Chapter 14 THEORIES OF PERSONALITY

1. Chapter 14THEORIES OF PERSONALITY Section 1: The Trait Approach Section 2: The Psychoanalytic Approach Section 3: The Learning Approach Section 4: The Humanistic Approach Section 5: The Sociocultural Approach

2. Chapter 14 Section 1: The Trait Approach Question: What are the main features and limitations of the trait theory of personality? • Personality refers to the distinctive,enduring characteristics or patterns of behavior. An individual’s personality reveals itself through consistent behavior in a variety of ways. • Basic assumptions • Each person has stable dispositions to display certain behaviors, attitudes, and emotions. • These dispositions or traits are general and appear in diverse situations • Each person has a different set of traits • Gordon Allport, Hans Eysenck and Raymond Cattell.

3. Chapter 14 Section 1: The Trait Approach Question: What are the main features and limitations of the trait theory of personality? TRAIT THEORY OF PERSONALITY Main features: • Focus on cataloging traits • Examining where traits come from • Which traits are predominant Limitations: • Pigeonholing people according to oversimplified characteristics

4. Chapter 14 Section 1: The Trait Approach Question: What is the Five Factor Model? Factor I: Extroversion Factor II: Agreeableness Factor III: Conscientiousness Factor IV: Emotional Stability-Instability Factor V: Openness to Experience

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6. Chapter 14 Section 2: The Psychoanalytic Approach Question: What impact has the psychoanalytic theory of personality had, and how has the theory been modified since Freud’s time? • Freud has had a number of intellectual heirs and his ideas have strongly influenced psychology • Freud was an important champion of the idea that human personality and behavior should be subject to scientific knowledge • Later practitioners of psychoanalysis placed less emphasis on unconscious motives and more emphasis on social relationships

7. Chapter 14 Section 2: The Psychoanalytic Approach Question: What impact has the psychoanalytic theory of personality had, and how has the theory been modified since Freud’s time? Freud’s Theory emphasized three main points: (1) childhood experiences determine adult personality (2) unconscious mental processes influence everyday behavior (3) conflict influences most human behavior.

8. Chapter 14 Section 2: The Psychoanalytic Approach

9. Chapter 14 Section 2: The Psychoanalytic Approach Question: What are Freud’s personality component? When do they develop and how do they function? Id: develops at birth and functions as pleasure principle, unconscious instincts, irrational, seeks instant gratification and contains the libido Ego: develops around 6 months and functions as reality principle, mediates id and reality and is the executive branch. Superego: develops around 6 years old, functions as the morality principle, personal conscience and personal ideals.

10. Chapter 14 Section 2: The Psychoanalytic Approach Question: What are Freud’s defense mechanisms? • Defense Mechanisms: are unconscious methods used by the ego to distort reality and thereby protect us from anxiety, which results from the irrational pleasure demands of the id or from the superego causing guilty feelings • Rationalization • Repression • Reaction Formation • Regression • Projection • Displacement • Sublimation • Intellectualization • Denial

11. Chapter 14 Section 2: The Psychoanalytic Approach Question: What are Freud’s stages of psychosexual development? Oral Stage: 0-18 months; fixation obsessive eating, smoking, drinking sarcasm, overly demanding and aggressiveness Anal Stage: 18-36 months; fixation extreme messiness, overly orderly, overly concerned about punctuality, fear of dirt, love of bathroom humor, anxiety about sexual activities, overly giving and rebelliousness Phallic Stage: 3-6 years; fixation excessive masturbation, flirts frequently, excessive modesty, excessively timid, overly proud and promiscuity. Latency Stage: 6-12 years Genital Stage: puberty onward

12. Chapter 14 Section 3: The Learning Approach Question: What do learning theorists believe are the influences on and motivations for behavior? • The Behaviorist perspective is that personality is a collection of learned behavior patterns acquired through classical and operant conditioning, social learning, discrimination and generalization • Social Learning Theorists emphasize behavior, environment and cognition as important determinates of personality. Believe we can control our own behavior despite environmental changes.

13. Chapter 14 Section 3: The Learning Approach Question: What do learning theorists believe are the influences on and motivations for behavior? INFLUENCES AND MOTIVATIONS FOR BEHAVIOR • James B. Watson claimed that external forces or influences shape people’s behavior. B.F. Skinner • Social Learning theorists also emphasized socialization in shaping behavior, include Albert Bandura, Walter Mischel and Julian Rotter.

14. Chapter 14 Section 4: The Humanistic Approach Question: How does the humanistic approach view the role of the self and free choice in shaping behavior? SELF AND FREE CHOICE IN BEHAVIOR • The Humanistic approach stresses each person’s capacity for personal growth, positive growth, free will, and freedom to choose one’s destiny. Optimistic response to the pessimistic psychodynamic approach. • Focuses on conscious experience • Include Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow

15. Chapter 14 Section 5: The Sociocultural Approach Question: How does the sociocultural approach view the importance of ethnicity, gender, culture, and socioeconomic status in the development of personality? EVALUATION OF THE SOCIOCULTURAL APPROACH • Sociocultural factors of ethnicity, gender, culture and socioeconomic status are internalized and affect all of us and touch many aspects of personality • Without reference to sociocultural factors we cannot understand how individuals think, behave, and feel about themselves within a given cultural setting