Chapter 10 Personality. Important qualities of personality –Consistency: thinking, feeling, and acting in the same way –Distinctiveness: acting in ways.

Chapter 10Personality

Important qualities of personality

– Consistency: thinking, feeling, and acting in the same way

– Distinctiveness: acting in ways different from others

The Psychoanalytic Perspective

• Sigmund Freud is arguably the most recognizable person in the field of psychology.

• Freud was a neurologist

– He frequently discovered that neurological symptoms seemed to originate from emotional trauma.

The Psychoanalytic Perspective

• Freud’s theory

• childhood sexuality

• unconscious motivations

Glove Anesthesia

Psychoanalytic Theory Asserts That the Unconscious Mind Controls Behavior

Freud sought advice from neurologist Jean Charcot, who treated patients using hypnosis.

• Freud also sought advice from psychiatrist Joseph Breuer, who used a “talking cure” therapy in which patients reported whatever came to mind.

• Freud adapted these two techniques to his own emerging theory of the human mind.

Psychoanalytic Theory

• Freud’s model of the mind proposed that it was mostly hidden, like an iceberg:

– Conscious mind: relatively small part of the mind the person is aware of at the moment (like the tip of an iceberg)

– Preconscious mind: mental processes that are not currently conscious but could become so (just below the surface)

– Unconscious mind: thoughts, desires, feelings, and memories that are not consciously available to us but nonetheless shape our everyday behavior (hidden section of the iceberg

Psychoanalytic Theory Asserts That the Unconscious Controls Behavior

• Freud’s theory of the mind challenged the prevailing notion that our consciousness—the part of our mind that we identify as ourselves—was the determining factor in the management and control of our lives.

Freud’s Model of Personality Structure

Freud’s Divisions of the Personality

Id: unconscious portion of the mind, contains the basic drives

Ego: develops out of the id

Superego: develops later in childhood

• Each structure has different operating principles and different goals that often conflict with the others’ goals.

Freud’s Divisions of the Personality

• The id: unconscious portion of the mind, contains the basic drives

• Operates on the pleasure principle—it consistently wants to satisfy whatever desire is currently active

Freud’s Divisions of the Personality

• The ego: develops out of the id• Guided by the reality principle—it seeks to

delay gratification of desires until appropriate

Freud’s Divisions of the Personality

• The superego: develops later in childhood

• Several functions, including the task of overseeing the ego and making sure that it acts morally.

Personality Development Occurs in Psychosexual Stages

– Each stage is characterized by a part of the body, called an erogenous zone, through which the id primarily seeks sexual pleasure.

– Critical elements of the personality are formed during each of these stages.

Personality Development Occurs in Psychosexual Stages

– If children experience conflicts when seeking pleasure during a particular psychosexual stage, and if these conflicts go unresolved, they will become psychologically “stuck”—or fixated—at that stage.

– Fixation is a tendency to persist in pleasure-seeking behaviors associated with an earlier psychosexual stage where conflicts were unresolved.

Personality Development Occurs in Psychosexual Stages

• Freud’s psychosexual stages:– Oral stage: encompasses first year of life– Anal stage: encompasses ages 2–3

• Toilet training becomes an area of conflict between children and parents.

– Phallic stage: encompasses ages 4–5• A shift in the erogenous zone to the genitals and pleasure is

being derived largely through self-stimulation. • Accompanying this interest is the association of this

pleasure with the other-sex parent.

Personality Development Occurs in Psychosexual Stages

– Latency stage: encompasses ages 6–11• A psychological period of relative calm

– Genital stage: encompasses puberty and onward• Many of the issues of earlier stages re-emerge

and can be reworked to a certain extent.

Ego Defense Mechanisms Reduce Unconsciously Caused Anxiety

• Repression: automatically banishing unacceptable thoughts, desires & memories from consciousness

• Rationalization: offering logical, self-justifying explanations for actions that are not true

• Reaction formation: expressing the opposite of unacceptable feelings or ideas

Ego Defense Mechanisms Reduce Unconsciously Caused Anxiety

• Displacement: diverting their sexual or aggressive urges toward more acceptable objects

• Regression: psychologically retreating to a more infantile developmental stage where some psychic energy remains fixated.

• Projection: perceiving one’s own aggressive or sexual urges in others

The Psychodynamic Perspective

Variations of Psychoanalytic Theory

• Adler’s individual psychology• Downplayed importance of sexual motivation • Stressed social factors and people striving for superiority

• Jung’s analytical psychology• De-emphasized the sex motive• People motivated by a desire for psychological growth and

wholeness, called the need for individuation• Besides personal unconscious, we also have a collective

unconscious, which is that part of the unconscious mind containing inherited memories shared by all human beings.

• Horney’s neo-Freudian perspective• Social factors play a much larger role in personality development

than sexual influences• Personality problems caused by interpersonal relationships

during childhood

Projective Tests

• Designed to reveal inner feelings, motives, & conflicts

• Ask people to respond to ambiguous stimuli or situations/

• Assume this will reveal unconscious motives and desires– Rorschach Inkblot Test: 10 symmetrical

inkblots– Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): make up

stories about ambiguous pictures

Assessing the Unconscious--Rorschach

Evaluating Psychoanalytic Theory

– A major limitation of his theory is that it is not based on carefully controlled scientific research.

– Despite these limitations Freud’s ideas still have an influence within psychology

The Humanistic Perspective

• In the 1950s, the humanistic perspective arose largely due to dissatisfaction with both behaviorism and psychoanalysis.

• This “third wave” in psychology emphasized peoples’– Innate capacity for personal growth – Ability to consciously make choices

Human Nature: Judeo-Christian View

Human NaturePotentially Good Potentially Evil

Image of God Fall of man

Conflict between good & evil

Restoration to good:Redeemed by God (Savior) (repentance/belief)

Willingness to obey God (new nature)

Human Nature: Freudian View

Human Nature

Desire to be good Tendency for Evil

social acceptance selfish desires

Conflict between good & evil

Restoration to good:Internalization of social rules

Understanding/insight

Human Nature: Humanist View

Human Nature

Innately Good Warped by society

Conflict between desire to actualize

Self and pleasing others/society.

Restoration to good:Receive unconditional positive regard

Self-actualize (realize potential)

Carl Roger’s Person-Centered Theory

• Self-Realization emphasized

• People are basically good

• People are full of potential (and we all are working toward becoming the best that we can be).

• People need unconditional positive regard to achieve their potential. – many of us are frustrated in our potential growth

because we receive conditional positive regard.

Roger’s Person-Centered Theory

• Conveying unconditional positive regard to

others involves three characteristics:

– Genuineness (being open and honest) – Warmth (being caring and nurturant) – Empathy (accurately identifying what the

person is thinking and feeling)

Humanistic Perspective

• Self-Concept– all our thoughts and feelings about

ourselves

– Real vs. ideal self

– Behave according to who we think we are and not who we really are

Maslow’s Self-Actualization Theory

• self-actualization - reaching one’s full potential

Stresses Maximizing Potential

Maslow’s Self-Actualization Theory

• Maslow contended that self-actualized people:– Were secure in the sense of who they were,– Were loving and caring,– Often focused their energies on a task they regarded

as a life mission, and– Reported having peak experiences, which are fleeting

but intense moments of joy, ecstasy, and absorption, in which people feel extremely capable.

.

Criticisms of The Humanistic Perspective

• Overly optimistic

• Fails to acknowledge:– That many people engage in mean-spirited

and even cruel behavior on a fairly regular basis, and

– That some of the forces shaping behavior are outside conscious awareness.

Criticisms of The Humanistic Perspective

• This perspective has not:– Produced a substantial body of testable

hypotheses,

– Clearly defined concepts, or

– Used carefully controlled scientific studies to test the validity of its theories.

The Social-Cognitive Perspective

• Social-cognitive perspective: a psychological perspective that examines how people interpret, analyze, remember, and use information about themselves, others, social interactions, and relationships

Reciprocal Determinism• The belief that personality emerges from an

ongoing mutual interaction among people's cognitions, their actions, and their environment.

• Basic principle of the social-cognitive perspective

• Most important cognitive factor in reciprocal determinism is self-efficacy

Reciprocal Determinism

Self-efficacy

– Perceptions of self-efficacy are largely subjective and tied to specific kinds of activities.

– Success in an activity heightens self-efficacy, while failure lowers it.

– Success breeds self-efficacy, which, in turn, breeds further success.

Feelings of Personal Control or Helplessness

• Julian Rotter contended that through our surroundings we develop beliefs about ourselves as controlling, or controlled by, our environment.

• Locus of control: degree to which we expect that outcomes in our lives depend on our own actions and personal characteristics versus the actions of uncontrollable environmental forces

Locus of Control

• People who believe that outcomes occur because of their own efforts are identified as having an internal locus of control.

• People who believe that outcomes are outside their own control are identified as having an external locus of control.

• Internals tend to be more successful in life than are externals.

• Externals are less independent than internals, and they are also more likely to be depressed and stressed

Evaluation of The Social-Cognitive Perspective

• Complex view of human personality

• Testing its theories using the scientific method.

• Best at explaining rational behavior that is “thought through” - less able to explain behavior that is spontaneous or irrational.

Objective Personality Tests

• ask direct, unambiguous questions about a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior

• Many objective tests measure only one specific component of personality

• Others assess several traits simultaneously.

Trait Theories Describe Basic Personality Dimensions

• A trait is a relatively stable tendency to behave in a particular way over time and across situations.

• Trait perspective is more concerned with describing

how people differ from one another than in explaining why they differ.

• Trait perspective is not based on specific assumptions about human nature.

Factor Analysis Is Used to Identify Personality Traits

• Factor analysis: a statistical technique that allows researchers to identify clusters of variables that are related to—or correlated with—one another.

• Raymond Cattell—the first trait theorist to use factor analysis to identify general traits, or source traits

Factor Analysis Is Used to Identify Personality Traits

• Hans & Sybil Eysenck, using factor analysis, concluded that there are three genetically influenced dimensions of personality:

• Extraversion,• Neuroticism• Psychoticism.

The Trait Perspective

• Hans and Sybil Eysenck use two primary personality factors as axes for describing personality variation

UNSTABLE

STABLE

cholericmelancholic

phlegmatic sanguineINTROVERTED EXTRAVERTED

MoodyAnxious

RigidSober

PessimisticReserved

Unsociable

Quiet

SociableOutgoing

TalkativeResponsiveEasygoing

LivelyCarefree

Leadership

PassiveCareful

Thoughtful

Peaceful

ControlledReliable

Even-temperedCalm

TouchyRestlessAggressive

ExcitableChangeable

ImpulsiveOptimistic

Active

The Five-Factor Model: Five Basic Personality Traits

– Neuroticism: People differ in being anxious, insecure, and self-pitying versus being relaxed, composed, secure, and content.

– Extraversion: Extraverts are confident, energetic, bold, and optimistic, and easily handle social situations, while introverts are shy, quiet, and reserved.

– Openness to experience: People differ in being adventurous, open to new experiences, sensitive and passionate versus being traditional, hardworking, and down-to-earth.

The Five-Factor Model Specifies Five Basic Personality Traits

– Agreeableness: People differ in being good-natured, soft-hearted, courteous, and sympathetic versus being irritable, ruthless, rude, and tough-minded.

– Conscientiousness: People differ in being well organized, dependable, hardworking, and ambitious versus being disorganized, undependable, lazy, and easygoing.

• Most studies find that personality traits are remarkably stable over the adult years but somewhat less so during childhood.

Critics Challenge Whether Traits Reliably Predict Behavior • Walter Mischel argued that:

– Personality is not really stable over time & situations – The situation is a much stronger determinant of behavior

• This viewpoint is called situationism:– It asserts that behavior is not determined by stable traits, but is

strongly influenced by the situation.

• Many personality researchers now acknowledge that:• Situations do indeed shape behavior, and• How we behave is often determined by an interaction of personal

and situational factors.

Objective Personality Tests

• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI): an objective personality test consisting of true-false items that measure various personality dimensions and clinical conditions such as depression

• Critics contend that the MMPI has not kept pace with recent advances in personality.

The Trait Perspective

• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) test profile

Hysteria(uses symptoms to solve problems)

Masculinity/femininity(interests like those of other sex)

T-score

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0 30 40 50 60 70 80

Hypochondriasis(concern with body symptoms)

Depression(pessimism, hopelessness)

Psychopathic deviancy(disregard for social standards)

Paranoia(delusions, suspiciousness)

Psychasthenia(anxious, guilt feelings)

Schizophrenia(withdrawn, bizarre thoughts)

Hypomania(overactive, excited, impulsive)

Social introversion(shy, inhibited)

Clinicallysignificant

range

After treatment(no scores

in the clinicallysignificant range Before

treatment(anxious,

depressed,and

displayingdeviant

behaviors)

What Shapes Personality?

• Is it nature?

• Is it nurture?

• Is it an interaction of the two (epigenesis)?

• Is it the soul?