Personality Discussion

How would you describe your own personality?

Is your personality the same as it was 5 years ago? Will it be the same in 5 years?

Does your personality change based on the situation?

Chapter 10: PersonalityPsychological qualities that bring continuity to an individual’s behavior in different situations and at different times

Used to explain…Stability in person’s behavior over time and

across situations (consistency)Behavioral differences between people

reacting to the same situation (distinctiveness)

Theories – help understand the causes of similarities and differences among people

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

Psychoanalytic theory: early childhood experiences, unconscious motives/conflicts, and methods used to cope with sexual & aggressive urges Personality, behavior, and disorders are determined by

basic drives and past psychological events. 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

Drives and Instincts(psychic energy)

Eros (life instincts) – drives people towards acts that are life giving Libido (energy behind eros) – drives people to

experience sensual pleasureThanatos (death instincts) – drives people

toward aggressive and destructive behaviors

Freud’s Model of the Mind

Id

Superego

Ego

Primitive, unconscious portion of personality; houses most basic drives and stores repressed memories

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

PLEASURE PRINCIPLE

Id

Superego

Ego

Mind’s storehouse of values, moral attitudes learned from parents and society; same as common notion of conscience

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

MORAL PRINCIPLE

Id

Superego

Ego

Conscious, rational part of personality; charged with keeping peace between superego and id

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

REALITY PRINCIPLE

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

Ego defense mechanisms: Largely unconscious mental strategies employed to reduce the experience of anxiety or guiltRepression: keeping distressing

thought/feelings in the unconsciousProjection: attributing one’s own thoughts,

feelings, or motives to anotherRegression: reversion to immature patterns

of behaviorDenial: arguing against an anxiety by

stating that it doesn’t exist

More Defense Mechanisms

Undoing: attempt to take back thoughts/ behaviors that are unacceptable

Displacement: diverting emotional feelings from their original source to a substitute target

Reaction Formation: acting in a way opposite of one’s true feelings

Sublimation: acting out unacceptable impulses in a socially acceptable way

Rationalization: creating false, but plausible excuses to justify unacceptable behavior

Oral Stage Anal Stage

Phallic Stage

Latency Genital Stage

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

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

Assessing Unconscious Processes

Projective tests: Personality assessment instruments based on Freud’s concept of projecting hidden motives, interests, conflicts; ambiguous stimuliRorschach inkblot techniqueSentence completionFree associationThematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Rorschach Inkblot

Thematic Apperception Test

Neo-Freudian and Psychodynamic Theories Accepted basics: personality structure,

unconscious, childhood influence, anxiety Disagreed in two ways:

More emphasis on the conscious mind Sex and aggression not main motivators

Alfred Adler and Karen Horney – emphasized social factors Adler: Supported inferiority complex Horney: Against penis envy; need for love and

security Carl Jung – still focused on unconscious

Collective unconscious: shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species’ history

Humanistic Perspective Third Force – emphasized human

potential; gave rise to positive psychology Self-concept: thoughts and feelings about

ourselves; central feature of personality Self-esteem: How we evaluate ourselves

Abraham Maslow Hierarchy of Needs Self-actualization: fulfilling one’s potential

Carl Rogers Unconditional positive regard: total acceptance

toward another Fully-functioning person: has a self-concept

that is positive and congruent with reality

Trait Perspective

Gordon AllportTraits: Stable personality characteristics

that are presumed to exist within the individual and guide his/her thoughts and actions under various conditionsCentral traits form the basis of personalitySecondary traits include preferences and

attitudesCardinal traits define peoples lives

Patterns in PersonalityTrait Theory

Type: Clusters of traits that are not only central to a person’s personality but are found with essentially the same pattern in many people Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment

The Big Five (McCrae) – handout Best approximation of the basic trait dimensions NEO-PI assessment

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) – abnormal assessment

Person-situation controversy: dispute over the relative contribution of personality factors and situational factors in controlling behavior (criticizes trait theory)

Social-Cognitive Theories

Bandura – interaction between people’s traits (including thinking) and social context

Personality is a collection of learned behavior patterns (skills, attitudes, beliefs, fears) and the way we think about situations

Self efficacy: our learned sense of competency What we do/try to do is largely controlled by our

beliefs about our chances of success at itReciprocal determinism: Process in which

cognitions, behavior and environment mutually influence each other

Reciprocal Determinism

Cognition

Environment

Behavior

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 person’s behavior (especially undesirable behavior) is the result of a flaw in the personality, rather than in the situation