CHAPTER 1: The Science of Psychology oMind was made up of thoughts, emotions,

experiences
WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY?
➢ Systematic, scientific study of behaviors and mental processes
➢ Behavior – outward/overt actions and reactions
o Observable actions or responses in both humans and
animals
o Might include eating, speaking, laughing, running,
reading, and sleeping
o Ex. Talking, facial expressions, movement
o ➢ William James
➢ Mental processes – internal/covert activity of our minds
o Not directly observable
o Wide range of complex mental processes such as
thinking, imagining, studying, and dreaming
4 PRIMARY GOALS OF PSYCHOLOGY:
1. Description – observing a behavior and noting everything
about it
2. Explanation – why the behavior is happening
3. Prediction – determine what will happen in the future
4. Control – modification of undesirable behavior
*Not all psychological investigations will try to meet all of these
goals
HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY
➢ Aristotle wrote about the relationship of the soul to the body
➢ Plato said the soul could exist separately from the body
[DUALISM]
➢ Rene Descartes agreed with Plato
o Pineal gland was the seat of the soul
Personality = body, soul, experiences, environment
o Objective introspection – objectively examining and
measuring one’s own thoughts and mental activities
➢ Edward Titchener
o Believed every experience could be broken down to
its individual emotions and sensations
o Died out in the early 1900s
FUNCTIONALISM
o Importance of consciousness to everyday life rather
than just its analysis
o Believed scientific study of consciousness itself was
not possible
o How the mind allows people to function in the real
world
GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY
➢ The whole is greater than the sum of its parts
➢ Max Wertheimer
o Believed psychological events such as perceiving
and sensing couldn’t be broken down into smaller
elements
o Ex. Taking a CD player apart = no longer have a CD
player, just unconnected parts
PSYCHOANALYSIS (SIGMUND FREUD)
➢ Proposed that there is an unconscious mind into which we
repress all of our threatening urges and desires
➢ The repressed urges, in trying to resurface, cause nervous
disorders
➢ Stressed importance of early childhood experiences
➢ Personality is formed in the first 6 years of life

GALEN’S 4 HUMORS BEHAVIORISM

1. Sanguine – blood
a. Related to element of air ➢ Ivan Pavlov
b. liver o Reflex (involuntary action) could be caused to occur
c. Dictated courage, hope, love in response to a formerly unrelated stimulus
2. Choleric – yellow bile o Classical conditioning
a. Element of fire ▪ Dog salivation experiment
b. gall bladder ➢ John Watson
c. bad temper, anger o Ignore consciousness
3. Melancholic – black bile o Focus on observable behavior
a. Element of earth o Little Albert experiment
b. Spleen
MODERN PERSPECTIVES
c. Sleeplessness, irritation
4. Phlegmatic – phlegm ➢ Psychodynamic
a. Element of water o Unconscious mind and its influence over conscious
b. Brain behavior
c. Rationality, passive, careful, peaceful o Development of sense of self, social and
interpersonal relationships, discovery of motivations
behind behavior
STRUCTURALISM
➢ Behavioral
➢ Focus of study was the structure of the human mind o B.F. Skinner
➢ Wilhelm Wundt o Operant conditioning
o Father of Psychology o Rewards & consequences
o Attempted to apply scientific principles to the study o
of the human mind ➢ Humanistic
 o People have free will (freedom to choose their own
destiny)
o Strive for self-actualization and achievement of full
potential
o Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (5 levels)
➢ Cognitive
o Focuses on how people think, remember, store, and
use information
o Cognitive neuroscience – study of the physical
workings of the brain and nervous system when
engaged in memory, thinking, and other cognitive
processes
o Both proved useful in answering questions about
emotions, personality, cognitive skills, and social
behaviors
➢ Sociocultural
o Combines social and cultural psychology
▪ Groups, social roles, rules of social actions,
cultural norms
o Behavior influenced by whether you were alone,
with friends, in a crowd, social norms, fads, class
differences, and ethnic identity
➢ Biopsychological
o Study of biological bases of behavior and mental
processes
o Human and animal behavior is seen as a direct result
of events in the body
▪ Hormones, heredity, etc.
AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION
➢ Psychologist – a professional with an academic degree and
specialized training in one or more areas of psychology
➢ Psychiatrist – a medical doctor who has specialized in the
diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders
➢ Psychiatric social worker – a social worker with some
training in therapy methods who focuses on the
environmental conditions that can have an impact on mental
disorders, such as poverty, overcrowding, stress, and drug
abuse
DESCRIPTIVE METHODS IN RESEARCH
➢ Naturalistic Observation
o Watch subject behave in normal environment
o Allows researchers to get a realistic picture of how
behavior occurs
o Observer effect – animals or people who know
they’re being watched will not behave normally
➢ Participant Observation
o Become participants in a group
o Observer bias – observer has a particular opinion
about what he or she expects to see
o Blind observers – don’t know what the research
question is and therefore have no preconceived
notions
➢ Laboratory Observation
o Disadvantage of being in an artificial setting that
might result in artificial behavior
➢ Case Studies
o One individual is studied in great detail
o Results can’t be applied to other similar people
➢ Surveys
o Researchers will ask a series of questions about the
topic they are studying
o Ability to get private information
o Tremendous amount of data on a large group of
people
o Representative sample – representative of the
population being surveyed
o Not always going to get accurate answers
o Courtesy bias – deliberately giving the answer one
thinks is socially acceptable rather than true opinions
FINDING RELATIONSHIPS
➢ Correlations
o Measure of relationship between two or more
variables
o Correlation coefficient – direction and strength of a
relationship
o Correlation does not mean causation
EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS AND HAZARDS
➢ Random assignment
o Process of assigning subjects to the experimental or
control groups randomly so that each subject has an
equal chance of being in either group
➢ Placebo Effect
o The phenomenon in which the expectations of the
participants in a study can influence their behavior
➢ Experimenter Effect
o Tendency of the experimenter’s expectations for a
study to unintentionally influence the results of the
study
➢ Single-Blind Study
o Study in which the subjects do not know if they are
in the experimental or control group
➢ Double-Blind Study
o Neither the experimenter nor the subjects know who
is in the experimental or control group
GUIDELINES FOR DOING RESEARCH WITH PEOPLE
1. Rights and well-being of participants must be weighed against
the study’s value to science
2. Participants must be allowed to make an informed decision
about participation
3. Deception must be justified
4. Participants may withdraw from the study at any time
5. Participants must be protected from risks or told explicitly of
risks
6. Investigators must debrief participants telling the true nature
of the study and expectations of results
7. Data must remain confidential
8. If for any reason a study results in undesirable consequences
for the participant, the researcher is responsible for detecting
and removing these consequences
CHAPTER 2: The Biological Perspective
NEURONS AND NERVES
➢ Neuroscience ➢ Synapse (synaptic gap)
o Branch of life science that deals with the structure o Microscopic fluid-filled space between the synaptic
and function of neurons, nerves, and nervous tissue knob of one cell and the dendrites of the next cell
➢ Neuron o The dendrites contain ion channels that have receptor
o Specialized cell in the nervous system that receives sites
and sends messages within the system
➢ Dendrites ➢ Receptor sites
o Branchlike structure of the neuron that receives o Proteins that only allow particular molecules or
messages from other cells neurotransmitters of a certain shape to fit into it
o Attached to the soma o When action potential reaches synaptic vesicles, they
release neurotransmitters into the synapse
➢ Soma o The molecules float across the gap and fit into the
o Cell body of the neuron responsible for maintaining receptor sites, opening the ion channels
the life and function of the cell ➢ Inhibitory synapse
➢ Axon o Where neurotransmitter causes receiving cell to stop
o Tubelike structure that carries the neural message to firing
other cells o As opposed to excitatory synapse
NEUROTRANSMITTERS
➢ Antagonists
o Chemical substances that block or reduce a cell’s
response to the action of other chemicals or
neurotransmitters
➢ Agonists
o Mimic or enhance the effects of a neurotransmitter
➢ Glial cells on the receptor sites of the next cell, increasing or
o Composes 90% of the brain decreasing the activity of that cell
o Provide support for the neurons to grow on and ➢ Examples
around o Acetylcholine
o Produce myelin to coat axons ▪ Excitatory or inhibitory
o Clean up waste products and dead neurons ▪ Arousal, attention, memory
o Influence information processing ▪ Controls muscle contraction
➢ Myelin o Serotonin
o Produced by Schwann cells ▪ Excitatory or inhibitory
o Fatty substances that insulate, protect, and speed up ▪ Mood, sleep, appetite
the neural impulse ▪ Low levels have been linked to depression
➢ Nerves o Dopamine
o Bundles of axons coated in myelin that travel ▪ Excitatory or inhibitory
together through the body ▪ Control of movement
▪ Sensations of pleasure
THE NEURAL IMPULSE ▪ Too little results in Parkinson’s disease
o Endorphins
➢ A neuron at rest is electrically charged ▪ Inhibitory
o Contains a semiliquid solution that has ions ▪ Pain relief
o Mostly negative ions inside o GABA
o Outside is mostly positive (due to diffusion) ▪ Inhibitory
➢ Cell membrane of the neuron is semipermeable ▪ Involved in sleep
➢ Resting potential ▪ Inhibits movement
o State of the neuron when not firing an impulse ▪ Can help calm anxiety
➢ When the cell receives a strong enough stimuli, cell o Glutamate
membrane opens up channels ▪ Excitatory
➢ Action potential ▪ Learning, memory formation, nervous
o The release of the neural impulse consisting of a system development
reversal of the electrical charge within the axon o Norepinephrine
THE SYNAPSE ▪ Mainly excitatory
▪ Involved in arousal and mood
➢ Axon terminals ➢ Neurotransmitters have to get out of the receptor sites before
o Branches at the end of the axon the next stimulation can occur
➢ Synaptic knobs ➢ Reuptake
o Rounded areas on the end of the axon terminals o Neurotransmitters are taken back into the synaptic
➢ Synaptic vesicles vesicles
o Saclike structures containing chemicals o Some drugs (like cocaine) affect the nervous system
o These chemicals are suspended in fluid and called by blocking this process
neurotransmitters ➢ Enzymatic degradation
 o Structure of neurotransmitters is altered so it can no ENDOCRINE GLANDS
longer act on a receptor
➢ Secrete hormones directly into the bloodstream
THE REFLEX ARC ➢ Pituitary Gland
o Below the hypothalamus
➢ Afferent (Sensory) Neurons o Master gland (controls the other endocrine glands)
o Carry messages between the body (senses) and the o Secretes human growth hormone
brain o Ex. Associated with pregnancy, production of milk,
o Responsible for very fast, lifesaving reflexes onset of labor
➢ Efferent (Motor) Neurons ➢ Pineal Gland
o Carry messages from spinal cord (CNS) to muscles o Above the brain stem
and glands o Secretes melatonin
➢ Interneurons ▪ Helps track day length
o Found in center of spinal cord ➢ Thyroid Gland
o Receives information from afferent neurons and o Inside the neck
sends commands to the muscles through efferent o Regulates growth and metabolism
neurons o Hormone thyroxin regulates metabolism
o Plays crucial role in body and brain development
➢ Pancreas
o Controls blood sugar levels
o Secrets insulin and glucagon
o Too little insulin = diabetes
o Too much insulin = hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)
➢ Gonads
o Sex glands
o Ovaries, testes
o Regulate sexual development, behavior, and
reproduction
➢ Adrenal Glands
o On top of each kidney
o Regulate salt intake, deals with stress
BRAIN STRUCTURE
➢ Hypothalamus
o Regulates fear, thirst, aggression, and sexual drive
o Body temperature, hunger, sleeping and waking
o Emotions
➢ Medulla
PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM o Part of the hindbrain
o Controls life-sustaining functions
➢ Made up of nerves and neurons that are not in the center
o Ex. Heartbeat, breathing, swallowing
➢ Not connected in the brain or spinal cord
➢ Pons
➢ Allows brain and spinal cord to communicate with the body’s
o Relays messages between cerebellum and cortex
sensory systems
o Coordinate movements of left and right side of body
➢ Somatic Nervous System
o Sleep, dreaming, arousal
o Carries information from the senses to the central
➢ Reticular Formation
nervous system and from the CNS to voluntary
o Responsible for ability to attend to certain kinds of
muscles of the body
information in their surroundings
o Sensory pathway
o Alertness
▪ Nerves from sensory organs to CNS
➢ Cerebellum
▪ Consists of afferent neurons
o Controls involuntary, rapid, fine motor movement
o Motor pathway
➢ Thalamus
▪ Nerves coming from CNS to voluntary
o Relays info from sensory organs to cerebral cortex
muscles
➢ Hippocampus
▪ Consists of efferent neurons
o Long term memories
➢ Autonomic Nervous System
o Storage of memory for location of objects
o Control involuntary muscles, organs, glands
➢ Amygdala
o Sympathetic division
o Processes emotions
▪ Fight or flight
o Fear response and memory of fear
▪ React to stressful events and bodily arousal
➢ Cerebral Cortex
▪ Ex. Dilated pupils, faster heartbeat
o Occipital Lobes
o Parasympathetic division
▪ Regulates vision
▪ Restores the body to normal functioning
o Parietal Lobes
after arousal
▪ Receives sensory information
▪ Day-to-day functioning of the organs
 ▪ Touch, taste, temperature
oTemporal Lobes
▪ Sense of hearing
▪ Balance
o Frontal Lobes
▪ Higher mental processes
▪ Decision making
▪ Speech production
▪ Conscience
➢ Prefrontal Cortex
o Impulse control
o Goal-directed behavior
o Case Study: Phineas Gage
▪ Damaged prefrontal cortex -> change in
personality
▪
CHAPTER 8: Development across the Life Span
Studying Human Development
Human Development - the scientific study of the changes that
occur in people as they age, from conception until death
8.1 Research Designs
- challenge in developmental research is that the age of the
people in the study should always be an independent
variable
Types of Research Design
1. Longitudinal design - one group of people is followed
and assessed at different times as the group ages
a. advantage: looking at real age-related changes
as those changes occur in the same individuals
b. disadvantage: lengthy amount of time, money
and effort involved in following participants
over the years, as well as the loss of participants
when they move away, lose interest, or die
2. Cross-sectional design - several different age groups are
studied at one time
a. advantage: quick, relatively inexpensive, and
easier to accomplish than the longitudinal design
b. disadvantage: no longer compare the same
individual, instead individuals of different ages
are being compared to one another
3. Cross-sequential design -a combination of the
longitudinal and cross-sectional designs
cohort effect - the impact on development occurring when a
group of people share a common time period or common life
experience.
examples of types research designs below:
8.2 Nature and Nurture
Nature - refers to heredity; the influence of our inherited
characteristics on our personality, physical growth intellectual
growth, and social interactions
Nurture - the influence of the environment on our personality,
physical growth intellectual growth, and social interactions;
includes parenting styles, physical surroundings, economic factors
and anything that can have an influence on development that does
not come from within the person.
“All that people are and all that people become is the product of
an interaction between nature and nurture”
8.3 The Basic Building Blocks of Development
Genetics - the science of inherited traits
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) - consists of 2 sugar-phosphates
strands, each linked together by certain chemical elements called
amines and bases
- amines: are organic structures that contain the genetic
codes for building the proteins that make up organic life
(hair coloring, muscle, and skin, for example) and that
control the life of each cell.
gene - section of DNA having the same arrangement of chemical
elements.
chromosomes- tightly wound strand of genetic material
or DNA.
- Humans have a total of 46 chromosomes in each cell of
their bodies (with the exception of the egg and the
sperm). Twenty-three of these chromosomes come from
the mother’s egg and the other 23 from the father’s
sperm.
- Most characteristics are determined by 22 such pairs,
called the autosomes.
- The last pair determines the sex of the person.
- The two chromosomes of this pair are called the
sex chromosomes.
- 2 X-shaped: female
- X and Y: male
dominant - referring to a gene that actively controls the expression
of a trait
recessive - referring to a gene that only influences
the expression of a trait when paired with an identical gene.
Chromosome Disorders:
- Down syndrome: a disorder in which there is an extra
chromosome in what would normally be the the 21st
pair
 - Klinefelter’s syndrome: having an extra sex iii. cells begin to differentiate -- being
chromosome in the 23rd pair; XXY male with reduced various cells that create the human
masculine characteristics. body; skin cells, heart cells, etc.
- Turner’s Syndrome: the 23rd pair is missing an X, 2. The Embryonic Period
therefore a lone X chromosome-- females that tend to be - embryo: name of the developing organism
very short, infertile, and sexually underdeveloped. once firmly attached to the uterus
a. the period from 2 to 8 weeks after fertilization,
during which the major organs and structures of
the organism develop.
b. By the end of this period, the embryo is about 1
inch long and has primitive eyes, nose, lips,
teeth, and little arms and legs, as well as a
beating heart.
critical periods: times during which certain environmental
influences can have an impact on the development of the infant.
teratogen: Any substance such as a drug, chemical, virus, or other
factor that can cause a birth defect
3. The Fetal Period
a. the time from about 8 weeks after conception
until the birth of the baby.
b. fetus: new name hehe previously the embryo
Prenatal Development c. basta this is the stage that fully develops the
baby till he/ she is gvs to see d world!!!
8.4 Fertilization

Ovum - female sex cee, egg

Sperm - duh taena naman pag di mo to alam
Fertilization - the union of the ovum and sperm
Zygote - fertilized egg, cell resulting from the uniting of the
ovum and sperm.
- mitosis: the division of the zygote, will divide into two
cells, then 4 then so on
- eventually becomes a baby
Monozygotic twins - identical twins, two babies came from one
fertilized egg
Dizygotic twins - fraternal twins, two individual eggs get
fertilized by separate sperms
Infancy and Childhood Development
8.6 Physical Development
- Reflexes
- infants have a set of innate, involuntary
behavior patterns which are reflexes
- helps the infant survive until he/she is more
capable
- i.e. sucking the nipple for milk, grasping to
finger
- Motor Development
- major physical milestones of an infant such as:
bioethics - the study of ethical and moral issues raising head and chest, sitting up, rolling over,
brought about by new advances in biology and medicine crawling, walking, etc.
- Brain Development
8.5 Three stages of development - development of sensory abilities
1. The Germinal Period 8.7. Cognitive Development
a. first 2 weeks after fertilization, during which the - the development of thinking, problem solving, and
zygote moves down to the uterus and begins to memory
implant in the lining
i. the placenta begins to form in this Piaget’s Four stages of cognitive development
period
ii. the umbilical cord also begins to
develop at this time, connecting the
organism to the placenta
Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
- concept of the difference between what a child can do
alone and what that child can do with the help of a
teacher
- scaffolding: process in which a more skilled learner gives
help to a less skilled learner, reducing the amount of help
as the less skilled learner becomes more capable
8.8 Psychosocial Development
- Temperament: the behavioral characteristics that are
fairly well established at birth, the enduring
characteristics with which each person is born.
- Temperament styles:
- Easy: babies who have regular in their walking,
sleeping, eating scheds and are adaptable to
change; easily soothed when distressed
- Difficult: opposite of easy babies; loud and
active, and tend to be crabby than happy
- Slow to warm up: less grumpy, quieter, and
more regular than difficult but slow to adapt to
change
- Attachment: The emotional bond that forms between an
infant and a primary caregiver
- Attachment Styles:
- Secure: willing to explore, easily soothed by
mom
- Avoidant: reacts very little to mom’s presence
- Ambivalent: mixed feelings, minsan gusto sa
presence ng mom, minsan hindi
- Disorganized- disoriented: afraid to make eye-
contact, unable to decide what to feel w mom’s
presence
- Mom’s behavior towards the baby is also a
factor to the baby’s attachment style
- Self-concept: the image of oneself that develops from
interactions with important significant people in one’s
life.
- Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages of Development:
Adolescence
8.9. Physical Development
- Adolescent: the period of life from about age 13 to the
early 20s, during which a young person is no longer
physically a child but is not yet an independent, self-
supporting adult.
- Puberty: the physical changes that occur in the body as
sexual development reaches its peak.
8.10 Cognitive Development
-
TROLEEE HUHUHU PAKSHET G NA!!! WALA PA KO
NAAARAL MARE HUHU
CHAPTER 13: Theories of Personality
Personality from Various Perspectives
Personality: the unique and relatively stable ways in which
people think, feel and behave
Character: value judgements made about a person’s moral and
ethical behavior
Temperament: the enduring characteristics with which each
person is born
Four Perspectives in Study of Personality
- Psychodynamic perspective
- Behaviorist perspective
- Humanistic perspective
- Trait perspective
Freud’s View of the Mind, and Psychodynamic Theory
Sigmund Freud
- Founder of the psychoanalytic movement in psychology
Divisions of Consciousness
A. Preconscious mind: level of mind in which information is
available but not currently conscious
B. Conscious mind: level of the mind that is aware of
immediate surroundings and perceptions
C. Unconscious Mind: level of the mind in which thoughts,
feelings, memories and other information that are not
easily or voluntarily brought into consciousness are kept
 - Can be revealed in dreams and Freudian slips of
tongue
Freud’s
Theory:
Parts of
Personali
ty
Id: part of
personalit
y present
at birth;
completel
y
unconscio
us
- libido: the instinctual energy that may come into conflict
with the demands of a society’s standards for behavior
- pleasure principle: principle by which the id functions;
the immediate satisfaction of needs without regard for the
consequences
Ego: part of the personality that develops out of a need to deal
with reality; mostly conscious, rational, and logical
Superego: part of the personality that acts as a moral center
- ego ideal: part of the superego that contains the standards
for moral behavior
- conscience: part of the superego that produces pride or
guilt, depending on how well behavior matches or does
not match the ego ideal
Freud’s Historical Views of Personality
Defense Mechanisms
Psychological defense mechanisms: unconscious distortions of a
person’s perception of reality that reduce stress and anxiety
1. Denial: the person refuses to acknowledge or recognize a
threatening situation
2. Repression: the person refuses to consciously remember
a threatening or unacceptable event, instead pushing
those events into the unconscious mind
3. Rationalization: the person invents acceptable excuses
for unacceptable behavior
4. Projection: unacceptable or threatening impulses or
feelings are seen as originating with someone else,
usually the target of the impulses or feelings
5. Reaction formation: the person forms an emotional or
behavioral reaction opposite to the way he or she really
feels in order to keep those true feelings hidden from self
and others
6. Displacement: redirecting feelings from a threatening
target to a less threatening one
7. Regression: the person falls back on childlike patterns of
responding in reaction to stressful situations
8. Identification: the person tries to become like someone
else to deal with anxiety
9. Compensation (substitution): the person makes up for
deficiencies in one area by becoming superior in another
area
10. Sublimation: channeling socially unacceptable impulses
and urges into socially acceptable behavior
Freud’s View of the Mind, and Psychodynamic Theory
Freud’s Theory: Stages of Personality Development
Fixation: if the person does not fully resolve the conflict in a
particular psychosexual stage, it will result in personality traits and
behaviors associated with that earlier stage
Psychosexual stages: five stages of personality development
proposed by Freud and tied to the sexual development of the child
1. Oral stage: first stage, occurring in the first year of life,
in which the mouth is the erogenous zone and whining is
the primary conflict; id dominated
2. Anal stage: second stage, occurring between about one
and three years of age; the anus is the erogenous zone
and toilet training is the source of conflict; ego develops
3. Phallic stage: third stage, occurring from about three to
six years of age; the child discovers sexual feelings;
superego develops
4. Latency stage: fourth stage occurring during the school
years, in which the sexual feelings of the child are
repressed while the child develops in other ways
5. Genital stage: during and after puberty, sexual feelings
reawaken with appropriate targets
Neo-Freudians and Modern Psychodynamic Theory
Neo-Freudians: followers of Freud who developed their own
competing theories of psychoanalysis:
- Jung: developed a theory including both a personal and a
collective unconscious
- Horney: Developed a theory based on basic anxiety
- Erikson: Developed a theory based on social rather than
sexual relationships, covering the entire lifespan
- Adler: Proposed that feelings of inferiority are the driving
force behind personality
- Developed birth order theory (first born→ feel
inferior to younger who receive attention, middle→
feel superior to dethroned older children, youngest→
feel inferior because they don’t have the freedom or
responsibility of older children)
Modern Psychoanalytic Theory
Current research has found support for:
- defense mechanisms
- the concept of an unconscious mind that can influence
conscious behavior
Behavioral and Social Cognitive Explanations of Personality
The Behaviorist View
 - Behaviorists define personality as a set of learned
responses or habits Real self: one’s perception of actual characteristics, traits, and
– habit: well-learned response automatic abilities
Ideal self: one’s perception of whom one should be or would like
The Social Cognitive View to be
Social cognitive learning theorists emphasize the importance of:
➔ the influences of other people’s behavior
➔ the influence of a person’s own expectancies on learning
Reciprocal Determinism
Bandura’s explanation of how the factors of environment,
personal characteristics, and behavior can interact to determine
future behavior
Self-efficacy: an individual’s perception of how effective a
behavior will be in any particular circumstance (NOT the same as
self-esteem)

Behavioris
m and
Personality Positive regard: warmth, affection, love, and respect that come
• Rotter’s from significant others in one’s life
Social - unconditional positive regard: positive regard that is
Learning given without conditions or strings attached
Theory - conditional positive regard: positive regard that is given
– locus of only when the person is doing what the providers of
control positive regard wish
– - Fully functioning person: a person who is in touch with
expectancy and trusting of the deepest, innermost urges and feelings
- Be
haviorism The Trait Perspective of Personality
as an explanation of the formation of personality has its Trait Theories of Personality
limitations Trait theories: theories that endeavor to describe the characteristics
that make up human personality in an effort to predict future
How Humanists Explain Personality behavior
Humanistic Theories of Personality - trait: a consistent, enduring way of thinking, feeling, or
- Perspective: the “third force” in psychology behaving
- focuses on those aspects of personality that make people - Surface traits: aspects of personality that can easily be
uniquely human, such as subjective feelings and freedom seen by other people in the outward actions of a person
of choice - Source traits: the more basic traits that underlie the
- developed as a reaction against the negativity of surface traits, forming the core of personality ex:
psychoanalysis and the deterministic nature of introversion
behaviorism - Cattell: developed the 16PF test

Rogers’s Theory of Personality The Big Five Theory

- Self-actualizing tendency: the striving to fulfill one’s • Five-factor model (Big Five): describes five basic trait
innate capacities and capabilities dimensions: OCEAN
- Self- 1. openness: willingness to try new things and be open to
concept: the new experiences
image of oneself 2. conscientiousness: the care a person gives to organization
that develops and thoughtfulness of others; dependability
from 3. extraversion: one’s need to be with other people
interactions with extraverts: people who are outgoing and sociable
important, introverts: people who prefer solitude and dislike being
significant the center of attention
people in one’s
life
 4. agreeableness: the emotional style of a person that may
range from easygoing, friendly, and likeable to grumpy,
crabby, and unpleasant
5. neuroticism: degree of emotional instability or stability

Biology, Heredity, and Cultural Roles in Personality

Biology and Personality
Behavioral genetics: the study of the relationship between
heredity and personality
- twin and adoption studies have found support for a
genetic influence on many personality traits
- Heritability: how much some trait within a population
can be attributed to genetic influences

Ex: The “Jim” Twins→ separated shortly after birth and

reunited at age thirty-nine; they exhibited many similarities in
personality and personal habits

Cultural Personality
Four basic dimensions of personality along which cultures may
vary:
- individualism/collectivism
- power distance
- masculinity/femininity
- uncertainty avoidance

Advantages and Disadvantages of Various Measures of

Personality
Measuring Personality: Projective Tests

- Projection: defense mechanism involving placing, or

“projecting,” one’s own unacceptable thoughts onto
others, as if the thoughts actually belonged to those
others and not to oneself
- Projective tests: personality assessments that present
ambiguous visual stimuli to the client
Problems with projective tests
- Subjective: concepts and impressions that are only valid
within a particular person’s perception and may be
influenced by biases, prejudice, and personal experiences
- With no standard grading scales, projective tests are low
in reliability and validity