Midterm #2 Review Chapter 13: Understanding Human Personality  I understand material from lecture on 2 major questions: o Are there personality traits?  Personality: The psychological qualities of an individual that influence a variety of characteristic behavior patterns across different situations and over time. o Is personality determined by biology?  Summer 1848, New England.  25-year old Phineas P. Gage goes to work as a construction foreman.  He was an American railroad construction foreman remembered for his improbable survival of a rock-blasting accident in which a large iron rod was driven completely through his head, destroying much of his brain's left frontal lobe, and for that injury's reported effects on his personality and behavior over the remaining twelve years of his life—effects so profound that (for a time at least) friends saw him as "no longer Gage." o (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage)  Genetics of Personality  Behavioral Genetics o Selective Breeding o Twin Studies o Adoption Studies  Assessing Personality: o Objective tests  MMPI  Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory  NEO-PI  Revised NEO Personality Inventory o Projective tests  Rorschach  TAT (Thematic Apperception Test)  I am familiar with trait theories of personality, especially the “Big 5” and how these traits are measured o Differing theories;  <5>10 o Contemporary idea is based around the “Big 5”  Remember “OCEAN”  O - Openness to Experience  C - Conscientiousness  E - Extraversion  A - Agreeableness  N – Neuroticism  The Five-Factor Model  Extraversion: Talkative, energetic, and assertive versus, quiet, reserved, shy  Agreeableness: Sympathetic, kind, and affectionate versus cold, quarrelsome, and cruel  Conscientiousness: Organized, responsible, and cautious versus careless, frivolous, and irresponsible  Neuroticism: Anxious, unstable, temperamental, versus stable, calm, and contented  Openness to experience: Creative, intellectual, and open-minded versus simple, shallow, and unintelligent  Trait Personality Theories o Traits: Enduring personal quality or attribute that influences behavior across situations. o Psychodynamic  Psychodynamic Personality Theory o Theory of personality that shares the assumption that personality is shaped by and behavior is motivated by inner forces. o Sigmund Freud was the originator of these theories  Freud  Id o Primitive, unconscious part of the personality o Pleasure Principle  Ego o Directing instinctual drives and urges into appropriate channels o Balance needs of ID against demands of the SUPEREGO, trying to make them fit best within reality -> “Reality Principle”  Superego o Represents society’s values, standards, morality o Ego ideal  Repression: The basic defense mechanism by which painful or guilt-producing thoughts, feeling, or memories are excluded from conscious awareness.  Ego – Defense Mechanism: Mental strategy (conscious or unconscious) used by the ego to defend itself against conflicts experienced in the normal course of life.  Libido: The psychic energy that drives individuals towards sensual pleasures of all types, especially sexual ones.