PERSONALITY THEORIES

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PERSONALITY THEORIES
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Personality Theories

• BEHAVIORISTS (Skinner)
• PSYCHOANALYTIC (Freud, Neo-Freudians,
  Psychodynamic)
• SOCIAL COGNITIVE (Bandura, Mischel, Seligman)
• HUMANISTIC (Rogers, Maslow)
• BIOLOGICAL (Eysenck)
• TRIAT (Allport, Catrell, Sheldon)

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Skinner

• Argued for determinism--behavior is fully
  determined by environmental stimuli.
• Free will is but an illusionThere is no place
  in the scientific position for a self as a true
  originator or initiator of action.
• Collection of response tendencies that are tied
  to various stimulus situations.

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Social Cognitive Theories

• Applies principles of learning, thinking and
  social influences
• Reciprocal Determinism (Bandura)idea that
  internal mental events, external environmental
  events and overt behavior all influence one
  another. Your environment determines your
  behavior your behavior can change your
  environment.

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Behavior
Environment
Beliefs
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Bandura continued
Observational Learning Bobo doll experiment
Often considered the father of the cognitive
movement
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Walter Mischel

• Colleague of Bandura at Stanford (now at
  Columbia)
• Extent to which situational factors govern
  behaviorcontroversy over the consistency of
  human behavior
• Emphasizes and highlights situational
  determinants of behavior

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Martin Seligman Julian Rotter

• Learned Helplessness
• Optimism
• Julian Rotter--Locus of control (internal and
  external)

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Humanists (Phenomenological)

• Humans are essentially good
• Motivated toward self-actualization
• Maslow--Hierarchy of Needs
• Carl RogersUnconditional Positive RegardSelf
• Holism (considers whole person like Gestalt
• Phenomenological--everyones individual frame of
  reference/point of view

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Biological

• Hans Eysenck--personality structure as a hierachy
  of traits
• Three high order traits (Extraversion,
  neuroticism and psychoticism)

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Trait Theorists

• Gordon Allport--
• Personal traits (dispositions)--concrete, easily
  recognized,consistencies in our behavior
• Common traits (culturally)--liberal/conservative
• Central traits (building blocks)--5 to 10

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Allport (continued)

• Secondary traits(preferences, attitudes)
• Cardinal traits (define life)Mother
  Theresa--religious service
• Allport was so right about so many things that
  his ideas have simply passed on into the spirit
  of the times. Influenced many others.
• Humanist????

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Other Trait Theorists...

• Sheldon--Body types (endomorph, ectomorph and
  mesomorph)
• Big Five Personality Factors (Emotional
  Stability, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness,
  Conscientiousness)
• Cattell--16 traits

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Sheldon

• Ectomorph - EndodermThis is known to develop
  into the digestive tact which consists of the
  intestine, stomach. Heart lungs etc. this
  somatotype is also the innermost layer of the
  embryo. The personality traits associated with
  the endoderm body type is tolerance, love,
  comfort. In a word all the emotions that have to
  deal with a great deal of affection. The body
  type is considered to be fat and can easily be
  overweight. The love for people and the intimate
  relationship with food is also another trait of
  this personality.
• Mesomorph - MesodermThis is the middle layer
  which in turn develops into the muscle, blood
  vessels, bone etc. In terms of body shape with
  this type of somatotype, Sheldon concluded that
  the physic of this body is all about muscle.
  These are well defined muscle tones. In terms of
  personality this relates to very energetic,
  courageous, active, aggressive, etc. all this can
  be seen as the personality of the Alpha male.
• Endomorph - EctodermThis is naturally the last
  layer. It has its association or develops are
  that it forms the nervous system, skin and hair.
  These are people that are considered to be
  underweight because they are so slim. They are
  often the intelligent nerds and their personality
  traits are that highly self-aware therefore they
  are also very sensitive with an air of an
  artistic nature to them. In a way they are
  societys introverts because of their shy and
  timid nature.

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Personality tests

• Objective Tests
• MMPI
• Myers-Briggs
• Keirsey-Bates
• www.allhealth.com
• Http//keirsey.com

• Projective tests
• Rorschach
• TAT (Murray)

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General Personality Information
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Issues in Personality Theories
Free will or determinism Master of our fate, or victim to destiny?
Nature or Nurture Inherited or shaped by environment
Past, present or future When is personality developed? What influences are there based on our past, present and future experiences?
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Issues in Personality Theories
Uniqueness or universality Are there patterns or are we all individually unique?
Equilibrium or growth? Is our goal to reduce tension or are we motivated by need to reach our potential?
Optimism or Pessimism Are humans basically good or evil?
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• Psychosexual
• Stages of
• Development

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Stages of Development

• Freud believed that personality is formed during
  childhood.
• Our past childhood experiences are powerful
  influences on our present personalities

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• The stages (Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency and
  Genital) represent patterns of gratifying our
  basic needs and satisfying our drive for physical
  pleasure
• Insufficient or excess gratification during any
  stage could cause a person to reflect the stage
  throughout life.

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Stages
Oral (0-18 mo.) Pleasure center is mouth sucking, chewing, biting.
Anal (18 mo-36 mo) focus on gaining control, bowel and bladder elimination retention as form of control.
Phallic (3-6 yr) Pleasure zone is in the genitals, focus on coping with incestuous sexual feelings
Latency (6-puberty) Repressed sexual feelings
Genital (puberty on) Maturation of sexual interests
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Stage Issues

• During the Phallic Stage, The Oedipus complex
  occurs due to boys feelings of guilt for love of
  mother and fear of castration.
• During Oral Stage, deprivation or overindulgence
  may result in adult oral fixations or have
  dependence issues

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• If Anal Stage is not resolved, may result in an
  anal expulsive (messy, unorganized) or anal
  retentive (controlled compulsively neat)
  personality

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• Elements
• of
• Personality

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THE ICEBERG CORRELATION
Id - Pleasure Principle
Ego - Reality Principle
Super Ego - Moral Principle
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Elements of the Personality

• ID
• Unconcious energy
• Basic drives
• Immediate gratification
• Pleasure Principle
• Instinctual/biological
• Libidinal Energy

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Elements of the Personality

• EGO
• Partially conscious
• Cope with real world
• Gratifies ID in realistic ways
• Reality Principle
• Logical/Rational
• Struggles to reconcile ID Superego

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Elements of the Personality

• SUPEREGO
• Partially conscious
• Ideal behavior
• Moral Principle
• Conscience

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THE ICEBERG CORRELATION
the mind is like an iceburg - mostly hidden
Conscious Awareness small part above
surface (Preconscious)
Repression banishing unacceptable thoughts
passions to unconscious Dreams Slips
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Expressions of the Unconscious

• The work we choose
• The beliefs we hold
• Daily habits
• Troubling symptoms

• Jokes
• Dreams
• Slips of the tongue
• Accidents

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• Psychoanalysis and
• Freud

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Freuds Psychoanalytical

• Discovered the unconscious
• Used hypnosis and then free association to unlock
  the unconscious
• Three levels of the mind unconscious,
  preconscious, and conscious.
• Freud believed we are most influenced by our
  unconscious.
• Personality results from our efforts to resolve
  conflict between pleasure seeking impulses and
  internalized social restraints.

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Psychoanalytic Personality Tests

• Goal to tap into the unconscious.
• Projective Tests user tells a story or gives a
  description based on an ambiguous stimulus.
• Examples
• Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) share inner
  feelings through stories made up about ambiguous
  scenes.
• Rorschach inkblot descriptions of inkblots
  reflect inner feelings and conflicts.
• Criticisms
• Reliability? NO Validity? NO
• No universal scoring system or training system

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Neo - Freudians
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Neo - Freudians

• Accepted Freuds basic ideas
• Id, ego, superego.
• Importance of conscious.
• Shaping of personality during childhood.
• Dynamics of anxiety defense mechanisms.
• Differences
• More emphasis on conscious.
• Less emphasis on sexual motivations.
• More emphasis on noble motives social
  interactions.

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Neo - Freudians

• Horney
• Dependent childs sense of helplessness creates
  anxiety
• Triggers desire for love security
• Criticized Freuds gender bias

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Neo - Freudians

• Alder
• Childhood social conflicts influence personality
  development
• Inferiority complex

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Neo - Freudians

• Jung
• More emphasis on unconscious than other neo
  Freudians
• Unconscious contains more than just negative, but
  unrealized talents, gifts, creativities
  passions.
• Believed in a Collective Unconscious Part of
  unconscious shared by all. Archetypes, the
  building blocks of the soul which are inherited
  and shared by all, live here.

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Humanistic Perspective

• Positive Approach
• Sense of Self center of personality
• Goal foster personal growth
• Emphasis human potential
• Self concept shapes personality

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Maslow

• The self actualized person
• Self aware self accepting
• Open spontaneous
• Loving caring
• Secure
• Creates deep relationships
• Is moved by personal peak experiences
• Has the courage to be unpopular

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Carl Rogers

• A growth promoting climate
• Genuineness openness
• Acceptance unconditional positive regard
• Empathy sharing our feelings and
  reflecting our meanings
• Positive self concept occurs when
• IDEAL self ACTUAL self

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Self-Esteem

• People with higher
• self-esteem typically
• have lt sleepless nights
• lt likely to conform under pressure or use drugs
• more persistent at difficult tasks
• ltshy lonely

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Criticisms of Humanistic Approach

• Concepts vague and subjective
• Individualism can lead to self indulgence,
  selfishness, arrogance pride.
• Ignores our human capacity for evil.

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Social Cognitive Perspective

• Applies principles of learning, thinking social
  influence
• Emphasizes importance of external events and how
  we interpret them.
• Emphasizes our sense of personal control

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Reciprocal Determinism

• Bandura process of interacting with our
  environment
• 1. Different people choose different
  environments
• 2. Different people interpret react
  differently to situations events.
• 3. Our personalities create situations to which
  we react. Ex self fulfilling prophesy,
  expectations.

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Who controls your world?

• Do you see yourself as controlling of, or
  controlled by your environment?
• External locus of control perception that
  outside factors determine ones fate.
• Internal locus of control perception that one
  has more control over own fate. Typically these
  people achieve more in schools, act more
  independently, are less depressed, in better
  health and cope with stress better.

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Learned Helplessness

• Those who feel helpless oppressed often view
  control as external.
• When traumatic events occur and people feel as if
  they have no control, they often learn
  helplessness, which can generalize to other
  situations.

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Criticism

• Too much focus on situations, not enough focus on
  persons inner traits
• SCs argue that our traits emotions shine
  through in our reactions responses.

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Trait Perspective

• Describes Personality based on
• Characteristic Behaviors
• Conscious Motives
• Describes, doesnt explain
• Basically a classification system

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Trait Tests

• Myers Briggs Test - Based on Jungs personality
  types
• Extravert vs. Intravert
• Thinking vs. Feeling
• Judging vs. Perceiving
• Sensing vs. Intuitive

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Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

• Objective, normed personality inventory with
  validity scales for faking lying.
• 10 scales
• 1. Hypochondriasis 6. Schizophrenia
• 2. Depression 7. Hypomania
• 3. Social Introversion 8. Hysteria
• 4. Psychopathic Deviancy 9. Paranoia
• 4. Masculinity/Femininity 10. Psychasthenia

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Biology Personality

• Low brain arousal results in more extraversion
• Overactive Autonomic Nervous System results in a
  more emotionally unstable personality
• Inactive frontal lobe area results in a more
  extraverted personality
• Genetics influence personality

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Trait Perspective Criticism

• Person-situation controversy Do traits persist
  over time and across situations?
• Are behaviors consistent from one situation to
  the next?
• Does trait perspective result in labeling
  pigeonholing?
• Trait Perspective actually attempts to predict
  AVERAGE behavior over many situations to
  determine personality.