PSYCHOLOGY OF PERSONALITY

Psychology 620, Fall 2005 Reference #23010

Kansas State University -

Learning Goals for Exam 2

Pervin & John: Chapter 3, 4

  1. Describe Freud’s view of the person, society and science. How are his view of the personal motivational? What is the ultimate goal of all behavior? What was his research approach?
  2. Describe Freud’s view of the unconscious mind and its levels. What does it mean to say the unconscious mind is motivated? Describe some of the research examining the unconscious mind. What is the current status of the unconscious? How does Freud’s view differ with contemporary views of the cognitive unconscious?
  3. Describe the Id, Ego and Superego, where they reside in the mind and how they function. What is the interrelationship among these structural units?
  4. What are the life and death instincts and how do they function to impact behavior? Why is anxiety important here and what produces anxiety?
  5. Describe the various mechanisms used to defend against anxiety and discuss the relevant research. Are denial and repression healthy ways to avoid anxiety? What does the work on positive illusions, emotional disclosure, emotional suppression and repression indicate?
  6. According to Freud how does personality develop? How does fixating during different stages of development impact later personality?
  7. Describe the major contributions and limitations of psychoanalytical theory of personality. Compare this motive approach with the trait and cognitive approaches. How do they differ and how are they similar? What does the motive approach do better/worse than the other approaches?

Learning Goals

Pervin & John: Chapter 12, 13

  1. Describe Social Cognitive Theory and its views of personality. What aspects of functioning does it emphasize? What is central to personality according to this approach? How is it different from related approaches?
  2. How do Bandura and Mischel view the person? Explain reciprocal determinism.
  3. In Social Cognitive Theory what are the structures that define personality and how do they function to impact behavior? For instance what are ‘If…Then’ s and how do they represent individual differences? What does the camp study by Mischel reveal about these issues?
  4. Describe Social Cognitive Theory’s view of motivation. What are the key concepts and how do they impact motivated behavior? Where are individual differences represented here? Why are self-efficacy beliefs so important here? Explain Expectancy Value Theory.
  5. How does observational learning work and why is it important to Social Cognitive Theory of personality? What is the difference between acquisition and performance and what are the roles of incentives and vicarious conditioning here? What role does modeling have in setting standards and delaying gratification? How is this relevant for later personality development?
  6. Describe the various strengths and limitations of the Social Cognitive Theory of personality.

Learning Goals

Pervin & John: Chapter 7

  1. Describe traits and the 3 functions they serve. Why are traits so commonly used to describe people? What assumptions are held by most trait theorists? What are the benefits and problems of a hierarchical organization of personality?
  2. Describe Allport’s theory of traits. What were the 3 different kinds of traits and how do they differ from states and activities? What did Allport think the role of the situation was in predicting behavior? What is interactionism?
  3. Describe Allport’s research approach. What are the advantages and problems with it?
  4. Summarize Allport’s contributions to personality psychology.
  5. Describe Eysenck’s theory of personality. What were the principles he believed should guide personality psychology? Describe his research approach (factor analysis) and how it is used.
  6. What dimensions make-up his 3-dimension theory? Are these traits? Supertraits? Habits? What does the research show about the E-I dimension? How do people varying on this dimension differ? Describe the proposed biological basis for this dimension.
  7. Summarize Eysenck’s contributions to personality psychology.
  8. How did Cattell view traits? Describe the different types specified by Cattell.
  9. Describe the 3 research methods discussed by Cattell. Which did he prefer and why?
  10. From where did Cattell get his data? Which source did he think was most important? Did Cattell develop the personality periodic table of elements?
  11. What are ergs, sentiments and roles and how do they impact behavior? According to Cattell what was needed to most accurately predict behavior?
  12. Summarize Cattell’s contributions to personality psychology.
  13. How are the theories/approaches of Allport, Eysenck and Cattell similar and in what ways do they differ?

Learning Goals

Pervin & John: Chapter 8

  1. Why is a structure of personality needed? What are the benefits of having an agreed-upon taxonomy of personality?
  2. Describe the Five-Factor Model of personality. What are the Big-5 and how were they discovered? What is the lexical hypothesis? Do you think all that is important about personality is contained in language?
  3. What do cross-cultural studies show about the existence of the Big-5 in different languages? Why are these findings important?
  4. What is the NEO-PI-R and what does it measure? How is the hierarchical model of personality relevant here? How reliable and valid is the NEO-PI-R?
  5. How does the Big-5 integrate the earlier approaches of Eysenck and Cattell?
  6. Describe the Five Factor Theory, including all its components and how they interact to impact behavior. What is the role of the environment? Describe some of the applications of this theory, as well as its benefits and problems.
  1. How stable are the Big-5 and how do they change in adulthood? What is likely causing these changes?
  2. Provide a summary of the evaluation of trait theory including strengths and limitations.

Learning Goals

Pervin (Controversies): Chapter 2

  1. What are the units commonly used in personality psychology? Why is this such an important issue?
  2. What are the two points agreed upon by trait psychologists? As a result then what are the goals of the field?
  3. Summarize the evidence in support of the Big-5. Which seems most important?
  4. Describe the various critiques of the Big-5. Which seems most important?
  5. How do you evaluate the Big-5? Are you convinced by the evidence?
  6. What is cognitive style? Describe individual differences in field-independence and how it impacts behavior. Why did this and related constructs fade from personality psychology?
  7. Describe the Social Intelligence view of personality.
  8. What are schemas and why are they so important in cognitive approaches to personality?
  9. Describe the various critiques of cognitive approaches to personality. Which seems most damaging?
  10. How do cognitive views/units differ from trait views/unit? How are they similar?
  11. Describe drive, incentive and cognitive models of motivation as well as goal theory and its relationship to personality.
  12. Describe the various critiques of the motive unit. Which of these do you think is most damaging?
  13. How are the 3 units (traits, motives, cognitions) discussed in this chapter related to one another? Describe the various views of these relationships.

Learning Goals

Pervin (Controversies): Chapter 8

  1. Describe the cognitive unconscious and how it differs from traditional psychoanalytical views of the unconscious. How does the cognitive unconscious function and what are some of the phenomenon produced there? How does it impact attitudes and social behavior (e.g., implicit social cognition, stereotypes)? Describe some of the studies exploring these issues.
  2. Describe the various evidence/studies regarding defense mechanisms. Do we indeed engage in defense? If so of what sorts?
  3. Are defense mechanisms (e.g., denial) healthy or unhealthy? Describe the research and various points of view on this issue.
  4. Compare and contrast the psychoanalytical and cognitive views of the unconscious. Given this is integration possible?

Learning Goals

McAdams

  1. According to McAdams how should personality be described? How are his views different from motive, trait and cognitive theories of personality?
  2. Describe the trait level (I), including why McAdams calls it the ‘psychology of a stranger’. Why are traits currently so influential in personality theory and what are some of the problems with traits as McAdams see it? What is his point about traits and ‘conditional patterns of personality’?
  3. Describe Level II. What resides here? What can we say about the structure of Level II? How does this level compare to Level I and to characteristic adaptations? How does level II move us beyond the stranger to better understand behavior?
  4. Describe Level III. What resides here and how is it related to the other levels? What does it add to our understanding of personality? Is III equally useful for all people and cultures? What are some common misunderstandings about this level? How do they influence your views of the importance of this level?
  5. Which of the three levels best addresses personality structure?, personality process?, personality development? Are these levels complementary or antagonistic to one another?
  6. In which levels would motive and cognitive units best fit? How is each level organized and what is the relationship between the different levels? How might personality be operationalized at each level? Is there anything not included in these 3 levels that should be? Where might unconscious features of personality best fit?