HLSC111 Final: HLSC111 EXAM NOTES
HLSC111: Person, Health and Wellbeing
Theories of Personality:
Theory: A scheme or system of ideas or statements held as an explanation
or account of a group of facts or phenomenon.
Theory assists in:
• Distinguishes ideas from practice
• Explains and/or predicts
• Every theory has underlying assumptions
Personality: May be defined as an individual's unique constellation of
psychological traits and states. (Cohen, Montague, Nathanson, & Swerdilk
988, p.286-7)
OR
The sum total of the typical ways of acting, thinking and feeling that
makes each person unique. (Lahey, 2004)
Personality types and health:
Type A: Aggressive, time poor, impatient, competitive - CEO type
personalities
Type B: Relaxed, laid back, not easily stressed.
Type C: Compliant, Passive, unassertive, negative and self sacrificing.
Type D: Distressed person who experiences negative emotions and avoids
social contact, withdrawn.
Trait based theories:
Primary focus to describe personality
Traits are usually seen as a scale and individuals have varying amounts
eg: Extroversion scale
• If you have a lot of extroversion you are friendly, sociable and
outgoing
• If you don’t have much you are a quiet, self contained, reserved and
unsocia
Universal Personality Traits:
Hans Eysenck: 3 Universal traits:
• Extroversion - sociability
• Neuroticism
o High level - nervous, irritable, unpredictable mood swings
o Low level - Stable, uniform, relaxed
• Psychoticism
o High - solitary, uncaring, lack of empathy, insensitive
o Low- good interpersonal skills form solid lasting relationships.
The Big 5 personality Traits:
• Neuroticism- tendency to experience unpleasant emotions very
easily
• Extraversion: Tendency to seek stimulation and the company of
others
• Agreeableness - Tendency to be compassionate rather than
antagonistic
• Conscientiousness - Tendency to be self-disciplined, to be reliable
and to strive for competence and achievement
• Openness to Experience- Tendency to enjoy new experiences and
new ideas.
5 Psychological Perspectives:
Biological Approach: Look at how your nervous system, hormones and
genetic makeup affect your behaviour.
Psychodynamic Approach: The psychodynamic approach was promoted
by Sigmund Freud, who believed that many of our impulses are driven by
sex.
Behavioural Approach: Behavioural psychologists believe that external
environmental stimuli influence your behaviour and that you can be
trained to act a certain way.
Cognitive Approach: In contrast to behaviourists, cognitive psychologists
believe that your behaviour is determined by your expectations and
emotions.
Humanistic Approach: Humanistic psychologists believe that you're
essentially good and that you're motivated to realize your full potential.
Psychologists from this camp focus on how you can feel good about
yourself by fulfilling your needs and goals.
Interactionist perspective:
Walter Mischel:
- Attacked both the psychodynamic and trait approaches
- Situationist approach: Behaviour is primarily determined by
environment, not from internal dispositions.
In some situations (stimulus) the situation will outweigh any individual
differences -Red lights
- Response Freedom - Situations that allow individual differences
Psychodynamic Theory: Focuses on the idea that unconscious
psychological forces impact the processes of human development.
• Psychodynamic Approach: Technique of unveiling the psychological
forces that influence human personality and functioning.
Freud:
Our personalities are shaped and motivated by subconscious and
conscious forces, with a strong influence from childhood experiences.
Unconscious: The portion of the mind that lies outside our awareness
and that we cannot pull into our awareness but that can influence our
decisions. Unconscious uses primary thought processes:
○ Connections between ideas emotionally-not logical:
dreams
○ Ideas expressed affirmatively-no conditions/qualifications
○ Opposite or mutually exclusive ideas coexist
○ There is no concern with time
Preconscious: Currently unaware, but can become aware easily.
Document Summary
Theory: a scheme or system of ideas or statements held as an explanation or account of a group of facts or phenomenon. Theory assists in: distinguishes ideas from practice, explains and/or predicts, every theory has underlying assumptions. Personality: may be defined as an individual"s unique constellation of psychological traits and states. (cohen, montague, nathanson, & swerdilk. The sum total of the typical ways of acting, thinking and feeling that makes each person unique. (lahey, 2004) Type a: aggressive, time poor, impatient, competitive - ceo type personalities. Type b: relaxed, laid back, not easily stressed. Type c: compliant, passive, unassertive, negative and self sacrificing. Type d: distressed person who experiences negative emotions and avoids social contact, withdrawn. Traits are usually seen as a scale and individuals have varying amounts eg: extroversion scale. If you have a lot of extroversion you are friendly, sociable and outgoing. If you don"t have much you are a quiet, self contained, reserved and unsocia.
