Download Unit 11 - Personality PP

PERSONALITY
Chapter 12 p. 553-592
Personality
 In this unit we will explore what makes us unique as
individuals – our unique attitudes, behaviors, and emotions
that characterize us as a person and make up our personality
 5 perspectives:
 1.) Psychoanalytic (Freud)
 2.) Trait
 3.) Biology
 4.) Humanism
 5.) Socio-Cognitive
Sigmund Freud and
PSYCHOANALYSIS
PSYCHOANALYSIS
FREUD
 Sigmund Freud is the father of PSYCHOANALYSIS
 Probably the most widely recognized psychologist by the
general public
 Love him or hate him – had a profound impact on Psychology
and Western culture
 Austrian – Jewish
 MD from University of Vienna
 Specialized in nervous disorders – baffled by patients who had
no biological cause for such disorders
 Freud concluded the problem was in their head and created “the
talking cure”
Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of
Development
Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of
Development
 Each developmental stage emphasizes a sexual conflict
 Unresolved conflicts cause fixation – developmental issues later in
life
 Oedipus/Complex - during the Phallic stage. A boy’s sexual
desires towards his mother and feelings of jealousy/hatred towards
the rival father. (girls experience a parallel Electra Complex).
Successful resolution results in the child identifying with the same
sex parent (“if you can’t beat them, join them”), and learning their
gender role from that parent.
Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of
Development
Oedipus Complex
Identification – resolution
by learning gender identity
from same sex parent
Freud – the UNCONSCIOUS
 Iceberg analogy
 Much of our behavior
(problems, issues, etc.)
rooted in Uncon – contains
thoughts, memories, feelings,
desires, etc that we are
unaware of
 Primary goal of
Psychotherapy – projection
of the uncon to the con level
(dream inter, TAT, ink blot,
free association hypnosis)
Projective Tests
Dream Analysis
Rorschach Ink Blot
Projective Tests – TAT
Thematic Apperception Test
Tell a story about what you
see……
Freud’s Personality Structure
 1.) ID – first to develop – in the uncon
 Instincts, pleasure principle, immediate gratification
 I want what I want, regardless of the consequences and I want it now
 2.) EGO – second to develop
 Reality principle
 Great negotiator – mediates between the id and reality, and the id and the
superego
 3.) SUPEREGO – last to develop.
 Moral compass/conscience – tells you to do good, choose right
 Strives for perfection – how we should behave
Freud’s Defense Mechanisms
Criticisms of Freud
 Little empirical evidence – not objective, not scientific
 Little predictive power – only explains after the fact
 Freud overestimates the role of sex
 Freud overestimates the importance of early childhood
 Freud doesn’t get women
 Repression – does it really exist? Most people painfully
remember/relive details of traumatic events
 Freud overestimates role of uncon – is it more about
automatic behaviors and not painful memories
Neo-Freudians – off shoots that were
heavily influenced by Freud
 Carl Jung – early on was Freud’s
golden boy. They later had a
falling out. Divided the uncon.
 Personal uncon: same as Freud’s
uncon – our personal treasure
trove of damaging thoughts and
memories
 Collective uncon: passed down
through species across cultures.
Includes archetypes/universal
concepts – fear of dark, concern
about spiritual questions
Neo Freudians
 Karen Horney – Agreed with Freud about the importance of
childhood. Disagreed with sexual emphasis (said social
tensions are more important). Also disagreed with Freud’s
theories on women.
 Erik Erikson – friends with Freud’s daughter and familiar
with the family. Built on Freud’s psychosexual stages.
Expanded them through life and made the conflict social, not
sexual.
 Alfred Adler – downplayed role of uncon; focused more on
con. Says people motivated by fear of failure (inferiority)
and desire to achieve (superiority). Also studied how birth
order affects personality.
TRAIT PERSPECTIVE
Trait Perspective
 Seeks to describe one’s personality by listing traits or
characteristics. (ex: lazy, outgoing, hard working, honest,
energetic, etc.)
 Less concerned with explaining a person’s traits than they are
with simply describing them
 Traits are thought to be stable and consistent across time and
situations (especially for adults).
 Ex: A “friendly” person will demonstrate this trait at work, in their
neighborhood, on their sports team, at church, etc. It will surface in all
walks of life and across time.
Trait – Nomothetic Approach
 Pre-created personality assessments. Uses the same basic set
of traits to describe all personalities (everyone fits into a predetermined category.
 Uses factor analysis (statistical technique) to determine
categories/traits. Ex: talkative, friendly, outgoing,
social….all cluster and we call it “extroversion.” Ex:
punctuality, diligence, neatness, hard working cluster and we
call it “conscientiousness.”
Nomothetic Approach – Hans Eyesenck
Nomothetic Approach – Big 5
Idiographic Approach
 Trait theorists who don’t believe in pre-fab trait tests. People
are unique and complicated. It’s impossible to classify
people’s personality in terms of pre-determined personality
categories.
Final thoughts – trait perspective
 Personality Inventories – are given to assess people’s traits.
i.e. long questionnaires
 MMPI – Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory = most widely
used personality inventory
Are our traits stable throughout life?? The older you get the more stable
your traits/behaviors are (i.e. the less you change)
BIOLOGY PERSECTIVE
BIOLOGY
 Views genes, DNA,
chemicals/hormones and
neurotransmitters as the
primary basis for our
personality traits
 How heritable is
personality? Evidence
suggests temperaments are
heritable but environments
can enhance (or not) these
natural temperaments
Hippocrates
 Early theorist – personality
determined by 4 fluids of
body.
 Precursor for chemical
imbalances (ex: depression
has low levels of serotonin,
schizophrenics have
excessive dopamine)
William Sheldon
 Says body type/build
correlated with personality
type
 No credibility today
HUMANISM
Be Your BEST self!!!
HUMANISM
 3rd Force: Humanism arose in reaction to Psychoanalysis and
behaviorism – both deterministic theories – we are a product
of our past and what happens to us
 Humanism stresses free will and human goodness
 Our ability to make our own choices
 Chart our own future
 Rise above our past – determine our own destiny
 People are innately good
Humanism - SELF
 Humanism is an introspective therapy which focuses on the
self
 Developing self-esteem
 Bringing the ideal self and the real self closer together
 What can you change? What can you improve? What should you let go?
 Ultimately self-actualizing and reaching your ultimate potential
Abraham Maslow
Self actualized people – self
aware, accepting, open, caring,
secure, confident, loving, have
close relationships, often have a
mission in life, not paralyzed by
others opinions. Have become
their BEST self.
CARL ROGERS
ROGERS
 Says people need unconditional positive regard to reach their full
potential. Blanket worth/acceptance. You will be loved and
valued no matter what you do. Especially important in parent –
child relationship
 People should be genuine, accepting, and empathetic – these are
the water, sun, and nutrients that enable people to grow and
develop
 Client Centered Therapy
 Self concept – all the thoughts and feelings we have in response to the
question Who Am I? If our self-concept is positive we tend to act
and perceive the world positively. If it is negative, we feel dissatisfied
and unhappy.
 Goal of therapy – help client know, accept, and be true to themselves
Criticisms of Humanism
 Its concepts are vague and subjective (not empirical, not
scientific)
 Its assumptions about human nature are naïve – if people are
generally good, why do such bad things happen? Not
everyone is awesome!
 Its values are individualistic and self-centered


Too much focus on self/me (self concept, self esteem, self actualize)
Should be more collectivistic (look outward) and less about the self
Socio-Cultural Perspective
S-C combines Behaviorism’s emphasis on the environment with
Cognition’s emphasis on thought processes
Albert Bandura – triadic reciprocality –
triadic determinism
 Personality is a product of a
person’s
 Personal traits
 Behaviors
 Environment
 They interplay off each other
in a loop like, reciprocal
fashion
 Ex: Pete is a friendly guy
(trait). He seeks out social
environments (party). He
works the crowd and talks to
everyone there (behaviors).
Julian Rotter – Locus of Control
 Internal locus of control: feel
in control of your life. What
happens to you is a result of
internal factors – your
behaviors, your efforts, your
attitude
 External locus of control: life
happens to you.
Circumstances of your life are
a result of luck, fate, other
people, uncontrollable
circumstances
Locus of Control
 Internals typically
 Achieve more in school and
work
 Enjoy better health
 Are less depressed (don’t feel
helpless)
 Too extreme internal could
be bad – take everything so
personal even if it’s not your
fault
George Kelly –
Personal Construct Theory
 People develop systems of personal constructs (like a
schema) often in pairs of opposites
 Good – Bad, Nice-Mean, Fun – Boring, Right –Wrong
 We use these constructs to evaluate the world and our behavior is often
determined by our construct of how we interpret the world
 Ex: If early on I decide that a teacher is “nice” and their class is “fun” I will
work harder. If I decide that they are “mean” and their class is “boring” I
will likely check out.
 Kelly also said – best prediction of how someone will behave in the future
is how they behaved in the past!