Download influenced his thinking about personality?

Psychology 305B: Theories of Personality
Lecture 8
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Lecture 8
Analysis of the Personality of a Serial Killer
Jeffrey Dahmer
Discussion Questions
1. How would you expect Jeffrey Dahmer to score on the
personality dimensions identified by (a) Eysenck, (b)
Wiggins, and (c) Big 5 theorists?
2. Can a diathesis-stress model be used to explain the
onset of Jeffrey Dahmer’s antisocial behaviour?
3. What needs do you think motivated Jeffrey Dahmer’s
behaviour? Consider both Murray’s needs and the “Big
Three.”
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Discussion Questions, continued
4. Can evolutionary psychology offer explanations for
antisocial behaviour, psychopathy, cannibalism, and/or
necrophilia?
5. Which characteristics do you think Jeffrey Dahmer may
have inherited?
6. How do you think Jeffrey Dahmer would score on the
temperaments identified by Buss and Plomin (i.e.,
activity level, sociability, and emotionality)?
7. Speculate upon the physiological causes of antisocial
personality disorder or psychopathy (e.g., the role of the
BAS, the BIS, MAO, testosterone).
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Eysenck’s Major Personality Dimensions
Introvert
Extravert
Emotionally Stable
Emotionally Unstable
Passive
Thoughtful
Peaceful
Controlled
Reliable
Calm
Quiet
Pessimistic
Unsociable
Moody
Anxious
Reserved
Sociable
Outgoing
Talkative
Responsive
Easygoing
Carefree
A
C
Active
Optimistic
Impulsive
Excitable
Aggressive
Restless
B
D
A = Phlegmatic; B = Melancholic; C = Sanguine; D = Choleric
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Wiggins’ Interpersonal Circle
Assureddominant
Arrogantcalculating
Gregariousextraverted
Coldhearted
Warmagreeable
Aloofintroverted
Unassumingingenuous
Unassuredsubmissive
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The Big 5 Dimensions
Extraversion: Low
Conscientiousness: Low
Agreeableness: Low
Openness to Experience: Low
Neuroticism: High
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Some Heritable Personality Characteristics
• The Big 5:
H
Extraversion …………………………………………… .50
Conscientiousness…………………………………….. .49
Agreeableness ………………………………………... .48
Openness to Experience ………………………….…. .48
Neuroticism ……………………………………………. .49
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• Characteristics related to psychopathy:
H
Fearlessness …………………………………………… > .95
Carefree Nonplanfulness (i.e., impulsiveness)……... .94
Machiavellianism (i.e., enjoys manipulating others)... .74
Social potency (i.e., skilled at influencing others) …. .66
Aggressiveness ……………………………………….. .67
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Contemporary Measures of Psychopathy:
1. Psychopathic Personality Inventory
Self-report measure.
187 items, scored with a 4-point scale ranging from
1 (false) to 4 (true).
Consists of 8 factors: Machiavellian egocentricity,
social potency, fearlessness, coldheartedness,
impulse nonconformity, blame externalization,
carefree nonplanfulness, and stress immunity.
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2. Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)
Instrument used by trained clinicians.
Assesses 20 symptoms associated with
psychopathy. Each symptom is scored from 0 – 2
(0 = definitely does not apply to the person, 2 =
definitely does apply to the person).
Consists of 2 factors: Affective/interpersonal
features and behavioural features.
Maximum score: 40. A score of 30 is indicative of
the presence of psychopathy.
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3. Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised Screening
Version (PCLR: SV)
Instrument used by trained clinicians.
Assesses 12 symptoms associated with
psychopathy. Each symptom is scored from 0 – 2
(0 = not present; 2 = item definitely applies).
Consists of 2 factors: Affective/interpersonal
features and behavioural features.
Maximum score: 24. A score of 18 is indicative of
the presence of psychopathy.
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DSM-IV Diagnostic Criteria for
Asperger’s Disorder
A. Impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at
least 2 of the following:
1. Marked impairment in the use of nonverbal
behaviours (e.g., eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression,
body postures, and gestures).
2. Failure to develop peer relationships.
3. Lack of spontaneous seeking to share interests,
enjoyment, or achievements with other people.
4. Lack of social or emotional reciprocity.
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Criteria for Asperger’s Disorder, continued
B. Restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of
behaviour, interests, and activities, as manifested by at
least 1 of the following:
1. Restricted patterns of interest that are abnormal
either in intensity or focus.
2. Inflexible adherence to nonfunctional routines or
rituals.
3. Repetitive and stereotyped motor mannerisms.
4. Persistent preoccupation with parts of objects.
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Criteria for Asperger’s Disorder, continued
C. The disturbance causes clinically significant
impairment in social, occupational, or other important
areas of functioning.
D. There is no clinically significant delay in general
language.
E. There is no clinically significant delay in cognitive
development or the development of age-appropriate
self-help skills.
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Questions That Will be Answered in Today’s Lecture
Psychoanalytic Perspective on Personality
1. Who was Sigmund Freud and what events in his life
influenced his thinking about personality?
2. According to psychoanalytic theory:
(a) what are the major components of the mind?
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Who was Sigmund Freud and what events in his life
influenced his thinking about personality?
• Born in Austria in 1856, at the end of the Romantic
Period and the start of the Victorian Era.
• Romantic Period
 Characterized by rejection of reason, order, and
concern for common good.
 Emphasized “passionate living.”
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• Victorian Era
 Characterized by a scientific and rational view.
 Emphasized morality (in particular, repression of
sexuality), duty, and a need for social reform.
• The ideals of both the Romantic Period and the Victorian
Era appear to have had a substantial influence on Freud’s
thinking.
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• Consistent with the ideals of the Romantic Period,
Freud suggested that people experience emotional and
irrational impulses—in particular, emotional and
irrational impulses related to sex and aggression.
• Consistent with the ideals of the Victorian Era, Freud
suggested that the emotional and irrational impulses
that people experience must be restrained or expressed
indirectly in order for society to function effectively.
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• Indeed, the 2 aspects of human experience that Freud
emphasized in psychoanalytic theory are:
(a) the emotional and irrational impulses that people
experience.
(b) the mechanisms that people use to restrain or
redirect these impulses.
• There are 7 individuals who had a noteworthy impact
on Freud’s thinking:
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Amalie Freud
 Freud’s mother.
 Freud described his
feelings for his mother as
the purest and least
ambivalent of all of his
emotional experiences.
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Jacob Freud
 Freud’s father.
 Freud described his
feelings for his father
as highly ambivalent,
characterized by both
love and hate.
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 Freud’s unfettered love for his mother and
ambivalence for his father are likely to be the source
of his ideas regarding the Oedipus Complex (will
discuss later in class).
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Ernst Brucke
 A physician and
physiologist under
whom Freud studied
when he began
university (1873).
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 Brucke introduced Freud to the mechanist
perspective. According to this perspective, biological
systems are best represented by machine models
(i.e., models that use energy).
 Freud adopted this perspective: Freud theorized that
the mind is a system that transforms raw psychic
energy into work (i.e., thought and behaviour).
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Josef Breuer and Jean-Martin Charcot
Breuer
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Charcot
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 Unconventional scientists who studied “hysteria.”
This condition is characterized by symptoms such
as paralysis, visual/speech/auditory disturbances,
hallucinations, and multiple personalities.
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 Charcot demonstrated that hysteria had psychological
origins (e.g., demonstrated that the symptoms could be
created or removed under hypnosis).
 Breuer discovered that the symptoms could be
removed by talking about their origins. Breuer referred to
this remedy as the “talking cure.”
 Freud adopted Charcot’s procedure for inducing hypnosis
and Breuer’s talking cure in his own work with hysterical
patients.
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Emmy Von N.
 A patient of Freud’s who suffered from hysteria.
 Freud attempted to treat her symptoms using hypnosis
and the talking cure but was unsuccessful.
 During treatment, Emmy Von N. suggested that
Freud allow her to speak freely, without interruption.
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 On the basis of Emmy Von N.’s suggestion, Freud
developed the therapeutic technique of free
association, the “fundamental rule” of psychoanalysis.
 Following from his work with patients such as Emmy Von
N., Freud co-authored “Studies in Hysteria,” in which he
argued that hysterical symptoms are caused by problems
in memory associated with traumatic childhood events.
 Many scholars believe that this book marks the birth
of psychoanalytic theory.
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Wilhelm Fleiss
 Freud’s closest confidant in the early 1900s.
 In early correspondence with Fleiss, Freud wrote
extensively about seduction theory. In this theory, Freud
argued that the symptoms associated with hysteria are the
result of repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse.
 Later, however, Freud abandoned seduction theory,
arguing that the sexual abuse of children was not common
enough to account for the high prevalence of hysteria.
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 After abandoning seduction theory, Freud came to
believe that, in many cases, hysterics fantasized
that they had engaged in sexual relations as children.
 Many scholars believe that this revelation marks the
point at which Freud began to explore the dynamics
of the unconscious mind.
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According to psychoanalytic theory, what are the major
components of the mind?
• Freud believed that the mind is comprised of 3 major
components or regions. The 3 components reflect
different levels of consciousness.
• The 3 components are represented in Freud’s
Topographical Model of the Mind. According to this
model, the 3 components are as follows:
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1. The conscious component of the mind
 Makes up the surface area of the brain.
 Contains information that an individual is currently
aware of.
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2. The preconscious component of the mind
 Below the conscious component of the mind.
 Contains information that an individual is not
currently aware of but can readily retrieve and
bring into conscious awareness.
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3. The unconscious component of the mind
 Below the preconscious component of the mind.
 Contains information that an individual cannot
readily retrieve—information that has been actively
repressed because it is too threatening to bring into
conscious awareness.
 This information is expressed largely in symbolic
form (e.g., through dreams). Thus, the
information continues to influence the individual.
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Questions That Were Answered in Today’s Lecture
Psychoanalytic Perspective on Personality
1. Who was Sigmund Freud and what events in his life
influenced his thinking about personality?
2. According to psychoanalytic theory:
(a) what are the major components of the mind?
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