Personality Ch. 11

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What is personality? An individual’s unique collection of consistent behavioral traits –CONSISTENCY: characteristics that people display over time and in a variety of situations –DISTINCTIVENESS: characteristics that distinguish individuals from each other

Personality Traits Relatively consistent characteristics exhibited in different situations –Typical adjectives use: HonestImpulsive DependableAnxious MoodyFriendly Allport (1961) identified 4500 words used to describe personality traits Cartell (1990) reduced that number to 16 basic dimensions of personality

Five-Factor Model McCrae & Costa (1999) believe that personality can be described with just FIVE traits WHY so simple? –They believe the five traits capture all the meaningful individual differences at the broadest level

“The Big Five” The Five traits that describe all aspects of human personality: O: Openness C: Conscientiousness E: Extraversion A: Agreeableness N: Neuroticism

Psychodynamic Perspective Sigmund Freud’s theory Explains personality, motivation, and psychological disorders by focusing on: –Early childhood experiences –Unconscious motives & conflicts (Sexual & Aggressive motives)

Structure of Personality Id –Primitive, instinctive component of personality –Operates according to the Pleasure Principle –“I want it all now!” Wants immediate gratification –Engages in Primary-Process Thinking Primitive, illogical, irrational, & fantasy oriented

Superego –Moral component of personality –Enforces societal standards about right and wrong Meeting standards pride Failing standards guilt

Ego –Deals with the real world –Decision-making component of personality –Operates according to the Reality Principle Tries to find a way to please id and society when possible –Need to compromise to get what you want –Engages in Secondary-Process Thinking Rational, realistic, & oriented toward solving problems

Ego must serve 3 harsh masters: –Pleasure seeking id –Moralistic superego –Realistic aspects of the environment

Levels of Awareness Conscious: fully aware Preconscious: just below the surface of awareness Unconscious: no awareness, but yet still guiding our behavior –P. 331 fig Iceberg analogy

Defense Mechanisms Anxiety: discomfort caused by conflicts between id and superego Defense Mechanisms: unconscious means by which a person tries to prevent unacceptable id-based thoughts or urges from reaching consciousness –Protect us from anxiety & guilt

Specific Defense Mechanisms Repression –Most basic & widely used –Painful thoughts/impulses/memo ries are prevented from entering consciousness Regression –Reverting to immature behavior Sublimation –Threatening impulses are transformed into socially acceptable activities Projection –Threatening thoughts are projected onto others Denial –Threatening thoughts are denied outright Rationalization –Creating explanations to justify threatening thoughts/actions

Reaction Formation –Acting the opposite of how you really feel Displacement –Diverting emotional feelings (ie. anger) from their original source to a substitute target p. 332 table 11.1

Expanding the Psychodynamic Perspective Carl Jung & Alfred Adler disagreed with Freud’s theory because they thought it focused too much on sexuality.

Jung Analytical Psychology Emphasized unconscious determinants of personality (2 layers) –Personal Unconscious: repressed or forgotten (same as Freud’s repression) –Collective Unconscious: storehouse of memory traces inherited from our ancestral past Archetypes: universal symbols shared by all cultures

Adler Thought Freud went overboard by centering on sexual conflicts Stressed social context of personality development (birth order)

Behavioral Perspective The study of observable behavior and its influence on personality

Skinner External environment molds behavior –Determinism-behavior is fully determined by environmental stimuli Operant conditioning –Asserts people show a stable response tendency that is acquired through experiences Telling parties (fig p. 338)

Bandura Social Learning Theory: personality is shaped through learning –Observational Learning: learning that occurs when influenced by the observation of others –Influential models for children and adults: Respect Attractive/powerful Similarity Same-sex role models Behavior that leads to positive outcome

–Self-efficacy: how we view our ability influences the challenges we choose based on the outcome we expect Subjective Specific to task Confidence = high self-efficacy

Mischel Focused on situational factors that govern an individual’s behavior –Argued that there is less consistency than originally assumed –Focused on situational determinants and personality variables –Thus, people behave differently in different situations!

Humanistic Perspective Emphasis on unique human qualities –Freedom –Potential for personal growth

Rogers Person-centered theory: emphasizes the subjective point of view –Self-concept: perceptions/beliefs about one’s own nature, unique qualities and typical behavior –Incongruence: gap between self-concept and reality High incongruence creates anxiety –Congruence: meshing between self-concept and reality

–Fig p. 341 –According to Rogers, most people tend to distort experiences to some extent to promote a relatively favorable self- concept

Maslow Hierarchy of Needs –Fig p. 343 –Systematic arrangement of needs according to priority –Basic needs must be met 1st Healthy personalities strive for continual personal growth (self-actualizing) –Innate drive –Fig p. 343

Biological Perspective Personality is determined to a large extent by a person’s genes

Eysenck Heredity is in part linked through classical conditioning He argued that some people can be more readily conditioned because of differences in their physiological functioning

–Extraversion-introversion Introverts tend to have high physiological arousal which makes them more easily conditioned Easily conditioned individuals tend to acquire inhibitions more easily than others Inhibitions make these people more bashful, tentative and uneasy in social situations

Twin and family environment studies –Twins tend to be more similar –Results suggest genetic factors influence personality much like a genetic blueprint –Even if raised apart, identical twins are more similar than fraternal twins raised together (40- 58%) –A surprising finding…shared family environments appear to have little impact on personality This contradicts theory on socialization

Evolutionary Perspective Relatively new theory –David Buss –Late ‘90s Assert that personality has a biological basis because natural selection has favored certain traits over the course of human history. The “Big Five” stand out across cultures because those traits are adaptive