1. A person’s pattern of thinking, feeling and acting.
Personality
A person’s pattern of thinking, feeling and acting.

2. Sigmund Freud & Psychoanalysis
Freud attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts

3. Freud’s “Iceberg”
Conscious mind (our immediate awareness) Preconscious (not in awareness but easily accessible) Unconscious (hidden reservoir of unacceptable wishes, thoughts, and memories

5. Freud’s Psychosexual Stages
Children’s development stages in which the id’s pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones

6. Freud Terms Oedipus complex (elektra complex) Fixation Identification
Freudian “slip”
Free association

7. Defense Mechanisms Repression Denial Displacement Regression
Pushed out of awareness
Regression
Childlike, comforting behavior
Reaction formation
Act opposite of feelings
Rationalization
Provide acceptable reason
Denial
Flat out reject it
Displacement
Take out on something else
Projection
Accuse others of your unwanted thought/behavior
Sublimation
Channel into positive outlet

8. Neo-Freudian & Psychodynamic Theories
Emphasize social, not sexual, tensions for personality development
Alfred Adler  behavior driven by efforts to conquer childhood feelings of inferiority (inferiority complex)
Karen Horney  disagreed w/Freud’s assumption that women have weak superegos or “penis envy”

9. Psychodynamic Theory
Carl Jung  agreed w/Freud that unconscious has powerful influence
BUT
Unconscious is more than repressed thoughts & feelings
Collective Unconscious  common reservoir of images derived from species’ universal experiences

10. Jung’s Collective Unconscious

11. Assessing Unconscious Processes
Objective tests  questionnaires (true/false, agree/disagree, etc.)
Projective tests  provides ambiguous stimuli that triggers projection of inner unconscious conflicts

12. Projective Tests
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)  given ambiguous picture, make up a story

13. Projective Tests
Rorschach Inkblot Test  describe ambiguous splotch of ink
“It’s just a simple Rorschach ink-blot test, Mr. Bromwell, so just calm down and tell me what each one suggests to you.”

14. Barnum Effect
Named after P. T. Barnum, who believed that a good circus had "a little something for everybody“
Very general personality descriptions that apply to everyone
Horoscopes, psychic readings
“You have a tendency to be critical of yourself.”
“At times you are extroverted, sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, reserved.”
“You have a great need for other people to like and admire you.”

15. Humanistic - Maslow’s Hierarchy
Maslow added a possible level beyond self-actualization, known as self-transcendence (meaning, purpose beyond the self)

16. Carl Rogers – Person-Centered Perspective
Genuineness, acceptance, empathy needed for growth & fulfillment

17. Humanist Assessment of Sense of Self
Actual self
Ideal self

18. Criticism of Humanist Perspective
Vague & subjective?
Naïve?
Can such individualism lead to self-indulgence, selfishness, and lack of moral restraints?

19. Social-Cognitive Perspective
Different people choose different environments
Personalities shape our interpretations & reactions to events
Personalities lead to situations to which we react

21. Locus of Control

22. Optimism/Pessimism

23. Social-Cognitive Perspective Overview
The good
Makes researchers more sensitive to how situations affect, and are affected by, individuals
Builds from learning & cognition research
The bad
Too much focus on situation
What about biologically influenced traits?

24. Trait Perspective
They believe that we can describe people’s personalities by specifying their main characteristics (traits).
Traits like honestly, laziness, ambition, outgoing are thought to be stable over the course of your lives.

25. The Ancient Greeks

26. Trait Perspective
Gordon Allport - identified almost 18,000 words representing traits
Central traits  general characteristic that everyone has to some extent (honesty)
Cardinal traits  dominates/shapes personality
Secondary traits  situational, likes/dislikes
Raymond Cattell  Factor analysis to find 16 basic personality factors

28. Factor Analysis
Hans and Sybil Eysenck suggested that personality could be reduced down to two polar dimensions, extraversion-introversion and emotional stability-instability.

29. Trait Theories
The same traits can be used to describe all peoples personalities.
BIG FIVE personality traits:
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness
Openness to experience
Neuroticism (Emotional Stability)

30. Endpoints

31. Questions about the Big Five
Quite stable in adulthood. However, they change over development.
1. How stable are these traits?
Fifty percent or so for each trait.
2. How heritable are they?
These traits are common across cultures.
3. How about other cultures?

32. Evaluating the Trait Perspective
The Person-Situation Controversy
Walter Mischel (1968, 1984, 2004) points out that traits may be enduring, but the resulting behavior in various situations is different. Therefore, traits are not good predictors of behavior.
Preview Question 12: Does research support the consistency of personality traits over time and across situations?

33. The Person-Situation Controversy
Trait theorists argue that behaviors from a situation may be different, but average behavior remains the same. Therefore, traits matter.

34. The Person-Situation Controversy
Traits are socially significant and influence our health, thinking, and performance (Gosling et al., 2000).
John Langford Photography
Samuel Gosling

35. MMPI 2 TEST QUESTIONS IN ORDER TRUE OR FALSE (567 QUESTIONS)
1. I like mechanics magazines 2. I have a good appetite 3. I wake up fresh & rested most mornings 4. I think I would like the work of a librarian 5. I am easily awakened by noise 6. I like to read newspaper articles on crime 7. My hands and feet are usually warm enough 8. My daily life is full of things that keep me interested 9. I am about as able to work as I ever was 10. There seems to be a lump in my throat much of the time 11. A person should try to understand his dreams and be guided by or take warning from them 12. I enjoy detective or mystery stories

36. Exploring the Self Our possible selves…
The self you hope to become…
The self you fear becoming…
The self you think you are to your friends…
The self you think you are to your family…
The self you are at school…
The spotlight effect  overestimating others’ noticing and evaluating us
Self-serving bias  we perceive ourselves favorably

37. Benefits of Self-Esteem
High Self-esteem
More sleep
Less pressure to conform
Happier
Predicts employment, salary, and job satisfaction
Low Self-esteem
Judgmental
Excessively critical
Floccinaucinihilipilification of others (yeah…in simple terms, estimating others as worthless)

39. Individualism & Collectivism
Sense of “me”
Greater priority to personal goals
Define identity in personal attributes
Strive for personal control, individual achievements
Share human need to belong and join groups, but less focused on group harmony and doing their duty
Move in and out of social groups

40. Individualism & Collectivism
Group identification
Priority to goals of the group
Greater concern for social harmony

41. Exploring the Self
Morality Defined by individuals Defined by social networks
(self-based) (duty-based)
Attributing Behavior reflects one’s personality Behavior reflects social
behaviors and attitudes and roles
Value Contrasts Between Individualism and Collectivism
Concept Individualism Collectivism
Self Independent Interdependent
(identity from individual traits) identity from belonging)
Life task Discover and express one’s Maintain connections, fit in
uniqueness
What matters Me--personal achievement and We-group goals and solidarity;
fullfillment; rights and liberties social responsibilities and
relationships
Coping method Change reality Accommodate to reality
Relationships Many, often temporary or casual; Few, close and enduring;
confrontation acceptable harmony valued

42. Positive Psychology (Seligman)
Advancing human fulfillment based on scientific methods
Promote strength & virtue, optimal human functioning
Satisfaction w/past, happiness w/present, optimism for future
Meaningful life, positive character, and positive groups/communities/cultures
(Seligman’s webpage)