Possible Essay Questions
Questions Personality Theories Deals with Systematically
1. Structure
a. Stable aspects, building blocks of personality
2. Process
a. Dynamic parts, things that change like motives, motivation that accounts for behavior
3. Growth in Development
a. How we develop as individuals our uniqueness
4. Psychopathology
a. Disorder in personality functioning
5. Change
a. Resist or unable to change? Why?
-Difference between people’s personality
-Do people have a choice with coping mechanisms
-Ex. Quit smoking –motivation, boyfriends wants her to quit – external motivator
Issues in Personality Theory
1. Philosophical view of the person
a. Are we rational creatures?
b. Are we more like animals and controlled by drives be irrational?
c. Are we like machines that we automatically respond to outsides stimuli?
d. Are we like computers we take into, process it, and spit it out again?
2. Internal v. external determinants
a. Internal – Freud – internal drives and wishes
b. External – Skinner - world acts upon us
c. Ex. Teacher, counselor – helping professions
d. Freud – narcissism – self love, healing themselves, feeds the ego
e. Mishcel – social learning theory, ppl work on environment, environment works on ppl
3. Person v. Situation
a. Personality traits aren’t stable, we change as we go through stages in our lives
b. Sensory adaptation – senses used to experience
c. Ex. Bill Gates (luck and outliers)
d. 10,000 work, study, practice hours
e. Personality traits are not necessarily stable and enduring as environment changes ppl
change
4. Unity of Behavior v. Concept of Self
a. Pattern and organization of behavior
b. Thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and ideas should be congruent and function together
(healthy personality)
c. Concept of self – I am ______
d. Self-talk
e. How we feel about ourselves influences our behavior
5. Varying States of Awareness and the Unconscious
a. Roles of states of consciousness – drugs, sleep, memory, meditation
b. Sleep deprivation – causes crankiness
6. Cognition Affect and Overt Behavior
a. Cognition – thoughts and thoughts process
