Psychology 351 > Conte > Flashcards > Final exam - Chapters 12, 15, 16 & 18

Cognition

Refers to awareness and thinking as well as to specific mental acts such as perceiving, interpreting, remembering, believing, and anticipating.

Cognitive approaches to personality

Focus on difference in how people process information.

3 levels of cognition

1. Perception - Process of imposing order on information received by our sense organs.

2. Interpretation - Process of making sense of, or explaining events in the world.

3. Conscious Goals - Standards and goals people develop for evaluating themselves and others.

*fourth on notes - Intelligence.

Field dependence-independence.

Field independence - (relative to field dependent) People have the ability to focus on details despite the clutter of background information

Measure used to assess field-dependence.
Embedded Figures Test (EFT)

Field dependence-Independence and life choices

Education - Field independent people favor natural science, math, engineering, whereas field dependent people favor social science and education.

Interpersonal relations - Field independent people are more inter-personally detached, whereas field dependent people are attentive to social cues, oriented toward other people.

Field dependence-independence education/studying.

Field independent - Better able to screen out distracting information and focus on a task.

Field independent students - Learn more effectively than field dependent students in hypermedia-based instructional environments.

Kelly's Personal Construct Theory.

Human nature - Humans as scientists; people attempt to understand, predict, and control events.

Personal constructs - Constructs person uses to interpret and predict events.

Commonality corollary - If 2 people have similar construct systems, they'll be psychologically similar.

Sociality corollary - To understand a person, must understand how they construe the world.

Anxiety - Not being able to understand and predict life events.

Post-Modernism

In personality psychology, thenotion that reality is a construct, that every person and culture has its ownunique version of reality, and that no single version of reality is more validor more privileged than another.

Generalized Expectancies

A person's expectations for reinforcement that hold across a variety of situations. When people encounter a new situation, they base their expectancies about what will happen on their understanding about whether they have the abilities to influence events.

Locus of control

A person's perception ofresponsibility for the events in his or her life. It refers to whether peopletend to locate that responsibility internally, within themselves, orexternally, in fate, luck, or chance.

External - Generalized expectancies that events are outside of one's control.

Internal - Generalized expectancies that reinforcing events are under one's control, and that one is responsible for major life outcomes.

Learned Helplessness

When subjected to unpleasant and inescapable circumstances, animals (and humans) becomes passive and accepting of situation, in effect learning to be helpless.

Learned Helplessness Explanatory Styles

Tendency that some people have to use certain attributional categories when explaining causes of events.

Three broad categories of attributions

External or Internal
Stable or Unstable
Global or Specific

Achievement view of intelligence

Associated with educational attainment - how much knowledge a person has acquired relative to others in his or her age cohort.

Learned Helplessness Pessimistic Explanatory Style

Emphasizes internal, stable, and global causes for negative events.
Associated with feelings of helplessness and poor adjustment

Explanatory Style is stable over time.

Personality Revealed Through Goals

People differ in their goals, and these differences reveal and are part of personality.

Personal projects analysis (Little)

Personality structures the selection of goals and desires, that then determine how to complete them.

Emphasizes the "doing" of personality over the trait approach's "having" of personality.

Intelligence

Application of cognitive skill and knowledge to solve problems, learn, and achieve goals valued by the individual and the culture.

Achievement vs aptitude views of intelligence.

"g" or general intelligence vs domain specific intelligence.

*Domain specific better when you need a very specific task

Intelligence - Cultural Context

Intelligence likely should be viewed as being those skills valued in a particular culture.

Therefore what is defined as "intelligence" can be different across cultures.
But, Western culture is influencing nearly all other cultures, so this may mean the Western definition of intelligence will be dominant throughout the world.

Aptitude view of intelligence

Sees intelligence less as the product of education and more as an ability to become educated, as the ability or aptitude to learn.

General Intelligence

Originally thought of in trait-like terms. Individuals were thought to differ from each other in amount, in how much intelligence they possessed. Moreover, intelligence was thought of as a single broad factor, often called G for general intelligence.

Multiple Intelligence

Gardner's theory includes interpersonal intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence, kinesthetic intelligence, and musical intelligence.

Emotional Intelligence (EI)

Goleman claims EI has 5 abilities.

Awareness of our feelings and bodily signals, identifying our own emotions, and make distinctions
Ability to regulate emotions, especially negative ones, and to manage stress.
Ability to control our impulse's, delay gratification, and stay on task for goals.
Ability to decode social and emotional cues of others, empathy.
Ability to influence and guide others without anger, resentment.

Three mechanisms of social interaction

1. Selection
2. Evocation
3. Manipulation

Situation Selection

A form of interactionism thatrefers to the tendency to choose or select the situations in which one findsoneself. In other words, people typically do not find themselves in randomsituations in their natural lives. Instead, they select or choose thesituations in which they will spend their time.

Personality characteristics of others influence whether we select them as dates, friends, or marriage partners.

Complementary Needs Theory

Theory of attraction that postulates that people are attracted to people whose personality dispositions differ from theirs. In other words, opposites attract. This is especially true in biological sex choices (ie women are usually attracted to men and vice versa.)

Attraction similarity theory.

States that individuals are attracted to those whose personalities are similar to their own. In other words, birds of a feather flock together. As of 2003, this theory has been proven to be the dominant attraction theory except in biological sex choices (men usually like women and vice versa.)

Assortative Mating

The phenomenon wherebypeople marry people similar to themselves. In addition to personality, works with a number of physical characteristics, such asheight and weight.

Correlations are consistently positive between spouses are due, in part, to direct social preferences, based on personality characteristics of those doing the selection.

Personality characteristics of marriage partners

Mutual attractiveness is most favored characteristic.

Almost as important are personality characteristics of dependable character, emotional stability, pleasing & disposition.

Do people get the mates they want?

Consistently positive correlations show that in general people seem to get mates they want in terms of personality.

Partner's personality had a large effect on marital satisfaction.

People are especially happy if they are married to partners high on agreeableness, emotional stability, and openness.

Personality and the selective breakup of couples

More likely to breakup when desires are violated then met.

More likely to divorce when mate is not dependable and emotionally stable.

More likely to breakup when they fail to get a mate that is similar.

Violation of Desire

Breakups should occur morefrequently when one's desires are violated than when they are fulfilled (Buss,2003). Following this theory, we would predict that people married to otherswho lack desired characteristics, such as dependability and emotionalstability, will more frequently dissolve the marriage.

Shyness and the selection of risky situations

Shyness: tendency to feel tense, worried, and anxious during social interactions of even when anticipation social interactions.

During adolescence and early adulthood, shy people tend to avoid social situations, resulting in a form of isolation.

Shy women are less likely to go a gynecologist and are less likely to bring up contraception with potential partner.

Shyness affects whether a person is willing to select risky situations in the form of gambles.

Evocation

Personality characteristics of others evoke responses in us or our personality characteristics evoke responses in others.

Hostile attributional bias

Tendency to infer hostile intent on the part of others in the face of uncertain behavior from them.

Essentially, people who areaggressive expect that others will be hostile toward them.

Evocation of hostility

Because they expect others to be hostile, aggressive people treat others aggressively - people treated aggressively tend to aggress back.

Thus, hostility from others is evoked by an aggressive person.

Expectancy Confirmation

Beliefs about the personality of a person that makes you act a certain way. This then evokes that reaction in them confirming your original belief. This phenomenon has also been called self-fulfilling prophecy and behavioral confirmation.

Manipulation

Personality is also linked to ways in which we try to influence or manipulate people.

Includes ways in which people intentionally alter, change, or exploit others.

Taxonomy

A technical name given to aclassification scheme—the identification and naming of groups within aparticular subject field.

Machiavellianism

Manipulative strategy of social interaction, personality style that uses other people as tools for personal gain.

High on Mach people select for situations that are loosely structured or untethered in order to deploy exploitative strategies.

High Mach evoke specific reactions from others, such as anger and retaliation for having been exploited.

High Mach influence or manipulate others in predictable ways, using tactics that are exploitative, self-serving, and deceptive.

Narcissism

A personality dimension that involves, at the upper end, high levels of self-absorption and conceitedness, placing one's own wants and needs above those of others, displaying unusual grandiosity, showing a profound sense of entitlement, and lacking empathy of other people's feelings, needs, and desires.

Sex Differences

An average difference betweenwomen and men on certain characteristics such as height, body fat distribution,or personality characteristics, with no prejudgment about the cause of thedifference.

Rated in D-statistic or effect size.

Study of sex differences

Controversial because:

Worried about finding differences to support agendas or status quo.
Might just reinforce stereotypes rather than real differences.
Might just reflect biases rather than objective reality.
Might conflict with ideas of egalitarianism.

BUT - need to come to terms with real differences that do exist.

Maccoby & Jacklyn

Book entitled "The psychology of sex differences" in '74.

Set off avalanche of studies on sex differences.

Presented informal summary of research, subsequent researchers used meta-analysis to assess sex differences across many studies.

Calculation of effect size. How large are sex differences.

Effect size or d-statistic: Used to express the difference in standard deviation units.

Small = .20 Medium = .50 Large = .80

Positive of D = Male, negative = female

Even large effect size don't necessarily have implications for any one individual.

Minimalists vs Maximalists

Describe sex differences as small and inconsequential.

Argue that the size of sex differences should not be trivialized - small effects can have important consequences.

Sex Differences in self-esteem

Across all ages d=.21
Young children 7-10 d=.16
Children 11-14 d=.23
Children 15-18 d=.33
Adulthood 19-22 d=.18
Adulthood 23-59 d=.10

Rumination

Repeatedly focusing on one's symptoms or distress. Is done much more by women, which man contribute to the perseverance of depressive symptoms.

Masculinity

Traits that define thecultural roles associated with being male. Two major personality instrumentswere published in 1974 to assess people using this new conception of genderroles (Bem, 1974; Spence, Helmreich, & Stapp, 1974). The masculinity scalescontain items reflecting assertiveness, boldness, dominance, self-sufficiency,and instrumentality. Masculinity traits refer to gender roles, as distinct frombiological sex.

Femininity

A psychological dimensioncontaining traits such as nurturance, empathy, and expression of emotions (e.g. , crying when sad). Femininity traits refer to gender roles, as distinctfrom biological sex.

Androgynous

In certain personalityinstruments, the masculinity dimension contains items reflecting assertiveness,boldness, dominance, self-sufficiency, and instrumentality. The femininitydimension contains items that reflect nurturance, expression of emotions, andempathy.

Instrumentality

Personality traits thatinvolve working with objects, getting tasks completed in a direct fashion,showing independence from others, and displaying self-sufficiency.

Expressiveness

The ease with which one canexpress emotions, such as crying, showing empathy for the troubles of others,and showing nurturance to those in need.

Socialization Theory

The notion that boys and girlsbecome different because boys are reinforced by parents, teachers, and themedia for being "masculine," and girls for being"feminine." This is probably the most widely held theory of sexdifferences in personality.

Social Learning Theory (Bandura)

A general theoretical viewemphasizing the ways in which the presence of others influence people'sbehavior, thoughts, or feelings. Often combined with learning principles, theemphasis is on how people acquire beliefs, values, skills, attitudes, andpatterns of behavior through social experiences.

Boys and girls learn by observing behaviors of same-sex others.

Social Role Theory

According to social roletheory, sex differences originate because men and women are distributeddifferentially into occupational and family roles. Men, for example, areexpected to assume the breadwinning role. Women are expected to assume thehousewife role. Over time, children presumably learn the behaviors that arelinked to these roles.

Hormonal Theories

Hormonal theories of sexdifferences argue that men and women differ not because of the external socialenvironment but because the sexes have different amounts of specific hormones.It is these physiological differences, not differential social treatment, thatcauses boys and girls to diverge over development.

Evolutionary Psychology Theory

Sexes are predicted to differ only in those domains in which people are recurrently faced with different adaptive problems (problems must be solved to survive and reproduce)

Research supports many predicted sex differences, especially in sexuality.

Problem: No clear accounting of individual and within-sex differences.

Adaptive problems

Are problems that need to be solved in order for an individual to survive and reproduce.

Health Psychology

Researchers in the area of health psychology study relations between the mind and the body, and how these two components respond to challenges from the environment (e.g stressful events, germs) to produce illness or health

Stress

The subjective feeling that isproduced by uncontrollable and threatening events.

Interactional Model

Objective events happen to aperson, but personality factors determine the impact of those events byinfluencing the person's ability to cope. This is called the interactionalmodel because personality is assumed to moderate (that is, influence) therelation between stress and illness.

Transactional Model

In the transactional model ofpersonality and health, personality has three potential effects: (1) it caninfluence coping, as in the interactional model; (2) it can influence how theperson appraises or interprets the events; and (3) it can influence exposure tothe events themselves.

Health Behavior Model

Personality does not directlyinfluence the relation between stress and illness. Instead, personality affectshealth indirectly, through health-promoting or health-degrading behaviors. Thismodel suggests that personality influences the degree to which a person engagesin various health-promoting or health-demoting behaviors.

Predisposition Model

In health psychology, thepredisposition model suggests that associations may exist between personalityand illness because a third variable is causing them both.

Illness Behavior Model

Personality influences thedegree to which a person perceives and pays attention to bodily sensations, andthe degree to which a person will interpret and label those sensations as anillness.

Stressors

Events that cause stress.

General Adaptation Syndrome

Three stages:

When astressor first appears, people experience the alarm stage.
If the stressorcontinues, the stage of resistance begins.
If the stressor remains constant,the person eventually enters the third stage, the stage of exhaustion.

Alarm Stage

The first stage in Selye'sgeneral adaptation syndrome (GAS). This stage consists of theflight-or-fight response of the sympathetic nervous system and the associatedperipheral nervous system reactions. These include the release of hormones,which prepare our bodies for challenge.

Resistance Stage

The second stage in Selye's general adaptation syndrome (GAS).Here the body is using its resources at an above-average rate, even though theimmediate fight-or-flight response has subsided. Stress is being resisted, butthe effort is making demands on the person's resources and energy.

Exhaustion Stage

The third stage in Selye'sgeneral adaptation syndrome (GAS). Selye felt that this was the stage where weare most susceptible to illness and disease, as our physiological resources aredepleted.

Major Life Events

According to Holmes and Rahe, these require that people make major adjustments in their lives.Death or loss of a spouse through divorce or separation are the most stressfulevents, followed closely by being jailed, losing a close family member indeath, or being severely injured.

Daily Hassles

The major sources of stress inmost people's lives. Although minor, they can be chronic andrepetitive, such as having too much to do all the time, having to fight thecrowds while shopping, or having to worry over money. They can bechronically irritating though they do not initiate the same general adaptationsyndrome evoked by some major life events.

Acute Stress

Results from the sudden onsetof demands or events that seem to be beyond the control of the individual. Thistype of stress is often experienced as tension headaches, emotional upsets,gastrointestinal disturbances, and feelings of agitation and pressure.

Episodic Acute Stress

Such as having to work at more than one job every day, having to spendtime with a difficult in-law, or needing to meet a recurring monthly deadline.

Traumatic Stress

A massive instance of acutestress, the effects of which can reverberate within an individual for years oreven a lifetime. It differs from acute stress mainly in terms of its potentialto lead to posttraumatic stress disorder.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

A syndrome that occurs insome individuals after experiencing or witnessing life-threatening events, suchas military combat, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, serious accidents, orviolent personal assaults (e. g. , rape).

These symptoms can besevere and last long enough to significantly impair the individual's dailylife, health, relationships, and career.

Chronic Stress

Stress that does not end,like an abusive relationship that grinds the individual down until his or herresistance is eroded. Can result in serious systemic diseasessuch as diabetes, decreased immune system functioning, or cardiovasculardisease.

Additive Effects

The effects of different kindsof stress that add up and accumulate in a person over time.

Primary Appraisal

According to Lazarus, inorder for stress to be evoked for a person, two cognitive events must occur.This first cognitive event, is for the person toperceive that the event is a threat to his or her personal goals.

Secondary Appraisal

According to Lazarus, in orderfor stress to be evoked for a person, two cognitive events must occur. Thissecond necessary cognitive event is when theperson concludes that he or she does not have the resources to cope with thedemands of the threatening event.

Problem-Focused Coping

Thoughts and behaviors thatmanage or solve the underlying cause of stress. Folkman and Moskowitz note thatfocusing on solving problems, even little ones, can give a person a positivesense of control even in the most stressful and uncontrollable circumstances.

Dispositional Optimism

The expectation that in thefuture good events will be plentiful and bad events will be rare.

Optimistic Bias

Most people generallyunderestimate their risks, with the average person rating his or her risk asbelow what is the true average. This has been referred to as the optimisticbias, and it may actually lead people in general to ignore or minimize therisks inherent in life or to take more risks than they should.

Emotional Inhibition

Suppression of emotionalexpressions; often thought of as a trait (e. g. , some people chronicallysuppress their emotions).

Type A Personality

As assessed by personalitypsychologists it refers to a syndrome of several traits: (1) achievementmotivation and competitiveness; (2) time urgency; and (3) hostility andaggressiveness.

Time Urgency

A subtrait in the Type Apersonality. Type A persons hate wasting time. They are always in a hurry andfeel under pressure to get the most done in the least amount of time. Oftenthey do two things at once, such as eat while reading a book. Waiting isstressful for them.

Hostility

A tendency to respond toeveryday frustrations with anger and aggression, to become irritable easily, tofeel frequent resentment, and to act in a rude, critical, antagonistic, anduncooperative manner in everyday interactions (Dembrowski & Costa, 1987). This is a subtrait in the Type A behavior pattern.

Final exam - Chapters 12, 15, 16 & 18

Psychology 351 with Conte at San Diego State University

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