Theories of Personality

1

• Chapter 2
• Theories of Personality

2
The Nature of Personality, continued

• Personality is an individuals unique
  constellation of consistent behavioral traits.
• A personality trait is a durable disposition to
  behave in a particular way in a variety of
  situations.
• Common personality traits include
• honest
• Moody
• impulsive
• friendly

3
The Nature of Personality, continued

• Robert McCrae and Paul Costa (1987, 1997, 1999)
  state that there are five higher-order traits
  that are known as the Big Five (see Figure
  2.1)
• Extraversion (or positive emotionality)
• Neuroticism (or negative emotionality)
• Openness to experience
• Agreeableness
• Conscientiousness
• However, this is but one of many perspectives on
  human personality.

4

• Figure 2.1 The five-factor model of personality.
  Trait models attempt to analyze personality into
  its basic dimensions. McCrae and Costa (1987,
  1997) maintain that personality can be described
  adequately with the five higher-order traits
  identified here, widely known as the Big Five
  traits.

5
Psychodynamic Perspectives

• Psychodynamic theories include a variety of
  theoretical models derived from the work of
  Sigmund Freud.
• All focus on unconscious mental forces that shape
  our personalities.
• Well known psychodynamic theorists include
• Freud
• Jung
• Adler
• Erikson

6
Psychodynamic Perspectives, continued

• Freuds Psychoanalytic theory of personality is
  somewhat controversial and is based on three main
  assumptions
• Personality is governed by unconscious forces
  that we cannot control.
• Childhood experiences play a significant role in
  determining adult personality.
• Personality is shaped by the manner in which
  children cope with sexual urges.

7
Freuds Psychoanalytic Theory, continued

• Freud argued that personality is divided into
  three structures
• The id is the primitive, instinctive component
  of personality that operates according to the
  pleasure principle.
• The ego is the decision-making component of
  personality that operates according to the
  reality principle.
• The superego is the moral component of
  personality that incorporates social standards
  about what represents right and wrong.

8
Freuds Psychoanalytic Theory, continued

• The id, ego and superego are arranged into
  different layers of awareness including
• The conscious layer this includes thoughts or
  feelings we are fully aware of.
• The preconscious layer this includes
  information just beneath the surface of our
  awareness.
• The unconscious layer this includes thoughts,
  memories, feelings and desires that we are not
  aware of, but that greatly influence our behavior
  (see Figure 2.2).

9

• Figure 2.2 Freuds model of personality
  structure. Freud theorized that we have three
  levels of awareness the conscious, the
  preconscious, and the unconscious. To dramatize
  the size of the unconscious, he compared it to
  the portion of an iceberg that lies beneath the
  waters surface. Freud also divided personality
  structure into three componentsid, ego, and
  superegothat operate according to different
  principles and exhibit different modes of
  thinking. In Freuds model, the id is entirely
  unconscious, but the ego and superego operate at
  all three levels of awareness.

10
Freuds Psychoanalytic Theory, continued

• Freud believed that behavior is the result of
  ongoing internal conflict among the id, ego and
  superego.
• Conflicts stemming from sexual and aggressive
  urges are especially significant.
• Such conflicts arouse anxiety and we use defense
  mechanisms largely unconscious reactions that
  protect a person from painful emotions such as
  anxiety and guilt.

11
Freuds Psychoanalytic Theory, continued

• Personality development
• Freud believed that the basic elements of adult
  personality are in place by age five and result
  from the outcome of five psychosexual stages.
• In each stage, children must cope with distinct
  immature sexual urges that influence adult
  personality.
• Fixation results if the child fails to move
  forward from one stage to another, and is usually
  caused by excessive gratification, or frustration
  of needs at a particular stage.

12
Psychodynamic Perspectives, continued

• Jungs Analytical Psychology.
• Jung also focused on the role of the unconscious
  in shaping personality.
• However, he argued that the unconscious is
  comprised of two layers
• The personal unconscious (this contains the same
  material as Freuds unconscious layer), and
• The collective unconscious this contains traces
  of memories, shared by the entire human race,
  inherited from our ancestors.

13
Jungs Analytical Psychology, continued

• The collective unconscious does not contain
  memories of distinct, personal experiences.
• Rather, it contains archetypes emotionally
  charged images and thought forms that have
  universal meaning.
• Jung was also the first to describe the
• Introverted (inner-directed), and the
• Extroverted (outer-directed) personality types.

14
Psychodynamic Perspectives, continued

• Adlers Individual Psychology.
• Adler believed that the most important human
  drive is not sexuality, but our drive for
  superiority.
• Adler stated that we use compensation - efforts
  to overcome imagined or real inferiorities by
  developing ones abilities.
• If we are unsuccessful, we may develop an
  inferiority complex exaggerated feelings of
  weakness and inadequacy.
• Adler also believed that birth order may
  contribute to personality.

15
Behavioral Perspectives

• Behaviorism - is a theoretical orientation based
  on the premise that scientific psychology should
  study observable behavior.
• Behavioral theorists view personality as a
  collection of response tendencies that are tied
  to various stimulus situations.
• They focus on personality development, and how
  childrens response tendencies are shaped by
  classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and
  observational learning.

16
Behavioral Perspectives, continued

• Pavlovs Classical Conditioning is a type of
  learning in which a neutral stimulus acquires the
  capacity to evoke a response that was originally
  evoked by another stimulus (see Figure 2.8).
• Classical conditioning may explain how people
  acquire particular emotional responses such as
  anxiety or phobias.

17

• Figure 2.8 The process of classical
  conditioning. The sequence of events in classical
  conditioning is outlined here As we encounter
  new examples of classical conditioning through
  the book, you will see diagrams like that shown
  in the fourth panel, which summarizes the process.

18
Behavioral Perspectives, continued

• Skinners Operant Conditioning is a form of
  learning in which voluntary responses come to be
  controlled by their consequences (see Figure
  2.11).
• Favorable consequences, called reinforcers,
  tend to cause organisms to repeat the behaviors
  that precede them, and
• Unfavorable consequences, called punishers,
  tend to discourage behaviors.

19

• Figure 2.11 Positive and negative reinforcement
  in operant conditioning Positive reinforcement
  occurs when a response is followed by a favorable
  outcome, so that the response is strengthened. In
  negative reinforcement, the removal (symbolized
  here by the No sign) of an aversive stimulus
  serves as a reinforcer. Negative reinforcement
  produces the same result as positive
  reinforcement The persons tendency to emit the
  reinforced response is strengthened (the response
  becomes more frequent).

20
Behavioral Perspectives, continued

• Banduras Observational Learning refers to
  learning which occurs when an organisms
  responding is influenced by the observation of
  others, who are called models.
• This behavioral theory is unique in that it
  involves cognition because it requires that we
• pay attention to others behavior
• understand the consequences that follow others
  behavior, and
• store this information in memory.

21
Banduras theory, continued

• Bandura stressed the importance of self-efficacy
  ones belief about ones ability to perform
  behaviors that should lead to expected outcomes.
• High self-efficacy is associated with confidence
  whereas low self-efficacy creates doubt in ones
  abilities.
• Bandura believed that self-efficacy is one of the
  most important personality traits because it is
  tied to success in many endeavors and resistance
  to stress.

22
Humanistic Perspectives

• Humanism is a theoretical orientation that
  emphasizes the unique qualities of humans,
  especially their free will and their potential
  for personal growth.
• This perspective is based on the following ideas
• We have an innate drive toward personal growth.
• We exercise free will to control our actions.
• We are rational beings driven by conscious, not
  unconscious, needs.

23
Humanistic Perspectives, continued

• Rogers Person-Centered Theory.
• Personality contains only one construct, the
  self, or self-concept a collection of beliefs
  about ones own nature, unique qualities, and
  typical behavior.
• If our ideas about ourselves match our actual
  experiences, our self-concept is congruent with
  reality.
• However, if our ideas about ourselves do not
  match reality, this disparity is called
  incongruence, which undermines our well-being
  (see Figure 2.13).

24

• Figure 2.13 Rogers view of personality
  structure. In Rogers model, the self-concept is
  the only important structural construct.
  However, Rogers acknowledged that ones
  self-concept may not jell with the realities of
  ones actual experiencea condition called
  incongruence. Different people have varied
  amounts of incongruence between their
  self-concept and reality.

25
Rogers Person-Centered Theory, continued

• Self-Concept and Development
• All humans have a need for affection, and
  experiences early in life are key.
• If parents make affection conditional (given only
  if the childs behavior meets their expectations)
  children do not feel worthy of love and develop
  an incongruent self-concept.
• If parents give affection unconditionally,
  children feel worthy of love and develop
  congruent self-concepts.

26
Humanistic Perspectives, continued

• Maslows Theory of Self-Actualization.
• Human motives are organized into a hierarchy of
  needs a systematic arrangement of needs,
  according to priority, in which basic needs must
  be met before less basic needs are aroused (see
  Figure 2.15).
• Humans have an innate drive toward personal
  growth and the greatest need is the need for
  self-actualization the fulfillment of ones
  potential.

27

• Figure 2.15 Maslows hierarchy of needs.
  According to Maslow, human needs are arranged in
  a hierarchy, and individuals must satisfy their
  basic needs first, before they progress to higher
  needs. In the diagram, higher levels in the
  pyramid represent progressively less basic needs.
  People progress upward in the hierarchy when
  lower needs are satisfied reasonably well, but
  they may regress back to lower levels if basic
  needs cease to be satisfied.

28
Maslows Theory, continued

• Maslow called people with extremely healthy
  personalities self-actualizing persons.
• They have demonstrated significant personal
  growth and tend to share certain ideal
  characteristics, listed in Figure 2.16.

29

• Figure 2.16 Characteristics of self-actualizing
  people. Humanistic theorists emphasize
  psychological health instead of maladjustment.
  Maslows sketch of the self-actualizing person
  provides a provocative picture of the healthy
  personality.

30
Essentials of Terror Management Theory

• Terror Management Theory is based on the
  following assumptions
• Human cognition is unique in that it allows us to
  be aware of our own mortality.
• This creates great anxiety which can be reduced
  by cultural worldviews that promote self-esteem
  and faith.
• These constructs give people a sense of order,
  context and meaning.
• These, along with self-esteem, serve as buffers
  against the anxiety that death awareness creates.

31
Terror Management Theory, continued.

• Terror Management Theory has been applied as an
  explanation for many phenomena, including
• Excessive materialism
• Depressive disorders
• Appreciation of art
• Suppression of sexual urges
• Inhibition of health-protective behaviors
• Psychological discomfort about bodily processes