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Personality. The distinctive and relatively enduring ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that characterize a person’s responses to life situations.
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Personality • The distinctive and relatively enduring ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that characterize a person’s responses to life situations. • Study of personality is guided by the psychologist’s perspective, which sometimes makes it difficult to understand how they are all studying the same thing. • It seems hard to believe that all the theorists are talking about the same creature, who is now angelic, and now depraved, now a black-box robot shaped by reinforcers and now a shaper of its own destiny, now devious… and now hardheadedly oriented to solid reality. (Stone and Church, 1968)
Evaluating Theories • Truth, in personality studies, is often less important than usefulness. • after all, the study design and results interpretation is itself influenced by the personality of the psychologist • A theory is only useful in so far as it • Provides a comprehensive framework within which known facts can be incorporated • Allows us to predict future events with some precision • Stimulates the discovery of new knowledge
Freudian Theory: Psychic Energy • Altruism Principle: what is best for others? • Reality Principle what is best for everyone involved? • Pleasure Principle: what is best for me?
Ego “Joe Normal” SuperEgo “The Saint” Id “All About Me!”
Id: Develops first; exists in unconscious mind; wants immediate gratification Instincts and Energy Eros: life instincts (sexual desire) Thanatos: death instincts (aggression) Libido: energy that directs life instincts Ego: Develops second; negotiates between the desires of the Id, and the limitations of the environment Exists in conscious mind and the unconscious mind Superego: conscience; determines what is right, and what is wrong Exists in conscious mind and the unconscious mind Freudian Theory: Psychic Energy
Freudian Theory • Personality is how we resolve the three psychic energies. • Use of Defense Mechanisms • Essentially set in childhood based on relative success during Psychosexual Stages of development. • Oral (birth-2 years) • Anal (2-3 years) • Phallic (4-5) • Latency (5-12 years) no effect • Genital (12-19+ years)
Normal Development Oral Anal Phallic Latency Genital [Toward Normal Adulthood] Abnormal Development: Oral Anal Phallic Latency Genital Freudian Theory: Development Regression: satisfies earlier stages
The Breakup • Muffy, the captain of the high school cheerleading squad, decides to leave her boyfriend of two years, Biff, the star wide receiver of the football team, for Alvin, the star of the school’s chess team. • Needless to say, Biff is devastated, but his ego can choose from a variety of defense mechanisms with which to protect him.
Defense Mechanisms I • Acting Out: Reducing anxiety aroused by forbidden desires by permitting their expression • Biff begins serial-dating. (Dating multiple girls at the same time.) • Displacement: Redirecting one’s feelings toward another person or object. Negative emotions are often displaced onto less threatening people. • Biff could displace his feelings of anger onto his little brother, pet hamster, or football. • Projection: Believing that the feelings one has toward someone else are actually held by the other person and directed at oneself. • Biff insists that Muffy still cares for him.
Defense Mechanisms II • Emotional Insulation: Reducing self-involvement by withdrawing into passivity to protect the self from hurt. • Biff stops going out with friends, and begins missing football games to stay at home. • Reaction Formation: Expressing the opposite of how one truly feels. • Biff claims he loathes Muffy. • Regression: Returning to an earlier, comforting form of behavior. • Biff begins sleeping with his favorite childhood stuffed animal, “Mr. Fuzzy” • Rationalization: Coming up with a beneficial result of an undesirable occurrence. • Biff believes that he can now find a better girlfriend, after all, Muffy isn’t really that pretty/smart/fun to be with.
Defense Mechanisms III • Repression: Blocking thoughts out from conscious awareness. • When asked how he feels about the breakup, Biff replies, “Who? Oh, yeah, I haven’t thought about her in a while.” • Denial: Not accepting the ego-threatening truth. • Biff continues to act as if he and Muffy are together. He waits by her locker, calls her, and plans their future dates. • Intellectualism: Undertaking an academic, unemotional study of a topic. • Biff embarks on an in-depth research project about failed teen romances. • Sublimation: Channeling one’s frustration toward a different goal. • Biff devotes himself to writing poetry and publishes a small volume before he graduates high school.
Carl Jung: Believed Unconscious consisted of two parts Personal: painful/threatening memories that are repressed (complexes) Collective: archetypes passed down through the species, explaining similarities between cultures Ex: universal fear of the dark; importance of the circle Alfred Adler: focused on the conscious role of the ego, believed people were motivated by two things: Inferiority: fear of failure Superiority: desire to achieve Also, first to research the importance of birth order on personality and development. Psychodynamic Theory:Neofreudians
Man operates on the assumption that he has some measure of control over his destiny. Man is capable of both good and evil, rational and irrational, active and reactive behaviors. These qualities are opposites on a continuum, allowing man to retain the possibility of reaching both. Individuality is paramount!! “Each individual, by virtue of his great potential for learning and his own particular background of experience, is unique.” Focus: Values Personal Growth Fulfillment of Potential Motivation: Self-Actualization Mental Illness: caused by a disparity between one’s perceived self and environment, and one’s image of the “ideal-self” and “ideal environment” Humanistic Psychology: Basic Principles BAD GOOD
Humanistic Psychology:Carl Rogers • Each individual exists in a private world of experience of which he—the I, me, or myself—is the center. • The most basic striving of the individual is toward the maintenance, enhancement, and actualization of the ‘self’ (Freud’s ‘ego’) • The individual reacts to situations in terms of his unique perceptions of himself and his world—he reacts to reality as he perceives it and in ways consistent with his self-concept. • Perceived threat to the self is followed by defense—including the narrowing and rigidification of perception and coping behaviors/defense mechanisms. • The individual’s inner tendencies are toward health and wholeness, and under normal conditions he behaves in rational and constructive ways, and chooses pathways toward personal growth and self-actualization.
Carl Rogers:Positive Regard We All Need Somebody… to like us! • Unconditional Positive Regard • Typically between parent and child, necessary for the child to learn that he or she is worthy of being loved • Conditional Positive Regard • Dependent on how the child behaves; usually not given exclusively- can lead to resentment and fluctuating self-esteem • Positive Self-Regard • Desire to feel good about ourselves- fueled by Unconditional Positive Regard, hampered by conditions of worth • Self-Verification: need to confirm your self-concept • Self-enhancement: need to gain and preserve a positive self-image • Strategies found across cultures • Example: • I succeed: this is due to my awesome skill and intelligence! • I fail: I just didn’t get enough sleep/time/help from others.
Humanistic Psychology:Abraham Maslow Realizing one’s full potential Respecting oneself; Feeling Pride Belonging, Friendship, closeness Shelter, Feeling free from danger Food, etc.
George Kelly: Personal Construct Theory • Primary focus: how people construct reality • Personal constructs determine personalities and can be used to predict behavior as they dictate how a person sees the world. • Examples: a couple breaks up: different people react differently, reactions/explanations include: • “simple incompatibility” • One was “jilted” by the other • Broke up because of “outside factors” • “a blessing in disguise” • “Terrible tragedy”
George Kelly:Personal Construct Theory • Therapy: understanding how a person views the world can help a therapist guide the patient to a new type of understanding. • Constructions are hypotheses, not facts! • Fixed-role therapy: within a therapy setting, patients are asked to follow a role description that is different from their preconceived self-concept
Take a sheet of colored paper, write your name on the “back.” Fold the sheet of paper in half. Label the left side “Perceived Self” Perceived Self Rogers’ Person-Centered Approach
Roger’s Person-Centered Approach • Label the right side of the page “Ideal Self” • It’s Fantasy Time! Describe who you would like to be.
Rogers and Maslow Experience Self Concept Self Concept Experience Self Concept Experience
Trait Theories • Operate on the principle that we can describe people’s personalities by specifying their main characteristics or traits. • Are more concerned with describing behavior/personality than with explaining it. • Traits are stable, and motivate behavior in keeping with the trait. • Ex. A ‘friendly’ person acts in a friendly manner across different situations and times.
Founding Ideas: Hans Eyesenck: introversion/extroversion theory Raymond Cattell: Personality Factor test (16 traits) Current Interpretations: Factor Analysis, the “Big 5:” sliding scales of personality concerned with: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience, emotional stability Idiographic theory: having one set of terms for all people is impossible. Look at each person’s best few traits instead. Trait Theories
Trait Theories • Gordon Allport: believed common traits were useful, but a full understanding of someone’s personality requires looking at three different types of personal traits. • Cardinal Dispositions: a single trait that is so influencing in some people, that they play a pivotal role in virtually everything they do • Central Dispositions: traits that have a broader, but vital role in a person’s personality • Secondary Dispositions: traits that have a limited, but important influence on a personality
Biological Personality Theory • Genes, chemicals, and body types determine who a person is. • Evidence points to genetic influence on temperament, but not hereditability of personality
Biological Personality Theory • Tellegen’s twin study: compared four groups of twin pairs on 14 different personality traits • Personality variation attributable to genetic, familial environment, and unique environment was calculated for each personality characteristic. • Genetic factors: 40-50% • Familial Environment: ~10% • Unique Environment: 40-50%
Introversion and Extraversion • Eysenck (from Trait theory): Two-dimensional theory using brain function to explain personality traits • Customary Arousal: • introverts are chronically overaroused (too electrically active) • Extraverts are chronically underaroused • Shifts in Arousal: • Stability/Instability: greater the instability, the more likely a person is to experience emotional problems or disorders
Eysenck • Research is proving his point: twin studies and brain mapping establishing that brain activation patterns are linked to introversion/extraversion, and temperament as well • Neural bases, however, go beyond Eysenck’s theory to include brain structures • Amygdala: linked to flight/fight response, hormonal controls, and to temperament, specifically inhibition • Temperament: individual differences in emotional and behavioral style • Twin studies: more highly correlated in identical twins than fraternal, suggesting a genetic link
Social-Learning Theory • Meld behaviorist theory and cognitive psychologists’ theories. • Albert Bandura: personality created by an interaction between the person (traits), the environment, and the person’s behavior. • Triadic reciprocality: (reciprocal determinism) each of the factors influences the others • Self-efficacy (level of optimism about one’s abilities) has a powerful effect on a person’s actions.
Social-Cognitive Theory • George Kelly: personal-construct theory • In their attempts to understand the world, people develop their own, individual systems of personal constructs • Constructs consists of pairs of opposites (fair-unfair, smart-dumb, exciting-dull) • Fundamental postulate: behavior is influenced by cognition; knowing how people have behaved in the past, we can predict their future actions
Social-Cognitive Theories • Julian Rotter: a person can be described as having either an internal or external locus of control • Internal: people feel that they are in control of what happens to them • External: people believe that luck and outside forces control their destiny
Cultural Influences History of prejudice and oppression Cultural Values about: Poverty achievement Language and Art human nature Sociopolitical Background social relations Child-Rearing Beliefs individuality Social Environment/ Community Influences Family Characteristics, Child-rearing Practices
Assessing Personality • Interviews • Pro: personal contact • Con: Interviewer may influence responses • Reports (by others) • Personality Scales • Pro: objective • Con: people lie • Behavioral Assessment • Pro: objectivity, consistency • Con: difficult to train • Remote Behavior Sampling • Pro: can collect long-term patterns of behavior • Responses on Projective Tests (Rorschach) • Pro: no prompting • Con: little uniformity in scoring
Personality Scales • Human Metrics’ Typology Test: A short-form Myers-Briggs/ Jung Personality Test http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp Go there! Take the Assessment! How accurate do you think it is?
