Chapter 10 Personality

Personality Personality: Psychological qualities that bring continuity to an individual’s behavior in different situations and at different times Theories – help understand the causes of similarities and differences among people

Psychodynamic Theory Psychoanalytic theory: focuses on early childhood experiences, unconscious motives/conflicts, and methods used to cope with sexual & aggressive urges

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Unconscious: thoughts, memories, desires well below the surface of conscious awareness, but still exert great influence on behavior Sexual & aggressive impulses – major source of conflict Ambiguous social norms – inconsistent messages about what is appropriate Thwarted more often than other urges

Drives and Instincts Eros (life instincts) – drives people towards acts that are life giving Libido (energy behind eros) – drives people to experience sensual pleasure Thanatos (death instincts) – drives people toward aggressive and destructive behaviors

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

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

Freud’s Model of the Mind

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Psychosexual stages: Successive, developmental periods with a characteristic sexual focus that leave their mark on adult personality Oral Stage Anal Stage Phallic Stage Latency Genital Stage

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Ego defense mechanisms: Largely unconscious mental strategies employed to reduce the experience of anxiety or guilt Repression: keeping distressing thought/feelings in the unconscious Projection: attributing one’s own thoughts, feelings, or motives to another Regression: reversion to immature patterns of behavior Denial: arguing against an anxiety by stating that it doesn’t exist Undoing: attempt to take back thoughts/ behaviors that are unacceptable

More Defense Mechanisms Displacement: diverting emotional feelings from their original source to a substitute target Reaction Formation: acting in a way opposite of one’s true feelings Sublimation: acting out unacceptable impulses in a socially acceptable way Rationalization: creating false, but plausible excuses to justify unacceptable behavior

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Projective tests: Personality assessment instruments based on Freud’s concept of projecting hidden motives, interests, conflicts Rorschach inkblot technique Sentence completion Free association Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Rorschach Inkblot

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 Nothing is accidental

Carl Jung: Extending the Unconscious Believed that Freud overemphasized sexuality at the expense of other unconscious needs and desires Disputed the structure of the unconscious Personal unconscious: Portion of the unconscious corresponding roughly to Freud’s id Collective unconscious: Jung’s addition to the unconscious, involving a reservoir for instinctive “memories” including the archetypes, which exist in all people

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

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

Humanistic Theories Third Force Focus on mental capabilities that set humans apart Innate drive to grow and fulfill potential How people view the world and respond 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’s Fully Functioning Person Fully functioning person: Term for a healthy, self-actualizing individual, who has a self-concept that is both positive and congruent with reality

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

Social-Cognitive Theories More scientific; driven by expectations, too Based on principles of learning (Bandura) Observational learning: Process of learning new responses by watching the behavior of others Personality is a collection of learned behavior patterns (skills, attitudes, beliefs, fears) Reciprocal determinism: Process in which the person, situation and environment mutually influence each other

Reciprocal Determinism Cognition Environment Behavior

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

Patterns in Personality The Big Five (McCrae) - handout Type: Clusters of traits that are not only central to a person’s personality but are found with essentially the same pattern in many people Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Person-situation controversy: Theoretical dispute concerning the relative contribution of personality factors and situational factors in controlling behavior (criticizes trait theory)

Assessing Traits NEO-PI (Big Five Inventory) Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) Must be valid and reliable!!! Measure what it is supposed to and be consistent!

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