Chapter 11

1. Chapter 11 Personality

2. Questions We Will Be Addressingin This Chapter How did paralyzed patients lead Freud to psychoanalysis? What personality traits are most basic? Do we learn our personality? Is everyone basically good? How do psychologists measure personality?

3. What Is Personality? The unique pattern of enduring thoughts, feelings, actions that characterize a person. Four main approaches to personality Psychodynamic Trait Social-cognitive Humanistic

4. The Psychodynamic Approach How did paralyzed patients lead Freud to psychoanalysis?

5. Sigmund Freud A physician in Vienna during the 1890s treating “neurotic” disorders. Came to believe in “psychic determinism.” People are partly controlled by the unconscious part of their personality. Basis for the psychodynamic approach to personality.

6. Figure 11.1: Freud’s Conception of the Personality Structure

7. Conflicts and Defenses Clashes occur among the id, ego, and superego. “Intrapsychic” or “psychodynamic conflicts.” Personality shaped by conflicts. Ego’s job is to prevent anxiety or guilt. Guides sensible actions. Makes use of defense mechanisms.

8. Ego Defense Mechanisms Repression Rationalization Projection Reaction Formation Sublimation Displacement Denial Compensation

9. Psychosexual Stages of Personality Development Oral stage Anal stage Phallic stage Oedipus complex Electra complex Latency period Genital stage

10. Variations on Freud’s Personality Theory Neo-Freudian theorists Carl Jung Alfred Adler Karen Horney Contemporary psychodynamic theories Focus on object relations

11. Evaluating the Psychodynamic Approach Freud’s contributions: Most comprehensive and influential theory. Ideas led to development of psychodynamic therapies. Stimulated development of personality assessment techniques. Some ideas supported by research on cognitive processes.

12. Evaluating the Psychodynamic Approach (cont’d.) Weaknesses of Freud’s theory: Based almost entirely on case studies. Reflects Western cultural values. Possibly distorted by Freud’s personal biases. Focus on women’s envy of male anatomy and male psychosexual development questioned. Not very scientific.

13. The Trait Approach What personality traits are most basic?

14. Assumptions of Trait Approach Personality traits remain relatively stable and therefore predictable over time. Personality traits are relatively stable across situations. People differ with regard to how much of a particular personality trait they possess.

15. Figure 11.2: Two Personality Profiles

16. Early Trait Theories Gordon Allport Central traits Secondary traits Raymond Cattell Used factor analysis 16 clusters of traits make up the basic dimensions of personality

17. The Five-Factor Personality Model Openness Conscientiousness Extraversion Agreeableness Neuroticism

18. Biological Trait Theories Eysenck’s biological trait theory Gray’s reinforcement Sensitivity theory Behavioral approach system (BAS) Flight or freeze system (FFS) Thinking Critically – Are Personality Traits Inherited Eysenck’s Personality Dimensions

19. Evaluating the Trait Approach Better at describing people than understanding them. How are traits related to thoughts and feelings? Provides only a fixed and rather shallow description of personality. Situations also affect behavior.

20. The Social-Cognitive Approach Do we learn personality?

21. Social-Cognitive Approach Personality reflects behaviors acquired through learning. Emphasis on: The role of learned patterns of thinking in guiding behavior. The fact that personality is learned in social situations.

22. Prominent Social-Cognitive Theories Rotter’s expectancy theory Learned expectancies guide behavior Internals vs. externals Bandura’s social cognitive theory Reciprocal determinism Self-efficacy Mischel’s cognitive/affective theory

23. Mischel’s Cognitive Person Variables Encodings Expectancies Affects Goals and values Competencies and self-regulatory plans

24. Relationship Between Personal and Situational Variables Personal dispositions influence behavior only in relevant situations. Personal dispositions can lead to behaviors that alter situations that promote other behaviors. People choose to be in situations that are in accord with their personal dispositions. Personal dispositions are more important in some situations than in others.

25. Evaluating the Social-Cognitive Approach Blends behavioral learning theories with concepts from cognitive psychology. Principles translated into cognitive-behavioral treatment procedures. Criticisms: No role for unconscious thoughts and feelings. Why do specific situations bring out certain behaviors? Cannot capture the complexities, richness, and uniqueness of human personality.

26. The Humanistic Approach Is everyone basically good?

27. The Humanistic Approach Human behavior is motivated mainly by an innate drive toward growth. Prompts people to fulfill their unique potential; self-actualization To explain people’s actions, must understand their world view. Phenomenological approach

28. Prominent Humanistic Theories Rogers’s self theory Emphasis on the actualizing tendency Development of one’s self-concept Effect of conditions of worth on a person Maslow’s growth theory Deficiency orientation Growth orientation Peak experiences Maslow’s Hierarchy of Motives

29. Evaluating the Humanistic Approach Approach consistent with the way many people view themselves. Immediate experience and each person’s uniqueness plays a central role. Best know application is Roger’s client-centered therapy. Approach consistent with the field of positive psychology.

30. Criticisms of the Humanistic Approach Viewed as naïve, romantic, and unrealistic. Too little attention on the role of other factors in shaping personality. View of personality development is too simple. Questions about assumption that all problems stem from blocked self-actualization. Concepts are too vague to be tested empirically. View of healthy people may reflect a Western cultural bias.

31. Linkages: Personality, Culture, and Human Development Western personality theorists: Independence, uniqueness, and self-esteem seen as fundamental to mental health. Universal truth or influence of the cultures that generated them? Independent vs. interdependent self-systems Cultural and gender considerations important when evaluating different approaches. Focus on Research – Personality Development over Time

32. Assessing Personality How do psychologists measure personality?

33. Basic Methods of Assessing and Describing Personality Life outcomes Situational tests Observer ratings Self-reports Interviews Personality tests

34. Types of Personality Tests Projective personality tests Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) Rorschach Inkblot Test Nonprojective personality tests Also know as Objective personality tests Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory, Revised (NEO-PI-R) Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

35. Personality Tests and Employee Selection Objective tests used to help guide hiring decisions. Problems: Tests measure traits that are too general to predict specific aspects of job performance. Traits may influence performance in some job situations but not others. Tests seen by some as an invasion of privacy. Concerns on how tests will be interpreted and used in future.

36. VIDEO: Personality Traits Discussion Questions

37. End of Chapter 11

38. Thinking Critically: Are Personality Traits Inherited? What am I being asked to believe or accept? Is personality partly, or even largely, inherited? Is there evidence available to support the claim? Anecdotal evidence about family resemblances. Correlations between children’s and other family member’s personality test scores. Identical twin studies. Continue to next slide

39. Thinking Critically: Are Personality Traits Inherited? (cont’d.) Can that evidence be interpreted another way? Family resemblances might be the result of a common environment. Nonshared environments might explain why nontwin siblings are less alike than twins. What evidence would help to evaluate the alternatives? Identify the genes associated with certain personality characteristics. Study people in their infancy. Examine the characteristics of adopted children. Continue to next slide

40. Thinking Critically: Are Personality Traits Inherited? (cont’d.) What conclusions are most reasonable? Genetic differences do contribute significantly to the origins of personality differences. Temperamental factors interact with environmental factors. Return to main slide

41. Focus on Research: Personality Development over Time What was the researchers’ question? Can young children’s temperaments predict their personality characteristics and behaviors as adults? How did the researchers answer the question? Longitudinal study of 1000 people born in New Zealand. Categorized at age 3 into 5 temperamental categories. Assessed again at 5, 7, 9, 18, 21, and 26 years old. Continue to next slide

42. Focus on Research: Personality Development over Time (cont’d.) What did the researchers find? Significant differences in personality tests among the 5 original classification groups. Correlations between childhood temperament and risky behavior in young adulthood. Continue to next slide

43. Focus on Research: Personality Development over Time (cont’d.) What do the results mean? Childhood temperament can accurately predict adult personality. But, temperament does not completely determine personality. What do we still need to know? Why is there a connection between temperament and personality? Return to main slide

44. Figure 11.3: Eysenck’s Personality Dimensions Return to Slide

45. Figure 11.4: Reciprocal Determinism Return to Slide

46. Figure 8.5: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Motives Return to Slide

47. Figure 11.5: The Rorschach Inkblot Test Return to main slide

48. Table 11.3: Sample Summary of Results from the NEO-PI-R Return to Slide

49. Figure 11.6: The MMPI: Clinical Scales and Sample Profiles Return to Slide

50. Personality Traits video: Discussion Questions Return to main slide Do you feel that your behavior is primarily consistent across situations or does it vary markedly? What do you think your if/then signature would be? Do you tend to think of yourself in global terms or compartmentalized terms? How does this inform the way you interact with and engage the world?