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231 Midterm
Personality Psychology Midterm
151
Psychology
Undergraduate 2
11/27/2014

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Cards

Term
What is personality?
Definition
  • Typical thought + emotion + behaviour, and psychological mechanisms at play
    • "Personality triad"
  •  Way of seeing whole person

Key features:

  1. Dynamic organization
  2. Regulates/drives behaviour
  3. Unique and shared elements compared to others (continuum)
Term
Psychological triad
Definition
  • Thought
  • Emotion
  • Behaviour 
Term
Trait
Definition
  • Latent variable inferred from many behavioural observations
    • Diverse presentations
  • Typical expression of thought + emotion + behaviour
  •  Measurable
  • Malleable (environment, physiology, etc.)
Term
Neuroticism
Definition
  • High: temperamental, worrying, insecure, high-strung
  • Low: calm, content
  • Negative affect and emotional coping

Facets

  • Anxiety
  • Angry hostility
  • Depression
  • Self-consciousness
  • Impulsiveness
  • Vulnerability to stress

 

Term
Extraversion
Definition
  • Sociability, enthusiasm, and assertiveness
  • Positive emotionality 

Facets

  • Warmth
  • Gregariousness
  • Assertiveness
  • Activity
  • Excitement-seeking
  • Positive emotions
Term
Openness
Definition
  • High: originality, imagination, broad interests
  • Low: shallow, simple 

 

Facets

  • Fantasy
  • Aesthetics
  • Feelings
  • Actions
  • Ideas
  • Values
Term
Agreeableness
Definition
  • High: sympathetic, trusting
  • Low: cold, quarrelsome
  • Cognitively: trusting
  • Affectively: sentimental
  • Behavioural: collaborative
  • Similar to Eysenck's psychoticim (reverse coded) 

Facets

  • Trust
  • Straightforwardness
  • Altruism
  • Compliance
  • Modesty
  • Tender-mindedness
Term
Conscientiousness
Definition
  • High: hard working, ambitious, persevering
  • Low: aimless 

Facets

  • Competence
  • Order
  • Dutifulness
  • Achievement-seeking
  • Self-discipline
  • Deliberation
Term
Approaches used to study traits
Definition
  • Idiographic
  • Nomothetic 
Term
Three-factor model
Definition
  • Eysenck
  • Psychoticism
  • Extraversion
  • Neuroticism 
Term
Behavioural residue
Definition
  • Behaviours that provide clues regarding personality
  • e.g., can judge conscientiousness and openness from rooms 
Term
Describe a personality pyramid
Definition
  • Eysenck
  • Top is the umbrella superfactor (P, E, N)
    • Most latent
  •  Becomes more specific and observable as you move down
    • Supertrait
    • Trait
    • Habit
    • Behaviour
Term
What are two conflicting views of traits and how they relate to our behaviour?
Definition
  1. Traits are the behavioural manifestations of psychological mechanisms (e.g., thoughts, emotion)
  2. Traits are inherent mechanisms that drive our behaviours 
Term
Central traits
Definition
  • Tied to the individual's self-identity 
  • Central to the personality
Term
Secondary traits
Definition
  • Traits that are situationally variable and/or are less central to the personality 
Term
Cardinal traits
Definition
  • Uncommon
  • Occur when the whole personality can be summed with one descriptor 
Term
Within the nomothetic approach, what are the approaches for identifying traits?
Definition
  • Theoretical (observation, theory) 
  • Lexical (language)
  • Measurement (factor analysis)
Term
Describe Eysenck's three factor model
Definition

Psychoticism

  • Aggressive
  • Cold
  • Egocentric
  • Impersonal
  • Impulsive
  • Unempathetic
  • Antisocial

Extraversion

  • Sociable
  • Assertive
  • Active
  • Lively
  • Sensation-seeking

Neuroticism

  • Anxious
  • Depressed
  • Guilt
  • Low self-esteem
  • Irrational
  • Tense
  • Emotional
Term
General personality factor
Definition
  • One-factor model of personality
  • All positive qualities of the Big Five
  • Alpha: emotional stability (interpersonally)
    • Neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness
  • Beta: adaptability
    • Openness, extraversion
Term
Give evidence to support whether or not intelligence is a personality trait
Definition
  • Personality does not vary as a function of IQ
  • No discriminative value 
Term
Is religiousity a personality trait?
Definition
  • Saucier and Goldberg think it's a secondary trait
  • Piedmont et al. think that, more specifically, spiritual transcendence is the trait 
Term
Spiritual transcendence
Definition
  • Piedmont et al.
  • Ability to step aside from the self to view the world from a larger, more objective, perspective
  • Seperate from the five factors, although religiousity correlates with openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and locus of control

 

  • Prayer fulfillment (positive affect associated with transcendence)
  • Universality (seeing humanity as a whole)
  • Connectedness (belongingness to a group)
Term
Is sexuality a personality trait? Explain
Definition
  • Initially, seven sexuality factors were identified
  • All factors correlate highly with big five (e.g., agreeableness and emotional investment) 
Term
Are the Big Five consistent across cultures?
Definition
  • Not sure (more research needed)
  • Openness varies across cultures
  • Adjectives associated with Big Five traits vary across cultures (except for openness)
  • Five factor model measures have decent reliability across cultures
  • Some cultures need more than five factors to adequately describe personality 
  • The closer a country`s culture is to Nothern European culture, the closer its results align with the English version of the Big Five
Term
Describe the personality of a leader
Definition
  • High extraversion
  • High achievement-striving
  • High emotionality
  • Less open
  • Less agreeable
  • Low psychological liberalism
  • Low modesty
  • Low morality
Term
Describe the relationship between music preference and personality. Give one example.
Definition
  • Short Test of Musical Preferences (STOMP)
  • No gender differences
  • No effect of chronic mood
  • Different personalities prefer different types of music
    • e.g.,  individuals high on Openness enjoy reflective & complex and intense & rebellious, but dislike upbeat & coventional
Term
When is personality established?
Definition
  • Consistent by age 3 
Term
At what age is personality most consistent?
Definition
  • 50
Term

i. What is the agespan associated with the greatest normative changes in personality?

ii. What are the changes in personality that occur at this time?

Definition
  • ages 20 - 40
  • More assertive and warm
  • More agreeable
  • More emotionally stable
  • Less openness 
  • Generally, the personality becomes more positive
  • Openness increases most early in life; by this period it either decreases or stays constant
Term
How is adult personality developed?
Definition
  • Not entirely known
  • Temperament predicts adult personality
  • Niche-picking

 

Term

i. What are the limitations/critiques of the trait model? (5)

 

ii. How can we attempt to overcome these?

 

Definition
  • No causal evidence
  • Discounts social factors
  • Does not explain intrapersonal organization and integration of traits
  • Surface descriptions aren't useful for prediction 
  • Fails to capture the complexity of the individual

 

  • Overcome by gathering evidence from complementary sources (e.g., genetics, physiology)

 

Term
Generally speaking, how would researchers decide which traits to add to those currently known (i.e., Big Five)?
Definition
  • Intercorrelations with Big Five -- does the proposed trait stand alone? 
  • Variance accounted for
Term
Which traits does religiosity correlate with?
Definition
  • Agreeableness
  • Conscientiousness 
Term
Indigenous traits
Definition
  • Traits that are unique to a culture
  • Philotimo
  • Filial piety
  • Amae 
Term
Triangulation
Definition
  • Using multiple sources of inquiry to answer a question 
Term
List the methods used for collecting data in personality psychology
Definition
  • LOTS
  • Self-report
  • Testing
  • Observational
  • Life 
Term
Coherence
Definition
  • Occurs when behaviour changes but personality doesn't
Term
Describe the domains adults typically become members of, and how membership affects personality
Definition
  • Work
    • Increase in conscientiousness
  • Marriage
    • Increase in agreeableness, conscientiousness
    • Decrease in neuroticism
  • Those who don't fall into these conventional roles do not show typical personality changes associated with development
Term
Which sex has more consistent personality across the lifespan?
Definition
  • Men
Term
Terman study
Definition
  • Longitudinal study of gifted children
Term
Mills study of women
Definition
  • Longitudinal study of women from Mills college
Term
Grant study of Harvard graduates
Definition
  • Aim: identify physical and mental components of health
  • Shift as we age to more adaptive defense mechanisms used (e.g., paranoia --> altruism)
  • Conscientiousness strongest predictor of health and good functioning across domains
  • Extraversion predicted financial success
  • Neuroticism associated with poor health and behaviours
    • Smoking
    • Mental illness
Term
What are the features of a good personality test?
Definition
  • Samples wide range of behaviours
  • Reliable
  • Valid
  • Generalizable
  • Specifies appropriate use (e.g., samples)
  • Unbiased
  • Aligns with theory
Term
Cronbach's alpha
Definition
  • All combinations of split-half reliability estimates
Term
What factors can undermine reliability?
Definition
  • Test (e.g., measurement error)
  • State of participant
  • State of experimenter
  • Testing environment
Term
Fundamental attribution error
Definition
  • Tendency to think of behaviour as indicative of the personality and not the circumstance

 

Term
How can you protect/augment reliability?
Definition
  • Standardized administration
  • Engage participants (by making items important)
Term
Face validity
Definition
  • Appearance that test measures what it indends to
Term
Construct validity
Definition
  • Test measures the intended construct
Term
Convergent validity
Definition
  • Test correlates with other measures of the same construct
Term
Discriminant validity
Definition
  • Test does not correlate with other constructs
Term
Criterion validity
Definition
  • Test compares with scores of an external criterion (i.e., a population known to endorse that construct)
  • Useful in test development
Term
Name two types of personality test (not to be confused with types of data/methods in personality psychology)
Definition
  • SR
  • Performance
Term
Types of performance-based tests
Definition
  • Association
  • Construction
  • Completion
  • Expression
  • Stimuli arrangement and reflection

(Don't need to list, but helpful to have an idea if an example is needed)

Term
Projective hypothesis
Definition
  • Mind as an iceberg (partially conscious of processes)
  • Unconscious can be projected outward
Term
Which construct are explicitly tested for with the Thematic Apperception Task?
Definition

Need for...

  • Affiliation
  • Power
  • Achievement
Term
Compare the pros and cons of self-report testing
Definition

Pro

  • You know yourself best
  • Simple to administer
  • Can collect lots of data
  • Good psychometric properties
  • Causal?

Cons

  • Bias
  • Lack of insight
  • Faking

 

Term
Response set
Definition
  • Pattern of responding influenced by factors other than the personality
    • Social desirability
    • Acquiencence/Reactance
    • Carelessness
  • Also called non-consistent responding
Term
Examples of response sets
Definition
  • Social desirability
  • Acquiescent/Reactant
  • Extreme, neutral responding
  • Carelessness
  • Culture
    • Need to be different in individualistic cultures causes more extreme responding
    • Dialectical thinking -- okay with contradiction -- in East Asians
Term
How can you reduce impact of response sets?
Definition
  • Anonymity
  • Reverse code
  • Lie scales
  • Forced-choice items
  • Wording
  • Marlow-Crowne (social desirability)
Term
Validity scales on the MMPI
Definition
  • L scale: social desirability
  • F scale: faking bad
  • K scale: denial of psychopathology
Term
What are criticisms of integrity testing?
Definition
  • Insufficient psychometric validation
  • Good answers can be posted online
Term
How does projective testing work? Give an example of methods
Definition
  • Based on projective hypothesis that some thoughts/desires are unconscious (mind as iceberg)
  • Individual may project their unconscious onto stimuli
    • Dream analysis
    • Lowering defenses (e.g., psychoanalysis and free association)
    • Ambiguous stimuli
Term
Barnum effect
Definition
  • Forer
  • Tendency to agree with personality test results, regardless of what they may be
Term
List three types of consistency and associated reliability types/measurements
Definition

Temporal

  • Test-retest

Internal

  • Parallel forms
  • Split-half
  • Cronbach's

Rater

  • Interrater
Term
Why is face validity useful?
Definition
  • Respondants are more engaged if they see the relevance
    • More effortful/careful responding
  • Item generation
Term
Reactant responding
Definition
  • Disagreeing with every item
  • Opposite of acquiescent responding
Term
Integrity test
Definition
  • Used to identify employees who may steal or be otherwise dishonest
  • Overt purpose and disguised purpose
Term
Two categories of integrity tests
Definition
  • Overt purpose
    • Ask employee directly
  • Disguised purpose
    • Personality measures used to infer
Term
Compare the trait model and psychoanalytic model with regard to their view of the forces underlying behaviour
Definition

Trait model

  • Traits--our latent tendencies--guide behaviour

Psychoanalytic model

  • Intrapsychic forces--instincts, desires, unconscious--guide behaviour
Term
Psychic determinism
Definition
  • Behaviour is controlled by unconscious instincts
  • No free will--all behaviours have a psychic cause
  • Behaviours have specific causes
Term
Preconscious
Definition
  • Ideas that are not currently in consciousness but can be called up
Term
Id
Definition
  • Pleasure principle
  • Tension reduction through
    • Action
    • Wish-fulfillment
  • Source of energy
  • Unchangeable
  • Unthinking
  • Characterizes babies
  • Inferred through parapraxes
Term
Mental energy
Definition
  • Psychological part of the mind that needs energy
  • Libido is psychic energy that powers the mind
  • Thanatos also provides some energy
Term
What are the fundamental motivations (drives) according to Freud?
Definition
  • Libido: life drive
  • Thanatos: death drive
Term
Libido
Definition
  • Life drive
    • Motivates behaviour
  • Source of psychic energy that powers the mind
Term
Thanatos
Definition
  • Death drive
    • Motivates behaviour
  • Source of mental energy
Term
Anxiety, according to Freud
Definition
  • Ego's perception of threat
  • Possiblity that drives will bring more pain than pleasure
Term
How does the ego mitigate anxiety?
Definition
  • Defense mechanisms
Term
Types of anxiety
Definition
  • Reality
    • Perception of external danger
  • Neurotic
    • Fear of instincts overwhelming the ego
  • Moral
    • Fear of doing or thinking something inappropriate
Term
Reality anxiety
Definition
  • Anxiety of the ego
  • Fear of external danger
Term
Neurotic anxiety
Definition
  • Anxiety of the ego
  • Fear of instincts overwhelming the ego
Term
Moral anxiety
Definition
  • Anxiety of the ego
  • Fear of doing or thinking something inappropriate
Term
Intrapsychic dynamics
Definition
  • Maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain
    • Can involve delayed gratification
      • Sacrificing small reward now for bigger reward later
  • Deciding whether or not to close the gap when you favour the id or ego ("overpaid or undercharged")
  • Choosing realistic behaviours or costly standards
Term
How do defense mechanisms work?
Definition
  • Reduce ego anxiety by manipulating or concealing reality
  • Unconscious process--we are not aware that we are using a defense mechanism, nor the purpose of that behaviour
Term
What happens if you overrely on one defense mechanism?
Definition
  • Can become part of the personality
  • Maladaptive
Term
Defense mechanisms
Definition
  • Repression
  • Reaction formation
  • Rationalization
  • Projection
  • Sublimation
  • Displacement
Term
Which defense mechanisms are particularly important in development? Why?
Definition
  • Sublimation
    • Socialization of impulses
  • Displacement
    • Identification with same-sex parent

Use of these defense mechanisms is key in leaving behind existence driven purely by the id (i.e., infancy)

Term
Fixation
Definition
  • Inability to move on to the next psychosexual stage of development
  • Creates noticable features on personality
Term
Regression
Definition
  • Occurs when we revert back to a less-developed psychosexual stage
  • Acute response to stress, shock
Term
What are the goals of psychoanalytic therapy?
Definition
  • Increase the ego's control over personality
  • Improve insight into the dynamic causes of behaviour)
  • Increase autonomy and personal responsibility for behaviour
  • Clarify interpretation of beahaviour
Term
Methods of psychoanalytic therapy
Definition
  • Hypnosis
  • Free association
Term
Resistance
Definition
  • Occurs in psychoanalytic therapy when client avoids discussing something
  • Extrapolation helps uncover repressed problems
Term
Transference
Definition
  • Occurs in psychoanalytic therapy when client projects their feelings onto the therapist
  • Normal part of psychoanalytic therapy
Term
Counter-transference
Definition
  • Occurs in psychoanalytic therapy when the client projects feelings onto the client
  • Inappropriate
Term
Methods of uncovering the unconscious
Definition
  • Psychoanalytic therapy
    • Free association
  • Lowering conscious guard so unconscious can be exposed
  • Dream analysis
  • Interpreting parapraxes
  • Interpreting humour
  • Interpreting symbolic behaviour (including personality characteristics)
Term
What are the criticisms of psychoanalytic theory? Compare with the merits of psychoanalytic theory.
Definition

Criticisms

  • Theory developed on case studies
    • Clients with psychopathology
  • No operational definitions
  • Not testable
  • Emphasis on males

 

Merits

  • Importance of unconscious
  • Intrapsychic conflict & anxiety
    • Dynamic between desires, emotions, thoughts, social expectations, beliefs, etc. guides behaviour and personality
  • Personality lifespan development
  • Importance of early life experience
Term
Attachment theory
Definition
  • Early experiences with caregivers shape our expectations, which influence future relationships
Term
Internal working model
Definition
  • Mental representation of relationships
  • Internal working model of the self: feelings of worth
  • Internal working model of others: expectations of others, based on relationship with primary caregiver as an infant
Term
Transference
Definition
  • Redirecting emotions for one person to experience the same emotions for another person
Term
Key premises of psychoanalysis
Definition
  1. Behaviours and perceptions are guided by early-life experiences
  2. We are largely unconscious
  3. Personality develops and can change
Term
Instinct
Definition
  • Combination of mental energy and physical energy
Term
Eros
Definition
  • For all intents and purposes, term is interchangeable with the libido
  • Whereas eros is the life instinct, libido is the mental energy that engenders eros
Term
Parapraxis
Definition
  • Mistake in speech or behaviour
    • e.g., Freudian slip, clumsiness
  • Reveals elements of the unconscious
Term
Complex
Definition
  • Jung
  • Schemata
  • Conceptually-grouped representations
Term
Primary process thinking
Definition
  • Lower-order
  • Without logic, rules, or rationalization
  • Id
Term
Pleasure principle
Definition
  • Hedonistic drive
  • Id
Term
Ways of reducing tension caused by the id
Definition
  • Action
  • Wish-fulfillment (i.e., fantasy)
Term
Wish fulfillment
Definition
  • Fantasizing about something to reduce the id's craving for it
Term
Reality principle
Definition
  • Works to satisfy id within the constraints of feasibility
  • Balances id's pleasure and superego's displeasure
Term
Secondary process thinking
Definition
  • Higher-order
  • Logical problem-solving
    • Maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain
  • Ego
Term
How is the superego developed?
Definition
  • Internalization of social expectations
  • Genital stage
    • Driven by castration anxiety (stronger motivator in males)
Term
What are the components of the superego?
Definition
  • Ego ideal
  • Conscience
Term
Ego ideal
Definition
  • Concept of what is right
  • Element of the superego
Term
Conscience
Definition
  • Concept of what is wrong
  • Element of superego
Term

Meta-question

When asked to describe the id, ego, or superego, what elements do you need to hit?

Definition
  • Overarching description
  • Is it conscious?
  • Is it realistic?
  • What are its elements?
    • Process thinking
    • Principles
    • Ego ideal and conscience (in case of superego)
Term
Topographic model of personality
Definition
  • Conscious, preconscious, and unconscious mind
  • Continuity between conscious and unconscious
  • Unconscious important in personality and behaviour
Term
Differentiate projection and displacement
Definition
  • Projection: attributing your emotions as belonging to someone else
  • Displacement: transferring feelings from one person (idea/object) to another
Term
Why do psychosexual stages manifest?
Definition
  • Surfacing of libidinal energy localized at erogenous zones
Term
When is the ego developed?
Definition
  • By age 2
  • By the time infant enters the anal stage
Term
When is the superego developed?
Definition
  • By age 5
  • Corresponds with internalization of social standards in the phallic stage
Term

Meta-question

What elements are needed to describe the psychosexual stages?

Definition
  • Ages
  • Notable details
  • Fixation
    • Understimulation
    • Overstimulation
Term
Oral stage
Definition
  • Birth - 18 months
  • Pure id
  • Stage when you learn independence (ties with fixation)

Oral incorportative: dependent (failure to become autonomous)

 

Oral sadistic: caustic and aggressive (think "biting")

Term
Anal stage
Definition
  • 1 - 3 years
  • Ego development

Anal expulsive: uninhibited, recalcitrant

 

Anal retentive: rigid, stingy 

Term
Phallic stage
Definition
  • 2 - 5 years
  • Superego development
  • Oedipal stage
    • Castration anxiety
    • Penis envy

Phallic: hyper-masculine, virile

Hysterical: hyper-feminine, promiscuous 

Term
What events in the phallic stage motivate superego development
Definition
  • Castration anxiety and--to a lesser extent--penis envy
  • Realization that impulses are immoral (socialization) becomes internalized
Term
Object relations theory
Definition
  • Concerned with intimate relationships and their emotional and cognitive bases
  • Neo-Freudian
Term
Attachment theory
Definition
  • John Bowlby
  • Importance of the early relationship with the primary caregiver
  1. Infants are less fearful when they trust their mothers to be reliable
  2. Confidence (in the caregiver's ability to respond) carries into adulthood
  3. Our expectations of others in a relationship reflects the behaviours of the primary caregiver as a child
    • Internal working model 
Term
Ainsworth
Definition
  • Strange Situation
Term
Name the attachment styles identified by Ainsworth
Definition
  • Secure
  • Avoidant
  • Anxious-ambivalent
  • Disorganized
Term
Secure attachment style
Definition
  • Parent is sensitive and responsive
  • Child is explorative, affectionate
  • Mother as safe haven
Term
Avoidant attachment style
Definition
  • Parent is emotionally distant and avoids physical contact
  • Child is explorative and indifferent with mother
Term
Anxious-ambivalent attachment style
Definition
  • Parent is inconsistent in responsiveness
  • Child is not explorative, distressed with and without mother, does not seek mother for comfort
Term
Cognitive model of personality
Definition
  • Cognitive processes (e.g., perceptions, expectations, problem-solving) guide personality and behaviour
Term
Changes that result from learned helplessness
Definition

Negative changes to 

  • Cognition (hopeless expectations)
  • Motivation (problem-solving)
  • Emotion
  • Self-esteem
  • Psychopathology
Term
Examples of traits that go beyond the five factors
Definition
  • Honesty-humility
    • Does overlap somewhat with agreeableness and extraversion
  • Spiritual transcendance
  • Indigenous traits
    • e.g., filial piety
Term
Learned helplessness
Definition
  1. Perception of non-contingency between behaviours and outcomes
  2. Expectations for the task become pessimistic
  3. Behaviour becomes passive, amotivated
  • Change in cognition, motivation/behaviour, and emotion that arises when an individual feels a lack of control
Term
Hopelessness model of depression
Definition
  • Depression is the result of the same mechanisms behind learned helplessness
  • i.e., Negative emotion, low self-esteem, and passivity are due to low expectations of self-efficacy and perceived non-contingence between actions and outcomes
Term
Components of explanatory style
Definition
  • Internal/external
  • Stable/unstable
  • Global/specific
Term
Name two explanatory styles
Definition
  • Pessimistic
  • Optimistic
Term
Attributional style
Definition
  • (Explanatory style)
Term
Cognitive model of personality
Definition

The way we perceive the world and act within it is influenced by

  • Expectations
  • Experiences
  • Beliefs
Term
Name benefits associated with internal locus of control
Definition
  • Better mental & physical health
  • Less stress
  • Better social skills
  • Better work satsifaction & performance
    • Responsibility
    • Problem-solving
Term
What is the key difference between internals and externals (loci of control)?
Definition
  • Hopefulness
    • Feeling autonomous versus victimized
Term
Illusion of control
Definition
  • Believing you are in control even when that would be impossible
  • Observed in Americans
Term
Primary control
Definition
  • Sense of control over a situation through tackling it/taking charge
Term
Secondary control
Definition
  • Feeling in control of a situation by accepting it
Term
Name benefits associated with optimistic explanatory style
Definition
  • Academic performance
  • Athletic victory
  • Political victory
Term
Self-serving bias
Definition
  • Attributing positive outcomes to yourself and negative outcomes to external factors
Term
Self-regulation
Definition
  • Persisting in the face of adversity
  • Optimists are high on self-regulation
Term
Steps in using personality assessment for hiring
Definition
  1. Identify tasks necessary for the job
  2. Identify personality traits necessary for the job
  3. Assess the candidates endorsed traits and interpret
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