Download Chapter 11: Personality: Theory, Research, and Assessment

Chapter 11: Personality:
Theory, Research, and
Assessment
Personality Theory
Personality theory attempts to
describe and explain how people
are similar, how they are different,
and why every individual is unique.
Defining Personality:
Consistency and Distinctiveness
• Personality Traits
– Dispositions and dimensions
• The Five-Factor Model
– Extraversion
– Neuroticism
– Openness to experience
– Agreeableness
– Conscientiousness
Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis
• Personality
– A person’s characteristic
patterns of behaving,
thinking, and feeling
• Psychoanalysis
– Freud’s term for his theory of
personality and his therapy
for treating psychological
disorders
– Central idea - Unconscious
forces shape human thought
and behavior
Psychodynamic Perspectives
• Freud’s psychoanalytic theory
– Conflict
• Sex and Aggression
• Anxiety
• Defense Mechanisms
Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalysis
• Three Levels of Consciousness
• Conscious
– The thoughts, feelings, sensations, or memories of which a
person is aware at any given moment
• Preconscious
– The thoughts, feelings, and memories that a person is not
consciously aware of at the moment but that may be easily
brought to consciousness
• Unconscious
– The primary motivating force of human behavior that have
never been conscious, containing
•
•
•
•
Repressed memories
Instincts
Wishes
Desires
Figure 11.2 Freud’s model of personality structure
Psychodynamic Perspectives
• Freud’s psychoanalytic theory
– Structure of personality
• Id - Pleasure principle
• Ego - Reality principle
• Superego - Morality
– Levels of awareness
• Conscious
• Unconscious
• Preconscious
The Id, Ego, and Superego
• Ego
– The logical, rational, largely conscious system of
personality
– Operates according to the reality principle
– Evolves from and draws its energy from the id
• One function is to satisfy the id’s urges
• Considers the constraints of the real world
– Determines appropriate times, places, and objects of
gratification of the id’s wishes
• Compromises towards what is possible
– Settling for fast food hamburger instead of steak
The Id, Ego, and Superego
Freud’s proposed concepts for looking at personality
• ID
– The unconscious system of the personality which contains
– The life instincts
• Sexual instincts
• Biological urges like hunger and thirst
– The death instincts
• Aggressive and destructive impulses
– Operates on the pleasure principle.
• Seeks pleasure and avoids pain
• Gain immediate gratification for its wishes
– The source of the libido
• The psychic energy that fuels the entire personality
The Id, Ego, and Superego
• Superego
– Moral component of the personality
– The conscious
• All behaviors for which a child has been punished and feels
guilty
– The ego ideal
• Behaviors for which a child has been praised, rewarded, and
feels pride and satisfaction
– Initially reflects only the parents’ expectations of what is
good and right
– Expands over time incorporating the broader social world
– Sets guidelines define and limits the ego’s flexibility
– Harsher than external authorities
– Judges behaviors, thoughts, feelings, and wishes
Defense Mechanisms
A means used by the ego to defend against anxiety and to
maintain self-esteem
 All people use defense mechanisms to some degree
 Overuse can adversely affect mental health
Repression
 The most frequently used
 removes painful or threatening memories, thoughts,
perceptions from consciousness and keeps them from
consciousness
 thoughts lurk in the unconscious and cause
psychological disorders in adults
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Figure 11.3 Freud’s model of personality dynamics
Defense Mechanisms
Unconscious mental processes
employed by the ego to reduce
anxiety
Table 11.1 Defense Mechanisms, with Examples
Freud on Development:
Psychosexual Stages
• Sexual = physical pleasure
• Psychosexual stages
– Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, Genital
• Fixation = Excessive gratification or
frustration
• Overemphasis on psychosexual needs
during fixated stage
•
Psychosexual Stages of
Development
The sex instinct is present at birth and the most important factor
influencing personality
– Develops through a series of psychosexual stages
– Each stage centers on a part of the body that provides
pleasurable sensations around which a conflict arises
– Conflicts not readily resolved
– Failure to resolve conflicts may have serious consequences
• Difficulties carried over into adulthood
• Fixation
– Arrested development at a psychosexual stage occurring
because of excessive gratification or frustration at that stage
• Oedipus complex
– One of the most controversial aspects of Freud’s theory
– A conflict in which the child is sexually attracted to the oppositesex parent
– Feels hostility toward the same-sex parent
– Unresolved adults may have guilt, anxiety, sexual problems, and
difficulties relating to members of the opposite sex
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Table 11.2 Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development
Fixation
• Fixation at the anal stage,
resulting from harsh
parental pressure, could
lead to anal retentive
personality
• Characterized by
excessive
– Stubbornness,
– Rigidity
– Neatness
Evaluating Freud’s Contribution
• Psychology is indebted to Freud for introducing
– The idea that unconscious forces may motivate behavior
– Emphasizing the influence of early childhood experiences on
later development
• Many children who are rejected by their
parents have behavioral and psychological
difficulties later in life
– A theory that may better explain the emotional aspects of the
psychological experience
– Psychoanalysis is still a useful therapy tool
– Defense mechanisms provide useful categorizing of cognitive
strategies people use to manage stress
• Critics of Freud’s theories
– It defies scientific testing
– Any behavior, or lack of behavior can be interpreted to support
Freud’s theory
Other Psychodynamic Theorists
• Carl Jung: Analytical Psychology
– Personal and collective unconscious
– Archetypes
• Alfred Adler: Individual Psychology
– Striving for superiority
– Compensation
Figure 11.4 Jung’s vision of the collective unconscious
Alfred Adler
• Emphasized the unity of personality rather than
separate warring components of id, ego, and superego
• Drive to overcome inferiority acquired in childhood
motivates most behavior
– People develop a unique style of life at an early age that is used
through out life to achieve superiority
• Inferiority complex
– Inferiority feelings so strong to prevent personal development
• Individual Psychology
– Another name for Adler’s theory
– Stresses the uniqueness of each individual’s struggle to achieve
superiority and refers to the “creative self”
• A conscious, self-aware component of an individual’s personality
Behavioral Perspectives
• Skinner’s views
– Conditioning and response tendencies
• Bandura’s social cognitive theory
– Observational learning
– Models
– Self-efficacy
• Mischel’s views
– The person-situation controversy
Figure 11.5 A behavioral view of personality
Figure 11.6 Personality development and operant conditioning
Evaluating Behavioral Perspectives
• Pros
– Based on rigorous research
– Insights into effects of learning and
environmental factors
• Cons
– Over-dependence on animal research
– Fragmented view of personality
– Dehumanizing views
Learning Theories and Personality
• Albert Bandura – Social Cognitive Approach
– Reciprocal determinism
• Influential, mutual relationship among behavior, cognitive factors,
and environment
– Self-efficacy
• Perception of ability to perform competently whatever is attempted
– High Self-efficacy
• Approach new situations confidently
• Set high goals
• Persist in efforts because they believe success is likely
– Low Self-Efficacy
•
•
•
•
Expect failure
Avoid challenges
Give up on tasks found difficult
Likely to experience depression
Self-Efficacy
• A person high in self-efficacy
pursue challenging goals and
persist in their efforts until they
reach them.
Bandura’s Reciprocal Determinism
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Humanistic Perspectives
• Carl Rogers’s person-centered theory
– Self-concept
• Conditional/unconditional positive regard
• Incongruence and anxiety
• Abraham Maslow’s theory of selfactualization
– Hierarchy of needs
– The healthy personality
Humanistic Personality Theories
• Carl Rogers
– Conditions of worth set up by our parents
• Positive regard hinges on these conditions
• Act us to live and act according to someone else’s values rather
than our own
• To gain positive regard we deny our true selves by inhibiting
behavior, denying or distorting perceptions, and closing off parts of
our experiences
• Causes stress and anxiety and threatens our whole self-structure
• Goal of therapy
– Enable people to open up to experiences
– Begin to live according to own internal values
– Unconditional Positive Regard
• Unqualified caring and nonjudgmental acceptance of another
– High Self-Esteem
• When our strengths lie in areas we value and believe to be
important
Figure 11.7 Rogers’s view of personality structure
Figure 11.8 Rogers’s view of personality development and dynamics
Humanistic Personality Theories
Humanistic Psychology
• People are assumed to have a natural tendency toward growth and
realization of their fullest potential
• Theories are more optimistic and sensitive to emotional experiences
• Inspired study of positive personal qualities
– Altruism, love, and acceptance
– Cooperation and self-esteem
• Difficult to test scientifically
• Abraham Maslow
– Motivational factors are at the root of personality
– Hierarchy of Needs
•
•
•
•
Physiological needs
Safety needs
Belonging and esteem needs
Self actualization developing one’s fullest potential
Figure 11.9 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Figure 11.10 Maslow’s view of the healthy personality
Evaluating Humanistic Perspectives
• Pros
– Recognized importance of subjective views
– Recognized importance of self-concept
– Laid foundation for positive psychology
• Cons
– Many aspects of theory are difficult to test
– Unrealistic optimism
– More empirical research needed
Biological Perspectives
• Eysenk’s theory
– Determined by genes
– Extraversion-introversion
• Behavioral genetics
– Twin studies
– Heritability estimates
• The evolutionary approach
– Traits conducive to reproductive fitness
Figure 11.11 Eysenck’s model of personality structure
Nature, Nurture, and Personality
Interesting Details
• Twin and Adoption Studies
– IQ scores of identical twins are strongly correlated
– Identical Twins similar on several personality factors
– Regardless of whether twins are raised in the same or different
environments
– Nurturance, empathy, altruism, aggressiveness, and
assertiveness are substantially influenced by heredity
– Genes influence Extroversion and Neuroticism than any other
dimension on the Big Five
– Heredity strongly influences personality
• Adopted children more similar to genetic family
– Genes constrain the ways which environments affect personality
traits
Estimated Influence of Heredity and Environment on
the Big Five Personality Dimensions.
Evaluating Biological Perspectives
• Pros
– Convincing evidence for genetic influence
• Cons
– Too much reliance on heritability estimates
– No comprehensive biological theory
Personality Assessment
• Observation, Interviews, and Rating Scales
– Observation is used in a variety of settings to
assess personality
• Hospitals, schools, clinics, and workplaces
– Behavioral Assessment
• Counting and recording the frequency of particular behaviors
• Frequently used in behavior modification programs
– Reduced aggression or undesirable behaviors
– Time consuming and tedious
– Interviews
• To help in diagnosis and treatment of patients
• Screen applicants for admission to college, special programs, and
to evaluate job applicants and performance
• A person’s tone of voice, speech, mannerisms, gestures, and
general appearance are also considered.
• Structured Interview are prearranged questions and format
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Personality Assessment
Projective Techniques
• Interpretation of an ambiguous image
• Used to determine unconscious motives,
conflicts, and psychological traits
Rorschach Inkblot Test
• Presentation and interpretation of a series of
black-and-white and colored inkblots
• Numerous scoring systems exist
Thematic Apperception Test
• Series of pictures depicting ambiguous
scenes
• Person is asked to create a story about
the scene
• Answers are scored according to themes,
motives, and anxieties of main character
Drawbacks to Projective Tests
• Examiner or test situation may influence
individual’s response
• Scoring is highly subjective
• Tests fail to produce consistent results
(reliability problem)
• Tests are poor predictors of future behavior
(validity problem)
Self-Report Inventory
• Psychological test in which an individual
answers standardized questions about
their behavior and feelings
• The answers are then compared with
established norms
Personality Inventories
• Inventory
– A paper-and-pencil test
– Contains questions about a person’s
• thoughts
• feelings
• behaviors
– Measures several dimensions of personality
– Can be scored according to a standard
procedure
– Yields a personality profile
fall on
various
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& dimensions
MMPI
• Most widely used self-report inventory
• Originally designed to assess mental
health and detect psychological symptoms
• Includes more than 500 questions to which
person must reply “True” or “False”
• Includes “lying scales”
Personality Inventories
• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2)
– Most widely used and heavily researched personality inventory
– Aids in diagnosis of psychiatric problems and disorders
– Originally used over 1000 questions about
• Attitudes, feelings, and symptoms to a group of psychiatric patients
– Retained 550 items that differentiate psychiatric patients from
those considered ‘normal’
– Second edition added items on alcoholism, drug abuse, suicidal
tendencies, eating disorders, and Type A behaviors
– Validity scales integrated to detect those who are
• Lying
• Faking psychiatric illness
• Faking no psychiatric illness
– Does not reveal normal personality differences very well
Clinical Scales of The Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality Inventory (MMPI-2)
Scale Name
Interpretation– High scorers…
1. Hypochondriasis (Hs)
health
2. Depression (D)
3. Hysteria (Hy)
exhibit an exaggerated concern about their physical
are usually depressed, despondent, and distressed.
complain often about physical symptoms that have no
apparent organic cause.
4. Psychpathic deviate (Pd) show a disregard for social and moral standards
5. Masculinity/
show “traditional” masculine or feminine attitudes and
femininity (Mf)
values.
6. Paranoia (Pa)
demonstrate extreme suspiciousness and feelings of
persecution.
7. Psychasthenia (Pt)
tend to be highly anxious, rigid, tense, and worrying
8. Schizophrenia (Sc)
tend to be socially withdrawn and to engage in bizarre
and unusual thinking.
9. Hypomania (Ma)
are usually emtional, excitable, energetic, and
impulsive.
10. Social Introversion (S) tend to be modest, self effacing, and shy.
Strengths of Self-Reports
• Standardized — each person receives same
instructions and responds to the same
questions
• Use of established norms: results are
compared with previously established norms
and are not subjectively evaluated
Weaknesses of Self-Reports
• Evidence that people can “fake” responses to
look better (or worse)
• Tests contain hundreds of items and become
tedious
• People may not be good judges of their own
behavior
A Contemporary Empirical Approach:
Terror Management Theory
• Conflict between self-preservation and ability
to foresee death
• Culture and self-esteem
Figure 11.13 Overview of terror management theory
Contemporary Empirical Approaches:
Terror Management Theory
• Increasing subjects’ mortality salience causes
them to:
– Punish moral transgressions more harshly
– Be less tolerant of criticism of their country
– Give greater rewards to those who uphold
cultural standards
– Respect cultural icons more
Culture and Personality
• Independent self
• Interdependent self
Figure 11.14 Culture and conceptions of self