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Personality
Essential questions:
What is a personality?
Is our personality encoded or learned?
Does it ever change?
What other factors influence our personalities?
What describes our own personality?
What is Personality?
• How would you define personality?
• “Personality psychologists” study how people:
THINK
FEEL
BEHAVE
• Your personality is a relatively stable combination
or these characteristics
Top Enduring Issues
1. Nature vs. Nurture
2. Person vs. Situation
3. Stability vs. Change
4. Unconscious vs. Conscious
So what makes you, you??
Social Psychologist
You are a member of
a group or culture
whose behaviors
depend largely on
those around you!
(final unit)
Neuropsychologists:
You are a compilation of
synaptic connections
that are strengthened by
experience!
Freud and the
psychoanalysts:
You are the
screwed up
product of your
childhood conflicts
(siblings, parents,
friends).
Behavioral: Your
behaviors are learned
through reward and
punishment.
YOU!!
Evolutionary
Psychologists:
You are governed by your
survival instincts.
*Humanistic
Psychologist:
You are innately
good and need love
and support to
achieve your “ideal
self”!
Cognitive: You
are how you
think.
Psychodynamic Psychologists
• Emphasis unconscious conflict (we
are not aware of the effects it has on
our personality)
• Focus is on the negative
• Difficult to overcome
–Therapy can only provide insight into
problem, not necessarily a solution
Psychodynamic Psychologists
• Freud
– Unconscious drives of sex and aggression (ID, Superego)
– Psychosexual Stages (Conflicts with Mother/Father)
• Alfred Adler
– Birth order creates inferiority, unconsciously
• Jung
– We all have universal similarities due to the collective
unconscious
• Erik Erikson
– Psychosocial stages of development
• Karen Horney
– Our general anxiety over our success and failures create
neurotic tendencies
Freud’s Personality Structure
• ID
– Born with this
– Governed by “Pleasure Principle”
– Houses unconscious drives of sex (libido) and aggression
– Selfish, irrational, seeks instant gratification
• EGO
–
–
–
–
–
Develops during infancy (6 months)
Governed by “Reality Principle”
Seeks to gratify Id urges at an appropriate time
Inherits inevitable anxiety produced by Id-Superego conflict
Donald Duck
• SUPEREGO
–
–
–
–
–
Develops during childhood (6 years)
Governed by “Judicial” or “Moral Principle”
The internalized parent
Seeks to do what is right and good (conscience)
Causes us to feel guilty for our desires/id impulses
Freud’s Psychosocial Stages
• Oral (0-1.5 yrs)
– Conflict: Weaning
– Fixation: Oral (cigarettes, need to chew pens, gum, etc.)
• Anal (1.5-3 yrs)
– Conflict: Potty Training
– Fixation: Anal Retentive or Expulsive
• Phallic (4-6 yrs)
– Conflict: Overcoming attraction to parents
• Oedipus and Electra Complex; Penis Envy
– Fixation: Poor relationships with the opposite sex
• i.e. “promiscuous behavior” in females
• Latent (7-11)
– Sexual desires are repressed
• Genital (12-adult)
– Normal sexual relationships
Freud’s Defense Mechanisms
• Create a vignette (scenario and skit) for your
defense mechanism
• You will act it out in front of your classmates
• They will guess what defense mechanism you
are demonstrating
The Defense Mechanisms
• Denial (Negation)
– Refusal to acknowledge a painful reality
• Repression
– Unpleasant thoughts are excluded from consciousness; “motivated forgetting”
• Projection
– Attributing one’s own feelings, motives, or wishes to others
• Identification
– Taking on the characteristics of other to avoid feeling incompetent
• Regression
– Reverting to childlike behavior
• Rationalization
– Making up a logical explanation for an emotionally painful event rather than
dealing with the pain
The Defense Mechanisms
• Intellectualization
– Thinking about stressful problems in an abstract way to detach oneself from
them
• Reaction formation
– Expression of exaggerated ideas and emotions that are opposite of true feelings
• Displacement
– Shift repressed motives from an original object to a substitute object
• Sublimation
– Redirecting repressed motives and feelings into socially acceptable activities
• Undoing
– After-the-fact defense mechanism involving “making up” for guilt-producing
actions
Neo-Freudians:
Alfred Adler
He was the younger, “weaker” son in his family
 “Inferiority” influenced personality
Inferiority complex
 Fixation on feelings of personal inferiority that can lead to
emotional and social paralysis
Birth Order




Oldest
Middle
Youngest
Only
Dethronement
 When the next child is born, the older one is forced to share
parental attention
Compensation
 Our efforts to win back parental love after dethronement
Neo-Freudians:
Carl Jung
• One of Freud’s best students – his
“surrogate son”
• Freud was said to have fainted in his
presence several times!
• Existence of collective unconscious in
addition to the personal unconscious
• Archetypes
• Mother
• Hero
• Villain
Neo Freudians
Erik Erikson
Disagreed with psychosexual stages
Instead, created his psychosocial stages
 Trust vs. Mistrust
 Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
 Initiative vs. Guilt
 Industry vs. Inferiority
 Identity vs. Role confusion
 Intimacy vs. isolation
 Generativity vs. stagnation
 Integrity vs. despair
Neofreudians:
Karen Horney
• Our general social anxieties create
neurotic tendencies
• These anxieties can manifest in “normal
ways”….
– i.e. nervous and doubtful of your abilities;
seek constant approval from others
• Or “neurotic” ways
– Develop OCD?
Uncovering the Unconscious
• How do we determine what is in the
unconscious?
– Dream analysis (Chapter 3- What do your dreams
tell you)
– Free association (Write freely for 1 minute)
– Freudian “slip of the tongue”
– Projective Personality Tests
• Rorschach
• Thematic Apperception Test
Refresher: Psychodynamic Theories of
Personality
According to psychodynamic
theories, what drives personality
and human behavior?
What are some methods that
Freud employed to uncover this?
Dream analysis, Free associationCan tell us about the
unconscious, but don’t “assess”
Uncovering the Unconscious:
Psychodynamic Assessments
According to Freud, what is projection?
With this in mind, how might you develop a
method by which a person “projects” in
order to assess their unconscious?
Uncovering the Unconscious:
Psychodynamic Assessments
• Projective tests
– Ambiguous stimuli
– Patient projects their unconscious when they
describe what they see
• Examples
– Rorschach test
– Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Rorschach Test
• “Blotto”- Interesting answers?
• Most commonly used P.T. (Behind
MMPI- (Minn. Multiphasic Pers.
Inv.)
• 10 inkblots – 5 color, 5 black/white
• Subjects describe all 10 inkblots
• Examiner then goes through cards
again and asks questions for
clarification/detail
• Provides subject with considerable
freedom to respond
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
• Examiner chooses 10 cards with
ambiguous black-and-white drawings of
people in various emotional, yet
undetailed situations
• Have psychodynamic undertones (i.e.
aggression)
• Subjects must tell a story about each
card and themes provide insight
Experience the Tests
• Take the TAT test and have a partner “interpret”
results using psychodynamic concepts!!
– Strengths and weaknesses of the test?
• Take the Word Association test!
– Come up with ten words
– Some words should include concepts that Freud
believed affected a personality
• i.e. “Mother”, “sex”, “red” (as in aggression)
– Read them to your partner- they should say first thing
that comes to their mind when they hear that word.
Analyze the results.
Assessing Projective Personality tests
Strengths
 Early experiences do shape
personality
 Human emotion and
motivation are important in
understanding personality
 Concept of the unconscious
is emphasized
 Useful therapeutic
techniques
Criticisms
 Lack reliability and validity
(recent attempts to
standardize
interpretations have
resulted in more support)
 Subjective
 Pessimistic (drives are
determined during
childhood)
 Today, common results
are posted online- biased
results
Early Applications
Projective tests were once used for diagnosing
psychological disorders
Rorschach intended it to be used for schizophrenic
diagnoses, not projective testing
Example:
 John Wayne Gacy
 Murdered 33 boys in Chicago in 1970s
 Interviewed and given Projective Personality Assessments
to determine existence of mental illness
 Buried Dreams: Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer
Ewing and Cahill
Modern Applications
Rorschach
Exner’s Comprehensive System of scoring
 How much of the inkblot is referenced, story that is told, level
of detail (i.e. Form, Movement, Color)
Personality Assessment- Insight into underlying
motivations of person’s current issues and behaviors
Forensic Psychology
TAT
Personality assessment, Personality disorders, thought
disorders, crime suspect evaluation, high-stress
occupation screenings
Also used internationally (France, Argentina, India)
Other Projective Techniques
(Provide interesting insight into personality, but lack reliability
or clinical purpose)
• House, Tree, Person
– Draw and describe each
• Word Association
– Mother, Father, Sex
• Complete the sentence
– A best friend _______
– Mothers ___________
– My worst experience was
__________________.
•
Next time you gaze at the clouds to
determine a shape, think of what you
may be projecting!!
Humanistic Theories
• Emphasize the goodness in humans
• You have the potential to control your future
– Why would Freud disagree with this?
To achieve your true self…
Carl Rogers
The impact of love
Positive Regard
REAL
SELF
IDEAL
SELF
 Conditional – you are only loved
when you conform to others’
wishes
 Unconditional – you are loved no
matter what choices you make
Positive regard impacts
personality and happiness
REAL
SELF
IDEAL
SELF
 Real self – what you really are
 Ideal self – what you want to be
 Will overlap if you get
unconditional positive regard!
Behaviorist Theories
• Behaviorist theories claim that personality is formed
through environmental stimuli – reinforcement and
punishment.
• Example psychologists include Albert Bandura, John
Watson and B.F. Skinner
Behaviorist Theories
Albert Bandura
• Observational learning
theory
– Bobo Doll experiment
– People learn what they
watch
• If you grow up watching
your parents run
marathons, you will be an
active person that values
fitness
Behaviorist Theories
Classical Conditioning
• Watson and Pavlov
– Aspects of personality could be learned simply
by pairing stimuli together
• Watson and Baby Albert experiment
– Fear can be learned
• You fear new social situations because of an
embarrassment that you suffered from in
the past
Behaviorist Theories
Operant Conditioning
• Skinner
– personality could be
learned by being
reinforced or punished
for certain behaviors.
• You are a hardworking
person because you’ve
been rewarded for
good grades by your
parents
You will
NOT
swear,
Johnny!
!@*#$#
$%$!
Cognitive Theories
Personality is primarily a function of thoughts and
thought processes.
Rotter’s Locus of Control
 Internal Locus of Control – things that happen in your life are a
result of your own actions.
E.g. “I made varsity because I spent the whole off-season
training to do so!”
 External Locus of Control – things that happen in your life are a
result of forces beyond your control.
E.g. “I made varsity because my horoscope said I would have
a lucky day!”
Cognitive Theories
Albert Bandura
• Bandura
– Self efficacy is defined as one’s belief that they will be
successful in the things they do.
– Individuals with a higher sense of self efficacy tend to
be happier and more successful.
– i.e. “Can I do this? Am I doubtful of myself?”
• If you are doubtful, you may not even try to push yourself in
the first place
Cognitive Theories
Walter Mischel
• Mischel
– Self-regulation.
– people often change their personality depending on
the situation they are in.
– people change their actions and responses on the
basis of past experiences as well as an assessment of
the current situation.
Afterthoughts…
• If you want to know more about your personality,
you can complete online “objective” tests
• Mostly fit into the “trait-type” perspective
– Generate different terms to describe you.
• Objective tests – Standardized, closed-ended
–
–
–
–
Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (Cattell’s 16PF)
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2)
Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory
Preferred by trait and type theorists