Theories of Personality

What is personality  A person’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting  “An individuals’ unique variation on the general evolutionary design for human nature”

 Classic Theories Psychodynamic Theory Humanistic Theory  Current personality research Trait perspective Social-cognitive perspective Research on “self”

Psychoanalytic Perspective  Freud Personality structure  Id = pleasure principle. Instinctual sexual and aggressive drives.  Ego = reality principle. Executive regulator between Id and Superego. The part that makes up the “self”  Superego = ideal principle. Society, parents, and “others” expectations and limitations. (Your conscience)  How your Id and superego balance to form your personality depends on childhood personality development.

Personality development  Oral stage 0-18 months  Anal stage months  Phallic stage 3-6 yrs.  Latent stage 6-puberty  Genital stage puberty-adult life  Fixation due to overindulgence or deprivation in any stage can cause abnormalities in personality development.  Each stage represents the focus of pleasure at that time in the developing child’s life.

Defense mechanisms  Used to control sexual and aggressive instincts, and to mask unconscious anxieties that would otherwise be too painful to face. Repression – banishes anxiety causing thoughts Regression – retreating to an earlier stage Reaction formation – make unacceptable impulses look like their opposites Rationalization – self-justifying explanations Projection – attribute threatening impulses to others Displacement – divert impulses to a more acceptable target

Neo-Freudians  Freud’s followers stressed the importance of the unconscious motivations and the structure of the personality.  Placed more of an emphasis on consciousness  Disagreed about the importance Freud placed on sexual and aggressive conflicts

Neo-Freudians Alfred Adler: social conflicts, not sexual conflicts are the source of personality development in children. Much of our behavior is shaped by trying to overcome feelings of inadequacy. “inferiority complex” Karen Horney: Freud was a sexist that viewed women as infantile and emotional. Childhood anxiety is caused by the child’s sense of helplessness Carl Jung: collective unconscious shapes thoughts and behaviors. A shared reservoir of images derived from our species universal experiences

Freud and Modern Research  Freud did not have access to modern DNA research and brain imaging  Recent research contradicts Freud’s specific ideas Development is lifelong Infants brain’s are not mature enough to sustain emotional trauma as Freud assumed In modern homes, gender identity is still formed even when only one parent is present Freud believed that sexual repression was the source of psychological disorders but as sexual repression has diminished, psychological disorders have not  Freud offers after-the-fact explanation but fails to predict any behaviors or personality traits

Assessing the unconscious  TAT test People view ambiguous pictures and then make up stories about them

Humanistic Perspective  Origins Developed in the 1960’s Reaction to psychoanalysis and behaviorism  Founders are Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers

Humanistic Perspective Abraham Maslow: Self-actualization.  We are motivated by a hierarchy of needs. Once your basic needs are met, you seek to fulfill your potential.  Studied healthy, creative people instead of people with personality problems

Carl Rogers Person centered perspective  People are basically good and need “unconditional positive regard” to develop as healthy human beings Genuine Accepting Empathetic These are needed to develop a positive self-concept

 Self-concept The thoughts and feelings about “Who am I?”  Self-esteem Perceived congruence between our real self and our “ideal self”

Evaluating Humanistic Perspective

The Trait Perspective Seeks to describe behavior, not explain it. Gordon Allport: Freud was looking at the inner person too soon. We need to describe outward personality first. Found 18,000 words that describe human personality.

Exploring Traits  Defining broad personality types William Sheldon: found a link between personality and body type  Ectomorph: skinny, high strung and stressed (Ichabod Crane)  Mesomorph: athletic, bold (Superman)  Endomorph: fat, relaxed and jolly (Santa Claus)

Exploring Traits  Using Trait dimensions Classifying people as one or another type fails to capture their full individuality. Eysenck & Eysenck personality factors

Exploring Traits  The Big Five personality factors

Assessing Traits  Trait research is commonly used in job searches (MMPI, MBTI) and other places, but there is no scientific research that says any one test is completely accurate.

The Social-Cognitive Perspective  Proposed by Albert Bandura  Emphasizes the interaction between cognition and environment  How do we interpret and respond to external events?

Reciprocal Determinism  “Behavior, internal personal factors, and environmental influences all operate as interlocking determinants of each other” Different people choose different environments Our personalities shape how we interpret and react to events Our personalities help create situation to which we react

A. Hostile thinking leads to hostile behavior B. Hostile Behavior creates environment of anger C. Hostile Behavior intensifies hostile thoughts D. Angry environment calls forth more hostile behavior E. Angry environment calls forth more hostile thoughts F. Hostile thoughts make environment seem more threatening

Personal Control  Whether we see ourselves as controlling or controlled by our environment  Locus of Control External – perception that chance or outside forces determine your fate Internal – belief that you control your own destiny

Personal Control  Self-control – the ability to control impulses and delay gratification

Learned helplessness vs. personal control  Martin Seligman  People who feel helpless and depressed often have an external locus of control

Learned Helplessness

The Importance of control  “Internals” with high self control Happier and healthier Achieve more in school Act more independently Low risk for depression

The Importance of control  “Externals” with low self control More likely to be depressed Experience high stress levels Dampened immune system Achieve less