4 th Edition Copyright Prentice Hall11-1 Personality Chapter 11
Copyright Prentice Hall11-2 Analyzing Personality Psychologists define personality as a stable pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaving that distinguishes one person from another. Two important components of this definition are distinctiveness and relative consistency.
Copyright Prentice Hall11-3 Analyzing Personality Critics of the concept of consistency in behavior argue that behavior is controlled by situations (e.g., Mischel). In defense of the idea of consistency, some researchers note that there are some problems with the methods used and the assumptions made in this research.
Copyright Prentice Hall11-4 Analyzing Personality Seymour Epstein proposes that both sides of the consistency issue are correct: –Situations control behavior in a given instance, and broad consistencies do exist. –Consistencies become visible when we add behaviors together, an approach termed aggregation.
Copyright Prentice Hall11-5 The Psychodynamic Perspective Freud suggested that behaviors, feelings, and thoughts result from past events. Because this psychic determinism occurs at an unconscious level, we are often unaware of the true reasons for our behavior.
Copyright Prentice Hall11-6 The Psychodynamic Perspective Freud compared the mind to an iceberg, with three levels of consciousness (conscious, preconscious, and unconscious) and three structures (Id, ego, and superego).
Copyright Prentice Hall11-7 The Psychodynamic Perspective
Copyright Prentice Hall11-8 The Psychoanalytic Perspective (Sigmund Freud) 2 Sources of instinctual energy: –Eros – self-preservation and preservation of the species (sex) –Thanatos – death instinct (aggression and destruction) Conflicts among the structures of the mind occur beneath the level of conscious awareness. The most important conflicts are between biological needs and societal restraints – between what we want to do and what our conscience tells us it is alright to do
Copyright Prentice Hall11-9 The components of personality Id: source of all our biological needs –Pleasure principle –Primary Process
Copyright Prentice Hall11-10 The components of personality Ego – mediates between the id and superego –Reality Principle –Secondary Process
Copyright Prentice Hall11-11 The components of personality Superego – the restraints imposed on us by societal rules, taboos and moral values –Ego ideal –Conscience
Copyright Prentice Hall11-12 Psychosexual Stages Oral Stage (Birth – 1 year) Anal Stage(1 – 3) Phallic Stage (3 – 5) Latency Stage (5 – Puberty) Genital Stage (Puberty - )
Copyright Prentice Hall11-13 The Psychodynamic Perspective Severe unconscious conflict produces anxiety or guilt that warn the ego. The ego uses defense mechanisms to protect itself from being overwhelmed by anxiety or guilt.
Copyright Prentice Hall11-14 Ego-Defense Mechanisms Ego-defense mechanisms: –Are normal behaviors which operate on an unconscious level and tend to deny or distort reality –Help the individual cope with anxiety and prevent the ego from being overwhelmed –Have adaptive value if they do not become a style of life to avoid facing reality
Copyright Prentice Hall11-15 Defense Mechanisms To protect the ego against the painful and threatening impulses arising from the id we distort the reality The processes that distort the reality for the ego are called defense mechanisms
Copyright Prentice Hall11-16 Types of Defense Mechanisms Repression Reaction Formation Denial Projection Displacement Sublimation Regression Rationalization
Copyright Prentice Hall11-17 Repression Pushes threatening thoughts back into the unconscious Posttraumatic Stress Disorder- PTSD – Common with veterans and victims of sexual abuse False memories – suggested through psychotherapist intentionally or unintentionally
Copyright Prentice Hall11-18 Reaction Formation Process of pushing away threatening impulses by overemphasizing the opposite in one’s thoughts and actions Examples: Jim Bakker & Jimmy Swaggart
Copyright Prentice Hall11-19 Denial Refusing to acknowledge anxiety- provoking stimuli Mind’s means of keeping its own sensations out of conscious awareness Or That fabulous river which runs down the middle of Egypt which many of us sail on
Copyright Prentice Hall11-20 Projection Anxiety-arousing impulses are externalized by placing them, or projecting them, onto others. A person’s inner threats are attributed to those around them Newt Gingrich: public diatribe against infidelity of president while engaged in own long term infidelity out of public eye
Copyright Prentice Hall11-21 Displacement The shifting of the targets of one’s unconscious fears or desires Some release valve must be found for the bottled-up aggressive impulses triggered by frustration and humiliation Example: Man angry at boss kicks dog, kids
Copyright Prentice Hall11-22 Sublimation Transforming of dangerous urges into positive, socially acceptable motivation Turns sexual energy away from sexual ends and towards societal goals Is is possible that as society becomes more sexually liberated, art, creativity and even civilization will suffer?
Copyright Prentice Hall11-23 The Psychodynamic Perspective Freud is credited with pointing out the influence of early childhood experiences and with developing a stage theory of development In addition, he noted the potential importance of unconscious experiences and the influence of sexuality on human behavior.
Copyright Prentice Hall11-24 The Psychodynamic Perspective Critics of psychodynamic theory note that Freud based his ideas on small, unrepresentative samples of disturbed individuals. Additionally, many of his concepts and principles are not directly testable; hence, there is little scientific evidence to support his theory. His subjective method of data collection and views about women also have attracted criticism.
Copyright Prentice Hall11-25 The Psychodynamic Perspective The neo-Freudians-including Jung, Horney, and Adler disagreed with a number of Freud's views (for example, those emphasizing the sexual and unconscious roots of behavior).
Copyright Prentice Hall11-26 The Behavioral Perspective Behavioral and learning psychologists avoid commonly used terms such as traits. They explain the distinctiveness of a person's behavior as resulting from unique learning histories.
Copyright Prentice Hall11-27 The Social-Cognitive Perspective While acknowledging the importance of learning, Julian Rotter and Albert Bandura incorporated cognitive factors into their theories of personality.
Copyright Prentice Hall11-28 The Social-Cognitive Perspective Rotter's social learning theory recognizes that most reinforcers are social and that most learning takes place in social situations. Expectancy about obtaining a reinforcer in a given situation is an important cognitive variable. Individuals differ in the degree to which they see themselves or chance ("fate") as responsible for their successes and failures.
Copyright Prentice Hall11-29 The Social-Cognitive Perspective Measures of generalized expectancy, known as locus of control, are related to a variety of outcomes, including academic and health behaviors.
Copyright Prentice Hall11-30 The Social-Cognitive Perspective According to Albert Bandura, individuals not only are affected by the environment but also can influence it. What's more, cognitive factors can influence the person's behavior and his or her environment.
Copyright Prentice Hall11-31 The Social-Cognitive Perspective Self-efficacy is a person's judgment about his or her ability to succeed in a given situation. Unlike a trait, self-efficacy is specific to the situation and can change over time.
Copyright Prentice Hall11-32 The Social-Cognitive Perspective This combination of cognitive, behavioral, and environmental effects is called reciprocal determinism.
Copyright Prentice Hall11-33 The Humanistic Perspective Humanistic approaches evolved in opposition to the behavioral and psychodynamic perspectives. They propose that human beings are basically good and are directed toward development and growth.
Copyright Prentice Hall11-34 The Humanistic Perspective On the basis of his work with disturbed people, Carl Rogers concluded that efforts to achieve personal fulfillment were being stifled. He proposed that people's self-concepts had become distorted by conditions of worth imposed from the outside. In his theory, healthy individuals have a real self- concept that is consistent with their ideal self- concept
Copyright Prentice Hall11-35 The Humanistic Perspective Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs begins with deficiency needs and leads to self-actualization at the top. The power of deficiency needs keeps most people from reaching the level of self - actualization, which Maslow defines as doing the best that an individual is capable of doing.
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Copyright Prentice Hall11-37 Trait Approaches Traits are summary terms that describe tendencies to act and interact in particular ways that are consistent across situations. Gordon Allport developed a list of trait terms.
Copyright Prentice Hall11-38 Trait Approaches Raymond Cattell proposed 16 source traits to describe personality and make predictions of future behaviors.
Copyright Prentice Hall11-39 Trait Approaches Hans Eysenck proposed the existence of three major traits. Extraversion has been associated with a number of differences in everyday behavior.
Copyright Prentice Hall11-40 Trait Approaches Current research offers a model of five major traits that seem to be relatively stable across the life span and across cultures. The “Big 5:” –Neuroticism –Extraversion –Openness –Agreeableness –Conscientiousness
Copyright Prentice Hall11-41 Biological Factors in Personality Efforts to connect personality to biological factors can be traced to Hippocrates’ theory of "humors" and later to phrenology.
Copyright Prentice Hall11-42 Biological Factors in Personality Evidence from such studies indicates that heredity plays a role in a wide range of personality characteristics as evidenced by heritability estimates between 20 and 50%.
Copyright Prentice Hall11-43 Biological Factors in Personality Recent evidence suggests that non- shared experiences exert a major influence on the personality of siblings.
Copyright Prentice Hall11-44 Analyzing Personality Among the widely used self-report inventories of personality are the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and the California Psychological Inventory (CPI).
Copyright Prentice Hall11-45 Analyzing Personality The MMPI was designed to help diagnose psychological disorders. The CPI is used to assess personality in the normal population.
Copyright Prentice Hall11-46 Analyzing Personality Projective tests use ambiguous stimuli and require a great deal of interpretation by the test administrator.
Copyright Prentice Hall11-47 Analyzing Personality The most frequently used projective test is the Rorschach inkblot test.