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Personality
Introduction
Mystery of Personality?
Brief class assessment of unique personality
Nature of Personality
 Consistency Across Situations- Tendency to behave in certain ways
across situations
 Distinctiveness- Each individual has his/her own distinctive set of
personality traits
 Personality – Individuals unique collection of relatively consistent
behavioral traits.
Basic Personality Traits
 Five Factor Model of Personality traits
 McCrae and Costa belief most personality traits are derived from just
five higher order traits:
 1.) Extraversion
 2.) Openness to experience
 3.) Conscientiousness
 4.) Agreeableness
 5.) Neuroticism
 1.) Extraversion
 How does person behave if high in extraversion?
 How does person behave if low in extraversion (or is introverted)?
 2.) Openness to experience
 What is someone like who is high in openness to experience?
 What is someone like who is not open to experience?
 3.) Conscientiousness
 What is an individual like who is high in this trait?
 What is a person low on this trait like?
 4.) Agreeableness
 What is a person high in agreeableness like?
 What is a person like who is low in agreeableness?
 5.) Neuroticism
 What is an individual like who is high in neuroticism?
 What is an individual like who is low in neuroticism?
 Class Activity:
Think of a fictional character and analyze him/her/it according
to the big five
Dueling Personality Theories
 1.) Psychodynamic
 2.) Behavioral
 3.) Humanistic
 4.) Biological
1.) Psychodynamic
 Theory founded by Sigmund Freud
 Psychoanalytic theory explains personality by childhood
experiences, unconscious motives, and methods used to
cope with sexual and aggressive urges
 Freud outlined 3 major personality components
 1.) id
 2.)ego
 3.) superego
Freudian personality structure conflict
 1.) Id – primitive, instinctive part of personality
 Operates according to pleasure principle (“wants”)
 2.) Ego – decision making component
 Operates according to reality principle
 Delay id gratification until appropriate outlet found
 3) Superego- Moral component that incorporates social standards
of right and wrong
 Example of how these conflict and work together
Freudian belief about anxiety
 We all have difficulty with anxiety
 Freud believed we resort to defense mechanisms to deal with it
 Defense mechanism – Largely unconscious reaction that protect a
person from unpleasant emotions like anxiety
 Important Defense mechanisms:
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Repression
Projection
Displacement
Reaction Formation
Regression
Rationalization
Identification
Defense Mechanisms
 Repression – Bury any thoughts and feelings that cause anxiety
 Ex
 Displacement- Divert emotional feelings from original source to
another
 Ex
 Reaction Formation – Behave in a way exactly opposite of one’s true
feelings
 Ex
 Regression – Revert to immature or childish behavior
 ex
Defense Mechanisms
 Rationalization – Create false but plausible excuse to justify
unacceptable behavior.
 Ex
 Identification – Increase self-esteem by forming imaginary or real
alliance with some person or group
 ex
2.) Behavioral Perspective
 Behaviorist review
 B.F. Skinner views
 Determinism – Personality and Behavior fully determined by
environment
 Human responses are shaped by operant conditioning (rewards and
punishment determine personality)
 How can reinforcement and punishment shape our personality?
2.) Behavioral Perspective
 Albert Bandura- Observational Learning
 Observational Learning – Organisms responding is
influenced by observation of others.
 ex
3.) Humanistic Perspective
 Humanism – Emphasize unique qualities of humans (like our
potential for freedom and personal growth)
 Carl Roger’s Person Centered Therapy
 Views personality structure in terms of one construct:
The Self (Self-Concept)- collection of beliefs about one’s own nature,
unique qualities and typical behavior.
-Anxiety is result of experiences that don’t fit with our self-concepts
-We thus ignore reality to protect self-concept
 Abraham Maslow’s Theory of Self- Actualization
 Humans have a hierarchy of needs that must be met to reach full
potential
4.) Biological Theories
 Eyesenck Theory – Humans personality largely determined
by genes
 Minnesota twin study
 Recent research in behavioral genetics providing more
support that personality largely inherited
Personality Assessment
 Self-Report Inventories – Personality Tests that ask
individuals to answer a series of questions about their
behavior
 Ex.) MMPI
 Strengths and Weaknesses
 Projective Tests – Ask participants to respond to vague
ambiguous stimuli in ways that may reveal subjects needs,
feelings, and personality traits
 Rorschach test