What is Personality? An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting Four basic perspectives: Psychoanalytic Trait Humanistic Social Cognitive

Psychoanalytic Perspective Childhood development and unconscious motives influence our personality Psychoanalysis – Seeks to expose and interpret unconscious tensions

Psychoanalytic Perspective Free Association Person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing

Psychoanalytic Perspective Unconscious Freud - Reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories Today – Information processing of which we are unaware Preconscious Information that is not conscious, but is easily retrievable into conscious awareness

Personality Structure Id – Unconscious psychic energy Strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives. Operates on the “pleasure principle”, demanding immediate gratification

Personality Structure Superego We strive for perfection Ego-ideal – Rules of good behavior and standards of excellence to which we aspire Conscience uses guilt as punishment for bad behavior

Personality Structure Ego The largely conscious, “executive” part of personality Mediates between the demands of the id and superego Operates on the “reality principle”, satisfying the id’s desires in ways that are compatible with the real world

Defense Mechanisms Defense Mechanisms – The ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality Repression – Suppresses anxiety provoking thoughts, feelings, and memories Sublimation – transform unacceptable impulses into socially accepted forms

Defense Mechanisms Regression – Retreat to a more infantile stage when faced with anxiety

Defense Mechanisms Reaction formation – Express feelings that are the opposite of unconscious anxiety feelings

Defense Mechanisms Projection – Attribute their own threatening impulses to others Rationalization – Offers self-justifying explanations in place of real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one’s actions

Defense Mechanisms Displacement – Divert aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object (kick the dog syndrome)

Freud’s Psychosexual Stages Fixation – A sudden halt in a person’s development Oral (0-18 months) – Mouth is pleasure center Anal (18-36 months) – Poop is pleasurable

Freud’s Psychosexual Stages Phallic (3-6 years) – Pleasure from genitals Oedipus complex: A boy's id impulses involve sexual desire for the mother and a desire to eliminate, even kill, the father. This is called the Oedipus complex. The boy's hostile fantasies about his father create a fear of retaliation called castration anxiety, which leads the boy's ego to repress the incestuous desires and identify with the father. Electra complex: The female child begins with a strong attachment to her mother. She experiences penis envy and blames her mother for the missing penis and considers her inferior for lacking a penis. The child transfers her love to her father, but she identifies with her mother by adopting female gender-role behaviors.

Freud’s Psychosexual Stages Girls, yuk!!! Latency (6-puberty) – Dormant sexual period (no interest) Genital (puberty on) – sexual interest matures

Neo-Freudians Karen Horney – Women are not inferior Carl Jung Womb envy Cultural factors Carl Jung Emphasized collective unconscious – concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species’ history

Assessing the Unconscious Projective Tests Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) People express their feelings through responses to ambiguous stimuli

Assessing the Unconscious Rorschach Inkblot Test Most widely used projective test Identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of blots

Trait Theory of Personality The trait approach assumes that personality is made up of stable internal characteristics (traits, factors, dimensions, etc.) which appear at varying strengths in different people & which guide their behavior. Assumptions of the Trait Approach: Personality traits are relatively stable & predictable over time Personality traits are relatively stable across diverse situations & they can explain why people act in predictable ways in many different situations People differ with regard to how much of a particular personality trait they possess; no two people are exactly alike on all traits.

Trait Theory Sheldon’s Body Types: Ectomorph - A person with a tall, thin, fragile frame and a large head tended to be intellectual, introverted, self-conscious and often nervous. Endomorph - With a rounded soft, plump body, this person was thought to be sociable, friendly, relaxed with a fondness for food and comfort. Mesomorph - This athletic body type had a muscular, sturdy and thick-necked frame. A mesomorph tended to be active and noisy, risk-taking and sometime insensitive in interpersonal relationships.

Trait Perspective Hans and Sybil Eysenck use two primary personality factors as axes for describing personality variation

The Trait Perspective The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) Most widely used test Now used for screening purposes

The Trait Perspective

“Big Five” Inventory Extraversion: Reverse the numbers placed in front of items 7,19, and 33 (1=5, 2=4, 3=3, 4=2, 5=1), then add all the numbers for items 1,7,13,19,33,39,46,49, and 53. Scores range from 9-45 with a higher score reflecting greater extraversion. Agreeableness: Reverse the numbers placed in front of items 2,15,25,and 40, then add all the numbers for items 2,8,15,25,28,34,40,45, and 51. Scores range from 9-45 with a higher score reflecting greater agreeableness. Conscientiousness: Reverse the numbers placed in front of items 10,21,29,52, then add all the numbers in front of items 3,10,16,21,24,29,36,42, and 52. Scores range from 9-45 with a higher score reflecting greater conscientiousness. Emotional Stability: Reverse the numbers placed in front of items 5,17,31,37, and 47, then add all the numbers in front of items 5, 11,17,22,26,31,37,43, and 47. Scores range from 9-45 with a higher score reflecting greater emotional stability. Openness: Reverse the numbers in front of items 9,14,32,54, then add the numbers in front of 4,6,9,12,14,18,20,23,27,30,32,38,41,44,48,50, and 54. Total scores range from 18-90 with the highest score reflecting greater openness.

Social-Cognitive Perspective What we think about our situations affects our behavior. How do we interpret and respond to external events? How do our schemas, our memories, and our expectations influence our behavior patterns?

Social-Cognitive Perspective Do you feel that you control your own fate? Rotter’s Locus of Control – The sense of controlling our environments Internals – One can control his/her own fate Externals – One’s fate is determined by luck, chance or behavior of others

Learned Helplessness – Passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events

Social-Cognitive Perspective Bandura called the process of interacting with our environment reciprocal determinism

Humanistic Perspective Carl Roger’s Person-Centered Approach Focused on growth and fulfillment of individuals Requires: Genuineness Acceptance – unconditional positive regard empathy Unconditional positive regard – attitude of total acceptance of another person

Humanistic Perspective Maslow’s Self-Actualizing Person Self Actualization – The ultimate psychological need that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved The motivation to fulfill one’s potential