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Personality
Important qualities of personality
– Consistency: thinking, feeling, and
acting in the same way
– Distinctiveness: acting in ways different
from others
The Psychoanalytic Perspective
• Sigmund Freud is arguably the most
recognizable person in the field of psychology.
• Freud was a neurologist
– He frequently discovered that neurological
symptoms seemed to originate from
emotional trauma.
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective
• Freud’s theory
• childhood
sexuality
• unconscious
motivations
Glove Anesthesia
Psychoanalytic Theory Asserts That the
Unconscious Mind Controls Behavior
Freud sought advice from neurologist Jean
Charcot, who treated patients using hypnosis.
• Freud also sought advice from psychiatrist Joseph
Breuer, who used a “talking cure” therapy in which
patients reported whatever came to mind.
• Freud adapted these two techniques to his own
emerging theory of the human mind.
Psychoanalytic Theory
• Freud’s model of the mind proposed that it was
mostly hidden, like an iceberg:
– Conscious mind: relatively small part of the mind the person is
aware of at the moment (like the tip of an iceberg)
– Preconscious mind: mental processes that are not currently
conscious but could become so (just below the surface)
– Unconscious mind: thoughts, desires, feelings, and memories
that are not consciously available to us but nonetheless shape
our everyday behavior (hidden section of the iceberg
Psychoanalytic Theory Asserts That
the Unconscious Controls Behavior
• Freud’s theory of the mind challenged the
prevailing notion that our consciousness—the
part of our mind that we identify as ourselves—
was the determining factor in the management
and control of our lives.
Freud’s Model of Personality Structure
Freud’s Divisions of the Personality
Id: unconscious portion of the mind,
contains the basic drives
Ego: develops out of the id
Superego: develops later in childhood
• Each structure has different operating
principles and different goals that often
conflict with the others’ goals.
Freud’s Divisions of the Personality
• The id: unconscious portion of the mind,
contains the basic drives
• Operates on the pleasure principle—it
consistently wants to satisfy whatever desire is
currently active
Freud’s Divisions of the Personality
• The ego: develops out of the id
• Guided by the reality principle—it seeks to
delay gratification of desires until appropriate
Freud’s Divisions of the Personality
• The superego: develops later in
childhood
• Several functions, including the task of
overseeing the ego and making sure that it acts
morally.
Personality Development Occurs
in Psychosexual Stages
– Each stage is characterized by a part of the
body, called an erogenous zone, through
which the id primarily seeks sexual
pleasure.
– Critical elements of the personality are
formed during each of these stages.
Personality Development Occurs
in Psychosexual Stages
– If children experience conflicts when seeking
pleasure during a particular psychosexual stage,
and if these conflicts go unresolved, they will
become psychologically “stuck”—or fixated—at
that stage.
– Fixation is a tendency to persist in pleasure-seeking
behaviors associated with an earlier psychosexual
stage where conflicts were unresolved.
Personality Development Occurs
in Psychosexual Stages
• Freud’s psychosexual stages:
– Oral stage: encompasses first year of life
– Anal stage: encompasses ages 2–3
• Toilet training becomes an area of conflict between children
and parents.
– Phallic stage: encompasses ages 4–5
• A shift in the erogenous zone to the genitals and pleasure is
being derived largely through self-stimulation.
• Accompanying this interest is the association of this
pleasure with the other-sex parent.
Personality Development Occurs
in Psychosexual Stages
– Latency stage: encompasses ages 6–11
• A psychological period of relative calm
– Genital stage: encompasses puberty and onward
• Many of the issues of earlier stages re-emerge
and can be reworked to a certain extent.
Ego Defense Mechanisms Reduce
Unconsciously Caused Anxiety
• Repression: automatically banishing
unacceptable thoughts, desires & memories
from consciousness
• Rationalization: offering logical, self-justifying
explanations for actions that are not true
• Reaction formation: expressing the opposite of
unacceptable feelings or ideas
Ego Defense Mechanisms Reduce
Unconsciously Caused Anxiety
• Displacement: diverting their sexual or
aggressive urges toward more acceptable
objects
• Regression: psychologically retreating to a
more infantile developmental stage where some
psychic energy remains fixated.
• Projection: perceiving one’s own aggressive or
sexual urges in others
The Psychodynamic Perspective
Variations of Psychoanalytic Theory
• Adler’s individual psychology
•
•
Downplayed importance of sexual motivation
Stressed social factors and people striving for superiority
• Jung’s analytical psychology
•
•
•
De-emphasized the sex motive
People motivated by a desire for psychological growth and
wholeness, called the need for individuation
Besides personal unconscious, we also have a collective
unconscious, which is that part of the unconscious mind
containing inherited memories shared by all human beings.
• Horney’s neo-Freudian perspective
•
•
Social factors play a much larger role in personality development
than sexual influences
Personality problems caused by interpersonal relationships
during childhood
Projective Tests
• Designed to reveal inner feelings, motives, &
conflicts
• Ask people to respond to ambiguous stimuli or
situations/
• Assume this will reveal unconscious motives
and desires
– Rorschach Inkblot Test: 10 symmetrical
inkblots
– Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): make up
stories about ambiguous pictures
Assessing the Unconscious-Rorschach
Evaluating Psychoanalytic Theory
– A major limitation of his theory is that it is
not based on carefully controlled scientific
research.
– Despite these limitations Freud’s ideas still
have an influence within psychology
The Humanistic Perspective
• In the 1950s, the humanistic perspective arose
largely due to dissatisfaction with both
behaviorism and psychoanalysis.
• This “third wave” in psychology emphasized
peoples’
– Innate capacity for personal growth
– Ability to consciously make choices
Human Nature: Judeo-Christian View
Human Nature
Potentially Good
Image of God
Potentially Evil
Fall of man
Conflict between good & evil
Restoration to good:
Redeemed by God (Savior) (repentance/belief)
Willingness to obey God (new nature)
Human Nature: Freudian View
Human Nature
Desire to be good
Tendency for Evil
social acceptance
selfish desires
Conflict between good & evil
Restoration to good:
Internalization of social rules
Understanding/insight
Human Nature: Humanist View
Human Nature
Innately Good
Warped by society
Conflict between desire to actualize
Self and pleasing others/society.
Restoration to good:
Receive unconditional positive regard
Self-actualize (realize potential)
Carl Roger’s Person-Centered Theory
• Self-Realization emphasized
• People are basically good
• People are full of potential (and we all are working
toward becoming the best that we can be).
• People need unconditional positive regard to achieve
their potential.
– many of us are frustrated in our potential growth
because we receive conditional positive regard.
Roger’s Person-Centered Theory
• Conveying unconditional positive regard to
others involves three characteristics:
– Genuineness (being open and honest)
– Warmth (being caring and nurturant)
– Empathy (accurately identifying what the
person is thinking and feeling)
Humanistic Perspective
• Self-Concept
– all our thoughts and feelings about
ourselves
– Real vs. ideal self
– Behave according to who we think we
are and not who we really are
Maslow’s Self-Actualization Theory
• self-actualization - reaching one’s full
potential
Stresses Maximizing Potential
Maslow’s Self-Actualization Theory
• Maslow contended that self-actualized
. people:
– Were secure in the sense of who they were,
– Were loving and caring,
– Often focused their energies on a task they regarded
as a life mission, and
– Reported having peak experiences, which are fleeting
but intense moments of joy, ecstasy, and absorption,
in which people feel extremely capable.
Criticisms of The Humanistic Perspective
• Overly optimistic
• Fails to acknowledge:
– That many people engage in mean-spirited
and even cruel behavior on a fairly regular
basis, and
– That some of the forces shaping behavior
are outside conscious awareness.
Criticisms of The Humanistic Perspective
• This perspective has not:
– Produced a substantial body of testable
hypotheses,
– Clearly defined concepts, or
– Used carefully controlled scientific studies
to test the validity of its theories.
The Social-Cognitive Perspective
• Social-cognitive perspective: a
psychological perspective that
examines how people interpret, analyze,
remember, and use information about
themselves, others, social interactions,
and relationships
Reciprocal Determinism
• The belief that personality emerges from an
ongoing mutual interaction among people's
cognitions, their actions, and their
environment.
• Basic principle of the social-cognitive
perspective
• Most important cognitive factor in reciprocal
determinism is self-efficacy
Reciprocal Determinism
Self-efficacy
– Perceptions of self-efficacy are largely
subjective and tied to specific kinds of
activities.
– Success in an activity heightens selfefficacy, while failure lowers it.
– Success breeds self-efficacy, which, in turn,
breeds further success.
Feelings of Personal Control or Helplessness
• Julian Rotter contended that through our surroundings we
develop beliefs about ourselves as controlling, or controlled
by, our environment.
• Locus of control: degree to which we expect that outcomes in
our lives depend on our own actions and personal
characteristics versus the actions of uncontrollable
environmental forces
Locus of Control
• People who believe that outcomes occur because of
their own efforts are identified as having an internal
locus of control.
• People who believe that outcomes are outside their
own control are identified as having an external locus
of control.
• Internals tend to be more successful in life than are
externals.
• Externals are less independent than internals, and they
are also more likely to be depressed and stressed
Evaluation of The Social-Cognitive
Perspective
• Complex view of human personality
• Testing its theories using the scientific
method.
• Best at explaining rational behavior that is
“thought through” - less able to explain
behavior that is spontaneous or irrational.
Objective Personality Tests
• ask direct, unambiguous questions about
a person’s thoughts, feelings, and
behavior
• Many objective tests measure only one
specific component of personality
• Others assess several traits
simultaneously.
Trait Theories Describe Basic
Personality Dimensions
• A trait is a relatively stable tendency to behave in a
particular way over time and across situations.
• Trait perspective is more concerned with describing
how people differ from one another than in explaining
why they differ.
• Trait perspective is not based on specific assumptions
about human nature.
Factor Analysis Is Used to Identify
Personality Traits
• Factor analysis: a statistical technique that
allows researchers to identify clusters of
variables that are related to—or correlated
with—one another.
• Raymond Cattell—the first trait theorist to use
factor analysis to identify general traits, or
source traits
Factor Analysis Is Used to Identify
Personality Traits
• Hans & Sybil Eysenck, using factor
analysis, concluded that there are three
genetically influenced dimensions of
personality:
• Extraversion,
• Neuroticism
• Psychoticism.
The Trait Perspective
Moody
Anxious
Rigid
Sober
Pessimistic
Reserved
Unsociable
Quiet
UNSTABLE
Touchy
Restless
Aggressive
Excitable
Changeable
Impulsive
Optimistic
Active
melancholic choleric
INTROVERTED
EXTRAVERTED
phlegmatic sanguine
Passive
Sociable
Careful
Outgoing
Thoughtful
Talkative
Peaceful
Responsive
Controlled
Easygoing
Reliable
Lively
Carefree
Even-tempered
Leadership
Calm
STABLE
• Hans and Sybil
Eysenck use two
primary
personality
factors as axes
for describing
personality
variation
The Five-Factor Model:
Five Basic Personality Traits
– Neuroticism: People differ in being anxious, insecure, and selfpitying versus being relaxed, composed, secure, and content.
– Extraversion: Extraverts are confident, energetic, bold, and
optimistic, and easily handle social situations, while introverts
are shy, quiet, and reserved.
– Openness to experience: People differ in being adventurous,
open to new experiences, sensitive and passionate versus
being traditional, hardworking, and down-to-earth.
The Five-Factor Model Specifies Five
Basic Personality Traits
– Agreeableness: People differ in being good-natured, softhearted, courteous, and sympathetic versus being irritable,
ruthless, rude, and tough-minded.
– Conscientiousness: People differ in being well organized,
dependable, hardworking, and ambitious versus being
disorganized, undependable, lazy, and easygoing.
• Most studies find that personality traits are remarkably
stable over the adult years but somewhat less so during
childhood.
Critics Challenge Whether Traits
Reliably Predict Behavior
• Walter Mischel argued that:
– Personality is not really stable over time & situations
– The situation is a much stronger determinant of behavior
• This viewpoint is called situationism:
– It asserts that behavior is not determined by stable traits, but is
strongly influenced by the situation.
• Many personality researchers now acknowledge that:
• Situations do indeed shape behavior, and
• How we behave is often determined by an interaction of personal
and situational factors.
Objective Personality Tests
• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
(MMPI): an objective personality test consisting
of true-false items that measure various
personality dimensions and clinical conditions
such as depression
• Critics contend that the MMPI has not kept
pace with recent advances in personality.
The Trait Perspective
Clinically
significant
range
Hypochondriasis 1
(concern with body symptoms)
Depression 2
(pessimism, hopelessness)
3
Hysteria
(uses symptoms to solve problems)
After
treatment
(no scores
in the clinically
significant range
4
Psychopathic deviancy
(disregard for social standards) 5
• Minnesota
Before
Multiphasic
treatment
(anxious,
depressed,
Personality
and
displaying
Inventory
deviant
behaviors)
(MMPI) test
profile
Masculinity/femininity 6
(interests like those of other sex)
Paranoia 7
(delusions, suspiciousness)
Psychasthenia
(anxious, guilt feelings)
8
9
Schizophrenia
(withdrawn, bizarre thoughts)10
Hypomania
(overactive, excited, impulsive)
Social introversion
(shy, inhibited)
0
30
40
50
60
T-score
70
80
What Shapes Personality?
• Is it nature?
• Is it nurture?
• Is it an interaction of the two
(epigenesis)?
• Is it the soul?