Personality Theories - AP Psychology

7/28/2019 Personality Theories - AP Psychology

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Personality Theoriesand Assessment

Prepared by

J. W. Taylor V


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Personality

A persons internally based

characteristic ways of

acting and thinking


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The Journey

The Psychoanalytic Approach to

Personality

The Humanistic Approach and the

Social-Cognitive Approach to

Personality

Trait Theories of Personality and

Personality Assessment


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The PsychoanalyticApproach to Personality

Freudian Classical PsychoanalyticTheory of Personality

Neo-Freudian Theories

of Personality


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Freudian Classical Psychoanalytic

Theory of Personality

Developed by Sigmund Freud in the late

nineteenth century and continued until

his death in 1939

Freud received a medical degree and

established a practice as a clinical neurologist

treating patients with emotional disorders

Believed sex was a primary cause of

emotional problems and was a critical

component of his personality theory

Remains an important influence in

Western culture


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Freuds Three Levels of Awareness

1. The conscious mind is what you are presently aware of,what you are thinking about right now

2. The preconscious mind is stored in your memory that youare not presently aware of but can gain access to

3. The unconscious mindis the part of our mind of which wecannot become aware

It contains, however, the primary motivations for all of ouractions and feelings our biological instinctual

drives (such as for food and sex)and repressed unacceptablethoughts, memories, andfeelings, especiallyunresolved conflictsfrom our earlychildhood experiences


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Freuds

Three-Part Personality Structure

Id

Ego

Superego


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The Id

Is the original personality, the only part present atbirth and the part out of which the other two parts ofour personality emerge

Resides in the unconscious mind Includes our biological instinctual drives, the primitive

parts of our personality located in our unconscious

Life instincts for survival, reproduction, and pleasure

Death instincts, destructive and aggressive drivesdetrimental to survival

Operates on a pleasure principle; that is, it demandsimmediate gratification for these drives without theconcern for the consequences of this gratification


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The Ego

Starts developing during the first year or so of lifeto find realistic and socially-acceptable outlets for

the ids needs Operates on thereality principle, finding gratification

for instinctual drives within the constraints of reality(the norms and laws of society)

Part of the ego is unconscious (tied to the id) and part

of the ego is conscious and preconscious (tied to theexternal world)

Serves as the executive manager of the personality


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The Superego

Represents ones conscience and idealizedstandards of behavior in their culture

Operates on a morality principle, threatening to

overwhelm us with guilt and shame

The demands of the superego and the id will come intoconflict and the ego will have to resolve this turmoilwithin the constraints of reality

To prevent being overcome with anxiety because oftrying to satisfy the id and superego demands, the egouses what Freud called defense mechanisms,processes that distort reality and protect us from anxiety


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Freuds Defense Mechanisms

Repression Unknowingly placing anunpleasant memory orthought in the unconscious

Not remembering a

traumatic incident in

which you witnessed a

crime

Regression Reverting back toimmature behavior from anearlier stage ofdevelopment

Throwing temper tantrumsas an adult when youdont get your way

Displacement Redirecting unacceptablefeelings from the originalsource to a safer substitutetarget

Taking your anger towardyour boss out on your

spouse or children by

yelling at them and not

your boss


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Freuds Defense Mechanisms

Sublimation Replacing sociallyunacceptable impulseswith socially acceptablebehavior

Channeling aggressive

drives into playing football

or inappropriate sexual

desires into art

ReactionFormation

Acting in exactly theopposite way to onesunacceptable impulses

Being overprotective ofand lavishing attention on

an unwanted child

Projection Attributing ones ownunacceptable feelings and

thoughts to others and notyourself

Accusing your boyfriend

of cheating on you

because you have felt likecheating on him

Rationalization Creating false excuses forones unacceptablefeelings, thoughts, or

behavior

Justifying cheating on an

exam by saying that

everyone else cheats


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Unhealthy Personalities

Develop not only when we become toodependent upon defense mechanisms, but also

when the id or superego is unusually strong or theego unusually weak

Freud believed that our behavior is largelyshaped by id, ego, superego conflict and the

conflicts centering on sex and agression urgesand frustration in satisfying them.


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Freuds

Psychosexual Stage Theory

Freud believes that the child is the father to the man.

Was developed chiefly from his own childhood memoriesand from his years of interactions with his patients andtheir case studies that included their childhood memories

An erogenous zone is the area of the body where theids pleasure-seeking psychic energy is focused during aparticular stage of psychosexual development

A change in erogenous zones designates thebeginning of a new stage

Fixationoccurs when a portion of the ids pleasure-seeking energy remains in a stage because of excessivegratification or frustration of our instinctual needs andcontinue throughout the persons life and impact theirbehavior and personality traits (failure to move forward)


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Five Psychosexual Stages

Oral Stage (birth to 18 months)

Anal Stage (18 months to 3 years)

Phallic Stage (3 to 6 years)

Latency Stage (6 years to puberty)

Genital Stage (puberty to adulthood)


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Freuds Psychosocial States

of Personality Development

Stage (age range) Erogenous Zone Activity Focus

Oral

(birth to 1 years)

Mouth, lips, and

tongue

Sucking, biting, and

chewing

Anal

(1 to 3 years)

Anus Bowel retention and

elimination

Phallic

(3 to 6 years)

Genitals Identifying with same-sex

parent to learn gender role

and sense of morality

Latency

(6 years to puberty)

No erogenous

zone

Cognitive and social

development

Genital

(puberty to

adulthood)

Genitals Development of sexual

relationships, moving

toward intimate adult

relationships


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Potty Training

Parents try to get the child to have self-control

during toilet training

If the child reacts to harsh toilet training by trying to get

even with the parents by withholding bowel movements, ananal-retentive personality with the traits

of orderliness, neatness, stinginess,

and obstinacy develops

The anal-expulsive personality

develops when the child rebelsagainst the harsh training and

has bowel movements

whenever and wherever

he desires


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Phallic Stage Conflicts

In the Oedipus conflict, the little boy

becomes sexually attracted to his

mother and fears the father (his rival)will find out and castrate him

In the Electra conflict, the little girl is

attracted to her father because hehas a penis; she wants one and feels

inferior without one (penis envy)


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Identification

In the process of identification, the child adopts

the characteristics of the same-sexed parents and

learns their gender role (the set of behaviorsexpected of someone of a particular sex)

It is during identification that the superego begins

to develop


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Evaluation of Freuds

Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality

Freuds notion of an unconscious level of

awareness is not accessible to anyone and is

impossible to examine scientifically

Indeed, unconscious information processing doesimpact our thinking and behavior

However, the unconscious is not a storehouse of

instinctual drives, conflicts, and repressed memories

and desires

Although early childhood experiences are

indeed important, there is little evidence for his

psychosexual stages impacting development


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Evaluation of Freuds

Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality

Contemporary researchers think repression,

seldom, if ever, really occurs

We understand today how Freuds questioningduring therapy may have created such

repressed memories in his patients

There is evidence we fight hard to maintain

self-esteem, but not necessarily throughdefense mechanisms as Freud described

them


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Neo-Freudian

Theories of Personality

Agree with many of Freuds basic ideas,

but differ in one or more important ways

Carl JungsCollective

Unconscious

Alfred AdlersStriving for

Superiority

Karen Horneyand the

Need for

Security


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Carl Jungs

Collective Unconscious

The collective unconscious

is the accumulated universal experiences

of humankind, with each of us inheriting

the same cumulative storehouse of all

human experiences These experiences are manifested in

archetypes, which are emotionally

charged images and symbols of all the

important themes in the history of

humankind (e.g., God, mother, hero)

Notions of collective unconscious and

archetypes are more mystical than

scientific and cannot be empirically tested


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Carl Jungs

Collective Unconscious

Jung proposed two main personality attitudes,extraversion and introversion

Jung also proposed four functions/styles of

gathering information Sensing is the reality function in which the world is

carefully perceived

Intuiting is more subjective perception

Thinking is logical deduction Feeling is the subjective emotional function

The two personality attitudes and four functionsare the basis for the Myers-Briggs TypeIndicator, still in wide use today


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Alfred Adlers

Striving for Superiority

Adler thought the main motivation was what hetermed striving for superiority to overcome

the sense of inferiority that we feel as infantsgiven our totally helpless and dependent state

A healthy person learns to cope with thesefeelings, becomes competent, and develops a

sense of self-esteem (compensation) Inferiority complex is the strong feeling of

inferiority felt by those who never overcomethis initial feeling of inferiority


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Karen Horney and

The Need for Security

Focused on dealing with our need for security,rather than a sense of inferiority

A childs caregivers must provide a sense of security

for a healthy personality to develop or else basicanxiety, a feeling of helplessness and insecurity in ahostile world, will result

Three neurotic personality patterns

Moving toward peopleA compliant, submissive person

Moving against peopleAn aggressive, domineering person

Moving away from people

A detached, aloof person


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The Humanistic Approach

and the Social-CognitiveApproach to Personality

The Humanistic Approachto Personality

The Social-Cognitive Approach

to Personality


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Alternative Approaches

Humanistic theories developed in the 1960s as a part

of a response to the deterministic psychoanalytic and

strict behavioral psychological approaches that then

dominated psychology and the study of personality The humanistic approach emphasizes conscious free will

in ones actions, the uniqueness of the individual person,

and personal growth

During the 1960s, social-cognitive theorists rebelledagainst the narrowness of the strict behavioral

approach to the development of personality,

emphasizing both social and cognitive factors along

with conditioning to explain personality development


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The Humanistic

Approach to Personality

Abraham Maslow is considered the father ofthe humanistic movement

He studied the lives of very healthy and creativepeople to develop his theory of personality

Maslows hierarchy of needsis anarrangement of the innate needs that motivate

our behavior, from the strongest needs at thebottom of the pyramid to the weakness needsat the top of the pyramid


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Maslows Hierarchy of Needs

Self-Actualization

Self-

Esteem

Social

Safety

Physiological


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Maslows Hierarchy of Needs


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Self-Actualization

Characteristics of self-actualized people include

Accepting themselves, others, and the nature of world for

what they are

Having a need for privacyand only a few close,

emotional relationships

Being autonomous and

independent, democratic,

and very creative Having peak experiences,

which are experiences of deep

insight in which you experience

whatever you are doing as fully as possible


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Critique

Maslow hierarchy of needs is criticized for

being based on non-empirical vague

studies of a small number of people that hesubjectively selected as self-actualized


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Rogers Self Theory

Carl Rogers was a client-centered therapist

who dealt with young, bright college

students with adjustment problems Emphasized self-actualization

Believe that people have a strong need for

positive regard to be accepted by and have

the affection of others, especially the significantothers in our life


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Rogers Self Theory

Our parents set up conditions of worth, the

behaviors and attitudes for which they would give

us positive regard

Meeting conditions of worth continues throughout life, and

a person develops a self-concept of what others think he

should be

Unconditional positive regard acceptance and

approval without conditions

Empathy from others, and having others be genuine with

respect to their own feelings is necessary if we are to self-

actualized

Note that neither Maslow nor Rogers theories are

research-based

S C


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The Social-Cognitive

Approach to Personality

Is research-based by combining

elements of three major research perspectives

Cognitive

Behavioral Sociocultural

Maintains that learning through environmental

conditioning contributes to personality

development However, social learning/modeling and cognitive

processes, such as perception and thinking, are also

involved and are actually more important to the

development of our personality


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Banduras Self-System

The self-system is the set of cognitive processes bywhich a person observes, evaluates, and regulateshis/her social behavior

There is a conscious decision to choose what behavior toengage in, acting in accordance with the assessment ofwhether the behavior will be reinforced or not

Self-efficacyis a judgment of ones effectiveness indealing with particular situations and plays a major role in

determining our behavior Low self-efficacy is associated with depression, anxiety, and

helplessness

High self-efficacy is associated with self-confidence, positiveoutlook, and minimal self-doubt


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Rotters Locus of Control

Locus of controlis a persons perception

of the extent to which he/she controls what

happens to him/her External locus of control refers to the

perception that chance or external forces

beyond your control determine your fate

Internal locus of control refers to theperception that you control your own fate


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Locus of Control

People with an internal locus of control perceive

their success as dependent upon their own needs,

but they may or may not feel that they have the

competence (efficacy) to bring about successfuloutcomes in various situations

People with an internal locus of control are

psychologically and physically better off

External locus of control may contribute to

learned helplessness, a sense of hopelessness

in which one thinks that he/she is unable to

prevent unpleasant events


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Self-Perception

Attribution is the process by which we

explain our own behavior and that of others

Internal attribution means that the outcome isattributed to the person

External attribution means that the outcome is

attributed to factors outside the person


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Self-Perception

Self-serving biasis the tendency to make

attributions so that one can perceive

oneself favorably If the outcome is positive, we make an internal

attribution for it

If the outcome is negative, we make an external

attribution for it Self-serving bias is adaptive because it protects

us from falling prey to learned helplessness and

depression

L d H l l


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Learned Helplessness

and Depression

Can result from:

Internal attributions for negative outcomes

(I failed the test because I am no good at math) External attributions for positive outcomes

(I aced the test because it was so easy)

Pessimistic explanations are also stable

(i.e., the causes are permanent, I will always

have no ability for math) and global

(I have no ability for anything)


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Trait Theories of Personalityand Personality Assessment

Trait Theories of Personality



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Trait Theories of Personality

Personality traitsare internally based, relatively

stable characteristics that define an individuals

personality

Each trait is a dimension, a continuum ranging from oneextreme of the dimension to the other

Trait theorists use factor analysis and other

statistical techniques to tell them how many basic

personality factors (or traits) are needed to describehuman personality, as well as what these factors are

Factor analysis identifies clusters of test items (e.g., on a

personality test) that measure the same factor/trait

Th N b d Ki d


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The Number and Kind

of Personality Traits

Raymond B. Cattell, using factor analysis,

found that 16 traits were necessary to

describe human personality

Hans Eysenck, also using factor analysis,

argued for three trait dimensions

Cattell and Eysenck differed because the

number of traits depends on the level ofcategorization in the factor analysis

Eysencks theory is at a more general and

inclusive level of abstraction than Cattells


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Eysencks Three-Factor Theory

Eysenck argued that these traits are determined by heredity

Extraversion-

Introversion

Neuroticism-

Emotional

stability

Psychoticism-

Impulse

control


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The biological basis for the extraversion-introversion trait is level of cortical arousal

(neuronal activity) Introverts have higher normal-levels of arousal

than an extravert, so extraverts need to seekout external stimulation to raise the level of

arousal in the brain to a more optimal level


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People who are high on the neuroticism-

emotional stability dimension tend to be overly

anxious, emotionally unstable, and easily upset

because of a more reactive sympathetic nervous

system

The psychoticism-impulse control trait is

concerned with aggressiveness, impulsiveness,and empathy

A high level of testosterone and a low level of MAO, a

neurotransmitter inhibitor, lead to high levels of

psychoticism


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Five-Factor Model of Personality

These five factors appear to be universal

and are consistent from about age 30 to

late adulthood

These factors are measured using an

assessment instrument called the NEO-PI

Th Bi Fi P lit


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The Big Five Personality

Trait Dimensions

Dimension High End Low End

Openness Independent, imaginative,

broad interests, receptive

to new ideas

Conforming, practical,

narrow interests, closed to

new ideas

Conscientiousness Well-organized,

dependable, careful,

disciplined

Disorganized,

undependable, careless,

impulsive

Extraversion Sociable, talkative,

friendly, adventurous

Reclusive, quiet, aloof,

cautious

Agreeableness Sympathetic, polite, good-

natured, soft-hearted

Tough-minded, rude,

irritable, ruthless

Neuroticism Emotional, insecure,

nervous, self-pitying

Calm, secure, relaxed, self-

satisfied


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The main uses of personality tests are to aid

in diagnosing people with problems,

counseling, and making personnel decisions

Personality

Inventories

Projective

Tests


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Personality Inventories

Are designed to measure multiple traits of

personality, and in some cases, disorders

Are a series of questions or statements for whichthe test taker must indicate whether they apply to

him or not

The MMPI (the Minnesota Multiphasic

Personality Inventory) is the most widely used,translated into more than 100 languages


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MMPI

Uses a True/False/Cannot Say format with 567

simple statements (e.g., I like to cook)

Developed to be a measure of abnormal

personality, with 10 clinical scales such asdepression and schizophrenia

Items were developed and tested to differentiate

different groups of people (a representative sample

of people suffering a specific disorder versus a

group of normal people) on certain dimensions; to

be retained, the two groups generally responded to

an item in opposite ways


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MMPI

Contains three validity scales, which

attempt to detect test takers who are

trying to cover up problems and fake

profiles or who were careless in theirresponding

Its test construction method leads to

good predictive validity for its clinical

scales and its objective scoring

procedure leads to reliability in

interpretation


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Projective Tests

Contain a series of ambiguous stimuli, such

as inkblots, to which the test taker

must respond about hisperceptions of the stimuli

Sample tests

Rorschach Inkblots Test

Thematic Apperception

Tests (TAT)


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Rorschach Inkblots Test

Contains 10 symmetric inkblots used inthe test, in which the examiner then goesthrough the cards and asks the test taker

to clarify her responses by identifying thevarious parts of the inkblot that led to theresponse

Assumes the test takers responses are

projections of their personal conflicts andpersonality dynamics

Widely used but not demonstrated to bereliable and valid


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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Rorschach_blot_01.jpg


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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Rorschach_blot_02.jpg


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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Rorschach_blot_07.jpg


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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Rorschach_blot_09.jpg


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Thematic Apperception Tests (TAT)

Consists of 19 cards with black and white

pictures of ambiguous settings and one blank

card

Test taker has to make up a story for each card

he sees (what happened before, is happening

now, what the people are feeling and thinking,

and how things will turn out)

Looks for recurring themes in the responses

Scoring has yet to be demonstrated to be either

reliable or valid


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Personality Theories - AP Psychology