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Personality
Questions about
personality:
•Is personality innate or
learned?
•Is personality conscious
or unconscious?
•Is personality
influenced by internal
or external factors?
• Defined as the pattern of
enduring, distinctive thoughts,
emotions, and behaviors that
characterize the way an
individual adapts to the world
• Personality theorists and
researchers ask why individuals
react to the same situation in
different ways.
Perspectives on
Personality
1. Psychodynamic
Perspectives:
•
Views personality
as being primarily
unconscious (or
beyond awareness)
and as developing in
stages. Many
psychodynamic
perspectives
emphasize that early
experiences with
parents play an
important role in
shaping personality.
1. Psychodynamic
Perspectives:
•
Psychodynamic
theorists also believe
that behavior is
merely a surface
characteristic and to
truly understand
someone’s
personality, we have
to explore the symbolic
meanings of behavior
and the deep inner
mechanism of the
mind.
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory:
• The key to understanding behavior is
the unconscious mind.
• Believed that trivial behaviors have
special significance (eg. Twitch,
doodle, joke, smile, Freudian slips)
• Also believed that that dreams hold
important clues to our behavior. He
said that dreams are our unconscious
representations of the conflict and
tension in our everyday lives that are
too painful to handle consciously.
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory:
• Compared
Personality with
an iceberg.
• Believed that
personality is
divide into three
parts:
Freud believed that personality is divided
into three parts:
Id
• consists of instincts and reservoir of
psychic energy
• The Id is unconscious, meaning it
has no contact with reality.
• The Id works according to the
pleasure principle – a concept of
Freud’s that the id always seeks
pleasure and avoids pain
Ego
• a structure of personality that deals
with the demands of reality
• Abides by the reality principle – a
concept that means it tries to bring
the individual pleasure within the
norms of society
• The Ego is partly conscious.
• Contains our higher mental
functions – reasoning, problem
solving, and decision making.
• It is considered the executive
branch of personality
Superego
• Since the id and ego doesn’t
consider what is right or wrong, the
superego is the moral branch of
personality.
• Often called the conscience
• Like the id, the superego does not
consider reality; it only considers
whether the id’s impulses can be
satisfied in moral terms.
Freud’s Psychoanalytical
Theory
• Defense Mechanism
• The ego uses different strategies to
resolve the conflict among the demands of
reality. The wishes of the Id versus of the
restriction of the superego.
• Defense mechanism reduces anxiety
unconsciously distorting reality.
Freud’s Psychoanalytical theory
Defense Mechanism
How it Works
Example
Repression
The most powerful defense
mechanism, the ego pushes
an unacceptable impulses
out of awareness, back to
the unconscious mind.
Rationalization
The ego replaces a less
A student does not well
acceptable motive with more in the exam he says he
acceptable one.
could have passed it if
he tried harder.
Displacement The ego shifts feelings
toward an unacceptable
object to another more
acceptable object.
A rape victim may not
remember anything
about the traumatic
experience.
A teacher can let her
anger out to her boss
so she brings it out to
her student.
Freud’s Psychoanalytical theory
Defense Mechanism
How it Works
Example
Sublimation
The ego replaces an
unacceptable impulse with a
socially acceptable one.
A man with strong sexual
urged becomes a painter
of nudes.
Projection
The ego attributes personal
shortcomings, problems and
faults to others.
A boyfriend who wants to
break up accuses her
girlfriend fooling around
with other men.
Reaction
Formation
The ego transforms an
acceptable motive into its
opposite.
A love woman who fears
falling in becomes a man
hater.
Denial
The ego refuses to acknowledge
anxiety- producing realities.
A student won’t
acknowledge that he has
been busted by a girl.
Regression
The ego seeks the security of an
earlier developmental period in
the face of stress.
A woman goes back home
to her mother each time
she and her husband has
a big arguments.
Freud’s Psychoanalytical
theory
• Personality Development:
Freud believe that we go trough five stages of
personality development and that each stage of
development brings pleasure coming from one
part of our body.
 Oral Stage ( first 18 months of age)
 Anal Stage ( 18-36 months)
 Phallic Stage ( 3-6 yrs, old) – triggers the
Oedipus Complex/Electra Complex
 Latency Stage ( 6 yrs. – age of puberty)
 Genital Stage ( adolescence to adulthood)
 Fixation: term used when a person gets locked
in an earlier stage because of over- or undergratified needs
Psychodynamic Dissenters and
Revisionists:
Freud’s critics claim that:
1. Sexuality is not the allencompassing force behind
personality
2. The first five years are not
as powerful, later
experiences deserve more
attention
3. The ego and the conscious
play more important roles in
personality than the
unconscious, not all activities
are related to sexual
impulses
4. Socio-cultural factors are
more important rather than
biological.
Karen Horney (1885-1952)
•The prime motive is
security and not sex
and aggression
•Believe that to cope
with anxiety, people
use three strategies
(move toward
people, move away
from people, move
against people)
Carl Gustav Jung (18751961)
•Believe that roots
to personality
comes from the
early history of men
– collective
unconscious,
archetypes (anima
and animus,
mandala, shadow)
Alfred Adler (1870-1937)
•Believed in individual
psychology - People
are motivated by
purposes and goals.
People have the
ability to consciously
monitor and control
their lives.
Alfred Adler (1870-1937)
• He also believed in the motivation to strive for
superiority. People used compensation to
overcome imagined or real inferiorities which is
normal.
•Over compensation is the
term used by Adler when
people deny rather
acknowledge weaknesses –
inferiority complex
(exaggerated feeling of
inadequacy) and superiority
complex exaggerated of self
importance to mask feelings
of inferiority).
2. Behavioral and Social Cognitive
Perspectives:
Emphasis on the importance
of environmental experiences
and people’s observable
behavior to understand
personalities
Skinners Behaviorism:
• concluded that
personality is the
individual’s observed,
overt, behavior which is
determined by external
environment and
excludes internal traits
and thoughts & we do not
have to understand our
biological and cognitive
processes to explain
personality.
• Behaviorists believes that
personality can be
learned through
rewards, punishments,
etc.
Skinners Behaviorism:
• They also stress that
behavior always has
the capacity for
change if new
experiences are
encountered, thus
Behaviorists believe
that the personality
can be changed,
shaped and modified
since the environment
is also inconsistent
and malleable.
Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive
Theory
– His theories state that
behavior, environment and
person/cognitive factors
are important in
understanding personality.
– Reciprocal Determinism:
interaction of behavior
environment and
cognitive factors.
– Also acknowledges that people
form their personalities
through observational
learning.
Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive
Theory
– Believed also on personal
control or the capacity to
exercise some control over
their own functioning and
over environmental events.
Delay of Gratification
Self Efficacy (belief that one
can master a situation and
produce positive outcomes) and
Locus of Control (refers to
the individuals’ belief about
whether the outcomes of their
actions depend on what they do
[internal control] or on
events outside of their personal
control [external control]).
3. Humanistic
Perspectives:
Emphasis that the key to
understanding personality is the
person’s capacity for personal
growth, freedom to choose ones
own destiny and positive human
qualities.
Carl Rogers (1902-1987)
•Believed that most people
have considerable difficulty
accepting their own true,
innately positive feelings.
As we grow up, central people
in our lives condition us to
move away from positive
feelings (“Don’t do that!,
That’s not right!, Are you
stupid?!)
•As we struggle to live up to
society’s standards, we distort
and devalue our true selves.
The SELF:
Rogers did not believe that all aspects of the self are
conscious, but rather believed that they are all
accessible to consciousness.
• Self-concept:
A person’s over-all perceptions and assessments of
their abilities, behavior and personalities.
• REAL SELF: Self resulting from our experiences
vs
• the IDEAL SELF: Self we would like to be.
The farther the real and ideal self are, the greater
the discrepancy.
 Methods in Developing a
more Positive Self Concept:
Unconditional Positive regard
(valuing, accepting, and being positive
towards another person regardless of
that person’s behavior),
Empathic (being a sensitive listener
and understanding another’s true
feelings),
Genuine (being open with our feelings
and dropping our pretenses and
facades).
Abraham Maslow (19081970)
•3rd force in psychology
(alternative to
psychodynamic and
behaviorism)
•Self-Actualization is the
highest form of motivation
and an important factor in
personality.
•Mallow's hierarchy of
needs
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Self Actualization
Esteem
Love and Belongingness
Safety
Physiological
• Self actualization – need to develop one’s
full potential as a human being
• Esteem – need of acceptance and approval
of oneself and of others
• Love and belongingness – need to have
external relationship
• Safety – need for protection and security
• Physiological – need for basic and innate
requirements like food, nutrients, and sex.
4. Trait Perspectives:
•
Trait is an enduring personality
characteristic that tends to lead to certain
behaviors.
•
Trait theories state that personality
consists of broad, enduring
dispositions that tend to lead to
characteristic responses. Meaning,
people can be described in terms of the
basic ways they behave (e.g. Are they
outgoing and friendly or dominant and
aggressive?).
Hippocrates (400BC)
Four basic personalities determined by
physical makeup:
•
1. Choleric (quick-tempered)
•
•
•
2. Phlegmatic (placid)
3. Sanguine (optimistic)
4. Melancholic (pessimistic)
Gordon Allport (1897-1967)
• Believed that
each individual
has a unique set
of personality
traits.
Gordon Allport (1897-1967)
Identified more than
4,500 personality traits
and grouped them into
3 categories:
1. Cardinal Traits (dominant)
2. Central Traits (6-12 are
sufficient to described a
person)
3. Secondary Traits (limited
and least important)
Hans Eysenck (1967)
• Three dimensions
are needed to
explain personality:
1. IntroversionExtraversion
2. Stability-Instability
3. Psychoticism (being
in touch with reality
Instability
Moody
Anxious
Rigid
Sober
Pessimistic
Reserved
Unsociable
Quiet
Introversion
Passive
Careful
Thoughtful
Peaceful
Controlled
Reliable
Even tempered
Calm
Touchy
Restless
Aggressive
Stability
Excitable
Changeable
Impulsive
Optimistic
Active
Extraversion
Sociable
Outgoing
Talkative
Responsive
Easygoing
Lively
Carefree
Leadership
Big 5 Personality Traits
•The main dimensions of personality are: OCEAN
OPENNESS
CONSCIENTIOUS
-NESS
Imaginative or
practical
EXTRAVERSION
AGREEABLE-NESS
NEUROTICISM
(EMOTIONAL
STABILITY)
Organized or Sociable or
disorganized retiring
Softhearted
or ruthless
Calm or
anxious
Interested
in variety
or routine
Careful or
careless
Fun-loving
or somber
Trusting or
suspicious
Secure or
insecure
Independent or
conformin
g
Disciplined
or impulsive
Affectionate or
reserved
Helpful or
uncooperative
Selfsatisfied or
self-pitying
Trait-Situation Interaction
Some psychologists believe
that personality is determined
by a combination of traits or
person factors and the
situation or environmental
factors.
Main methods of Personality
Assessment
1. Projective test
 Designed to assess the unconscious aspect of
personality. They are based on the assumption
that the ambiguity of stimuli allows individuals
to project their personalities onto them.
Eg: Rorschach inkblot test, Thematic Apperception
test (TAT)
2. Self report test
 Assesses personality traits by asking test takers
about their preferences and behaviors. .
Eg. MMPI (Minnesota Multi-Phasic Personality
Inventory