1. AP Psychology Personality

2. biological approach to personality The biological approach to personality suggests that personality is the product of inherited traits. Hans Eysenck supposed that the degree to which a person can be conditioned is in large part due to their genetic makeup. Other scientists have studied twins who are raised apart to see the impact and importance of biological influences.

3. defense mechanisms A defense mechanism is made up of largely unconscious reactions that protect a person from unpleasant emotions such as anxiety and guilt. There are various types of defense mechanisms including: RationalizationRepression ProjectionDisplacement Reaction formationRegression Sublimation

4. defense mechanisms: displacement Displacement is a defense mechanism in which the person is diverting unwanted emotional feelings (usually anger) from their original source to a substitute target. Famous Cleveland Browns’ coach Paul Brown would often yell at his football players but never at his star running back, Jim Brown. If his running back dropped the ball, he would yell at other players, telling them they better start hanging on to the football.

5. defense mechanisms: projection Projection is a defense mechanism in which the person is attributing their thoughts, feelings or motives to another. A office worker is complaining loudly in a commons area about his boss. A colleague approaches and says, perhaps that is not a great idea. The worker says, “You believe the same as I do, don’t tell me you don’t.” Assuming his colleague does not hold the same views, this would be an example of projection.

6. defense mechanisms: rationalization Rationalization is a defense mechanism in which the person creates a false but plausible excuse to justify their unacceptable behavior. Throughout the 1990s, Major League Baseball had a problem of substance abuse, in particular with performance enhancement drugs. Many players suggested that since so many players were using them, they had to or otherwise, could lose out on money or playing time.

7. defense mechanisms: reaction Reaction formation is a defense mechanism in which the person behaves in a way that’s exactly the opposite of their true feelings. Some have suggested, beginning with Freud, that those who criticize homosexuality the most are hiding their own homosexual feelings. Shakespeare referred to it when he wrote in Hamlet, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”

8. defense mechanisms: regression Regression is a defense mechanism in which the person reverts to immature patterns of behavior. Psychologists have often studied and attempted to work with teenagers who, once beset by issues related to fear and growing sexual development, go back to earlier behavior such as becoming clingy with their parents or in some cases, bedwetting.

9. defense mechanisms: repression Repression is a defense mechanism in which the person keeps distressing thoughts and feelings buried in the unconscious. The famous case of Shirley Mason (also known as Sybil Dorsett) suggested that Mason’s multiple personalities were the product of repressed memories of sexual abuse as a child.

10. defense mechanisms: sublimation Sublimation is a defense mechanism in which the person redirects socially unacceptable sexual or aggressive urges into more acceptable behaviors. Young men who have struggled with uncontrollable anger or physical outbursts have used sports or the military to properly channel such emotions in a much more productive way.

11. Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of Development Freud’s psychosexual stages of development suggested that young children go through different stages of seeking physical pleasure (not sex in an adult sense) with a sexual focus. Oral stage – (first year) stimulation is through the mouth and difficulties in this stage could lead to overeating, smoking, etc. Anal stage – (second and third year) stimulation through bowel movements or the resistance to bowel movements. Phallic stage – (fourth and fifth year) development of an Oedipal complex as children see the opposite sex parent as competition; beginning of self-stimulation with genitals. Latency and genital stages – (sixth year) sexuality becomes dormant. Freud did not mean to suggest development stops at puberty, but he felt unresolved conflicts could and does lead to problems as adults.

12. idiographic and nomothetic methods Loosely based on the philosophical ideas of German Immanuel Kant, these terms refer studies on personality. An idiographic method the individual and a nomothetic method describes the study of groups or classes of people. Within these two approaches are two methods of discerning personality, how it is displayed and how it forms.

13. levels of the mind: conscious, preconscious, unconscious Sigmund Freud to conclude that there were different levels of awareness and he sought to define and related them to one another. Conscious – consists of whatever one is aware of at a particular point. Preconscious – contains material just beneath the surface of awareness that can easily be retrieved. This can include a good friend’s middle name, what you had for dinner last night and an argument you had last week. Unconscious – contains thoughts, memories and desires that are well below the surface of conscious awareness but that nonetheless exert great influence on behavior.

14. personality Personality refers to an individual’s unique collection of consistent behavioral traits. These traits, also called personality traits, are durable dispositions to behave in a particular way in a variety of situations. A general rule is that there are some core personality traits that determine traits that lie on the peripheral.

15. psychoanalytic/psychodynamic approach A psychoanalytic/psychodynamic approach to personality includes the diverse theories descended from the work of Sigmund Freud, which focus on unconscious mental forces.

16. systems of personality: id, ego, superego Freud divided the personality into three parts: Id – the primitive, instinctive component of personality that operates according to the pleasure principle. It demands immediate gratification of its urges. Ego – the decision-making component of personality that operates according to the reality principle which seeks to delay gratification of the id’s urges until appropriate outlets and situations can be found. Superego – the moral component of personality that incorporates social standards about what represents right and wrong.

17. temperament Temperament refers to a baby’s characteristic mood, activity level and emotional inclinations. Very early on, parents can pick up a general mood from their child ranging from docile and pleasant to agitated and angry. Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess conducted a major longitudinal study on the development of temperament. As a result, they identified four basic temperaments: Easy babies are those that are generally cheerful and relaxed. Difficult babies are cantankerous and unpredictable. Mixed babies have characteristics of both. There are some babies that are slow to warm up, starting as difficult and then growing more pliable.