Chapter 10 Personality

Personality Personality – Psychological qualities that bring continuity to an individual’s behavior in different situations and at different times

What Forces Shape Our Personalities? According to the psychodynamic, humanistic and cognitive theories, personality is a continuously changing process, shaped by our internal needs and cognitions and by external pressures from the social environment

Psychodynamic Theories Psychoanalysis– Freud’s system of treatment for mental disorders Psychoanalytic theory – Freud’s theory of personality

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Unconscious – Psychic domain of which the individual is not aware, but which is the storehouse of repressed impulses, drives, and conflicts that are unavailable to consciousness

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Drives and instincts Eros Libido Thanatos

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Drives and instincts Eros Drives people toward acts that are sexual, life-giving, and creative Libido Thanatos

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Drives and instincts Eros Drives people to experience sensual pleasure Libido Thanatos

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Drives and instincts Eros Libido Drives people toward aggressive and destructive behaviors Thanatos

Freud’s Model of the Mind

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Personality structure Id Superego Ego

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Personality structure Id Primitive, unconscious portion of personality, houses most basic drives and stores repressed memories Superego Ego

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Personality structure Id Mind’s storehouse of values, moral attitudes learned from parents and society, same as common notion of conscience Superego Ego

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Personality structure Id Conscious, rational part of personality, charged with keeping peace between superego and id Superego Ego

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Psychosexual stages – Successive, instinctive patterns of associating pleasure with stimulations of specific bodily areas at different times of life. Freud believed that one’s personality was set in childhood. This is the discontinuous view of development (occurs in stages). Freud believed that sexual urges were an important determinant of people’s personality development. Each of the stages is named for the part of the body from which people derive sexual pleasure during the stage. Oral Stage Anal Stage Phallic Stage Latency Genital Stage

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Fixation– Occurs when psychosexual development is arrested at an immature stage. Fixation results from being either undergratified or overgratified.

Psychosexual Stages (Oh A Pig Likes Grass) Birth-1 year: Freud proposed that children enjoy sucking and biting because it gives them a form of sexual pleasure. Oral Stage Desire: Oral Stimulation Challenge: Overcoming dependency (being dependent on bottle; weaning). Oral Fixation: If a child is over fed or underfed, or weaned from the bottle too early, then that could lead to the following problems later in life – overeating, too much gum chewing, smoking, nail-biting, talkativeness, gluttony, gullibility, chewing on objects, etc.

Psychosexual Stages (Oh A Pig Likes Grass) 1-3 years: Children are sexually gratified by the act of elimination (potty training) Anal Stage Desire: Anal Stimulation by bladder and bowel function. Challenge: Toilet Training and self-control. Anal Fixation: If a child has a traumatic toilet training experience, then that can lead to the anal expulsive personality, which describes people who are messy or disorganized, or the anal retentive personality, which describes people who are meticulously neat, hyperorganized, and a bit compulsive. The adult who is fixated in this stage can be destructive, cruel, stingy, cold, throw temper tantrums, and expect to get their way.

Psychosexual Stages (Oh A Pig Likes Grass) Phallic Stage 3-5 years: Sexual gratification moves to the genitalia. Desire: Stimulation of genitals (not considered abnormal!) Challenge: Resolving Oedipus/Electra Complex, involving erotic attraction to parent of opposite sex and hostility to parent of same sex. Phallic Fixation: If a child does not adequately resolve the issue of being able to identify who they are and know that they cannot have their opposite-sex parent as a mate, then they can become jealous adults, have egocentric sex, have many sexual partners in life as if they were trying to conquer something, or have problems in later life with their own parents. They may also be too sexually assured or aggressive, or consumed with their own sexual inadequacies.

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Oedipus complex – According to Freud, a largely unconscious process whereby boys displace an erotic attraction toward their mother to females of their own age and, at the same time, identify with their fathers. For girls, this is known as the Electra Complex.

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Identification – The unconscious mental process by which an individual tries to become like another person, especially the same-sex parent. This defense mechanism is meant to protect the conscious mind from thoughts that are too painful (can you imagine if you knew that you were in love with your opposite sex parent???!!)

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Penis envy– According to Freud, the female desire to have a penis– a condition that usually results in their attraction to males. Castration anxiety – According to Freud, boys specifically fear that their fathers will castrate them to eliminate them as rivals for their mothers, so this keeps them behaving, identifying with their father, and shifts their attention to girls their own age.

Psychosexual Stages (Oh A Pig Likes Grass) 6 years - puberty: All sexual feelings are pushed out of conscious awareness (repression). Focus shifts to school and how children act with their peers. Latency Desire: Repression of sexual and aggressive desires. Challenge: Consciously: learning modesty and shame. Unconsciously: dealing with a repressed Oedipal/Electra conflict. Latent Fixation: If a child is shamed or embarrassed, then as an adult the child may develop excessive modesty. Freud also considered a fixation in this stage to lead to the preference for company of the same sex or homosexuality (by today’s psychological standards, this is not a disorder – Freud believed it was.)

Psychosexual Stages (Oh A Pig Likes Grass) Puberty -Adulthood: Sexual pleasure is attained through sexual relationships with others. Genital Stage Desire: Mature sexual relationships. Challenge: Displacing energy into healthy activities and establishing new relationships with parents. Genital Fixation: None – this is due to the fact that if you enter this stage without having fixations in the other stages, then you will have healthy relationships.

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Ego defense mechanisms – Largely unconscious mental strategies employed to reduce the experience of conflict or anxiety. It is the job of the ego to protect the conscious mind. Repression Denial Projection Reaction Formation Regression Rationalization Displacement Sublimation

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Projective tests – Personality assessment instruments based on Freud’s concept of projection Rorschach Inkblot Test Thematic Apperception Test

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Psychic determinism – Freud’s assumption that all mental and behavioral reactions are caused by unconscious traumas desires or conflicts

ANNA FREUD DAUGHTER OF SIGMUND FREUD THE HAMPSTEAD CHILD THERAPY CLINIC ANALYSIS OF CHILDREN DEFENSE MECHANISMS

CARL JUNG’S ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY BACKGROUND & EARLY YEARS HE BEGAN TO WRITE TO FREUD HE EMPHASIZED THE UNCONSCIOUS DETERMINANTS OF PERSONALITY

EXTENDING THE UNCONSCIOUS LAYERS THE PERSONAL UNCONSCIOUS HOUSES MATERIAL THAT IS NOT WITHIN ONE’S CONSCIOUS AWARENESS BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN REPRESSED. PORTION OF THE UNCONSCIOUS CORRESPONDING ROUGHLY TO FREUD’S ID. THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS IS A STOREHOUSE OF LATENT MEMORIES INHERITED FROM OUR ANCESTRAL PAST.

JUNG’S ARCHETYPES ARCHETYPES ARE EMOTIONALLY CHARGED IMAGES THAT HAVE UNIVERSAL MEANING THEY APPEAR IN ART, LITERATURE, AND RELIGION

Carl Jung: Extending the Unconscious Archetypes Animus Anima Shadow

Carl Jung: Extending the Unconscious Archetypes Animus The male archetype Anima The female archetype Shadow

Carl Jung: Extending the Unconscious Archetypes Animus Archetype representing the destructive and aggressive tendencies we don’t want to recognize in ourselves Anima Shadow

INTROVERT VS. EXTROVERT INTROVERT= INNER-DIRECTED, PREOCCUPIED WITH THE WORLD OF THEIR OWN THOUGHTS EXTROVERT= INTERESTED IN OTHER PEOPLE & THINGS

Carl Jung: Extending the Unconscious Jung’s principle of opposites portrays each personality as a balance between opposing pairs of unconscious tendencies, such as introversion and extroversion

Karen Horney: A Feminist Voice in Psychodynamic Psychology Basic anxiety – An emotion that gives a sense of uncertainty and loneliness on a hostile world and can lead to maladjustment Neurotic needs – Signs of neurosis in Horney’s theory, these ten needs are normal desires carried to a neurotic extreme

See the chart on page 421 in your book See the chart on page 421 in your book. 10 Neurotic Needs – Normal desires taken to the extreme. 6. Need for recognition or prestige. Need for personal admiration. Need for personal achievement. Need for self-sufficiency and independence. Need for perfection. Need for affection and approval. Need for a partner and dread of being left alone. Need to restrict one’s life and remain inconspicuous. Need for power or control over others. Need to exploit others (take advantage of others for your own profit).

Karen Horney 3 patterns of attitudes and behavior that people use to deal with basic anxiety, either in a healthy way or in a neurotic way. Moving toward others, against others, away from others.

Moving Toward Others It is neurotic when a person needs constant reminders of love and approval. These people need someone to help, to take care of, or someone for whom to “sacrifice” themselves. They often feel victimized and become dependent. See slide

Moving Against Others Power and respect is earned by competing or attacking successfully. They risk ending up “alone at the top.” See slide

Moving Away From Others It is neurotic when a person avoids others to protect themselves from imagined hurt or rejection (“I won’t make friends because they might hurt me.”) In doing so, they close themselves off to intimacy and support and healthy relationships. See slide

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY ADLER FELT FREUD HAD GONE OVERBOARD IN CENTERING HIS THEORIES ON SEXUAL CONFLICTS MORE IMPORTANT IS A STRIVING FOR SUPERIORITY

COMPENSATION COMPENSATION INVOLVES EFFORTS TO OVERCOME DEFICIENCIES INFERIORITY COMPLEX OVERCOMPEN-SATION

ORDINAL POSITION BIRTH ORDER IS A MAJOR FACTOR IN THE DEVELOP-MENT OF PERSONALITY DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS FOR DIFFERENT SIBLINGS

Humanistic Theories Humanistic Theories include Gordon Allport’s trait theory Abraham Maslow’s self-actualizing personality Carl Roger’s fully functioning person

Gordon Allport and the Beginnings of Humanistic Traits – Stable personality characteristics that are presumed to exist within the individual and guide his or her thoughts and actions under various conditions Central traits form the basis of personality Secondary traits include preferences and attitudes Cardinal traits define peoples lives

Abraham Maslow and the Healthy Personality Self-actualizing personalities – Healthy individuals who have met their basic needs and are free to be creative and fulfill their potentials

CARL ROGERS CLIENT-CENTERED THERAPY CCT PROVIDES A SUPPORTIVE ENVIRONMENT IN CCT, THE CLIENT DETERMINES THE PACE & DIRECTION OF THERAPY

CARL ROGERS ANXIETY IS CAUSED BY INCONSISTENCY (INCONGRUENCY) BETWEEN A PERSON’S SELF-CONCEPT AND REALITY. HOW YOU PERCEIVE YOURSELF FULLY FUNCTIONING PERSON

Carl Rogers’s Fully Functioning Person Phenomenal field – Our psychological reality, composed of one’s perceptions and feelings Unconditional positive regard – Love or caring without conditions attached

Evaluating Humanistic Theories Positive psychology – Movement within psychology focusing on the desirable aspects of human functioning, as opposed to an emphasis on psychopathology

Cognitive Theories: Social Learning and Personality Observational learning – Process of learning new responses by watching the behavior of others Reciprocal determinism – Process in which the person, situation and environment mutually influence each other

Reciprocal Determinism Cognition Environment Behavior

Locus of Control Locus of control – An individual’s sense of where his or her life influences originate

Current Trends in Personality Theory Family systems theory Cultural differences Gender influences

What Persistent Patterns are Found in Personality? Another approach describes personality in terms of stable patterns known as temperaments, traits, and types

What Patterns are Found in Personality? Humors – Four bodily fluids that, according to ancient theory, control personality by their relative abundance Blood Phlegm Black Bile Yellow Bile

Personality and Temperament Temperament – Basic, pervasive personality dispositions that are apparent in early childhood and establish the tempo and mood of an individual’s behaviors Type – Especially important dimensions or clusters of traits that are not only central to a person’s personality but are found with essentially the same pattern in many people

Patterns in Personality The “Big Five” traits Openness to experience (closed mindedness) Conscientiousness (carelessness) Extraversion (introversion) Agreeableness (negativity) Neuroticism (emotional control) Cattell identifies 16 personality factors

Assessing Traits NEO-PI (Big Five Inventory) Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) Reliability and validity are important attributes of good psychological tests

Traits and the Person-Situation Debate Person-situation controversy – Theoretical dispute concerning the relative contribution of personality factors and situational factors in controlling behavior

What “Theories” Do People Use to Understand Each Other? People everywhere develop implicit assumptions (“folk theories”) about personality, but these assumptions vary in important ways across cultures

Implicit Personality Theories Implicit personality theories – Assumptions about personality that are held by people to simplify the task of understanding others Fundamental attribution error – Assumption that another person’s behavior (especially undesirable behavior) is the result of a flaw in the personality, rather than in the situation

Personality Across Cultures Assumptions people make vary widely across cultures–depending especially on whether the culture emphasizes individualism or collectivism Other cultural differences involve Status of different age groups and sexes Romantic love Stoicism Locus of control Thinking vs. feeling Attribution

End of Chapter 10