Download Theories of personality

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Last Class in Review
Attitudes:
– A relatively stable opinion containing beliefs and opinions about people, groups, ideas,
and activities
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Implicit (unconscious) vs. Explicit (conscious)
Factors that change our attitudes
Group influences on behavior
– Conformity
– Groupthink
– The anonymous crowd
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Diffusion of responsibility (bystander apathy, social loafing, deindividuation)
Why do people go against conformity and stand up for beliefs?
– Dissent and Altruism
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Group Identity
– Social identity: gives us a sense of our place in the world
– Ethnic identity vs. Acculturation
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Ways to balance the conflict:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Bicultural
Assimilation
Ethnic Separatists
Marginal
– Ethnocentrism
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Robber’s Cave
Stereotypes
Prejudice
– Explicit vs. Implicit
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How do we measure implicit prejudice
– How can we reduce prejudice?
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Group exercise: Chapter 10 review questions
Learning Objectives
1.
What are the 3 elements that make up the structure of personality,
according to Freud? What happens when conflicts are not resolved
at a given stage?
2.
What are 6 common defense mechanisms? Be able to identify
examples of each.
3.
What are the 5 stages of psychosexual development?
4.
What is the difference between the Jungian theory and Freud’s
Psychoanalytic theory?
5.
What is the collective unconscious? What are archetypes?
6.
What is most important in the Object-Relations Theory?
7.
What are the 3 major shortcomings of psychodynamic theories?
8.
What do the humanistic approaches to personality focus on?
chapter 2
Definitions
Personality
Distinctive and relatively stable pattern of behaviors,
thoughts, motives, and emotions that characterizes an
individual
Trait
A characteristic of an individual, describing a habitual
way of behaving, thinking, and feeling
• shy, outgoing, ambitious, lazy, easy-going, anal, highstrung, confident, grumpy, happy, friendly, etc
chapter 2
Theories of Personality
Psychodynamic Theories
Biological Theories
Environmental Psychology Theories
Cultural Psychology Theories
Humanistic Theories
chapter 2
Psychodynamic theories
Sigmund Freud – psychoanalysis
Explains behavior and personality in terms of
unconscious dynamics within the individual
• Emphasizes internal conflicts, attachments, and
motivations
• Adult personalities are formed by experiences in
early childhood
•Three variations:
• Freud and traditional psychoanalysis
• Jungian Theory
• Object-Relations School
chapter 2
Freud’s Psychoanalysis:
The structure of personality
1. Id
- Unconscious
2. Ego
- unconscious, preconscious,
conscious
3. Superego
- unconscious, preconscious,
conscious
chapter 2
Freud’s Psychoanalysis:
The ID
Operates according to the
pleasure principle
–Present from birth
–Primitive
• basic needs and wants
–2 competing instincts:
• Life (sexual) - libido
• Death (aggressive)
–Unconscious
chapter 2
Freud’s Psychoanalysis:
The Ego
Operates according to the reality
principle
– Arises in first 3 years of life
–Mediates between ID and Superego
–Rational part of mind
• you can’t always get what you
want
– Floats between all 3 levels of
consciousness
chapter 2
Freud’s Psychoanalysis:
The Superego
Moral Conscience
– Develops around age 5
• At end of Phallic Stage
–Stores and enforces rules
• Inner voice that tells you not to
do something or that what you
did was wrong
–2 subsystems:
• Ego Ideal = parents
approve/value
• Conscience = parents disapproval
chapter 2
Freud’s Psychoanalysis: Defense mechanisms
1.
Repression
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2.
Projection
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3.
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When a feeling or belief that causes anxiety is transformed into
the opposite feeling or belief in our consciousness
Regression
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6.
When a person’s emotions are directed towards people or
animals that are not the real object of the emotion
Sublimation: acting out socially unacceptable impulses in a
socially acceptable way
Reaction formation
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5.
When repressed feelings are attributed to someone else
Displacement
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4.
When a threatening idea, memory, or emotion is blocked
(either consciously or unconsciously) from consciousness
Returning to a previous stage of development
Denial
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Refusal to admit something unpleasant or that something that
provokes anxiety is happening
chapter 2
Your turn
Your math instructor caught you with the textbook
open during a test. Despite the fact that you know
he knows you were cheating, you protest your
innocence. This defense mechanism is:
1. Denial
2. Reaction formation
3. Regression
4. Displacement
chapter 2
Personality development:
Freud’s Psychosexual Stages
Fixation occurs when the conflicts at a given stage
aren’t resolved successfully
Freud’s Psychosexual Stages
1.
Oral (birth – 18 months)
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2.
Anal (18 months – 3 years)
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3.
Pleasure zone is the genitals
Oedipus complex – development of feelings for opposite sex parent and rivalry
feelings towards same sex parent
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Boys – fear of castration; Girls – penis envy
Latency (6 – puberty)
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5.
Control of eliminating and retaining feces, toilet training issues
Anal retentive – obsession with cleanliness, perfection, control
Anal expulsive – messy, disorganized
Phallic (Oedipal; 3 – 5 or 6 years)
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4.
Babies learn about the world with their mouths, oral pleasures
Oral fixation – preoccupation with oral activities as an adult
Sexual urges repressed, play with same sex peers
Genital (puberty on)
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Leads to adult sexuality
chapter 2
Other psychodynamic
approaches
1. Jungian theory
2. The Object-Relations School
chapter 2
Jungian Theory
(aka analytical psychology)
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
Divides unconscious into 2 parts:
Personal unconscious: reservoir of personal information and
memories that was once conscious, but has been forgotten or
suppressed and is unique to the individual
Collective unconscious: deepest level of the human psyche
that contains universal memories, symbols, and experiences
of all humans
• a reservoir of inherited experiences
• Archetype: a generic, idealized model of a person,
personality or behavior
– Innate, universal prototypes
– Appear in myths, stories, art, and dreams
chapter 2
Jungian Theory
(aka analytical psychology)
•Archetype: a generic, idealized model of a
person, personality or behavior
• Stereotype, epitome
• 4 main archetypes:
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–
–
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The
The
The
The
Self
Shadow
Anima
Animus
• Commonly seen archetypes
– The Child
– The Hero
– The Great Mother
chapter 2
Object-Relations School
Melanie Klein & D.W. Winnicott
Emphasizes interpersonal relationships and believes the
ego-self exists only in relation to other objects
 most important = mother-child relationship
• Central problem = balance between need for independence and
need for others
• Emphasizes the importance of the infant’s first two years of life
and the baby’s formative relationships, especially with mother
Object: Something to which the subject relates, usually a
person, a part of a person or symbols for these.
External object: an actual person, place, or thing
Internal object: a memory, idea, or fantasy about a person
place or thing
chapter 2
Evaluating
psychodynamic theories
Three scientific failings:
1.
Violating the principle of falsifiability
2.
Drawing universal principles from the
experiences of a few atypical patients
3. Basing theories of personality development
on retrospective accounts and the fallible
memories of patients
chapter 2
Humanistic Approaches
to Personality
Humanistic psychology
An approach that emphasizes personal growth, resilience,
and the achievement of human potential
Humanist psychologists:
1.
Abraham Maslow
2.
Carl Rogers
3.
Rollo May
chapter 2
Humanistic Psychology:
Abraham Maslow
Personality development is a gradual
progression to self-actualization
chapter 2
Your turn
You are on your way to a restaurant to meet some
friends, and you are hungry. As you are walking
from your car to the restaurant, you are looking
forward to talking with your friends. Just then, you
hear a gunshot. According to Maslow, your primary
motivation would be determined by
1. Your hunger
2. Your desire to converse with your friends
3. Your desire for safety
chapter 2
Humanistic Psychology:
Carl Rogers
Interested in fully functioning individuals
Congruence
this is displayed by fully functioning people and is a harmony
between the image they project to others and their true
feelings or wishes
To become fully functioning we need:
–Unconditional positive regard
A situation in which the acceptance and love one receives
from significant others is unqualified, no strings attached
Unfortunately many children and adults are treated
with:
–Conditional positive regard
A situation in which the acceptance and love one receives
from significant others is contingent upon one’s behavior
chapter 2
Evaluating humanist
approaches
The bad:
1.Assumptions are not testable
2.Hard to operationally define many of the concepts
The good:
1.Added balance to the study of personality
2.Encouraged others to focus on “positive psychology”
3.Fostered new appreciation for resilience
Last Class in Review
• Personality: Distinctive and relatively stable pattern of
behaviors, thoughts, motives, and emotions that characterizes
an individual
• Trait: A characteristic of an individual
• Psychodynamic Theories of Personality:
– Freud’s Psychoanalysis
• Id, Ego, Superego
• Defense mechanisms of the Ego:
– Repression, projection, displacement, reaction formation, regression, denial
• Psychosexual Stages
– Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latent, Genital
– Jungian Theory
– Object-Relations School
Learning Objectives
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
What are the Big Five personality dimensions currently favored by
personality researchers?
What are temperaments and how are they related to personality
traits?
What does heritability refer to?
What is reciprocal determinism?
How does the environment influence personality?
What is the non-shared environment?
What are 3 lines of evidence that suggest parents have a minor
influence on the development of their children’s personality?
How does culture influence personality?
What the the main differences between an individualistic and
collectivist culture?
chapter 2
Measuring Personality:
Objective tests (inventories)
Standardized questionnaires asking a series of questions
where people rate themselves
– Typically include scales
– Assumes that you can accurately report
– No right or wrong answers
The responses help develop picture of you
called a personality profile
2 common tests:
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ)
Allport’s Trait Theory
Gordon Allport (1897-1967)
1. Cardinal Trait
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Dominates and shapes personality, rare
2. Central Trait
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Basic building blocks of personality that
everyone has to some degree
3. Secondary Trait
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Only seen in certain circumstances
Raymond Cattell
1905-1998
16 Personality Factors
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15.
16.
Warmth
Reasoning
Emotional Stability
Dominance
Liveliness
Rule-consciousness
Social Boldness
Sensitivity
Vigilance
Abstractedness
Privateness
Apprehension
Openness to change
Self-reliance
Perfectionism
Tension
chapter 2
Personality Traits: The Big Five
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Openness to experience
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Open = Curiosity, imaginative, creative
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Resistant = Conforming, predictable
Conscientiousness
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Conscientious = Responsible, persevering, self-disciplined
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Impulsive = Quick to give up, fickle, careless
Extroversion
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Extroversion = Outgoing – talkative, sociable, adventurous
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Introversion = Shy – silent, reclusive, cautious
Agreeableness
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Agreeable = Good-natured, cooperative, secure
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Antagonistic = Irritable, abrasive, suspicious, jealous
Neuroticism
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Neurotic = anxious, impulsive, worrier, emotionally negative
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Emotionally stable = only has those feelings when the circumstances dictate
Genetic Influences on
Personality
• Nature vs. Nurture debate
– Nature: Biology/genetics determines personality
– Nurture: Experiences determines personality
– Not mutually exclusive
• Biology and experience interact and shape our personalities
together
• How can biology influence our personality?
– Genes: functional units of heredity, composed of DNA and
specify the structure of proteins
• Specify how the brain and nervous systems should develop
and function
– Influence the behaviors that make up our personality
How do psychologists measure
genetic contributions to personality?
1. Studying personality traits in other
species
2. Studying temperaments of infants and
children
3. Heritability studies in twins and
adopted individuals
Personality Traits in Other Species
• Examine the physiology, genetics, ecology and
ethology of animals
• Evidence of 4 of the Big Five traits in 64 different
species
– monkeys  dogs  octopi
– Conscientiousness has only been found in humans
• Puppy Personality Experiment (Gosling, 2003)
– Owners provided personality assessments of dogs and
themselves
– A person who knew them both filled out a personality
inventory
– Independent observers rated the dogs in a park
 All 3 ratings were very similar
chapter 2
Personality Traits
in Infants and Children
Temperaments
Physiological dispositions to respond to the environment in certain
ways
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Present in infancy, assumed to be innate
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Relatively stable over time
Temperaments:
1.
Easy/Flexible: positive disposition, curious about new
situations, adaptable, low-moderate emotional intensity
40% of babies
2.
Difficult/Feisty: negative moods, slow to adapt to new situations
10 % of babies
3.
Slow-to-Warm: inactive, calm reactions to environment,
negative moods and withdraw from new situations, adapt slowly
15 % of babies
35 % have babies have combination of characteristics and can’t be
categorized
chapter 2
Dimension of Temperament
Definition
1. Activity level
Proportion of active to inactive time
2. Approach-Withdrawal
The response to a new person or object,
based on whether the child accepts or
withdraws from the situation
How easily the child is able to adapt to
changes in his or her environment
3. Adaptability
4. Quality of Mood
5. Attention span and persistence
6. Distractibility
7. Rhythmicity (regularity)
8. Intensity of reaction
9. Threshold of responsiveness
The contrast of the amount of friendly, joyful, and
pleasant behavior with unpleasant, unfriendly behavior
The amount of the time a child devotes to an activity and
the effect of distraction on that activity
The degree to which stimuli in the
environment alters behavior
The regularity of basic functions, such as
hunger, excretion, sleep and wakefulness
The energy level or reaction of the child’s
response
The intensity of stimulation needed to elicit a
response
chapter 2
The Heritability of
Personality Traits
Heritability
a statistical estimate of how much variation in a trait
can be attributed to genetics within a given population
• 0 – 1.0
– 0.5 = 50 % of the variation in a personality trait can be
attributed to genetics
– 1.0 = 100 % of the variation in a personality trait can be
attributed to genetics
Heritability of personality traits is about 0.5
Within a group of people, about 50% of the variation associated with a
given trait is attributable to genetic differences among individuals in
the group.
Genetic predisposition is not genetic inevitability
chapter 2
The Heritability of
Personality Traits
How is heritability studied?
– Adoption studies
• Compare correlations between traits of children and
their biological and adoptive parents
– Twin Studies
• Identical twins = share 100 % of genes
• Fraternal twins = share about ½ genes, just like
regular siblings
• Compare same-sex groups of identical and
fraternal twins
• Look at personality traits in adopted identical and
fraternal twins
Environmental Influences
on Personality Traits
1. Situational Influences (social learning)
2. Parental Influences
3. Social circles (peer pressure)
Situational Influences:
Social Learning
• Behaviorist view:
– Behaviors are rewarded and punished
differently in different situations
• Social-cognitive view:
– Personality traits result from a person’s
learning history and their expectations,
beliefs, perceptions of events and other
cognitions
– Reciprocal (mutual) determinism
chapter 2
Situational Influences:
Reciprocal Determinism
Two-way interaction between aspects of the
environment and aspects of the individual in the
shaping of personality traits
chapter 2
Situational Influences:
Non-shared environment
Unique aspects of a person’s
environment and aspects of the
individual in the shaping of personality
traits
chapter 2
Parental Influences
Parental child-rearing practices have a strong
influence on who we become, but research has
shown that it is not the primary determinant:
1. The shared environment of the home has little
influence on personality.
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The non-shared environment is a more important
influence.
2. Few parents have a single child-rearing style
that is consistent over time and that they use
with all children.
3. Even when parents try to be consistent, there
may be little relation between what they do
and how their children turn out.
chapter 2
Parental Influences
Nevertheless, parents still do influence
their children in a number of ways:
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Religious beliefs and values
Intellectual and occupational interests, skills
Feelings of self-esteem or inadequacy
Degree of helpfulness
Influence on traits that are highly heritable:
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Aggressiveness
Shyness
chapter 2
Social Influence:
Peer Pressure
How many of you have behaved
differently around your parents that
you do your friends?
Adolescent culture:
• different peer groups, organized by different
interests, ethnicity and status
Peer acceptance is so important to children and
adolescents that being bullied, victimized, or
rejected by peers is far more traumatic than
punitive treatment by parents.
chapter 2
Cultural Influences on
Personality
Culture
A program of shared rules that govern the behavior of
members of a community or society
A set of values, beliefs, and attitudes shared by most
members of that community
Individualist cultures
Cultures in which the self is regarded as autonomous, and individual
goals and wishes are prized above duty and relations with others
Collectivist cultures
Cultures in which the self is regarded as embedded in relationships,
and harmony with one’s group is prized above individual goals and
wishes
chapter 2
Cultural Influence on Personality
Individualistic Cultures Collectivist Cultures
Define self as autonomous,
independent of groups
Define self as an interdependent
part of a group
Give priority to individual, personal
goals
Give priority to needs and goals of
group
Value independence, leadership,
achievement
Value group harmony, duty,
obligation, security
Give more weight to individual’s
attitudes and preferences, than to
group norms to explain behavior
Give more weight to group norms
than individual attitudes to explain
behavior
Attend to the benefits and costs of
relationships; if costs exceed
advantages, a person is likely to
drop a relationship
Attend to needs of group members;
if relationship is beneficial to group,
but costly to individual, the individual
is likely to stay in the relationship
chapter 2
Cultural Influences in
Personality
When culture is not appropriately considered,
people attribute unusual behavior to
personality.
• Timeliness
• Personal Space