1 Personality Carolyn R. Fallahi, Ph. D.

2 Personality  Questions about human nature are as old as nature itself.  Theophrastus ( BC) – a student of Aristotle  Men and women fall into categories or typologies.

3 Examples of Typology  The greedy man  The gossip  The patron of rascals  The slacker

4 Personality  Do categories like that capture the essence of the person?  Reflect social stereotypes?  Personality refers to those psychological characteristics of an individual that are general, enduring, distinctive, integrated, and functional.

5 Personality  Sometimes a particular combination of qualities best characterizes your personality. Wild and crazy Young and restless Dazed and confused

6 Personality = how we handle the demands of the world  Personality also refers to how we handle the demands of the world.  Is it functional? Not functional? Why do some people earn straight As when others go straight to jail?

7 Personality & Psychopathology  Their theories of psychopathology have become also theories of personality.

8 An example  For example, individuals who have borderline personality disorder show marked fluctuations in identity, mood, and behavior.

9 Theories of Personality  Sometimes personality psychology is called personology.

10 Psychodynamic Approach  Sigmund Freud  Hysteria  Freud believed that sexual conflicts from childhood caused this condition.

11 Assumptions about human nature  Energy = libido  Drives and instincts provide this energy  We are motivated to satisfy instinctive needs.  How do conflicts arise?

12 Assumptions  Unconscious motives.  Past events shape subsequent behavior.

13 Sigmund Freud   Viennese physician trained in neurology.  Joseph Breuer – hypnosis.  Technique of catharsis, the so-called talking cure.  Free Association

14 The Structure of Personality  Freud proposed that the mind has 3 parts: the conscious, the preconscious, and the unconscious.  The conscious is what we are aware of at a particular moment: “My favorite television show is about to start”.  The preconscious is whatever we can voluntarily call into awareness, such as telephone numbers, birthdays & definitions of psychology terms!

15 Structure  The unconscious contains thoughts, feelings, and desires of which we are not aware.

16 Revision to his view of the mind  Later in Freud’s career, he revised his view of the mind. He described mental functioning with a new set of distinctions.  Id – pleasure principle. Dominated by wishes and impulses.  The ego operates according to the reality principle, which makes our thinking rational and logical.

17 Revision  Superego - internalization of parental and societal values.  Freud regarded the id, ego, and superego as constantly interacting in a given situation. How they blend together for an individual explains his/her particular personality.

18 The Psychosexual stages of Personality Development  Oral: B to 1The child satisfies his/her need through activities involving the mouth; nursing, chewing, biting.  Anal: 1 to 3Gratification centers on elimination, either retaining or expelling feces.  Phallic: 3 to 5 Satisifaction is achieved through self-stimulation of the genitals.

19 The Psychosexual stages of Personality Development  Latency 6 to puberty Gratification has no particular focus.  Genital (puberty) Satisfaction is achieved through sexual contact with others.

20 Concepts to cover  The Oedipus complex  Women do not resolve the Oedipal complex as fully as men do.  During the phallic stage, at about 6 years old, children enter the latency period where sexual impulses are curbed. Development in other domains – cognitive, moral, social become important.

21 Concepts to cover  Fixation Fixation =we do not pass successfully through a stage b/c we are either frustrated by not enough satisfaction or indulged by too much.

22 Problems with Freud  Lack of research  Views about women