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Psych 120
General Psychology
Christopher Gade
Office: 1030A
Office hours: MW 4:30-5:30
Email: [email protected]
Class MW 1:30-4:30 Room 2240
Personality
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To effectively examine the
topic of personality, one
must ask a number of
questions…
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How is an individual’s
personality defined?
How do we determine
different personalities?
Can and do our personalities
change?
How does personality come
about?
What is personality?

Personality – all the consistent ways in which the behavior
of one person differs from and is similar to that of others,
especially in social situations.

Specific behaviors signify specific personalities
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Personality measures can’t determine what we do all of the time in
every social situation, but it can give us a good indication about
what we are likely to do.

Personality traits are often tough to define, but there are a number
of theories about how many, and what types of traits individuals
have.

Personality is said to be the product of experience and genetics.
Freud and his psychodynamic
approach
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Psychodynamic theory – personality is
based on the interplay of conflicting forces within the
individual. This includes forces that the individual is both
aware, and unaware of.

Our personality is a derivative of all of experiences of our past, as
well as the forces acting on the individual.
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Abnormal personality is a result of pent up or conflicting forces
within the individual.
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Catharsis – a release of pent up emotional tensions
What are these forces in conflict?
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the ‘id’: an unconscious force that
constantly seeks satisfaction of basic
needs (survival, sex, immediate
gratification).
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The ‘superego’: an unconscious force
that’s only goal is to push us to do what
is ‘right’ (society’s standards).
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The ‘ego’: a conscious force that
operates on the reality principle. It
seeks to satisfy id’s and the superego’s
desires in realistic ways.
So what causes these emotional
tensions (according to Freud)?

A pent up store of unconscious
desires and experiences that have
a detrimental effect on the
individual.
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Conscious – thoughts, memories,
and emotions that we are aware of.

Unconscious – thoughts, memories,
and emotions that we are unaware of
due to their traumatic or
unacceptable nature.
How do we get at these unconscious
memories/emotions/thoughts?
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Psychoanalysis
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Hypnosis
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Free association
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Dream interpretation
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“Freudian Slips”
Differentiation of Sexual Desires
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Freud eventually went on to argue that children of all
ages have some form of sexual tension. This tension
was a result of libido (psychosexual energy), that comes
in different forms throughout development.
Freud’s Psychosexual Stages
Stage
Focus
Oral
(0-18 months)
Anal
(18-36 months)
Pleasure centers on the mouth-sucking, biting, chewing
Pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder
elimination; coping with demands for control
smoking,
overeating
stinginess
strict orderliness
Phallic
(3-6 years)
Pleasure zone is the genitals; coping with
incestuous sexual feelings
penis envy
castration fear
Latency
(6 to puberty)
Genital
(puberty on)
Dormant sexual feelings
Maturation of sexual interests
Fixation
So what can we take from Freud?
 Humans
apparently have a mental life that is at
least partly unconscious.
 People
often have conflicting motives and
desires.
 Childhood
experiences contribute to the
development of adult personality and social
behavior.
 Sexual
development has an impact on
psychological development.
Where was Freud just dead wrong?
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Unconscious thoughts defined by Freud are
very different from today’s theories of
unconscious.
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Its not all about sex and psychosexual stages
(if these stages even exist).
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Almost all (if not all) forms of mental
disorders have been only weakly linked to
childhood experiences.
Then and now…
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In the last part of this lecture, we
began studying the field of
personality psychology by
discussing the personality theories
proposed by Sigmund Freud.
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Now we’ll be continuing our
exploration of personality
psychology.
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Other theories about personality
formation
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Other possible origins of
personality (a slightly more
scientific approach)
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
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Colleague of Freud’s
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Accepted many of Freud’s beliefs about
the formation of personality.
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Personality is formed from both conscious and unconscious forces
Our past experiences have an impact on our personalities
Broke with Freud’s work because of his differing beliefs about
personality formation.
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Our personal unconscious did not contain the basic instincts that Freud
proposed (primarily the id)
People possess personality traits as a result of a collective unconscious.
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Archetypes – vague images of our personality. Some archetypes are
inherited from the experiences of our ancestors.
Alfred Adler’s
Superiority Theory
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Another early student of Freud’s, but broke
away because of differing theories (too
much focus on sex).
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Formed a branch of psychology called individual psychology
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Individual psychology – a psychology of the person as a whole rather than a
person in parts
Believed that personality was based on our attempts to pursue our
strengths and make up for our shortcomings.
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Striving for superiority – a desire to seek personal excellence and fulfillment.
Inferiority complex – an exaggerated feeling of weakness, inadequacy, and
helplessness.
Carl Rogers’ Self
Actualization Theory
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This theory is very similar in structure to
Adler’s theory of striving for superiority.
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It postulates that people are constantly striving for betterment and to
reach a point of self actualization.
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self actualization – the achievement of one’s full potential (note: this stage is
said to rarely be met by individuals)
Our personality is based on a number of selves that we have, and the
discrepancy between these selves.
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Actual self – the person that we are
Ideal self – the person that we want to be
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Aught self – the person that we feel we “should” be (not really Rogers’ idea)
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Maslow was
another
psychologist that
believed in the
concept of self
actualization. However, he
believed that self actualization
was met through another
mechanism… The fulfillment of
needs.
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Maslow proposed that each of
us has a hierarchy of needs, and
once all of those needs are met,
we are able to reach a state of
self actualization.
Abraham Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs
What does it mean to reach a point of
self actualization?
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According to humanistic psychologists (Rogers and
Maslow), once a person reaches self actualization, a number
of recognizable behaviors take shape.
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Unconditional positive regard
An accurate perception of reality
Independence, creativity, and spontaneity
Acceptance of oneself and others
Enjoyment of life
A good sense of humor
***Note: Skeptics have questions whether or not
this was a sign of self-actualization, or just a list
of characteristics that Rogers and Maslow valued.
The “Learning Approach” to
Personality
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Our personality is
primarily the result of
learned responses and
behaviors. These learned
behaviors and responses
allow us to follow group
norms.
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Gender roles
Class norms
Racial norms
Family standards
Other determinants of personality
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Genes!!!
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Twin studies have
allowed us to
conclude that
genetic influence
has a large impact
on our personality.
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However, specific
genes have not
been linked to
specific personality
characteristics (at
least they haven’t
been linked yet).
And now…
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In the final section of
class, we’ll be discussing
the state trait issue,
different ways of
determining traits, and
different personality
measures.
The final look at personality…
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In the two previous sections of lecture, we’ve looked two
topic relating to the concept of personality.
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The definition of personality
The causes of personality
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Theoretical
Proven
Today, we’re going to address three of the most prominent
concerns of today’s personality psychologists.
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The definition of traits
The correct number of traits
Measures to determine these traits
The state/trait issue
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When looking at the concept of personality, psychologists
attempt to maintain a clear cut distinction between traits
and states when describing people and behaviors.
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Traits – a consistent, long-lasting tendency in behavior.
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Much more consistent over time
Less influenced by social cues (supposedly)
e.g. kindness, shyness, hostility, laziness
States – a temporary activation of a particular behavior
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The result of social cues
Short-lived and slightly more influential while they are experienced
e.g. fear, excitation, sorrow, surprise
So how many traits do we have?
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The best answer for that question
is...
It depends.
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When looking for a way to define a
large group of individuals, the
amount of personality traits that
can be useful to describe these
people can range anywhere from 2
– ??? traits.
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When looking to predict a specific
behavior, only one or two defining
traits might be necessary to
describe an individual.
The Big 5 Model of Personality
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When just looking at people as a whole,
psychologists attempt to describe
personality based on the premise of
parsimony (remember parsimony?).
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Parsimony (AKA Occam’s Razor): Results
should be explained through the most
consistent and simplest conclusion that can
be drawn in the context of the situation.
So to do this, psychologists began
looking for ways to describe personality
in the most parsimonious fashion
possible. And how did they do it?
The Big 5 Model of Personality (cont.)
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The dictionary…
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Comparing words for synonyms and antonyms…
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Looked in dictionaries to find every word in the English language
that related to personality
18,000 words were found
Similar to each other (e.g. nice and friendly)
Opposite of each other (e.g. nice and mean)
This search reduced the list down to 35 traits
Conducting “factor analyses” to see which remaining
words/traits emerged…
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Found the ones that overlapped with each other in response
frequency.
This reduction left us with a total of 5 personality traits… the big
5.
So what are the big 5?
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(O)penness to experience – a tendency to enjoy new
intellectual experiences and new ideas.
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(C)onscientiousness – a tendency to show self-discipline, to
be dutiful, and to strive for achievement and competence.
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(E)xtraversion – a tendency to seek stimulation and to enjoy
the company of others.
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(A)greeableness – a tendency to be compassionate toward
others.
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(N)euroticism – a tendency to experience unpleasant
emotions relatively easily.
So what are some of the
shortcomings of the big 5?
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Might not be a good predictor of other cultures.
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Might have too few variables.
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Religiosity, to name one variable, might also be an important aspect of
personality not covered in the big 5.
Might have too many variables.
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Remember, this grouping was based on the English language.
However, modest supportive evidence has shown that the big five might have
some value in other cultures.
Some variables are modestly positively correlated (E with O), while others are
modestly negatively correlated (both E and O with N).
Might not be a good predictor of the situation that you are
examining.

Some situations might not be predicted by big 5 measures, others might just be
better predicted by different, more specific personality traits.
Ways to look at personality
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Observations
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Questionnaires
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Big Five Inventory
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
Peer/family ratings
Projective measures
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Delay of gratification video
Rorschach Inkblots
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Implicit tests
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The emotional Stroop task
IAT
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The MMPI
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The most widely used personality test.
567 T/F statements.
Tests for personality, disorders, and
deception.
Rorschach Inkblot Test
TAT Photos