Transcript Personlatiy Introduction LEcture

Personality Psychology
Unit 6
Personality
 A hotly debated topic!
 Back to Nature vs Nurture Debate again 
Psychoanalytic Theories
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Psychoanalytic Theories study
development in terms of drives and urges.
◦ At each stage in life we have different
urges and are driven toward different
goals.
◦ These changing urges lead to
development.
Psychoanalytic Theories
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Sigmund Freud: The founder/father of
psychoanalytic therapy.
◦ Believed development occurred as a result of
psychosexual changes.
◦ Based his theory of personality on inhibited
sexual drives.
◦ Humans are motivated by eros (the instinct
of life) and thanatos (the instinct of death).
Psychoanalytic Theories
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Freud’s Theory of
Consciousness:
◦ Conscious: We are
aware of these
thoughts at any
time.
Psychoanalytic Theories
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Freud’s Theory of
Consciousness:
◦ Preconscious:
Things that we
can recall at will,
but are not
continually
thought of.
Psychoanalytic Theories
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Freud’s Theory of
Consciousness:
◦ Unconscious:
Thoughts and
feelings that
cannot be
intentionally
remembered.
Psychoanalytic Theories
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Freud’s Theory of
Personality:
◦ Id: Unconscious portion
of the mind that contains
biological drives.
Psychoanalytic Theories
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Freud’s Theory of
Personality:
◦ Superego: The
preconscious area of the
mind that contributes to
feelings of extreme guilt
for fr wrong-doing. This is
the area where MORALS
are stored!
Psychoanalytic Theories
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Freud’s Theory of
Personality:
◦ Ego: The conscious area
of the mind that is aware
of reality and helps to
express sexual and
aggressive urges in socially
acceptable ways.
 The Ego is the balance
between the Id and the
Superego.
Psychoanalytic Theories
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Freud’s Theory of Psychosexual
Development: Personality develops
based on changes in the libido (sexual
energy) and fixation on erogenous zones.
◦ 5 stages of Psychosexual Development
◦ Personality is determined by the first 3 stages
and is fixed by the age of 5
Stages of Psychosexual
Development
Age
Stage
Birth to 1 year Oral Stage
1-3 years
Anal Stage
3-6 years
Phallic Stage
7-11 years
Latency Stage
12 yearsadulthood
Genital Stage
Characteristics
•Infant receives pleasure from oral actions
•Biting
•Sucking
•chewing)
•Weaning is the single most important behavior associated with
this stage.
•Child receives pleasure from the anus and defecation.
•The psychological goal of the child is independence and
autonomy.
•The most important behavior in this state is toilet training.
•Child receives pleasure from genitals and genital stimulation.
•Freud also believes that boys are proud of their penis and girls
are puzzled about why they don’t have one.
•Child does not have significant psychosexual development.
•Child focuses on friendships and social skills.
•Genitals are the focus of pleasurable feelings.
•Young person seeks sexual satisfaction in relationships.
Psychoanalytic Theories
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Oedipal Complex: The belief that little
boys resent the relationship that their
fathers have with their mothers, and as a
result, harbor a latent desire to murder their
fathers and marry/engage in sexual relations
with their mothers.
Electra Complex: The belief that little
girls resent the relationship that their
mothers have with their fathers, and as a
result, harbor a latent desire to rebel against
their mothers and marry their fathers (or
someone eerily similar!)
Psychoanalytic Theories
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Defense Mechanisms: Strategies the
psyche uses to protect itself from
situations or events that may be
traumatic.
Anxiety and the
Mechanisms of Defense
Repression
Unconscious
 Motivated
 Forgetting

The process of preventing
unacceptable thoughts,
feelings, or urges from
reaching conscious
awareness
Anxiety and the
Mechanisms of Defense
Denial
Unconscious
 Motivated
 Not Perceiving

Perceptual Defense
Research
Anxiety and the
Mechanisms of Defense
Rationalization
 Unconscious
 Motivated
 Not Perceiving
Perceptual Defense
Research
Anxiety and the
Mechanisms of Defense
Other Defense Mechanisms
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Reaction Formation
 Act

opposite of impulse
Projection
 Make
impulse external
Anxiety and the
Mechanisms of Defense
Other Defense Mechanisms
Displacement
Channel impulse to non-threatening
target
Sublimation
Channel impulse into socially desired
activity
Anxiety and the
Mechanisms of Defense
Defense Mechanisms in Everyday Life
 Useful
in coping with unexpected or
disappointing events
 Can
also make circumstances worse
Psychoanalytic Theories
Psychoanalytic Theories
Freud is widely accepted as a noted
theorist, even today. However…
 Criticisms:
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◦ Lack of scientific research
◦ Subjects Freud observed were often greatly
disturbed
◦ First 2 stages of psychosexual development
theory still unsupported using studies of
children with normal development
Neo-Freudians
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Consider parts of Freud's theory valid
Modified other aspects
Karen Horney: Postulated that Freud exaggerated
the role of sex drive in human behavior
Misunderstood sexual motivation of women
Conflict between parents and child due to parental
hostility and intimidation instead of sexual desires
manifested
Carl Jung
Swiss Physician
 More emphasis on search for life and spiritual meaning
continuity of past and present human experiences
 Conscious Mind
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◦ A Personal Unconscious- Freud's unconscious
◦ Collective Unconscious - Present at birth
 Represents cumulative experience of previous generations
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Archetypes- Images inherited from the experience of
ancestors is contained in collective unconscious
Alfred Adler
Austrian Physician
 Founded school of thought known as individual
psychology
 Individual Psychology- Indivisible Psychology
 Psychology of the whole person- not id, ego, super ego
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◦ Conscious goal-directed behavior I
◦ Inferiority Complex- exaggerated feeling of failure and
helplessness
◦ Striving for Superiority- Personal Excellence and fulfillment
◦ Social Concern and interest for others
Learning Approach
Personality is a result of learning in various
situations
 Specific Behaviors
 Specific Experiences
 Some Experiences are a person’s own and
some are imitated
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Humanistic Psychology
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1950’s
Protest against Behaviorism and Psychoanalysis
Not based on determinism or reductionism like
behaviorism and Psychoanalysis
Deals with consciousness, values, and abstract beliefs
that include spiritual experiences
Personality depends how individual perceive the
world and on what they believe
Carl Rogers and Self-Actualization
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American
Most influential Psychologists
Human Nature –Basically Good
Natural Drive toward self-actualization
Self concept and image of what they are
Ideal Self
Unconditional Positive Regard: Unqualified
acceptance for another person just as they are
Abraham Maslow
Hierarchy of needs must be met before proceeding top next
level
 Final Stage –Self Actualization
 Accurate perceptions of reality
 Showed independence
 Creativity and spontaneity
 Accepted themselves and others
 Enjoyed Life
 Good sense of humor
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Personality Traits and States
Individual Personalities differ in two ways
 1. Nomothetic: Researchers seek generalities
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◦ Personalities affect behavior
◦ Based on statistical comparisons of large groups
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2. Idiographic: Focus on intensive studies of
individuals
◦ Life goals affect moods and their reactions to
various events
◦ Conclusions that apply to more than one person
◦ Not meant to generalize the whole population
Personality Traits and States
 Trait: Long lasting
◦ Shyness is trait
behavioral tendency
 State: Temporary expression
◦ Stage fright is a state
 Traits
of behavior
and States are behavioral
descriptions
 They don’t provide explanations of
behavior
Personality Traits and States
The Trait Approach
 Consistent Personality Characteristics
 Honesty, Friendliness, and Nervousness
 Studied and measured
 Internal Locus of Control: Internal forces credited for
success
 External Locus of Control: External forces blamed for
failure
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Personality Traits and States
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Gordon Alport: ”Trait Psychologist”
◦ Said there are 4,500 trait-like words
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3 Central Trait Components:
1. Cardinal Trait: Dominates and shapes a person’s behavior
2. Central Trait: General Characteristic found in some degree
in every person
 Basic Building blocks that shape most of our behavior –not
as overwhelming as cardinal traits ex: honesty
3. Secondary Trait: Particular likes or dislikes that a very close
friend may know
Personality Traits and States
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Raymond B Cattell
35 personality traits
The Big Five
1. Neuroticism: Tendency to experience unpleasant emotions
2. Extraversion: Seeks simulation and enjoys company of
others people
3.Agreeableness: Compassionate toward others
4.Conscientiousness: Shows self discipline
5.Openess: Tendency to enjoy new intellectual experiences:
open to new ideas, people and exploring new ideas
◦ Hardest to observe!
Personality Traits and States
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Raymond B Cattell’s The Big 5 Personality Traits
Criticism of the Big Five
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The Big Five cite 9 overlooked personality traits that
don’t emerge as clusters
1.Religiousness
2. Manipulativeness
3. Honesty
4. Sexiness
5. Thriftiness
6. Conservatives
7. Masculinity and Femininity
8. snobbishness
9. Sense of Humor
Criticism of the Big Five
 Hans
Eysenck:
◦ German Behaviorist
◦ Personality differences grow out of our
genetic inheritance
◦ Primarily interested in “temperament”
Suggested three biologically based
categories of temperament
 1.
 2.
 3.
Neuroticism or it’s opposite, stability
Extraversion or introversion
Agreeableness, or opposite—hostility
Origins of Personality
 Studies
of twins and adopted children
 Heredity does contribute to some
observable differences in personality
 Family environment contributes a little
 Special Experiences could contribute to
a variation in personalities from one
person to another even in a family
Assessing Traits: An Example
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Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
(MMPI)
◦ The most widely researched and clinically used of
all personality tests
◦ Developed to identify emotional disorders
MMPI: Examples
 “Nothing
in the newspaper interests me
except the comics.”
 “I
get angry sometimes.”
Personaility Assesment
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MMPI-1940’s
◦ Series of true and false questions
◦ Measure personality dimensions
 Depression
 Paranoia and Schizophrenia
MMPI-550 items
 MMPI-2 567 items
 Both exams contain certain test questions identify
dishonest answers
 Both tests are widely used to measure personality don’t
provide as much accuracy as one might expect
 Very useful in correlating personality traits with others
traits, in testing theories of personality development, and
in assessing a client before beginning therapy
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Personaility Assesment
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16PF-Test
 Standardized test
 Personality Factors: Schizophrenia,, Depression, Alcoholism
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Measured 16 factors or personality traits various aspects
of normal personality
 Ego
 Strength
 Dominance
 Trust
 Intelligence
 Self-sufficency
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Printed out as a personality profile
Should be cautiously used with people from different
ethnic and cultural backgrounds
Personaility Assesment
MMPI
and 16-PF
◦Easy to score
◦Calculate
◦Objective nature limits the test takers
responses
◦Projective techniques
◦Helps people reveal themselves more
fully than they would to a stranger or
even to themselves
Personaility Assesment
Rorschach
Inkblot Test
◦Projective test
◦Herman Rorschach: Swiss Psychiatrists
◦Interpretations of Ambiguous Inkblot
◦Everything revealed in a poorly
defined situation gives clues to your
personality
◦Valuable personal information
Personaility Assesment
Rorschach
Inkblot Test
Personaility Assesment
Thematic Apperception Test
(TAT)
◦Test Taker makes up a story for each picture,
describe what is occurring, what events led up to
the scene, what will occur in the future
◦TAT-Clinical setting, induce clients to
discuss their problems and for research
purposes
◦More accurate in assessing what a person
has done rather than what he or she will do
in the future
Personaility Assesment
Thematic Apperception Test
(TAT)
Uses and Misuses of Personality Tests
 Aid
in assessing personality
Results interpreted cautiously
Job selection
Results valid for employment screening
Personality Tests Review
Test
MMPI
Purpose: T or F questions intended to measure different
personality dimensions: depression, paranoia, and
schizophrenia
Usefulness: Helps correlate personality traits with other
traits. Helps to test theories of personality development.
Helps to assess a client before beginning therapy
Weaknesses: Not very
accurate
Personality Tests Review
Test
16-PF Test
Purpose: Measures various aspects of normal personality.
Test measures 16 factors or personality traits
Usefulness: Helps clinicians ID abnormalities such as
schizophrenia, alcoholism and depression
Weaknesses: Has to be used with caution on people of
different cultural backgrounds
Personality Tests Review
Test
Rorschach Inkblot Test
Purpose: Projective test based on an individuals
interpretations of ten ambiguous ink blots
Usefulness: Gives clues into someone’s personality by
showing how they deal with a poorly defined situation
Weaknesses: Information may be misinterpreted, too
subjective
Personality Tests Review
Test
TAT
Purpose: Through storytelling clients are forced to discuss
their problems. Also helps in research
Usefulness: Results are more accurate in assessing what a
person has done recently rather than what they will do in
the future
Weaknesses: Information may be misinterpreted, too
subjective