Title: Personality
1 2Chapter Preview
- Psychodynamic Perspectives
- Humanistic Perspectives
- Trait Perspectives
- Personological and Life Story Perspectives
- Social Cognitive Perspectives
- Biological Perspectives
- Personality Assessment
- Personality and Health and Wellness
3Personality
- a pattern of enduring distinctive thoughts,
- emotions, and behaviors that characterize the
- way an individual adapts to the world
4Psychodynamic Perspectives
- personality is primarily unconscious
- understanding personality involves exploring the
symbolic meanings of behavior and the unconscious
mind - early childhood experiences sculpt the
individuals personality
5Freuds Psychoanalytic Theory
- Freud and Psychoanalysis
- sex drive main determinant of personality
development - Hysteria
- physical symptoms without physical cause
- overdetermined multiple unconscious causes
- Iceberg Analogy of Human Personality
6Personality Structure
7Personality Structure
- Id
- instincts and reservoir of psychic energy
- pleasure principle
- Ego
- deals with the demands of reality
- reality principle
- Superego
- moral branch of personality conscience
8Defense Mechanisms
- conflict between the id, ego, and superego
results in anxiety - defense mechanisms reduce anxiety by
unconsciously distorting reality not
necessarily unhealthy - repression
- foundation for all defense mechanisms
- push unacceptable impulses out of awareness
9Defense Mechanisms
- repression
- rationalization
- displacement
- sublimation
- projection
- reaction formation
- denial
- regression
10Defense Mechanisms
11Defense Mechanisms
12Psychosexual Stages
- Oral Stage 0-18 Months
- infants pleasure centers on the mouth
- Anal Stage 18-36 Months
- childs pleasure involves eliminative functions
- Phallic Stage 3-6 Years
- childs pleasure focuses on the genitals
- Oedipal complex
- castration anxiety
13Psychosexual Stages
14Psychosexual Stages (contd)
- Latency Stage 6 Years - Puberty
- psychic time-out
- interest in sexuality is repressed
- Genital Stage Adolescence and Adulthood
- sexual reawakening
- source of sexual pleasure is someone else
- Fixation - remain locked in particular
developmental - stage (e.g., anal retentive)
15Dissenters and Revisionists
- sexuality not pervasive force behind
personality - early experience not as powerful as Freud
thought - importance of conscious thought
- sociocultural influences
16Dissenters and Revisionists
- Horneys Sociocultural Approach
- both sexes envy the attributes of the other
- need for security, not sex, is primary motivator
- Jungs Analytical Theory
- collective unconscious and archetypes
- Adlers Individual Psychology
- perfection, not pleasure, is key motivator
17Evaluating Psychodynamic Theory
- Criticisms
- too much emphasis on early experiences
- too much faith in unconscious minds control
- too much emphasis on sexual instincts
- theory can not be tested
- Contributions
- importance of childhood experiences
- development proceeds in stages
- role of unconscious processes
18Humanistic Perspectives
- emphasis on a persons capacity for
- personal growth and positive human
- qualities
19Humanistic Perspectives
- Abraham Maslow
- third force psychology
- self-actualization
- peak experiences
- biased since focus was on highly successful
individuals
20Humanistic Perspectives
- Carl Rogers
- personal growth and self-determination
- unconditional positive regard
- - conditions of worth
- - self-concept
- empathy
- genuineness
21Evaluating Humanistic Perspectives
- Contributions
- self-perception is key to personality
- consider the positive aspects of human nature
- emphasize conscious experience
- Criticisms
- too optimistic about human nature
- promotes self-love and narcissism
22Trait Perspectives
- Trait
- an enduring disposition that leads to
characteristic responses - traits are the building blocks of personality
- Trait Theories
- people can be described by their typical behavior
- strong versus weak tendencies
23Trait Perspectives
- Gordon Allport
- personality understood through traits
- behavior consistent across situations
- lexical approach ? 4500 traits
- W. T. Norman
- five factor model
- broad traits main dimensions of personality
24Five Factor Model of Personality
25Five Factor Model of Personality
- Do the big five show up in the
- assessment of personality in
- cultures around the world?
26Five Factor Model of Personality
- Do the big five personality
- traits show up in animals?
27Evaluating Trait Perspectives
- Contributions
- traits influence health, cognitions, career
success, and interpersonal relations - Criticisms
- ignores the role of the situation in behavior
- ignores nuances of an individuals personality
28Personological Perspectives
- focusing on an individuals
- life history or life story
- Henry Murray
- personology the study of the whole person
- motives are largely unconscious
- thematic apperception test (TAT)
- - need for achievement, affiliation, and power
29Life Story Approach
- Dan McAdams
- our life story is our identity
- intimacy motivation
- Psychobiography
- applying personality theory to one persons life
30Evaluating Life Story Approach
- Contributions
- rich record of an individuals experience
- Criticisms
- difficult and time-consuming
- - extensive coding and content analysis
- prone to bias
- not easily generalized
31Social Cognitive Perspectives
- emphasize conscious awareness, beliefs,
expectations, and goals - incorporates principles from behaviorism when
exploring - - reasoning
- - beliefs
- - self reflection
- - interpretation of situation
32Social Cognitive Perspectives
- Albert Bandura
- reciprocal determinism
- - behavior, environment, and cognitive
- factors interact to create personality
- Key Processes and Variables
- observational learning
- personal control
- self-efficacy
33Reciprocal Determinism
34Social Cognitive Perspectives
- Walter Mischel
- Situationalism
- - behavior and personality vary
considerably across context - CAPS Model of Personality
- - stability over time rather than across
situations - - interconnections among cognitions and
emotions affect our behavior
35Evaluating Social Cognitive Theory
- Contributions
- focuses on interactions of individuals with their
environments - suggests people can control their environment
- Criticisms
- too concerned with change and the situation
- ignores the role of biology
- very specific predictions hinder generalization
36Biological Perspectives
- Personality and the Brain
- brain damage alters personality
- brain responses correlate with personality
- Eysenks Reticular Activation System Theory
- extraverts and introverts have different
base-line levels of arousal - Grays Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory
- behavioral activation system and behavioral
inhibition system
37Biological Perspectives
- Role of Neurotransmitters
- growth of dopamine receptors stimulated by warm
care-givers - disposes person to reward-sensitivity
(extraversion) - less serotonin in circulation leads to negative
mood (neuroticism)
38Biological Perspectives
- Behavioral Genetics
- twin studies reveal substantial genetic influence
on Big Five traits - most traits influenced by multiple genes
- Evaluating the Biological Perspective
- ties personality to animal learning, brain
imaging, and evolutionary theory - criticisms (e.g., biology may be the affect, not
the cause, of personality)
39Personality Stability vs Change
- Traits are stable by definition yet positive
traits increase across adulthood (social
maturity).
40Personality Assessment
- Self-Report Tests
- beware social desirability
- empirically-keyed tests used to get around social
desirability problem - - test takers do not know what is being measured
- - test items not related to purpose of test
- - MMPI is an example
41Personality Assessment
- Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
- 567 items
- controls for social desirability
- assesses mental health and used to make hiring
decisions and to determine criminal risk - Neuroticism Extraversion Openness
- Personality Inventory-Revised
- assesses the big five factors and 6 subdimensions
42Personality Assessment
- Myers Briggs Type Indicator
- four dimensions used to make personnel decisions
- - extraversion-introversion
- - sensing-intuiting
- - thinking-feeling
- - judgment-perception
- not empirically supported
- Barnum effect
43Personality Assessment
- Projective Tests
- psychodynamic approach
- project own meaning on ambiguous stimuli
- Rorschach inkblot test
- personality score based on description of
inkblots - questionable reliability and validity
- Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
- series of ambiguous pictures viewed one at a time
- elicited stories reveal an individuals
personality
44Rorschach Inkblot Test
45Thematic Apperception Test
46Other Assessment Methods
- direct behavioral observation
- cognitive assessment of attention and memory
- peer ratings
- psychophysiological measures (e.g., polygraph)
- brain imaging
47Personality and Health and Wellness
- Personality traits correlated with health
- conscientiousness
- personal control
- self efficacy
- optimism
- type A/type B behavior pattern
48Personality and Health and Wellness
- Subjective Well-Being
- persons assessment of own positive
- affect relative to negative affect, and
- evaluation of own life in general
49Chapter Summary
- Define personality.
- Discuss the following perspectives on personality
- psychodynamic
- humanistic
- trait
- personological and life story
- social cognitive
- biological
- Characterize the main methods of personality
assessment. - Summarize how personality relates to health and
wellness.
50Chapter Summary
- Psychodynamic Perspectives
- focus on unconscious determinants
- personality structure and defense mechanisms
- psychosexual stages of development
- Humanistic Perspectives
- Maslow and self-actualization
- Rogers and unconditional positive regard
51Chapter Summary
- Trait Perspectives
- traits are stable over time and situations
- Personological and Life Story Perspectives
- personology - study the whole person
- identity can be understood through life stories
- Social Cognitive Perspectives
- behavior, environment, and cognitive factors
- self-efficacy and personal control
52Chapter Summary
- Biological Perspectives
- Personality Assessment
- self-reports tests
- projective tests
- other assessment techniques
- Personality and Health and Wellness
- healthful personality traits