Download Chap 12 Personality Theory research and Assessment

Chapter 12
Personality: Theory, Research,
and Assessment
Defining Some Terms
• Personality: A person’s unique pattern of thinking,
emotion, and behavior; the consistency of who you
are, have been, and will become
• Character: Personal characteristics that have been
judged or evaluated
• Temperament: Hereditary aspects of personality,
including sensitivity, moods, irritability, and
distractibility
• Personality Traits: Stable qualities that a person
shows in most situations
• Personality Type: People who have several traits in
common
Raymond Cattell and Early Trait
Theory
• Cattell created 16 Personality Factor, personality
test
• Surface Traits: Features that make up the visible
areas of personality
• Source Traits: Underlying characteristics of a
personality
• By measuring the 16 trait scores, we could
develop an assessment of personality
McCrae and Costa:The “Big Five”
Personality Factors
• A “Five Factor” model of personality. Most
traits are derived from these 5.
– Extraversion
– Agreeableness
– Conscientiousness
– Neuroticism
– Openness to Experience
The Big Five. According to
the five-factor model,
basic differences in
personality can be “boiled
down” to the dimensions
shown here. The fivefactor model answers
these essential questions
about a person: Is she or
he extroverted or
introverted? Agreeable or
difficult? Conscientious or
irresponsible?
Emotionally stable or
unstable? Smart or
unintelligent? These
questions cover a large
measure of what we might
want to know about
someone’s personality.
Personality Theories: An Overview
• Personality Theory: System of concepts, assumptions,
ideas, and principles proposed to explain personality;
includes five perspectives or theories:
– Trait Theories: Attempt to learn what traits make up
personality and how they relate to actual behavior
– Psychodynamic Theories: Focus on the inner workings of
personality, especially internal conflicts and struggles
– Behavioristic Theories: Focus on external environment and
on effects of conditioning and learning
• Social Learning Theory: Observational learning.
– Humanistic Theories: Focus on private, subjective experience
and personal growth
– Biological Theories: personality is largely inherited
Psychoanalytic Theory and Sigmund
Freud, M.D.
• Psychoanalytic Theorists: Freud, Adler, Jung,
Karen Horney (pronounced “horni”)
• Freud was a Viennese physician who thought his
patients’ problems were more emotional than
physical
• Freud began his work by using hypnosis and
eventually switched to psychoanalysis
• Freud used cocaine and tobacco and died from
oral cancer
• More than 100 years later, his work is still
influential and very controversial
The approximate relationship between the id, ego, and superego, and the levels of awareness.
The Three Structures of Personality:
The Id
• Innate biological instincts and urges; selfserving, irrational, and totally unconscious
– Works on Pleasure Principle: Wishes to have
its desires (pleasurable) satisfied NOW,
without waiting and regardless of the
consequences
The Three Structures of Personality: The Ego
• Executive; directs id energies
– The decision making component
– Partially conscious and partially
unconscious
– Works on Reality Principle: Delays action
until it is practical and/or appropriate
The Three Structures of Personality:
The Superego
• Judge or censor for thoughts and actions
of the ego
– It is the moral component of our personality
– Superego comes from our parents or
caregivers; guilt comes from the superego
– Our “conscience”
Freudian Dynamics of Personality and
Anxieties
• Ego is always caught in the middle of
battles between superego’s desires for
moral behavior and the id’s desires for
immediate gratification
• Neurotic Anxiety: Caused by id impulses
that the ego can barely control
• Moral Anxiety: Comes from threats of
punishment from the superego
Freud: Levels of Awareness
• Unconscious: Holds repressed memories
and emotions and the id’s instinctual drives
• Conscious: Everything you are aware of at
a given moment including thoughts,
perceptions, feelings, and memories
• Preconscious: Material that can easily be
brought into awareness
Freudian Personality Development
• Develops in stages (psychosexual
stages). Everyone goes through same
stages in same order
• Majority of personality is formed before age
6
• Fixation: Unresolved conflict or emotional
hang-up caused by overindulgence or
frustration at one of the stages of
development.
Freudian Personality Development: Oral
Stage
• Oral Stage: Ages 0-1. Most of infants’
pleasure comes from stimulation of the
mouth. If a child is overfed or frustrated,
oral traits will develop
– Oral Dependent Personality: Gullible, passive,
and need lots of attention. Fixations create
oral-aggressive adults who like to argue and
exploit others
Freudian Personality Development:
Anal Stage
• Anal Stage: Ages 1-3. Attention turns to process
of elimination. Child can gain approval or express
aggression by letting go or holding on. Ego
develops. Harsh or lenient toilet training can
make a child:
– Anal Retentive: Stubborn, stingy, orderly, and
compulsively clean
– Anal Expulsive: Disorderly, messy, destructive, or cruel
Freudian Personality Development:
Phallic Stage
• Phallic Stage: Ages 3-6. Child now notices and is
physically attracted to opposite sex parent
• Can lead to:
– Oedipus Conflict: For boys only. Boy feels rivalry with his father for
his mother’s affection. Boy may feel threatened by father
(castration anxiety). To resolve, boy must identify with his father
(i.e., become more like him and adopt his heterosexual beliefs)
– Electra Conflict: Girl loves her father and competes with her
mother. Girl identifies with her mother more slowly because she
already feels castrated (penis envy)
• Both Oedipus and Electra Conflicts are widely rejected
today by most psychologists (and probably by most people
in this classroom)
Freudian Personality Development:
Latency and Genital Stages
• Latency: Ages 6-Puberty. Psychosexual
development is dormant. Same sex
friendships and play occur here
• Genital Stage: Puberty-on. Realization of
full adult sexuality occurs here; sexual
urges re-awaken
Freud’s Defense Mechanisms
• Defense mechanisms are unconscious
reactions which protect a person from unpleasant
emotions such as anxiety and guilt.
– Repression: keeps unpleasant thoughts in the
unconscious
– Projection: attributing one’s thoughts and feelings onto
another person
– Displacement: diverts feelings from original source to
a substitute target.
Defense Mechanisms (contd.)
– Reaction Formation: behaving in a way that is
opposite to one’s true feelings
– Regression: a reversion to immature patterns of
behavior
– Rationalization: creating false, but plausible excuses
to justify unacceptable behavior
– Identification: boosting self-esteem by forming real or
imaginary alliance with some person or group.
Behavioral Theories and Some Key
Terms
• Behaviorists: Watson, Skinner.
• Behavioral Personality Theory: Model of
personality that emphasizes learning and
observable behavior
• Learning Theorist: Believes that learning
shapes our behavior and explains
personality
• Situational Determinants: External
(environmental) causes of our behaviors
B. F. Skinner’s Theory
• Personality is developed generally through the
principles of “operant conditioning”. It is a
continuous lifelong journey, not through
stages.
• Rewards, punishment, negative
consequences, etc., shape the behaviors we
incorporate into our personality.
• Skinner dismissed cognitive processes and
unconscious forces in personality
development.
Social Learning Theory
• Bandura, Rotter, Mischel.
• Social, or Observational, Learning
suggests our personality is influenced by
observing others, or models.
• Some “models” are more influential in our
development, such as people we consider
more attractive or powerful.
Mischel’s Social Learning
• Mischel agrees in the basic concepts of social
learning theory, but adds that situational factors
influence our behaviors.
• This theory has come under criticism because it
suggests that our personality may be determined
by a situation, rather than being determined by
an inner structure. Our behaviors are situational
specific.
Evaluating Behavioral Theories
• Critics suggests that Behaviorist Theories:
– Have depended strongly upon animal research
– Dehumanized personal choice and denied the
existence of free will
– Relied too heavily upon the StimulusResponse Model.
Humanistic Theories
• Approach that focuses on the unique qualities of human
experience, especially freedom of choice.
• Human Nature: Traits, qualities, potentials, and behavior
patterns most characteristic of humans
• Free Choice: Ability to choose that is NOT controlled by
genetics, learning, or unconscious forces
• Subjective Experience: Private perceptions of reality
• Self-Actualization (Maslow): Process of fully developing
personal potentials
• Peak Experiences: Temporary moments of selfactualization
Carl Rogers’ Person Centered Theory
• The Self is a collection of beliefs about one’s own
nature, unique qualities, and typical behaviors.
• Fully Functioning Person: Lives in harmony with his/
her deepest feelings and impulses
• Self concept: Flexible and changing perception of
one’s identity
• Self-Image: Total subjective perception of your body
and personality
• Incongruence: Exists when there is a discrepancy
between one’s experiences and self-image
• Ideal Self: Idealized image of oneself (the person one
would like to be)
Incongruence occurs when there is a mismatch between any of these three entities:
the ideal self (the person you would like to be), your self-image (the person you
think you are), and the true self (the person you actually are). Self-esteem suffers
when there is a large difference between one’s ideal self and self-image. Anxiety
and defensiveness are common when the self-image does not match the true self.
More Rogerian Concepts
• Conditions of Worth: Internal standards of
evaluation
• Positive Self-Regard: Thinking of oneself as a
good, lovable, worthwhile person
• Real Self vs. Ideal Self: a discrepancy in how we
perceive our “self” and others perceive us may
lead to “incongruence”
• Unconditional Positive Regard: Unshakable love
and approval
Abraham Maslow and Needs
• Hierarchy of Human Needs: Maslow’s ordering of
needs based on presumed strength or potency; some
needs are more powerful than others and thus will
influence your behavior to a greater degree
• Basic Needs: First four levels of needs in Maslow’s
hierarchy
– Lower needs tend to be more potent (“prepotent”) than
higher needs
• Growth Needs: Higher-level needs associated with
self-actualization
• Meta-Needs: Needs associated with impulses for selfactualization
Fig. 12.12 Maslow believed that lower needs in the hierarchy are
dominant. Basic needs must be satisfied before growth motives are fully
expressed. Desires for self-actualization are reflected in various metaneeds.
Characteristics of Self-Actualizers
• Efficient perceptions
of reality
• Comfortable
acceptance of self,
others, and nature
• Spontaneity
• Task Centering
• Autonomy
•Continued freshness of
appreciation
•Fellowship with
humanity
•Profound interpersonal
relationships
•Comfort with solitude
•Non-hostile sense of
humor
•Peak experiences
Criticisms of Humanistic Theories
• Concepts are difficult to define and
measure
• Unrealistic view of human nature. Maslow
could identify very few “self actualized”
people (maybe Oprah)
• Not supported by a large body of research
Biological Theories
Hans Eysenck
• A large body of research on Identical
Twins, Fraternal Twins, siblings, etc.,
suggests that personality traits are
evidenced by these relations.
• Environmental influences played a lesser
role.
How to Assess Personality
(Pg 519-523)
• Interview: Face-to-face meeting designed to gain
information about someone’s personality, current
psychological state, or personal history
– Unstructured Interview: Conversation is informal, and topics are
discussed as they arise
– Structured Interview: Follows a prearranged plan, using a series
of planned questions
• Halo Effect: Tendency to generalize a favorable or
unfavorable first impression to unrelated details of
personality (make a good first impression)
• Direct Observation: Assessing behavior through direct
surveillance
Other Types of Personality Assessments
• Behavioral Assessment: Recording the
frequency of specific behaviors
• Situational Test: Real life situations are
simulated so that someone’s spontaneous
reactions can be observed and recorded
More Types of Personality
Assessments!
• Personality Questionnaire: Paper-and-pencil test
consisting of questions that reveal personality aspects
– Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2):
Widely used objective personality questionnaire
– #1-75 of MMPI Test
• Reliability: Does a test give close to the same score
each time it is given to the same person?
• Validity: Does the test measure what it claims to
measure?
• Honesty (Integrity) Test: Assumes that poor attitudes
toward dishonest acts predispose a person to
dishonest behavior
An MMPI-2 profile showing hypothetical scores indicating normality, depression,
and psychosis. High scores begin at 66 and very high scores at 76. An unusually
low score (40 and below) may also reveal personality characteristics or problems.
Projective Tests
• Psychological tests that use ambiguous or
unstructured stimuli; person needs to describe
the stimuli or make up stories about them
– Rorschach Technique: Developed by Swiss
psychologist Hermann Rorschach; contains 10
standardized inkblots (the “inkblot” test)
– Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): Developed by
Henry Murray, personality theorist; projective
device consisting of 20 drawings (black and white
cards) of various situations; people must make up
stories about the drawings