Review 2011

 Personality- relatively stable patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting that an individual possesses  Major Approaches:  Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic  Trait  Behavioral  Humanistic  Sociocultural

 Focuses on the role of the unconscious in the development of personality  Major theorists: Sigmund Freud  Neo-Freudians: Alfred Adler, Karen Horney, Carl Jung, Erik Erikson

 Iceberg Metaphor of Consciousness:

 Id- “pleasure principle”  Contains basic survival drives  Acts without restraint- looks for immediate satisfaction

 Ego- “reality principle”  Tempers the desires of the ID  Contains the conscious perceptions that develop with maturity  Tries to ensure the individual will experience pleasure within social constraints

 Superego- “ morality principle”  Operates on what is perceives is “ideal” or “right”  Combination of our conscience and ideal self image  GUILT = result of the ego acting contrary to the superego

 The ID, EGO, SUPEREGO function together to resolve the conflicts between our internal drives and social constraints  The ego also uses defense mechanisms as a means of reducing anxiety  (review the handout on defense mechanisms)

 Freud pioneered the technique of psychoanalytic therapy- focused on stream of consciousness, dreams, symbols, and the examination of early childhood experiences

 Carl Jung- broke from Freud and founded analytic psychology  Collective unconscious  Archetypes  persona

Karen Horney- believed that social influences not sexual drives are the most important Erik Erikson-focused on developmental stages rather than Freud’s sexual stages Alfred Adler- believed that we are all born with feelings of inferiority- striving for superiority = goal Overcompensation Inferiority complex

 Focuses on characteristic behaviors and conscious motives  Can be physical, social, or moral characteristics  Criticisms: ID’s traits but does NOT address where they come from

 Gordon Allport- classification of traits  Cardinal Traits- a trait that an individual exhibits in all situations  Central Traits- a trait exhibited in most situations  Secondary Traits- a trait whose presence in an individual depends on the situation  (cardinal traits = fairly rare)

 Raymond Cattell - reduced the # of traits, then further classified traits into clusters, then identified source traits  List is bipolar: (ex) reserved- outgoing, timid- venturesome, etc

 Hans Eysenck - characterized traits into two dimensions  Introversion/ extroversion  Emotional stability/ instability  used 4 temperaments to classify the personality dimensions  Evolved into the “Big 5”: emotional stability. Extroversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness to new experience

 Focuses on behaviorism and social learning  Behavior is observable= valid  Claim that there is no need to consider personality or traits because they are based by reinforcement  Criticisms- ignores internal experiences and free will

 John Watson - believes that we behave as we do because early behaviors were reinforced  believes that with reinforcement, people can become anything they want  Little Albert example

 B.F. Skinner- behavior is learned through socialization  Behaviors are not freely chosen, but are shaped by the environment  No free will- behavior is shaped by the environment  System of rewards  Influential in learning theories

 Albert Bandura - “social learning” theory  Believes people have free will- allows them to act and influence their environments  Behavior is based on what we observe and internal factors  Skills, values, goals, expectations, self-efficacy

 Focuses on self-awareness and development of the “self”  Emphasizes: internal positive factors in motivation and personality  Focuses on the unique potential within the individual  Criticisms: experiences are subjective, ignores human capacity for evil, not open to testing

 Abraham Maslow- focused on an individual’s desire to reach his/her full potential  an individual must find their own way to that goal  Self-actualization - goal of every individual

 Carl Rogers - the key to self-actualization is reflection  Emphasizes self-esteem  Unconditional positive regard  Self-concept

 Focuses on the effects of: ethnicity, gender, and culture on the formation of personality  A healthy personality= happiness and fulfillment within the constraints of cultural determinants  Criticisms: does not address personality tendencies that may be culture free

 Individualism vs. Collectivism