Chapter 10

Personality

Personality

  Personality times : Psychological qualities that bring continuity to an individual’s behavior in different situations and at different Theories – help understand the causes of similarities and differences among people

Psychodynamic Theory

 Psychoanalytic theory : focuses on early childhood experiences, unconscious motives/conflicts, and methods used to cope with sexual & aggressive urges

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

  Unconscious : thoughts, memories, desires well below the surface of conscious awareness, but still exert great influence on behavior Sexual & aggressive impulses – major source of conflict – Ambiguous social norms – inconsistent messages about what is appropriate – Thwarted more often than other urges

Drives and Instincts

  Eros (life instincts) – drives people towards acts that are life giving – Libido (energy behind eros) – drives people to experience sensual pleasure Thanatos (death instincts) – drives people toward aggressive and destructive behaviors

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

Id

Superego Ego

Primitive, unconscious portion of personality; houses most basic drives and stores repressed memories

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Id

Superego

Ego

Mind’s storehouse of values, moral attitudes learned from parents and society; same as common notion of conscience

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Id Superego

Ego

Conscious, rational part of personality; charged with keeping peace between superego and id

Freud’s Model of the Mind

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

 Psychosexual stages personality : Successive, developmental periods with a characteristic sexual focus that leave their mark on adult

Oral Stage Anal Stage Phallic Stage Latency Genital Stage

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

 Ego defense mechanisms in the unconscious : Largely unconscious mental strategies employed to reduce the experience of anxiety or guilt – Repression: keeping distressing thought/feelings – Projection: attributing one’s own thoughts, feelings, or motives to another – Regression: reversion to immature patterns of behavior – Denial: arguing against an anxiety by stating that it doesn’t exist – Undoing: attempt to take back thoughts/ behaviors that are unacceptable

More Defense Mechanisms

– Displacement: diverting emotional feelings from their original source to a substitute target – Reaction Formation: acting in a way opposite of one’s true feelings – Sublimation: acting out unacceptable impulses in a socially acceptable way – Rationalization: creating false, but plausible excuses to justify unacceptable behavior

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

 Projective tests conflicts : Personality assessment instruments based on Freud’s concept of projecting hidden motives, interests, – Rorschach inkblot technique – Sentence completion – Free association – Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Rorschach Inkblot

Thematic Apperception Test

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

 Psychic determinism or conflicts : Freud’s assumption that all mental and behavioral reactions are caused by unconscious traumas desires – Nothing is accidental

Carl Jung: Extending the Unconscious

  Believed that Freud overemphasized sexuality at the expense of other unconscious needs and desires Disputed the structure of the unconscious – Personal unconscious id : Portion of the unconscious corresponding roughly to Freud’s – Collective unconscious : Jung’s addition to the unconscious, involving a reservoir for instinctive “memories” including the archetypes, which exist in all people

Carl Jung: Extending the Unconscious

Animus

 Archetypes The male archetype The female archetype

Anima

Shadow

Carl Jung: Extending the Unconscious Animus Anima

Shadow

Archetype representing the destructive and aggressive tendencies we don’t want to recognize in ourselves

Humanistic Theories

     Third Force Focus on mental capabilities that set humans apart Innate drive to grow and fulfill potential How people view the world and respond Humanistic Theories include – Gordon Allport’s trait theory – Abraham Maslow’s self-actualizing personality – Carl Roger’s fully functioning person

Gordon Allport and the Beginnings of Humanistic

 Traits : Stable personality characteristics that are presumed to exist within the individual and guide his or her thoughts and actions under various conditions – – – Central traits form the basis of personality Secondary traits attitudes Cardinal traits include preferences and define peoples lives

Abraham Maslow and the Healthy Personality

 Self-actualizing personalities fulfill their potentials : Healthy individuals who have met their basic needs and are free to be creative and

Carl Rogers’s Fully Functioning Person

 Fully functioning person : Term for a healthy, self-actualizing individual, who has a self-concept that is both positive and congruent with reality

Carl Rogers’s Fully Functioning Person

  Phenomenal field and feelings : Our psychological reality, composed of one’s perceptions Unconditional positive regard : Love or caring without conditions attached

Evaluating Humanistic Theories

 Positive psychology : Movement within psychology focusing on the desirable aspects of human functioning, as opposed to an emphasis on psychopathology

Social-Cognitive Theories

  More scientific; driven by expectations, too Based on principles of learning (Bandura) – Observational learning behavior of others : Process of learning new responses by watching the  Personality is a collection of learned behavior patterns (skills, attitudes, beliefs, fears) – Reciprocal determinism : Process in which the person, situation and environment mutually influence each other

Reciprocal Determinism

Environment Cognition Behavior

What Persistent Patterns are Found in Personality?

Another approach describes personality in terms of stable patterns known as temperaments, traits, and types

Patterns in Personality

   The Big Five (McCrae) handout Type : Clusters of traits that are not only central to a person’s personality but are found with essentially the same pattern in many people – Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Person-situation controversy : Theoretical dispute concerning the relative contribution of personality factors and situational factors in controlling behavior (criticizes trait theory)

Assessing Traits

   NEO-PI (Big Five Inventory) Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) Must be valid and reliable!!!

– Measure what it is supposed to and be consistent!

What “Theories” Do People Use to Understand Each Other?

People everywhere develop implicit assumptions (“folk theories”) about personality, but these assumptions vary in important ways across cultures

Implicit Personality Theories

  Implicit personality theories understanding others : Assumptions about personality that are held by people to simplify the task of Fundamental attribution error : Assumption that another person’s behavior (especially undesirable behavior) is the result of a flaw in the personality, rather than in the situation