Chapter 13 Pages 417-462

Chapter 13Pages 417-462

Worlds Quickest Personality Test

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHF0VXPanU81min 27

But what does personality

mean?Personality: a relatively stable set of characteristics specific to an individual that determine how that individual acts and behaves when they are alone, or in a group.

• You all have a personality unique to you.CarefulLovingStrongIndependentFunny

Key terms• Temperament: the way we react to situations. For

example are you impatient when waiting in line. If you are you may be described as being hot tempered. If you are calm and easy going you may consider yourself to have a mild temperament. This is known to be genetic.

• Mood: how you feel on a particular day. This can change depending on the circumstances. Used to explain the reason for our behaviour

• Character: the sum total of all the traits that show the true nature of the person. She has a dodgy character. Or he has a strong character.

• Is personality due to genes or environment?

Personality

• Kagan’s research on twins suggests that although environmental influences are very important in shaping personality, heredity exerts a strong influence.

Personality Theories

Psychodynamic Theories

Sigmund Freud

Humanistic Theory

Carl Rogers

Trait Theories

Hans Eysenck

Gordon Allport

Raymond Cattell

Costa and McCrae

Psychodynamic theory

Sigmund Freud: theorist who believed that your childhood experiences shape your personality. Emphasised inner conflict and tension.

Talking cure to treat hysteriaInterpretation of dreams

Psychoanalysis: method of psychotherapy that explores unconscious conflicts and emotional problems.

Freud’s structure of personality• The internal dialogue we have with ourselves is made up of

three components

1) ID: innate biological needs which we are all born with. Driven by the libido (physical energy) and is impulsive“i want the last slice of chocolate cake”

2) EGO: part of the personality that maintains balance between our impulses (ID) and our conscience (superego). Voice of reason “ ill have a small piece of cake but ill go for a run afterwards”

3) SUPEREGO: moral part of personality representing the standards of society passed onto the child by the parent. “you shouldn’t eat the cake, its not polite to take the last piece”

Freud’s structure of personality

• Personality also has three sections.1. Conscious: all the thoughts we are aware of right

now. On top of the surface.2. Preconscious: all our thoughts, memories and

feelings that we aren’t immediately aware of but we can easily access it. Just below the surface.

3. Unconscious/subconscious: the dumping ground for all our thoughts, memories and feelings. Things that are unacceptable or upsetting for the conscious mind. Way below the surface. Can only be brought up to consciousness by a trained psychoanalyst.

Freud’s structure of personality

Psychosexual Stages of Development

• Using the text book, pages 429-431 complete the handout on Freud’s stages of development.

• Complete on the handout or re-write in your books.

Defence Mechanisms

In order to protect ourselves from disturbing or troubling thoughts out EGO uses defence mechanisms.

Defence Mechanisms: Part of psychoanalytic theory. Behaviours we adopt in order to modify our thoughts or mute anxiety producing thoughts. These are natural reactions

Page 432.

Defence Mechanism Explanation ExampleDenial Refusing to believe something is true / false List your own

examples.

Displacement Directing your anger/ anxiety at a less threatening target

Intellectualisation Talking about an event in a cold and detached manner

Projection When things are create an unpleasant feeling you put those feelings onto someone else.

Rationalisation Giving a rational reason for the behaviour/ thoughts as opposed to the real reason

Reaction Formation Adopting the opposite of what you really believe.

Regression Returning to an earlier stage of development during times of anxiety.

Repression Unconsciously forgetting events that caused you trauma/anxiety

Sublimation Acting out unacceptable impulses in a socially acceptable way

Suppression Deliberately forgetting an event that caused you anxiety.

Free Association and Dream Theory• Psychoanalysts help clients discover their

defence mechanisms , which helps them understand the reason for their behaviour. They do this through free association and dream analysis.

• Free association: where the client talks about the first thing that pops into their head when presented with a stimulus. The psychoanalyst then interprets the deeper meaning of their statements.

• Dream analysis: dreams can reveal the contents of our unconscious mind. Dreams contain all the content that is unacceptable to our waking conscious mind. Dreams consist of:

Manifest content: parts of the dream that we remember.Latent content: the true meaning on the manifest content.

Strengths Weaknesses•Explore underlying problems not symptoms•Theory on talking cure has been praised..•Effect of environment and upbringing on future behaviour.•One of the most influential theories of the 20th Century.

•Overemphasised maladjustment in his theory.•Everything revolved around sex.•Weak from a scientific point of view.•No empirical evidence•Small sample sizes•No physiological basis for the ID, EGO and SUPEREGO.

Psychodynamic Approach to

Personality

Humanistic Approach

Carl Rogers

Humanistic Theory• Carl Rogers: emphasised free will and choice.We all have different perspectives of the world unique

to us. We assume the best of people’s intentions.We can all strive towards goodness and self

actualisation.Self Actualisation: the innate tendency we have towards

personal growth to reach out full potential if given the right conditions. For this to occur then the structure of personality must be congruent (in harmony/ agreement)

Conditions of self worth: according to Roger’s humanistic theory these are the views of others (parents) that we use to establish our experience

Humanistic theory in a nutshell.

If there is a difference between how we actually are (actual self) and how others perceive us (self concept) then we are incongruent.

This can cause us to be unhappy therefore we will not reach our ideal self (self actualisation)

This is when a therapist can help you.....

Client centred therapy: there are 4 concepts that surround the role of the therapist.

1) Unconditional positive regard: believe the client is essentially good to make them feel more comfortable in disclosing information.

2) Non judgemental attitude: doesn’t judge otherwise the client will not disclose information

3) Disclosure: therapist discloses information about themselves.4) Reflection: reflect and restate the clients statements in another way.

Lets try activity 13.9Question 5

I need a volunteer!!!!!!!!!!

Humanistic Approach to Personality

Strengths Limitations•Allows client to come to their own realisation about the problem•empowering

•Can all humans be essentially good?•Cant explain how people can do bad things•Not a scientifically valid theory•Encourages self indulgence in clients

Trait Theories:Theories which attempt to explain

personality in terms of groups of traits that are possessed by the individual.

Trait TheoriesHans J. Eysenck• He developed the Eysenck

Personality Inventory (EPI) and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) which are still used today.

• He developed the trait approach to describing and explaining personality. He believed that we have varying amounts of traits and that our personality may have a genetic basis.

Hans J. Eysenck

• He claimed that there are two main personality factors. A tendency towards negative emotions (neuroticism) and a tendency to enjoy positive events/situations (extraversion)

• These traits are on a continuum because we can have high or low levels of the. These continuums are know as dimensions.

Dimensions

• 1) Neuroticism-Emotional Stability

• 2) Extraversion-Introversion

High N and High E=Choleric (ambitious and leader-like. They have a lot of aggression, energy, and/or passion, and try to instill it in others)

High N and Low E= Melancholic (introverted and thoughtful. Melancholic people often were perceived as very (or overly) pondering and considerate)

Low N and High E= Sanguine (impulsive and pleasure-seeking; sanguine people are sociable and charismatic)

Low N and Low E= Phlegmatic (relaxed and quiet, ranging from warmly attentive to lazily sluggish. Phlegmatics tend to be content with themselves and are kind)

Hans J. Eysenck

• Hans believed that our biological make-up contributes to our personality.

• He suggested that introverts and extroverts have different nervous systems therefore they seek different levels of external stimulation to achieve their optimal level of arousal.

• Extraverts need more external stimulation compared to introverts.

Gordon Allport• Believed that each individual has a unique set of

traits and these traits determine how an individual reacts to certain events in the environment.

• Allport claimed that there were three different types of traits

1. Central traits: obvious to most people. Demonstrated on a day to day basis.”relaxed”

2. Secondary traits: shown in response to specific environmental stimuli. “frustrated, when in traffic”

3. Cardinal traits: a characteristic that is the driving force behind all of a person’s activities.”devotion to faith, Pope”

Raymond Cattell• Like Allport, he believed that there were

different types of traits.Surface traits (obvious traits)Source traits (situation traits)• Came up with the 16 Personality Factor

Questionnaire (16PF) • Used in educational settings to determine learning

styles, employment settings to determine leadership styles and medical settings.

• Cattell’s work however can not be replicated.

Costa and McCrae’s Neo PI/Five Factor Model.

Believed there are 5 key dimensions along with personality that can be measured.

1) Openness

2) Conscientiousness

3) Extraversion

4) Agreeableness

5) Neuroticism

Personality Testing• How do we know what sort of personality

someone has?• Why do we need to assess a person’s

personality?

• What do you think?

Personality Tests

• There are two main categories1) Inventories (questionnaires)2) Projective tests (uncover a person’s attitudes,

desires by evaluating their response to an ambiguous stimuli)

Projective testsRorschach Inkblot Test: client shown

a series of 10 cards. The client is asked “what does this card represent?” “What does it remind you of?”

Psychologist records the responses word for word.

Reliability and validity isn’t really good.

Projective tests

• Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)Client shown a set of 20 stimulus cards of

ambiguous pictured and is asked to make up a story about them.

The story created will reveal the hidden forces and motives of that person’s behaviour.

Limitations of Projective Tests

• Depends on clinicians assumptions and opinions because it is a subjective test.

• Must be administered by a trained clinician in a clinical setting

• Time consuming• Expensive• Dont account for those days when you have “off

feelings” or an illness.• Poor validity and reliability (what does this mean?)

• Validity: measures what it is meant to measure

• Reliability: measures the same thing on different occasions. It is consistent.

Can a test be reliable and not valid? Can a test be valid and not reliable?

Personality Inventories• The Myers-Briggs

Type Indicator (MBTI):

There are 4 dimensionsThe test is made up of 93 pairs of

statements that aim to determine your way of dealing with the world. Each question has 2 options that you can choose from.

Online test example:http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

Personality Inventories• John Holland’s Self-Directed Search:Most people can be categorised into 6 occupational types1. Realistic2. Investigative3. Artistic4. Social5. Enterprising6. Conventional• If you are in an occupation that suits your personality you will be happy.Self Directed Search: a test consisting of 198 items that helps individuals

learn which occupation suits their personality.Once you complete the test you are given a three-letter code which is a

combination of your three most prevalent occupational types (Holland Code)

Ethics in Personality Assessments

• Psychologists must ensure that the test they have chosen to do is administered and interpreted appropriately and accurate. (no harm)

• Informed consent• Confidentiality• Competence (they must be trained in the use

and interpretation of the test)

Personality tests are useful for describing and predicting how we will act in certain situations however they

should not be used as a sole measure of an individuals

way of interacting with the world.

Homework• Activities13.2 questions 1,2,3,4,13.3 question 1,213.4 questions 3,413.5 questions 2,3,413.6 questions 1,2,313.8 question 213.9 question 1,213.11 all13.12 questions 1-413.13 question 1 13.17 question 1-313.18 all13.20 all