INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY Chapter 12 - Personality

Personality  Personality: a complex set of psychological qualities that influence a variety of characteristic behavior patterns across different situations and over time  The whole person  Trait: One enduring personal quality or attribute that influences behavior across situations  A single characteristic  Factor Analysis  Correlations among many variable are analyzed to identify closely related clusters of variables

Personality  Where does it come from?  Interactions between genes, biology, & environment  Personality becomes more complex as we develop (Baltes & Elder): Age-graded normative influences History-graded influences Non-normative influences

Personality Theories  Trait Theories  Psychodynamic Theories  Social-Learning & Cognitive Theories

Trait Theories  There are universal traits on which people lie on a continuum  The Five Factor Model (“The Big Five”):  Openness  Conscientiousness  Extraversion  Agreeableness  Neuroticism  The Five Factor Model has been replicated in 56 different nations!

Traits  Is a behavior the result of someone’s personality, or is it the situation?  Cross-situational consistency - does this person always behave this way?  Are other people in this situation behaving similarly?

Culture & Personality  Individualistic Cultures  Value personal goals over group goals  Identify is defined in terms of personal attributes  “the squeaky wheel gets the grease”  Collectivistic Cultures  Groups goals are more important than personal ones  Identity is defined in terms of belonging to a group  “the nail that stands up gets hammered down”

Culture & Personality IndividualismCollectivism

Psychodynamic Personality Theories  The psychodynamic personality theories share the assumption that personality is shaped by the interaction between internal drives and the environment  Focus on early childhood experiences  Focus on levels of consciousness

Freudian  Freud  Psychosexual development Fixation: an inability to process normally through a particular psychosexual stage, resulting in inappropriate thoughts and behaviors StageAgeErogenous ZoneDev. TaskAdult Fixation Oral0-1MouthWeaningSmoking, overeating Anal2-3AnusToilet TrainingOrderliness vs. Messiness Phallic4-5GenitalsOedipus/Electra Complex Vanity, recklessness, promiscuity vs. chastity Latent6-12NoneDevelopment of Defense Mechanisms Genital13-18GenitalsMature Sexual intimacy Adults that have successfully gone through the previous stages should be OK

Freudian  The psyche is divided into 3 components:  Id Innate and primitive Hedonistic  Superego Last structure to develop Represents morality and values of society passed down by authority figures  Ego Mediates the relationship between the Id’s desires and the Superego’s values Reality principle

Freudian

 Defense Mechanisms – mental strategies used by the ego to defend itself against conflicts experienced in the normal course of life  Repression: pushing painful thoughts/memories out of consciousness  Displacement: discharging pent-up feelings (usually aggression) on other objects/persons  Identification: increasing self-worth by identifying with another person or institution  Regression: retreating to an earlier developmental level  Sublimation: gratifying or working off sexual frustration on substitutive non-sexual, socially accepted activities

Freudian  Examples of Freudian fixations & defense mechanisms  Oral Fixation  Regression

Psychodynamic (Neo-Freudian)  Carl Jung  Collective unconscious: part of an individual’s unconscious that is inherited and common to all members of that species  Archetype: a universal, inherited, primitive, and symbolic representation of a particular experience The Persona The Anima/Animus The Shadow

The Collective Unconscious

Cognitive Theories  Expectancy Theory  Expectancy: the extent to which people believe that their behaviors in particular situations will have predictable results  Locus of Control Internal External

Social-Learning Theories  Bandura’s Reciprocal Determinism Model  There is a complex interaction between a person, their behavior, and the environment that contributes to personality

Social Cognitive Theories  Self-efficacy: a belief that one can perform adequately in a particular situation  Self-esteem: a generalized evaluative attitude toward the self that influences mood and behavior  Self-handicaping: the process of developing, in the anticipation of failure, behavioral reactions and explanations that minimize damage to self-esteem

Humanistic Theories  Humanistic theories: emphasize people’s innate goodness and desire to achieve higher levels of functioning  Self-actualization: a state of self-fulfillment in which people realize their full potential in a unique way  Humanistic therapy  Unconditional positive regard  Non-judgmental Listening Sequence

Personality Assessment: The MMPI Originally made in 1943 by psychologists and psychiatrists at the University of Minnesota The took hundreds of True/False questions, gave them to a clinical sample, and looked for patterns of responses in the different populations Includes 10 clinical scales, as well as validity and lie-detecting scales Hypochondriasis (concern with bodily symptoms) Depression Hysteria (feelings of vulnerability) Psychopathic Deviate (antisocial, anger) Masculinity/Femininity Paranoia Psychasthenia (anxiety) Schizophrenia Hypomania (excitability) Social Introversion Considered the “gold standard” in personality testing Good for clinical diagnosis and “normal” personality testing for employers Now the MMPI-2-RF

Personality Assessment: The MMPI  False True 1. I like mechanics magazines. False True 2. I have a good appetite. False True 3. I wake up fresh and rested most mornings. False True 4. I think I would enjoy the work of a librarian. False True 5. I am easily awakened by noise. False True 6. My father is a good man (or if your father is dead) my father was a good man. False True 7. I like to read newspaper articles on crime. False True 8. My hands and feet are usually warm enough. False True 9. My daily life is full of things that keep me interested. False True 10. I am about as able to work as I ever was. False True 11. There seems to be a lump in my throat much of the time. False True 12. My sex life is satisfactory. False True 13. People should try to understand their dreams and be guided by or take warning from them. False True 14. I enjoy detective or mystery stories. False True 15. I work under a great deal of tension. False True 16. Once in a while I think of things too bad to talk about. False True 17. I am sure I get a raw deal from life. False True 18. I am troubled by attacks of nausea and vomiting. False True 19. When I take a new job, I like to find out whom it is important to be nice to. False True 20. I am very seldom bothered by constipation. False True 21. At times I have very much wanted to leave home. False True 22. No one seems to understand me. False True 23. At times I have fits of laughing and crying that I cannot control. False True 24. Evil spirits possess me at times. False True 25. I would like to be a singer. False True 26. I feel that it is certainly best to keep my mouth shut when I am in trouble. False True 27. When people do me wrong, I feel I should pay them back, just for the principle of the thing. False True 28. I am bothered by an upset stomach several times a week. False True 29. At times I feel like swearing. False True 30. I have nightmares every few nights.

Personality Assessment: The Rorschach Type of Projective personality assessment Developed by Herman Rorschach in 1921 Used primarily by clinical psychologists and some forensic (criminal) psychologists Responses are measured by: Content Location Whole vs. details Originality # of responses Test has had issues of validity and reliability Inter-rater reliability Proliferation of images

Personality Assessment: The TAT  Type of projective personality measure  Similar to the Rorschach, but consist of interpersonal scenes Includes works of art and photography  Participant must come up with a story about the picture