UNIT IV:

PERSONALITY

Prepared by:

Ms. Laarni D. M

uzones

Personality• Definition of Personality

• Theories of Personality

– Psychoanalysis– Individual Psychology– Psychosocial Psychology– Hierarchy of Needs– Cognitive Psychology– Temperament & Physique

• Abnormal Behavior

What is Personality?• An enduring, distinctive thoughts,

emotions, and behaviors that characterize the way a person interacts with the world.

• The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with others.

• Bring continuity to an individual in different situations and at different times.

Personality

• Derived from the ancient Latin word “persona” and the medieval Latin word “personalitas” meaning mask

Remember:

Personality is a complex, multifaceted topic

and no single theory has been able to account

for all its aspects; each theory has contributed

an important piece to the personality puzzle.

Personality Determinants

Heredity Environment Situation

General Theories of Personality

Psychodynamic Theories

Humanistic Theories

Cognitive Theories

Trait Theories

Psychodynamic Theories

• Power of unconscious mind

• Role and lasting influence of infant and early childhood experiences

Humanistic Theories

• Emphasize the present, subjective reality; what a person believe is important now and how he think of himself in relation to others.

• Personality is driven by needs to adapt, learn, grow, and excel.

Cognitive Theories

• Emphasis is on research

• Experiments in memory, thinking, and information processing

Trait Theories

• Traits are stable personality characteristics that are presumed to exist within the individual and guide his or her thoughts and actions under various conditions.

• Portray personality as fixed and static, rather than dynamic and changing process

• Oversimplify humans complex natures by describing by describing personality on just a few dimensions

PSYCHOANALYSIS

Sigmund

Freud

Psychoanalysis

• Psychoanalysis is Freud’s therapeutic technique for analyzing an individual’s thought.

• He believed that client’s current problems could be traced to childhood experiences, many of which involved conflicts about sexuality

Techniques used by the therapist

• Free association –the technique of encouraging individuals to say aloud whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing.

• Dream Analysis –the psychotherapeutic technique used to interpret a client’s dreams.

Structure of Personality

• Psychoanalysis, the theory illustrates that the personality consists of three interacting forces: The Id, Ego, and Superego.

THE

ID

I WANT IT

NOW

The ID

• Original core out of which the rest of the personality emerges.

• Pure, natural, instinctual energy and exists completely on the unconscious level.

• Demands immediate satisfaction

• PLEASURE PRINCIPLE

The ID

• The goal of the ID is to reduce tension, to increase pleasure and to minimize discomfort

• The id strives to do this by:

Reflex action by responding automatically

to a source

Wish fulfillment

THE

EGO

MAYBE I CAN FIND A

COMPROMISE

The EGO

• Goes through the process of reality testing to find appropriate objects.

• Operates in both the conscious and the unconscious level.

• REALITY PRINCIPLE

THE

SUPEREGO

NICE PEOPLE DON’T DO

THAT

The SUPEREGO

• Moral arm of personality.

• Develops from the internalized patterns of reward and punishment that a young child experiences.

• MORALITY PRINCIPLE

Functions of the Superego

ConscienceSelf-observation

Formation of Ideals

Goal of the PsycheMaintain or regain an acceptable level of dynamic equilibrium that maximizes pleasure and minimizes

tension

ANXIETY

• The most extreme form of anxiety human beings experience is when they are separated from their mother at birth.

BIRTH TRAUMA

Three Kinds of AnxietyReality Anxiety• Caused by real, objective sources of danger in the environment.

Neurotic Anxiety• Fear that the impulses of the id will overwhelm the ego & cause

the person to do something for which the person will be punished.

Moral Anxiety• Fear that a person will do something contrary to the superego and

thus experience guilt.

General ways to decrease anxiety

• Deal with the situation directly

• Resolve problems, overcome obstacle, either confront or run from threats, or come to terms with the problems to minimize impact.

DEFENSE MECHANISMS

Defense Mechanisms

From the onset, the ego has to try to fulfill its task of acting as an intermediary between the id (pleasure principle) and the superego (the moralistic principle) , to protect the individual from the dangers of the external world. In this battle of two fronts, the ego makes use of various methods in fulfilling its task or to put it in general terms -- of avoiding danger, anxiety and displeasure.

Defense Mechanisms▪ Defense Mechanisms are invented by the Ego in

attempt to resolve the conflict between Id and superego – so that personality can operate in a healthy manner.

▪ It denies/distorts reality while operating in an unconscious level.

▪ If it is used once in a while, the purpose of using it is to reduce.

▪ But if it is used frequently, it means the individual is trying to avoid facing reality

Ego and Defense Mechanisms

They are unconscious

They falsify or distort reality

Defense Mechanisms

• Repression– ego prevents anxiety-provoking

thoughts from being entertained in the conscious level.

– Thoughts may either be those innately part of the id, primal repression, memories of painful experiences from one’s lifetime, or repression proper.

– Repressed element is still part of the psyche, although unconscious, and still remains active.

Defense Mechanisms

• Displacement– An object is found that yields some relief for pent-

up tension.

– Displaced aggression –impulses toward self-destruction/destruction of other less threatening objects.

Forms of Displacement

• Scapegoating –anger is directed against a person or an object other than the original source of frustration.

• Free-floating anger –hostility becomes generalized so that it is aimed at almost anything or anybody.

Forms of Displacement

• Suicide – Anger is directed towards oneself.

– Contributing factors: excessive shame/guilt, severe depression, and feelings of helplessness

Defense Mechanisms

• Denial (Reality Denial)– The ego rejects realities that are too anxiety-

provoking and stores them in the unconscious.

Defense Mechanism

• Sublimation– Displacement results in something beneficial to

civilization.– Produces a higher cultural achievement

Defense Mechanism

• Identification– Tendency to increase

personal feelings of worth by taking on the characteristics of someone viewed as successful, or to reduce tension by modeling one’s behavior after that someone else.

Defense Mechanism

• Reaction Formation– A mechanism by which

objectionable thoughts are repressed by expression of their opposite goals.

– It masks parts of the personality and restricts a person’s capacity to respond to events.

Defense Mechanism

• Projection– A mechanism by which something that is true of

the person and which would caused anxiety if it were recognized, is repressed and seen in someone else instead.

Defense Mechanism

• Compensation – A person attempts to disguise the presence of a

weak or undesirable trait by emphasizing a desirable one to reduce a feeling of inferiority.

Defense Mechanism

• Rationalization– A person justifies behavior or thought

that may otherwise be anxiety-provoking.

– It is a process whereby a person presents an explanation that is either logically consistent with or ethically acceptable for an attitude, action, idea or feeling that arises from other motivating sources.

Defense Mechanism

• Regression– A mechanism in which a person

returns to an earlier stage of development when he or she experiences stress.

– A way of alleviating anxiety by withdrawing from realistic thinking into behaviors that have, in earlier years, reduced anxiety.

Defense Mechanism

• Withdrawal Reaction – One chooses to go into physical flight or rakes cover

by going into a “shell” of psychological defenses.

Defense Mechanism• Withdrawal Reaction– Fantasy/Daydreaming –a

temporary escape from the hardships of real life into a world of make believe where dreams can come true.

– Nomadism –an attempt to get away from a frustrating situation. This may take in the form of frequent change of residence, jobs or even with marital partners.

Psychosexual Stage of

Development

Organ of Satisfaction Desires Challenge

Later signs of Problems from

this stage

Oral Stage (Birth to 18 months)

Mouth

Oral stimulation by sucking, eating, crying, and babbling

Overcoming dependency

Smoking, nail-biting, chewing, gluttony, obesity, talkativeness, dependency, and gullibility

Anal Stage (Approximately 1 to 3 years old)

Anus/Anal Canal

Anal stimulation by bladder and bowel function

Toilet-training, self-control

Messiness, temper tantrums, cruelty, destructiveness, excessive cleanliness, stinginess, aloofness

Psychosexual Stage of

Development

Organ of Satisfaction Desires Challenge

Later signs of Problems from this

stage

Phallic Stage (Approximately 3-6 years old)

GenitalsStimulation of the genitals

Resolving Oedipus Complex and Elektra Complex

Masturbation, jealousy, egocentric sex, sexual conquests, problems with parents

Latency Stage (Approximately 6 years to puberty)

Genitals

Repression of sexual and aggressive desires, including those involved in Oedipus Complex

Consciously: learning modesty & shame

Unconsciously:Dealing with repressed oedipal conflict

Excessive modesty, prefers company of the same sex, homosexuality

Psychosexual Stage of

Development

Organ of Satisfaction Desires Challenge

Later signs of Problems from

this stage

Genital Stage (Puberty and adulthood)

Genitals

Mature sexual relationships

Displacement of energy into healthy activities, establishing relationship with parents

None

Individual Psychology

Alfred Adler

Individual Psychology

• The term Individual Psychology was used by Adler to stress his belief that each person is an integrated whole, striving to attain future goals and attempting to find meaning in life while working harmoniously with others.

• Humans are motivated primarily by social urges. A person has an inherent nature that shapes his/her own personality.

Major Theories

• Organ Inferiority– People are more vulnerable to disease in organs

that are less developed on “inferior” than other organs.

– Inhibit the person from functioning normally and therefore must be dealt with in some way.

Major Theories• Feelings of Inferiority– Feeling of being weak, inferior and impotent

that stimulates a person to seek power, thereby overcoming the feeling of inferiority.

– To become more powerful meant to become more masculine and less feminine.

– MASCULINE PROTEST

Inferiority Complex

A condition where a person becomes overwhelmed by feelings of inferiority and he is prevented from accomplishing anything, the feelings of inferiority acts as a barrier for positive accomplishment

Major Theories

• Striving for Superiority– A fundamental fact of life.– An innate need; “built in” in all human beings at

birth.– Master motive which leads people in the pursuit of

a superior/perfect society.

Beneficial Harmful

Superiority Complex A condition where a person concentrates exclusively in developing his or her own superiority while ignoring the needs of others and of society. A person with superiority complex tends to be domineering, vain, boastful, arrogant, and insulting to others.

Major Theories

• Style of Life– The means by which an

individual attempts to gain superiority.

– Lifestyle determines which aspects of life are focused on and how it gives a person individual identity.

– Specifies a person’s future goals and how they are be attained.

Major Theories

• Style of Life– An unhealthy life style is based on selfishness and

is contrary to the views of society.– One’s lifestyle is fairly well crystallized at the age of

four or five.– What lifestyle a child develops depends upon his or

her personal circumstances.

Major Theories

• Fictional Finalism– The fictional future goal which a

person aspires.– “Guiding self ideal”– The individual is viewed as pushed

by feelings of inferiority or imperfection to strive for perfection using his or her unique style of life as a means of attaining some future goals.

Major Theories

• Style of Life– Healthy individuals use fictional goals or ideals as

tools in dealing with life.

– Life is unbearable without meaning so they invent meaning.

Major Theories

• Creative Self– All individuals have a biological

heritage and an array of past experiences, but it is the creative self acting upon these variables and interpreting them that will determine the person’s personality.

– It is the individual’s attitude towards life which determines his relationship with the outside world.

Major Theories

• Order of Birth and Personality– One of the factors that affect personality.– Individuals acquire a certain style of relating to

others in childhood and form a definite picture of themselves that they carry into their adult interactions.

Order of Birth and PersonalityFirst born or Eldest

➢Receives a good deal of attention

➢Typically somewhat spoiled

➢Tends to be dependable

➢Hard working

➢Strives to keep ahead

➢When a new sibling arrives, she finds herself ousted from her favored position.

➢She is no longer unique or special

➢Readily believed that the newcomer will rob her of the love to which she is accustomed.

Order of Birth and PersonalitySecond Born

➢Shares the attention with another child

➢Extremely ambitious

➢The most fortunate

➢Believes that if someone is a step or two in front, he has to rush to get ahead

➢Often the opposite of the first born

Order of Birth and PersonalityMiddle Child

➢Often feels squeezed out

➢May become convinced of the unfairness of life and feel cheated

➢Can assume a “poor me” attitude

➢Can become a problem child

➢In families characterized by conflicts, the child becomes the peacemaker

Order of Birth and PersonalityYoungest

➢Second worse position after the first born

➢Usually spoiled

➢Can never be independent

➢Easily loses courage to succeed by his own effort

➢Always ambitious

➢Laziness is a sign of ambition joined with discouragement

Order of Birth and PersonalityOnly Child

➢Never dethroned by another sibling

➢Experiences shock when he learns that he cannot remain the center of attention

➢Often very sweet and affectionate