Personality

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Chapter 10

• Personality

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Personality

• Personality Psychological qualities that bring
  continuity to an individuals behavior in
  different situations and at different times
• Theories help understand the causes of
  similarities and differences among people

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Psychodynamic Theory

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

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Freuds 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

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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

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Freuds Psychoanalytic Theory
Id
Primitive, unconscious portion of personality
houses most basic drives and stores repressed
memories
Superego
Ego
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Freuds Psychoanalytic Theory
Id
Minds storehouse of values, moral attitudes
learned from parents and society same as common
notion of conscience
Superego
Ego
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Freuds Psychoanalytic Theory
Id
Conscious, rational part of personality charged
with keeping peace between superego and id
Superego
Ego
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Freuds Model of the Mind
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Freuds Psychoanalytic Theory

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

Oral Stage
Anal Stage
Phallic Stage
Latency
Genital Stage
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Freuds Psychoanalytic Theory

• Ego defense mechanisms Largely unconscious
  mental strategies employed to reduce the
  experience of anxiety or guilt
• Repression keeping distressing thought/feelings
  in the unconscious
• Projection attributing ones own thoughts,
  feelings, or motives to another
• Regression reversion to immature patterns of
  behavior
• Denial arguing against an anxiety by stating
  that it doesnt exist
• Undoing attempt to take back thoughts/
  behaviors that are unacceptable

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More Defense Mechanisms

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

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Freuds Psychoanalytic Theory

• Projective tests Personality assessment
  instruments based on Freuds concept of
  projecting hidden motives, interests, conflicts
• Rorschach inkblot technique
• Sentence completion
• Free association
• Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

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Rorschach Inkblot
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Thematic Apperception Test
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Freuds Psychoanalytic Theory

• Psychic determinism Freuds assumption that all
  mental and behavioral reactions are caused by
  unconscious traumas desires or conflicts
• Nothing is accidental

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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 Portion of the unconscious
  corresponding roughly to Freuds id
• Collective unconscious Jungs addition to the
  unconscious, involving a reservoir for
  instinctive memories including the archetypes,
  which exist in all people

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Carl Jung Extending the Unconscious

• Archetypes

Animus
The male archetype
Anima
The female archetype
Shadow
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Carl Jung Extending the Unconscious
Animus
Archetype representing the destructive and
aggressive tendencies we dont want to recognize
in ourselves
Anima
Shadow
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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 Allports trait theory
• Abraham Maslows self-actualizing personality
• Carl Rogers fully functioning person

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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 include preferences and
  attitudes
• Cardinal traits define peoples lives

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Abraham Maslow and the Healthy Personality

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

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Carl Rogerss 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

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Carl Rogerss Fully Functioning Person

• Phenomenal field Our psychological reality,
  composed of ones perceptions and feelings
• Unconditional positive regard Love or caring
  without conditions attached

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Evaluating Humanistic Theories

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

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Social-Cognitive Theories

• More scientific driven by expectations, too
• Based on principles of learning (Bandura)
• Observational learning Process of learning new
  responses by watching the behavior of others
• 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

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Reciprocal Determinism
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What Persistent Patterns are Found in Personality?
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Patterns in Personality

• The Big Five (McCrae) - handout
• Type Clusters of traits that are not only
  central to a persons 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)

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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!

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What Theories Do People Use to Understand Each
Other?
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Implicit Personality Theories

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