What traumatic event does Zitkala-Sa describe at the school?

The forcible cutting of her long hair

Why was the cutting of her hair so humiliating to Zitkala-Sa?

Among her people, shingled hair was worn by cowards and mourners

Explain the self as subject and self as object.

As subject the self actively engages in knowing itself (the knower); as object the self is observed and comes to be known.

What is self-efficacy?

It is Bandura's concept of a person's belief in their own capacity to organise and carry out the actions needed to handle a situation.

Distinguish between type and trait approaches to personality.

Type approaches sort people into discrete categories, while trait approaches describe personality in terms of continuous building blocks present in varying degrees.

List the Big Five personality factors.

Openness to experience, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism and conscientiousness.

Describe the structure of personality in Freud's theory.

The id seeks immediate gratification on the pleasure principle, the ego works on the reality principle, and the superego is the moral branch internalising parental authority.

What are the three levels of consciousness in Freud's theory?

The conscious (current awareness), the preconscious (accessible if attended to) and the unconscious (a reservoir of repressed drives and wishes).

Name four ego defence mechanisms.

Repression, projection, denial and reaction formation (others include rationalisation and displacement).

What did Carl Rogers mean by a fully functioning person?

A person who, given unconditional positive regard, moves towards self-actualisation and realises their fullest potential.

How does self-regulation help control behaviour?

It is the ability to organise and monitor one's own behaviour, resisting situational pressures and using self-reinforcement to reach goals.

What are projective techniques used for?

They assess personality by presenting ambiguous stimuli, like inkblots (Rorschach) or pictures (TAT), onto which a person projects unconscious feelings and motives.

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Chapter 2: Self and Personality — Class 12 Psychology

Psychology · 7 chapters

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Chapter 2: Self and Personality

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When the self actively engages in the process of knowing itself, it is being treated as:

Summary

Self and personality describe the characteristic ways we define our existence. The self is the totality of an individual's conscious experiences, ideas and feelings about himself or herself, and can be understood both as subject (knower) and object (known). Kinds of self include personal and social identity, and the self develops through interaction with significant others. Important self-processes are self-esteem (one's overall worth), self-efficacy (Bandura's belief in one's capability) and self-regulation (controlling behaviour, including self-reinforcement). Personality is a relatively stable, organised set of characteristics. Type approaches classify people into categories (Ayurveda's tridosha, Sheldon's body types, Jung's introvert-extravert, Friedman and Rosenman's Type A and Type B). Trait approaches describe building blocks of personality: Allport's cardinal, central and secondary traits, Cattell's source traits, Eysenck's dimensions and the Big Five factors (openness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, conscientiousness). The psychodynamic approach (Freud) emphasises the unconscious, the id-ego-superego structure, libido, ego defence mechanisms and psychosexual stages; post-Freudians include Jung, Horney, Adler and Erikson. The behavioural, cultural and humanistic (Rogers, Maslow) approaches offer alternatives. Personality is assessed through self-report measures, projective techniques (Rorschach, TAT) and behavioural analysis.

Concept of selfSelf-esteem and self-efficacySelf-regulationType approachesTrait approachesFive-factor modelPsychodynamic approachBehavioural and cultural approachesHumanistic approachAssessment of personality

Key terms

Self

The totality of an individual's conscious experiences, ideas, thoughts and feelings about himself or herself.

Self-efficacy

A person's belief, after Bandura, that he or she can produce or handle a given situation through their own behaviour.

Personality

Relatively enduring and organised characteristics that make a person distinct and produce consistent behaviour.

Trait

A stable, enduring characteristic that is a building block of personality, used to describe and predict behaviour.

Big Five factors

Costa and McCrae's five broad dimensions: openness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism and conscientiousness.

Ego defence mechanisms

Freudian processes such as repression, projection, denial, reaction formation and rationalisation that protect the ego from anxiety.

Projective techniques

Personality assessment using ambiguous stimuli (e.g. Rorschach, TAT) onto which a person projects inner feelings.

Important questions

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The totality of an individual's conscious experiences, ideas, thoughts and feelings about himself or herself.

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Practice quiz · Self and Personality

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