© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 1 Personality Theories and Assessment 12

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 2 Personality Definition –Sum total of all typical ways of acting, feeling, and thinking that makes a person different from all others Personality Theories and Assessment

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 3 Personality Trait theories –Traits are characteristics, aspects of personality –Allport: traits can be ranked Motivational traits related to one’s values Cardinal traits dominate one’s life (ie: desire for social justice) Central/secondary traits are more common (ie: obtaining sexual gratification) Personality Theories and Assessment

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 4 Personality Trait theories –Five-factor model of personality traits Five dimensions measured in personality tests –Neuroticism (anxious, worrisome) –Extraversion (outgoing, social) –Openness (creative, daring) –Agreeableness (selfless, forgiving) –Conscientiousness (reliable, hardworking) Personality Theories and Assessment

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 5 Personality Validating personality traits –Eysenck’s introverts and extraverts Brain’s neural systems may work different –Tests: Classical conditioning Functional MRI Personality Theories and Assessment

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 6 Human Diversity Personality and culture –Personality influenced by culture –Individualistic culture (ie: U.S.) – emphasize individual rights and characteristics Feeling of pride, superiority Seek own goals over those of others More willing to use embarrassment and aggression to prove oneself right Free time often spent in solitary pursuits Personality Theories and Assessment

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 7 Human Diversity Personality and culture –Collective cultures (ie: Japan, China, India) – emphasize individual in terms of rights, duties, and expectations as member of a group –Leisure time more often spent with family –Less aggressive in conflict; say things to avoid embarrassment of others –Characterized as having close ties, respectful, and friendly Personality Theories and Assessment

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 8 Human Diversity All personality theories must consider effects of culture People of different cultures tend to differ in some important ways There is tremendous variation within cultures Collective and individualistic traits are found among members of all cultures Personality Theories and Assessment

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 9 Psychoanalytic Theory Freud’s theory and views –Original interest in conversion disorder –Case of Anna O. –Three levels of consciousness Mind is iceberg; conscious, preconscious, and unconscious mind are levels Repression pushes thoughts into unconscious Personality Theories and Assessment

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 10 Superego Moral imperatives Ideals Ego Reality principle Secondary process thinking Unconscious Well below surface of awareness; difficult to retrieve Conscious Contact with outside world Preconscious Material just beneath surface of awareness Id Pleasure principle Primary process thinking

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 11 Psychoanalytic Theory Freud’s theory and views –Personality has 3 parts –Displacement Sometimes, ego must substitute a goal of the id Sublimation – best kind of displacement –Identification Superficial act of imitation Personality Theories and Assessment

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 12 Freud: Personality has 3 parts SuperegoIdEgo Life and death instincts Sexual, aggressive urges The selfish beast Libido The executive Pleasure principle Primary process thinking Ego Ideal The conscience Reality principle

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 13 Freud: Psychosexual Theory Fixation – stuck in one stage Five stages of developmental theory: –Oral stage (birth to 1 year) – Erogenous zones Oral dependent oral personality oral aggressive personality –Anal stage (1 to 3 years) Anal retentive personality Anal expulsive personality Personality Theories and Assessment

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 14 Freud: Psychosexual Theory –Phallic stage (3 to 6 years) Oedipus complex Castration anxiety Electra complex Phallic personality –Latency stage (6 to 11 years) –Genital stage (11 years on) Personality Theories and Assessment

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 15 Theories Derived from Psychoanalysis Carl Jung –Questioned Freud’s sexual motivation emphasis –Opposites in all elements of mind (ie: selfish and generous, good and evil) –Known for introversion and extraversion –Personal unconscious: motives, conflicts, information repressed as threatening –Collective unconscious: all humans born with it Personality Theories and Assessment

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 16 Theories Derived from Psychoanalysis Alfred Adler –Struggle with sexual and hostile impulses not primary factor in personality development –Primary struggle: overcome inferiority feelings, develop superiority feelings in social relationships (later seen as unhealthy) Outgrow childhood inferiority, become competent adult –All born with positive motive, social interest –People’s lives governed by their goals Personality Theories and Assessment

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 17 Theories Derived from Psychoanalysis Karen Horney –Unconscious conflicts – source of most human misery and maladjustment –Freud overemphasized sexual conflicts, penis envy, and criticized his views of women –Conflicts result from inadequate child-rearing experiences (love and security produce no conflicts, positive personality results) Personality Theories and Assessment

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 18 Theories Derived from Psychoanalysis Others –Erich Fromm, Harry Stack Sullivan, Erikson Revised Freud’s image of women De-emphasized importance of sexual and aggressive motivation Emphasized positive aspects of personality Asserted importance of adequate social relationships Personality Theories and Assessment

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 19 Social Learning Theory Social learning: sum total of all ways one to act, think, and feel as s/he does Albert Bandura –People play active role in selecting behavior –Cognition is important in personality –Reciprocal determination (ie: social learning) –Personality is learned behavior –Behavior influences future learning experiences Personality Theories and Assessment

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 20 Role of Cognition in Personality Helping others makes one more reliable and less stingy? –Self-efficacy: subjective perception of what one is capable of High self-efficacy: accepts more challenges –Bandura: emphasizes learning of personal standards (self-regulation) of reward and punishment from experience and watching others Personality Theories and Assessment

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 21 Percentage of subjects stopping to help after finding a dime FemaleMale Subjects Percent stopping to help Found a dime Percent stopping to help FemaleMale Subjects Did not find a dime

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 22 Situationism and Interactionism B.F. Skinner – –argued against idea of traits; behavior determined by situations one is in (situationism) –People behave in ways to suit their situations –Behavior cannot be consistent enough to be traits because situations change –Solution: behavior influenced by both person and situation (person X situation interactionism) –One situation influences people in different ways Personality Theories and Assessment

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 23 Percent of pedestrians stopping to help Low noise High noise Percentage of pedestrians stopping to help man in high and low noise conditions

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 24 Humanistic Theory Third force in psychology; historically deep roots in philosophy (lack of unity) –Inner-directedness (innate internal force pushing for growth); positive view of humans Personality develops from this and can only be understood by the individual (subjective reality) – everyone’s views are different –Self-concept (subjective perception) is central to Roger’s personality theory Personality Theories and Assessment

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 25 Roger’s Self-Concept Ideal self the person I think I am Self the person I think I am The larger the discrepancies between the two, the more psychological problems one experiences Congruence – consistencies between the two

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 26 Humanistic Theory Feelings and information are mentally symbolized Reactions of others create one’s conditions of worth –Self-actualization Maslow’s ultimate level of growth –High level of moral development –Open, honest, have courage –Accurate and positive view of life Maslow’s peak experiences Personality Theories and Assessment

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 27 Comparing the Theories Personality Theories and Assessment Personality PsychoanalyticHumanisticSocialLearning unconsciousyes no Learn what is goodyes Innate knowledge of good and bad yes Innate selfishnessyes Innate goodnessyes Innate: neither good or bad yes Society influencesyes

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 28 Psychological Methods Interviews and observations Projective personality tests –Thematic Apperception test (TAT) –Rorschach Inkblot Test Objective Personality Tests –Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI and MMPI-2) Evaluation of personality tests Personality Theories and Assessment

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 29 Amount of aggression FebMarAprMayJuneJulyAugSeptOctNovDecJan Aggressive crimes Wife beating Rapes Assaults Relationship between types of physical aggression and the month of the year

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Slide 30 The End 12 Personality Theories and Assessment