1. The Major Areas of Personality
Theme and Variation on
Topic 8. How the Parts Fit Together
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2. The Lecture and the Book…
Chapter 8: How the Parts Fit Together What is Personality Structure?
How Are Personality Traits Structured?
What Are Structural Models of Awareness?
Are There More General Approaches to Structural Divisions?
What Are the Structural Connections from Personality to the Environment?
Lecture 8: The Major Areas of Personality
Divisions of Personality
Trait structures
Divisions by Awareness
Divisions by Processing Area

3. Personality Structure Considered
Definition. Structure represents the relatively static, long term divisions of personality into areas according to specifiable rules.
Divisions can be according to:
Relatively stable, distinct functions (e.g., emotion functioning)
Descriptive characteristics (e.g., awareness)
Or other qualities (e.g., intercorrelations of traits)
Contrast: Personality dynamics, which concern interactions among areas or parts

4. More than One Valid Map Is Possible…
US: Geographical Contours
US: National Capital

5. US: States’ Boundaries
Different Maps; Different attributes…
US: Time Zones
US: States’ Boundaries

6. Without Maps, We’d Be Lost!

7. Structural Divisions Should…
Be Comprehensive – cover much of personality
Be Empirically Accurate – include proven areas
Divide Well – create distinct areas
Possess Utility – help with scientific research
Keys to Good Structure

8. A Structural Model Highlighting Traits
Big/Super traits: Traits made up of smaller, finer-grained traits
Example:
Neuroticism
Mood swings
Reactivity
Anxiety

9. The Big Five Model Purpose: to organize all traits
The lexical hypothesis: All important traits are to be found in the language
Factor analyze trait words to discover important traits
From 30,000 to 100 words…
To Five Factors

11. The Big Five A wonderful model, but... Limited to 30 or so traits
Traits based on lay perception rather than professional expertise
Excluded: Verbal intelligence, internal-external locus-of-control, emotional intelligence, Machiavellianism, etc.

12. A Structural Model Highlighting Awareness
Awareness models came first (i.e., Freud)
Wrestle with what a person could reasonably know about him/herself
Crucial to understand, in the context of answering “Who am I?”

13. The No-Access Unconscious
Definition: Mental activities to which consciousness is simply not connected…
Consider the neurons departing from the retina
We have no idea how our visual system works (unless we take a course in it)!
Its function is unconscious

14. No-Access Unconscious
How many black dots do you count?
(Version 1 of 2; better for some video environments)

15. No-Access Unconscious
How many black dots do you count?
(version 2 of 2; better for some video environments)

16. No-Access Unconscious
Is the blue inside the
cube or outside?

17. Unnoticed Unconscious
Ken Bowers’ study on Unconscious influences
Participants shown pairs of portraits and landscapes, and their customary preference was assessed (e.g., landscapes or portraits).
Reinforced for choosing opposite type by smiles from experimenter

18. Unnoticed Unconscious
Participants debriefed afterward
Many claimed they were expressing their genuine preference throughout – were unaware of shift
See the following example cited by Bowers…

19. Unnoticed Unconscious
Exp: Did you pick the landscapes or portraits more often?
Part: Landscapes.
Exp: Did you notice whether I said anything during the course of the experiment?
Part: You said "good" whenever I picked landscapes.
Exp: Do you think your tendency to pick landscapes was influenced by my reinforcement of them?
Part: Of course not! I picked the landscapes because I liked them better than the portraits. Besides, you only said "good" after I made my choice, so what you said couldn't possibly have influenced my selection of pictures.

20. The Dynamic Unconscious (Topological)
Freud’s Topological Model
Consciousness: internal “eye” or sense organ on the brain
Preconcious: things which can become conscious
Unconscious: matters one doesn’t know about

21. The Dynamic Unconscious (Topological)
Freud’s Topological Model
(Continued)
Many human motives are unconscious
Either:
there is no access – as in the primary unconscious
or, there is active repression – consciousness (or the ego) expels thoughts and feelings

22. The Dynamic Unconscious (Structural)
Developmental Sequence
Childhood (e.g., 5 years)
Toddler-hood
Infancy
Note: Beginnings of Processing Model, i.e.,
Personality divided into areas of function

23. Structural Models Highlighting Processing Areas
The most general of structural models
They divide personality according to the processes they carry out
They also organize traits
According to which area of personality the trait describes (e.g., emotionality, cognition)
Not according to correlational criteria

24. The Trilogy (Quaternity?) of Mind
A. Motivation
Emotion
Cognition
(Maybe…) Consciousness

25. Trilogy of Mind Cognition: Thoughts and reasoning about information
Emotion: Feelings such as anger and happiness that communicate about relationships
Motivation: Urges and desires that direct the individual

26. A Brain to Match?
The Triune Brain
MacLean
Evolutionary Focus

27. A Brain to Match? Reptilian Brain Reproduction Territoriality
Hunting for food
Defense
Thalamus
Cerebellum
Hypothalamus
Amygdala
Pons

28. A Brain to Match? Old Mammalian Brain Caregiving for the young
Emotions
Social Relationships
Hippocampus
Corpus Callosum
Thalamus
Cerebellum
Hypothalamus
Amygdala
Pons

29. A Brain to Match? New Mammalian Brain Language
Higher cognitive functions
Hippocampus
Corpus Collosem
Cerebral Cortex
Thalamus
Cerebellum
Hypothalamus
Amygdala
Pons

30. The Systems Set
Executive Consciousness: Self awareness and self- control
Energy Lattice: Motives and emotions
Knowledge Works: Mental models and intelligence
Role Player: Social roles and how to carry them out.

31. The full systems set diagram
Are There More General Approaches to Structure?
The full systems set diagram

32. A Structural Model Focused on Connecting Personality and Situations
Mischel’s Cognitive-Affective Processing System
Encodings – Categories into which people and the situation are divided
Expectancies – Outcomes a person expects in a situation
Affects – Emotions and related feelings in response to the above
Goals – Desirable results the person hopes for
Self-Regulatory Plans – What the person hopes to do, based on the above

33. ~ End ~ Focus on Structure 8