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Introduction to Psychology
Personality
Psychodynamic Views of Personality
• Freud invoked a role of unconscious
processes in the control of behavior
– Based on his observations of clients
• Topographical model: argued for 3
levels of consciousness
– Conflict occurs between the different
aspects of consciousness
– Requires compromise formation
– Id, ego, superego
Freud’s Developmental Model
• Human behavior is motivated by two drives
– Aggressive
– Sexual
• Libido refers to pleasure-seeking and sensuality as
well as desire for intercourse
• Libido follows a developmental course
during childhood
– Stages of development
– Fixed progression of change from stage to stage
– Notion of fixation at a particular libidinal stage
Freud’s Psychosexual Stages
STAGE
AGE
CONFLICTS AND CONCERNS
ORAL
0-18 mos Dependency
ANAL
2-3 yrs
PHALLIC 4-6 yrs
LATENCY 7-11 yrs
GENITAL 12+ yrs
Orderliness, cleanliness
Parental Identification
Oedipal complex
Penis envy, castration complex
Sublimation of sexual and
aggressive urges
Mature sexuality and
relationships
Ego Defense Mechanisms
• Defense mechanisms are unconscious mental
processes that protect the conscious person
from anxiety
– Repression: anxiety-evoking thoughts are kept
unconscious
- Denial: person refuses to recognize reality
- Projection: person attributes their own
unacceptable impulses to others
Ego Defense Mechanisms
– Reaction Formation: person converts an
unacceptable impulse into the opposite impulse
– Sublimation: person converts an unacceptable
impulse into a socially acceptable activity
– Rationalization: person explains away their
actions to reduce anxiety
– Displacement: diverting emotional feelings from
their original source to a substitute target
Projective Tests
• Projective tests
assume that persons
presented with a
vague stimulus will
“project” their own
impulses and desires
into a description of
the stimulus
• Rorschach Inkblots
• Thematic
Apperception Test
"I see a …..”
Other Psychoanalytic Theorists
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Jung’s Analytical Psychology
Adler’s Individual Psychology
Anna Freud
Erik Erikson
Harry Sullivan
Evaluation of Freud’s Contributions
to Personality Theory
• Contributions
– Emphasis on unconscious processes
– Identification of defense mechanisms
– Importance of childhood experiences in shaping adult
personality
• Limitations
– Theories are not solidly based on scientific observation
– Excessive emphasis on drives such as sex and aggression
B.F. Skinner (1904-1990):
Radical Behaviorism
• scientific analysis of behavior
• personality
a collection of behavior patterns
• black box theory
• explanatory fictions (e.g., freedom, “the self”)
Albert Bandura’s
Social Learning Theory
Observational (Vicarious) Learning
• people learn by merely observing what others do
and what happens to them
• two processes:
– acquisition
– acceptance/performance
• consequences are an important influence
RECIPROCAL DETERMINISM
PERSON
(cognitions, expectations)
BEHAVIOUR
ENVIRONMENT
(contingencies)
Albert Ellis:
Rational Emotive Therapy (RET)
• Assumes that all humans have fundamental goals,
purposes and values (e.g., stay alive, be satisfied)
• if people choose to stay alive & try to be
happy/satisfied they are acting “rationally”
• when people think/emote/behave in a way that
interferes with these goals, they act “irrationally”
Evaluation of Cognitive-Social
Personality Theory
• Contributions
– Provided emphasis on the role of thought and
memory in personality
• Limitations
– Overemphasis of rational side of personality
– Avoidance of explanations of unconscious
processes in personality
Humanistic Personality
Approaches
• Humanistic personality theorists reject the
behaviorist and psychodynamic notions of
personality
• Humanists emphasize the notion that each
person has a potential for creative growth
• The intent is to assist the person in
developing to their maximal potential
Roger’s Person-Centered Approach
• Rogers believed that humans are good by nature
(in contrast to psychodynamic view of human
nature)
• Rogers emphasized the notion of self-concept
• Each person has multiple selves:
– True-self: the core aspect of being
– False-self: the self that is created by distortions from
interpersonal experiences
– Ideal-self: what the person would like to be
Evaluation of Humanistic
Personality Theory
• Contributions
– Focus on how humans strive to determine the
meaning of life
• Limitations
– Humanistic approach is not a complete
theoretical account of personality
– The approach has not generated a body of
testable hypotheses and research
Trait Approach
TRAIT: Consistent patterns of thoughts, feelings, or
actions that distinguish people.
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ASSUMPTION 1: traits are stable over time
ASSUMPTION 2: traits are stable across situations
people differ on continuous variables or dimensions
traits exist on a continuum
basic differences between people are quantitative
traits are used to understand and predict behaviour
emphasizes measurement of traits through tests
The Big Five Factors of Personality
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Openness to experience
Conscientiousness
Extroversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticism
• OCEAN...
Genetics of Personality
• Biological relatives are more similar in
personality than are strangers
• Twins raised together and raised apart
provide evidence for a genetic aspect of
personality
Raised Apart
Raised Together
MZ
DZ
MZ
DZ
.48
.18
.58
.23
Genetic effect
Well-being
Environmental effect
Social Closeness .29
.30
.57
.24