Psychology 3314 Psychology of Personality

Your instructor: Dr. William Ickes Distinguished Professor of Psychology Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin E-mail: ickes@uta.edu Office: Room 510 Life Science tickets tickets = ickes

Intellectual ancestry of William Ickes William James Franz Brentano Herman Lotze James R. Angell Carl Stumpf John B. Watson Kurt Lewin Karl Lashley Leon Festinger C. P. Stone Jack Brehm Harry Harlow Abraham Maslow Elliot Aronson Robert Wicklund William Ickes His Students

Textbooks

Chapter 1 What Is Personality?

Human personality is complicated

Influences on behavior that are commonly studied by personality and social psychologists Internal (Dispositional) External (Situational) Stable psychological traits temperaments personal attitudes, beliefs, and values situational factors emotional environment stable local norms, beliefs, and values Unstable psychological states moods short-term preferences and whims situational flux, chance events current emotional climate unstable local norms, beliefs, and values

Four major themes in personality research There are substantial individual differences in the way people act, think, and feel, even when they are in the “same” situation. Despite these differences between people, individuals display substantial cross-temporal and cross-situational consistency in their own behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. This is relative consistency, not absolute consistency. Individuals are also self-aware agents who develop self-concepts which they use to guide and regulate their own behavior. Personality displays both continuity and change across the lifespan.

Situations and dispositions both affect behavior Example: the number of smiles in two different situations Participant Party Funeral Sue 84 17 Eddie 65 15 Carlos 51 11 Anna 46 8 Linda 40 6 John 33 4 Mary 27 3 Frank 22

There is room for both situational and dispositional (i. e There is room for both situational and dispositional (i.e., individual difference) factors to influence behavior.

Four major themes in personality research There are substantial individual differences in the way people act, think, and feel, even when they are in the “same” situation. Despite these differences between people, individuals display substantial cross-temporal and cross-situational consistency in their own actions, thoughts, and feelings. Individuals are also self-aware agents who develop self-concepts which they use to guide and regulate their own behavior. Personality displays both continuity and change across the lifespan.

Your instructor at different ages

Four major themes in personality research There are substantial individual differences in the way people act, think, and feel, even when they are in the “same” situation. Despite these differences between people, individuals display substantial cross-temporal and cross-situational consistency in their own actions, thoughts, and feelings. Individuals are also self-aware agents who develop self-concepts which they use to guide and regulate their own behavior. Personality displays both continuity and change across the lifespan.

Six approaches to the study of personality The psychoanalytic approach The classic psychoanalytic approach (Freud) The neo-Freudians (Adler, Jung, Erickson, Horney) The trait approach (Allport, Cattell, Eysenck) The biological approach (Eysenck, Plomin) The humanistic approach (Rogers, Maslow) The behavioral/social learning approach Behaviorism (Watson, Thorndike, Skinner) Social learning theory (Rotter, Bandura) The cognitive approach (Kelly, Mischel, Beck, Ellis)

Explaining behavior using the six approaches: The blind men and elephant metaphor Explaining aggressive behavior Psychoanalytic, trait, biological, humanistic, behavioral/social learning, and cognitive explanations Explaining depressive behavior

Personality and culture Individualistic and collectivistic cultures Identity Self-esteem Definition of success Independence versus interdependence with others

The six approaches to personality: comparisons and contrasts Genetic Environmental Influence Influence ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ _ Biological Trait Psychoanalytic Humanistic Behavioral / Social Learning Cognitive Unaware of Conscious of Determinants Determinants ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ _ Psychoanalytic Behavioral / Social Learning Trait Humanistic Cognitive Biological Determinism Free Will ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ _ Behavioral / Psychoanalytic Trait Cognitive Humanistic Social Learning Biological

The four aspects of each approach to the study of personality Theory Assessment Research Application