Download chapter10-Personality PP 2014-15

Chapter 10: Personality
Objective
• I will be able to identify and
apply the information learned
about theories of personality
development on individual and
group activities
Essential Questions
• What is personality?
• How is personality formed?
Personality Perspectives
• Trait Theorists
• Psychodynamic Theories
• Behavioral Theories/Social Cognitive
Theories
• Humanistic Theories
Write down three
adjectives that describe
you.
Describe how you feel
today-write it down
What is the difference
between the adjectives that
describe you and the words
you used to tell how you
feel today?
Let’s Define Personality
Personality
An individual’s unique make-up of
consistent behavioral traits
• Personality trait=durable disposition to
behave in a particular way in a variety of
situations-what Trait Theories look at:
• Ex=honest, dependable, moody,
friendly, etc…
Psychodynamic Perspectives
Freud’s psychoanalytic theory
– Structure of personality
• Id - Pleasure principle, instinctive
component
• Ego - Reality principle-seeks to delay
gratification, tames the desires of the
id
• Superego – Morality-strives for moral
perfection-emerges from the ego at
about 3-5 yrs.
Ego mediates between the Id and Superego
Psychodynamic Perspectives
– Levels of awareness
• Conscious-what we are aware of at any
given time
• Preconscious-info. just beneath the
surface that can easily be retrieved
• Unconscious-thoughts, memories and
desires that are well below the surface
but have a GREAT influence on
behavior
Come out in Freudian Slip, Dreams, and
free associations
Exploring the Unconscious
Personality Structure
• Personality structure
–Id
• Pleasure
principle
–Ego
• Reality
principle
–Superego
• conscience
Psychodynamic Perspectives
Freud’s psychoanalytic theory
– Conflict (between the id, ego and superego is
routine-why? The id wants what it wants)
• Sex and Aggression-causes many conflicts
• 1.because of society’s social controls;
inconsistent messages about what is
appropriate;
• 2. they are thwarted more often then other
drives
There are no vending machines to satisfy sexual
or aggressive impulses
These drives need to be routinely denied
Psychodynamic Perspectives
Anxiety, on the conscious level, results when
our desires are thwarted-these conflicts are
often played out in the unconscious-mostly
sexual and aggressive conflicts
• Anxiety is due to1. Id getting out of control
2. Superego getting out of control and causing
guilt for the real or imagined transgression
Anxiety is primary in Freud’s personality theory
The result?
• Defense Mechanisms-unconscious
reactions that protect from unpleasant
emotions, anxiety, and guilt-they distort
reality
Figure 12.3 Freud’s model of personality dynamics
Defense Mechanisms-Work Through
Self Deception
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Rationalization-excuses to justify behavior
Repression-bury painful thoughts/feelings in unconscious
Projection-attribute one’s thoughts/feelings to another-similar
to false consensus effect –seeing our downfalls and attitudes
in others
Displacement-substitute, safe target
Reaction formation-behave opposite of what you feel
Regression-reverse to immature behavior patterns (temper
tantrum as an adult)
Identification-boost self-esteem through alliance with a
person/group-fraternity
Denial-refusing to believe painful realities
Sublimation-Sublimation channels the energy from impulses
and into acceptable acts (sports, art, hobbies)
Freud on Development:
Psychosexual Stages
• Sexual = physical pleasure
• 5 Psychosexual stages –developmental
periods with a sexual focus that leaves its
mark on adult personality-formed by age 5
Fixation = Excessive gratification or
frustration in a stage, failure to move
forward
• Overemphasis on psychosexual needs
during fixated stage
Exploring the Unconscious
Personality Development
• Psychosexual stages
–Oral
–Anal
–Phallic
–Latency
–Genital
Oral Stage 0-1
• Mouth, sucking, biting as pleasure
source
• Key task-weaning from bottle
• Fixation-excessive eating, smoking,
etc.., dependence on others
Anal 2-3
• Anus expelling or retaining feces
• First attempt to regulate child’s urges
• Punitive toilet training results in
hostility toward trainer or a group of
people as a class-all women
Anxiety about sexual activity in the future
Fixation: anal retentive (controlling) or
anal expulsive (messy)
Phallic 4-5
• Genitals-self stimulation
• Erotic energy focuses on the opposite sex
parent (Oedipal Complex=son wants to
harm dad and marry mom)-Electra for girls
• Penis envy-girls hostile toward mom; she
blames for the anatomy deficiency
• They crush this hostility by identifying with
the same sexed parent
• Must resolve this for sexual/gender identity
• Most important stage for personality
development
Fixation: vain, self-centered, exhibitionist
Latency 6-12
• None-sexually repressed
• Expand social contact beyond immediate
family
Genital – puberty and beyond
• Focus is on the genitals again
• Sexual energy is channeled towards peers of
the opposite sex
Exploring the Unconscious
Psychosexual Stages
The Neo-Freudian Theorists
• Neo-Freudians
–Adler’s inferiority complex
–Horney- felt Frued was sexist
and too focused on sex
–Jung’s collective unconscious
Other Psychodynamic Theorists
Carl Jung: Analytical Psychology
• Felt the unconscious had two layers
– 1. Personal unconscious-houses repressed or forgotten
information/events
– 2. collective unconscious- memories inherited from
people’s ancestral past-we share this with entire human race
– Archetypes- ancestral memories=emotionally charged
images that have universal meaning-show up in dreams and
culture’s:
– symbols/literature/religion-similar between cultures since
archetypes are shared by the whole human race (ex:
mandala or magic circle)
– He felt dreams contained messages from the unconscious
Figure 12.4 Jung’s vision of the collective unconscious
Other Psychodynamic Theorists
Carl Jung
– First to describe
Introversion/Extraversion
• Introverts-preoccupied with the internal
world of their own thoughts, feelings,
experiences
• Extraverts-interested in the external world of
people and things
Other Psychodynamic Theorists
• Alfred Adler: Individual Psychology
– Striving for superiority was the main goal
of life (not sex)=a universal drive to adapt ,
improve oneself, and master life’s
challenges
– It was inferiority, typical of children to feel
when comparing themselves to adults, that
motivated children to acquire new
skills/talents
Other Psychodynamic Theorists
Alfred Adler: Individual Psychology
– Felt we all have to work to overcome feelings of
inferiority-a process called:
– Compensation=efforts to overcome feelings of
inferiority by developing one’s abilities
– Inferiority complex=exaggerated feelings of
weakness and inadequacy
overcompensation=people engage in this to hide
these feelings from others/themselves; they
engage in activities to make self superior to
others, trappings of success( money, cars), status
is what they go for rather than achievement
– worry about appearance more then reality
Other Psychodynamic Theorists
Alfred Adler: Individual Psychology
– Saw Birth Order as effecting personality:
– Only Child-spoiled
– 1st borns-problem children since they are
upset when that are dethroned; also
treated different by parents
Karen Horney
• Childhood anxiety caused by dependent
child’s sense of helplessness, triggers desire
for love & security
• Did not believe women have weak superegos
and penis envy
Evaluating Psychodynamic Perspectives
• Pros
– Some Research support for Defense mechanisms
( terror management theory (p. 489) is related)
– Childhood effects later life
• Cons
– Freud’s theories: Inadequate empirical
base(not proved by research).
– Sexist views
Behavioral Perspectives
• Skinner’s views
– Operant Conditioning and response
tendencies-they pay little attention to
personality structure
– Environmental (rewards and punishments)
determines our behaviors:
I tell joke-friends laugh I become a funny
person
Figure 12.6 Personality development and operant conditioning
Behavioral Perspective
• Bandura’s views (now called social- cognitive theory)
– Social learning theory
• Cognitive processes and
reciprocal determinism=environment determines
behavior; but, behavior also determines the environment
in which we place ourselves. So, our thoughts
(cognitions), behavior and the environment interact..
• Observational learning we imitate/learn behavior from
observing others, called models
• Self-efficacy=one’s beliefs about one’s ability to perform
behaviors that lead to expected outcomes
Perceptions of self-efficacy are subjective:
High=feel confident and results in behavior
Low= opposite
Figure 12.7 Bandura’s reciprocal conditioning
Behavioral Perspective/Social
Cognitive
• Mischel’s views (p. 501)
The person-situation controversy
Believes in social learning theory and how situational factors
determine behavior-I may be honest in one situation and
dishonest in another
So, traits may be more consistent over time more then
over situations
Evaluating Behavioral Perspectives
• Pros
– Based on research
– Effects of learning/environmental factors
• Cons
– Over-dependence on animal research
– Fragmented and dehumanizing views of
personality
Humanist Perspective on Personality
• Humanism=emphasizes the unique qualities
of humans, especially their freedom and
potential for personal growth
Do others see you the way
you see yourself (your self
concept)?
Humanistic Perspectives
• Carl Rogers
– Person Centered Theory-theory based on one
construct:
• Self-concept (beliefs about our own nature,
unique qualities, and typical behavior) “I’m
easygoing, shy, hard working…”
• We distort this in our favor- it may not be in-line
with our experience
– Conditional/unconditional positive regard
– Incongruence=the degree of disparity between
one’s self-concept and one’s actual experiences and
this undermines psychological well-being
Humanistic Perspectives
Carl Rogers
Development of the Self:
Children need acceptance and love from parents. When
parents make affection conditional , children block
out of their self –concept, those experiences that
make them unworthy of love.
Children that have unconditional love, do not block out
unworthy experiences because they feel worthy of
love, no matter what.
Unconditional love- congruence
Conditional love incongruence- and
Distort more experiences to feel worthy of acceptance
Humanistic Perspectives
Carl Rogers
• Anxiety and Defense:
As a result, people feel anxiety and use
defenses
Figure 12.9 Rogers’s view of personality structure
Figure 12.10 Rogers’s view of personality development and dynamics
Humanistic Perspectives
• Abraham Maslow “What a man can be, he
must be.”
– Self-actualization theory (innate life
purpose-care less of what others think)
– Hierarchy of needs
• Healthy personality= people who have
continued self-growth
Evaluating Humanistic Perspectives
Pros:
-noting importance of one’s subjective view of
reality
-focusing on the issue of what makes a healthy
personality
Con: lack a strong research base, overly
optimistic view of human nature (Maslow had
a hard time finding live people who had selfactualized)
The Trait Perspective
Factor Analysis
factor analysis=
Statistical correlation between traits that are
clustered as a factor. For instance,
conscientiousness is the cluster of traits
(punctual, neat, diligent, for instance)
The Big Five Factors-Costa & McCrae-p. 497
16PF (The Sixteen Personality Factor
Questionainaire)
Example of** factor analysis=statistical technique to interpret
personality test results; find correlation between traits that
they cluster as a factor
The Evolutionary Approach to
Personality
• The evolutionary approach
– Traits conducive to reproductive fitness –the BIG
Five are seen across cultures
Table 12.1 Defense Mechanisms, with Examples
Is personality inherited?
Heredibility=the extent to
which individual differences
are due to genes-50% for the
big Five
Figure 12.14 Twin studies of personality
Biological Perspectives says personality is
inherited
• Eysenk’s theory
– All traits come from 3 higher order traits
– Extraversion, neuroticism (anxious, tense,
moody, low self-esteem), and psychoticism
(egocentric, cold, impulsive, antisocial)
– The Eynseks gave own personality questionnaire
to people in 35 countries; extraversion and
emotionality factors found as basic personality
dimensions (as two factors that encompass other
traits-see next slide)
– The above is an example of factor analysis
-Concluded personality determined by genes
Exploring Traits
Factor Analysis
Evaluating Biological Perspectives
• Pros
– Convincing evidence for genetic influence
• Cons
– Conceptual problems with heritability
estimates
– Artificial carving apart of nature and nurture
– No comprehensive biological theory
Personality Tests
Two Types
Most Widely Used are:
1. Self reporting inventories (aka
questionnaire)
MMPI=Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
Inventory-14 subscales
Validity scale (cannot say, lie scale, and
frequency scale)
MMPI used to identify emotional disorders
MMPI Sub-Scales
Pros/Cons of self-reporting scales
• More precise than casual observation
• Deliberate Deception by test taker
• Social desirability bias=answer in the way
that you think will make you look positive
• Response set=respond in a way that has
nothing to do with the content (Yes or no to
every question)
2. Projective Tests-Uncovering
Unconscious Processes
• Respond to vague, ambiguous stimuli in ways
that may reveal one’s needs, feelings and
personality traits-2 well known:
Rorscharch-10 inkblots
TAT (Thematic Apperception Test) shown
scenes and asked to tell what they see
Ink Blot Test
TAT
TAT
Pros-not transparent to subject
Can show unconscious features
Cons-little evidence of
reliability/validity
Other Concepts
• Julian Rotter-Locus of Control impacts
one’s personality
Either:
• External-other events and people control my
outcomes
• Internal – I control my outcomes
• Personal-Consruct Theory (George
Kelly)=people develop personal constructs of
opposing pairs (fair-unfair, smart-dumb, etc..)
to interpret the world/form opinions of others.
My behavior is determined by how I interpret
the world.
Other Theories:
Somatotype personality theory-William
Sheldon-1940s, studies 200 white males:
1. Endomorph-fat: outgoing/friendly
2. Mesomorph-muscular: confident/assertive
3. Ectomorph-thin: shy
Culture and the Self
• Individualism
• Collectivism
Individualism versus Collectivism