18.11 Chapter 11: Personality

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1. Personality
2. d. behavioral
3. Personality is a unique core set of characteristics that influence the way one thinks, acts, and feels, which is relatively consistent and enduring throughout the life span. Temperament is a distinct pattern of emotional reactions and behaviors that can be observed early in life, and character encompasses the qualities of morality or culture-specific ideas about what makes a person good or bad.

1. psychosexual; fixation
2. d. topographical model of the mind
3. b. collective unconscious.
4. Answers will vary, but could include the following. Some of Freud’s followers branched out on their own due to disagreements about certain issues, such as his focus on the instincts of sex and aggression, his idea that personality is determined by the end of childhood, and his somewhat negative view of human nature. Adler proposed that humans are conscious and intentional in their behaviors. Jung suggested that we are driven by a psychological energy (as opposed to sexual energy), which encourages positive growth, self-understanding, and balance. Horney emphasized the role of relationships between children and their caregivers, not erogenous zones and psychosexual stages.

1. Abraham Maslow; Carl Rogers
2. d. unconditional positive regard.
3. Answers will vary, but could include the following. The psychoanalytic perspective assumes that personality development begins early in life and is heavily influenced by processes of which we are unaware (like conflict, aggression, sexual urges) and the way caregivers respond. The humanistic perspective suggests that we have capabilities we can and should take advantage of as we strive for personal growth, the choices we make in life influence our personalities, and we are innately good and control our own destinies. The psychoanalytic perspective states that we have little control over our development and personality, while the humanistic perspective states that we can influence our growth.

1. learning theory
2. b. locus of control
3. Answers will vary, but can be based on the following definition (and see Infographic 11.2). Reciprocal determinism refers to the multidirectional interactions among cognitions, behaviors, and the environment guiding our behavior patterns and personality.

1. a. traits.
2. surface traits
3. Answers will vary (and see TABLE 11.4). The Big Five traits include openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Three decades of twin and adoption studies point to a genetic (and therefore biological) basis of these five factors. The proportion of variation in the Big Five traits attributed to genetic make-up is substantial (ranging from .41 to .61), suggesting that the remainder can be attributed to environmental influences.

1. b. Projective
2. a. intuition or bias.
3. Answers will vary, but can be based on the following definitions. A valid measure is one that can be shown to measure what it intends to measure. If a measure is not valid, a client might be given information that is not meaningful because the findings have not been shown to measure their intended topic. A reliable measure provides consistent results across time as well as across raters or people scoring the measure. If findings from a personality test are not reliable, a client may be given information that will not reflect a consistent pattern, or may be questionable due to problems with scoring.

1. d. psychoanalytic
2. a. humanistic
3. d. mental processes that occur at three levels of consciousness.
4. b. superego.
5. c. Defense mechanisms
6. c. Self-actualization
7. a. incongruent
8. c. self-efficacy
9. c. Reciprocal determinism
10. d. factor analysis
11. a. three dimensions of traits.
12. b. the stability of the personality characteristics over time.
13. c. reliability
14. a. projective personality tests
15. c. his intense emphasis on the instincts of sex and aggression
16. Answers will vary, but can be based on the following information. According to behaviorists and learning theory, the environment shapes personality through processes of classical conditioning and reinforcers. Observation and modeling also play a role in personality development.
17. Answers will vary. The humanistic perspective suggests that we are innately good and that we have capabilities we can and should take advantage of as we strive for personal growth. The choices we make in life influence our personalities. The social-cognitive perspective focuses on relationships, environmental influences, cognitive activity, and individual behavior as they come together to form personality. The humanistic perspective views personality as what we are able to do, whereas the social-cognitive perspective views personality, in part, as how we react to the environment.
18. Both the Oedipus (for boys) and the Electra (for girls) complex represent an important conflict that occurs during the phallic stage. For both boys and girls, the conflict can be resolved through the process of identification. Although basic urges and developmental processes underlie both of these complexes, there are several important differences. The Oedipus complex is the attraction a boy feels toward his mother, along with resentment or envy directed toward his father. When a little boy becomes aware of his attraction to his mother, he realizes his father is a formidable rival and experiences jealousy and anger toward him. With the Electra complex, a little girl feels an attraction to her father and becomes jealous and angry toward her mother. Realizing she doesn’t have a penis, she may respond with anger, blaming her mother for her missing penis.
19. Answers will vary, but can be based on the following definitions. An internal locus of control suggests that the causes of life events reside within an individual, and that one has some control over them. An external locus of control suggests that causes for outcomes reside outside of an individual, and there is little control over them.
20. Objective assessments of personality are based on a standardized procedure in which the scoring is free of opinions, beliefs, expectations, and values. Critics of objective assessments contend they do not allow flexibility or fully appreciate individual differences in experiences. Findings from subjective assessments of personality are based, in part, on personal intuition, opinions, and interpretations. Critics of the subjective assessments suggest there is not enough consistency across findings because of nonstandard scoring procedures.