one of the most popular ways of assessing personality – the Big 5

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Factor analysis – determine which words went together, essentially which words were synonyms that represent the same characteristic

The Big 5 or OCEAN -

Uses the lexical approach – many personality descriptors overlap

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 These can be grouped using synonyms to describe people

Openness – how likely a person is to engage in abstract thinking, differentiates individuals as being inventive/curious vs. those who are consistent/cautious -

High level of the characteristic tends to have more unconventional beliefs and are creative

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Low level of the characteristic tends to seek fulfillment through perseverance and are data driven

Conscientiousness – describes a person’s tendency to be organized and goal orientated, efficient/organized vs. easy going/careless -

Low level is associated with flexibility and spontaneity, but also lack of reliability

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High level involves ideas of strong self-discipline, acting dutifully, striving for achievement; way in which individuals control and direct their impulses

Extroversion – difference between individuals being outgoing/energetic vs. solitary/reserved -

Low measures tend to be quiet, have lower energy levels and lower level of social engagement

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High measures tend to be characterized by participating in a breadth of activities as opposed to depth; enjoying interacting with others, having high energy levels and being action orientated. Tend to be visible in a group and more dominant in social settings

Agreeableness – the tendency to agree and go along with others rather than to assert one’s own opinions and choices Low scores – asserts own rights; irritable, manipulative, uncooperative, and rude High scores – agrees with others opinions, good natured, forgiving, gullible, helpful Neuroticism – the difference between being sensitive or nervous vs. secure and confident -

Low end makes people less easily upset and less reactive, tend to be calm, emotionally stable and free from persistent negative feelings

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High end has a tendency to experience negative emotions and be more emotionally reactive and vulnerable to stress; more likely to interpret ordinary situations as threatening

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The Big 5 -

Scores on the big 5 tend to give independent standings

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 A score on one trait tells little about standings on other traits

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Provides support for the idea that these traits can be viewed as being separate characteristics

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Traits are important because they describe stable patterns of behavior that persist for long periods of time

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Can have broad ranging consequences for many areas of life

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Ex. If an individual measure high on the conscientious trait, they are more likely to do well at school, study hard, get work done on time and be less distracted. This will then likely transfer from school to workplace settings

Sub-traits -

More specific description of lower level units of personality

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Based on the fact that there are different ways of being extroverted or conscientious

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Ex. An individual who loves parties and socializing with friends but hates public speaking. This person would likely score highly on warmth in terms of the extroversion scale but lower on assertiveness or excitement seeking

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Can predict how a person will do in a specific job

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Ex. The person described above may not excel as a public speaker but may do well when interacting one to one interaction with customers

Variations of Five Factor Model -

Some models suggest there are more than five major traits, and some suggest there are fewer

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Suggestion that extroversion and neuroticism are more important than the other traits

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 Idea that combining the standings of these two traits account for many of the differences in personality

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Eysenck – attempted to link these two dimensions (extroversion and neuroticism) to people’s biology

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Combining people’s standings on these two accounts for many differences in personality

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Ex. a neurotic introvert would be shy and nervous, while a stable introvert might avoid social situations and prefer solitary activities, but he may do so with a calm, steady attitude and little anxiety or emotion

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Suggests that introverts experienced too much sensory stimulation and arousal, so they seek out less stimulating environment

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Gray – believes these two traits related to fundamental reward and avoidance systems in the brain

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Suggests that the extroverts are motivated to seek social rewards while those high in neuroticism are motivated to avoid punishments and may experience heightened anxiety as result of heightened awareness threat

HEXACO Honesty-Humility – sincerity, fairness, modesty, greed avoidance Emotionality – fearfulness, anxiety, dependence, sentimentality Extraversion – social self-esteem, liveliness, sociability Agreeableness – forgivingness, gentleness, patience, flexibility Conscientiousness – organization, diligence, perfectionism Openness to experience – inquisitiveness, creativity, unconventionality -

Revisions of the Big Five

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As the Big 5 became more accepted, wonder if these traits would be consistent in other languages

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Sixth trait – honesty/humility

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 Measure of ethical or prosocial behavior

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People with high humility tend to be sincere, fair and modest

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Low levels related to greater levels of materialism; unethical practices, deviant behavior, manipulative, narcissistic, and self-centered

Person-Situation Debate -

Pits power of personality against power of situational factors as determinants of the behavior that people exhibit

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Idea that people are not very consistent in behavior

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Power of situational factors

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We have distinctive reactions to specific situations and our behavior results from evaluation in the moment

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Ex. Someone is in a romantic relationship and is considering cheating; they may evaluate the risks and rewards in the present along with an evaluation of their values

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Based on the idea that social cognitive processes that underlie people’s reactions to specific situations

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We can be affected by situations, but we have general tendencies which usually emerge

Personality -

Studies the thoughts, feelings, behaviors, goals and interests of normal individuals

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Personality theory covers a wide range of psychological characteristics

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Humanistic – involves the idea that people have their own goals which are well-defined, and that people actively strive to attain them (self-actualization)

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High on agreeableness measure – won’t assert own position

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Accepting, non-judgemental, warm – there is no right or wrong

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Freedom from conditions of worth – what’s best for you rather than others

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Psychodynamic – tends to believe that people lack insight into their feelings and motives

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Behavior influenced by these processes operates outside of their awareness

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Exploring relationships, especially early relationships

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Cost psychologically

Personality Assessment Objective Tests – most familiar and widely used to assess personality -

Involve administering a standard set of items with a limited set of responses

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Responses scored in a standardized way

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Objective refers to the method of how the tests are scored

Basic types of Objective Tests -

Self-reports – used when people are asked to describe themselves

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 Consists of short words, simple phrases, or complete sentences

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 People have direct access to their own thoughts, feelings, and motives

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Simple to administer, and cost effective, also allows an overall validity in relation to important outcomes

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Ex. Self-ratings of neuroticism are associated with a wide range of clinical syndromes (anxiety, depression, substance abuse)

Limitations of Self-reports -

Desires to present self in a favourable way

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High-stakes testing – situations in which test scores are used to make important decisions about individuals

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Self-enhancement bias – people are motivated to ignore or downplay some of their least desirable characteristics and focus on their more positive attributes

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Reference group effect – how we base our self-perception in part on how we compare to others in our socio-cultural reference group

Informant Ratings – involve asking another who knows a person well to describe his or her personality characteristics -

Format is similar to that used in self-ratings

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Used when self-ratings are hard to collect or if validity is suspect

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Advantages

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 Not subject to same potential defensiveness of responses

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 Can outperform self-reports in certain circumstances

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Limitations

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 Lack full access to thoughts, feelings, and behaviors

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 Response bias – reference group effect

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Ex. Parents exaggerate the true magnitude of differences between children

Classifying Objective Tests Comprehensiveness – the extent to which a test seeks to assess personality in terms of how many attributes are tested -

Some tests assess a single core attribute, while others aim to gather information in a more comprehensive manner

Breadth – the extent to which a text seeks to assess personality in terms of broad, general traits, or more specific sub traits -

Some tests assess both large and specific characteristics

Projective Tests -

Projective hypothesis – responses are influenced by nonconscious needs, feelings, and experiences

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Things can be understood in a range of different ways and the way in which we view something is coloured by our needs, feelings, and experiences

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Ex. Inkblot test and a thematic apperception test

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Inkblot – what thoughts come to mind when seeing a random inkblot

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Clinicians would ask what the inkblot means to you, then use that information to interpret what it is about the item that fits into your personality

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Thematic apperception test – individuals are asked to generate stories about a series of pictures

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People tend to interpret ambiguous situations in accordance with their own past experiences and current motivations, conscious or unconscious

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32 picture cards

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Individual is asked to tell as dramatic of a story as they can for each picture presented

Implicit Tests -

Assumption that people form automatic or implicit associations between certain concepts based on previous experience and behaviors

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Similar to Harvard implicit association test where an individual sorts words into categories

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Hypothesis – if an individual strongly associates with a personality characteristic, they will sort that item more quickly than an opposing item

Behavioral and Performance Measures -

Direct samples of behavior

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For example: the text discusses a study where observers were sent into college students’ bedrooms. The observers then rate the bedrooms based on what they saw. They noticed aspects such as: conscientious students had neater rooms; while those high in openness had wider variety of books and magazines in their rooms.

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Advantages

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 Because behavior is sampled directly, it isn’t subjective to types of response bias

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Limitations

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 Labour intensive, can be awkward, also has small samples which may not be typical of larger samples of individuals

Psych 121 – Psychological Disorders Abnormal Psychology -

Involves the application of psychological science to understanding and treating mental disorders

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Higher rates of mental illness correlated with individuals who have a lower socioeconomic status and those who are disadvantaged

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2.8 million people (10.1%) of Canadians reported symptoms consistent with at least one of six mental or substance use disorders

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6 disorders: depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, abuse or dependence on alcohol, cannabis or other drugs

Prevalence -

12.6% of individual who have a mood disorder at some point in their life; while 5.4% of individuals experience a mood disorder within a 12-month period

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11.3% of individuals have a major depressive episode at some point in their life; while 4.7% of individuals experience a major depressive episode within a 12month period.

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2.6% of individuals have bipolar disorder at some point in their life; while 1.5% of individuals experience bipolar disorder within a 12-month period.

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8.7% of individuals have generalized anxiety disorder at some point in their life; while 2.5% of individuals experience generalized anxiety disorder within a 12month period.

Psychological Disorder -

Similar to medical disorder

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Psychological disorder - Ongoing dysfunctional pattern of thought, emotion comma and behavior that causes significant distress comma and that is considered deviant in that persons culture or society

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Involves aspects of oneself that are outside an individual’s control

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Complex interactions between biological and environmental influences

Bio/Psycho/Social Model -

Inter-disciplinary model that seeks to explain the complex interaction of a range of factors on an individual

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Began as a rejection of a medical model

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Medical model – suggests that there is something wrong with an individual and this can create stigma

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Bio-psycho-social model – suggests that the boundaries between health and disease, the well and the sick, are far from being clear

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 Cultural, social, and psychological considerations need to be made in addition to biological ones

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Biological: considerations like medical history (past and present), family history, medications, diagnosis, brain structure, neurotransmitters

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Influences Disorder that come from the functioning of the individuals body (genetic characteristics , influence of neurotransmitters)

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Psychological: may increase or decrease difficulties or possible stressors, mood, personality, coping strategies, behaviours taken into consideration

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Influences That come from the individual, such as patterns of negative thinking and stress responses

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Social context: participation or vulnerabilities such as cultural, family, education, socioeconomic status, access to health care, legal problems, crime

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Influences One disorder due to social and cultural factors such as socioeconomic sta...