1. Personality

2. Personality – the psychological qualities that bring continuity to an individual’s behavior in different situations and at different times.

3. Definition Personality
– the psychological qualities that bring continuity to an individual’s behavior in different situations and at different times.
Essentially explains why there is a certain degree of constancy in how a particular person reacts in different situations. For example, a person with depressive tendencies will likely interpret events negatively even if they are not meant that way; consider the comment “You look nice today.” a non-depressive person will take that as a complement; a depressive person will interpret that as he usually thinks I look terrible.
Theories of personality have three goals: (1) explaining personality across the lifespan (e.g., if you want to understand why a friend seems to always be depressed), (2) getting a snapshot of a person’s personality in a given moment; or (3) how people make judgments about one another. We’ll focus on the first two goals.

4. Goals of Understanding Personality
To understand a depressed friend or troublesome child as developing, changing beings
To get a snapshot of their personality in the current moment
To understand the assumptions people make about one another
We’ll focus on the first two

5. Goal of Personality Theories
To explain the forces that help develop and shape personality
To explain how personality might change over time

6. Personality across the lifespan
Three major theories:
Psychodynamic (Freud)
Humanistic (Rogers)
Cognitive (Bandura)
Personality is a continuously changing process, shaped by our internal needs and cognitions and by external pressures from the environment. Today, we will focus on the three theories that were developed to explain the forces that shape personality over the lifespan and how personality might change over time.

7. Definition
According to Psychodynamic, Humanistic, and Cognitive Theories, personality
is a continuously changing process shaped by
our internal needs and cognitions and by
external pressures from the social environment
All three agree that personality develops out of an interplay between our internal needs and external pressures from the environment.

8. Psychodynamic Theory Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
Theory designed to explain mental disorder
Emphasized the unconscious mind
impulses, motives, and instincts that were too anxiety provoking to deal with consciously would leak out and cause symptoms of mental disorder
Freud, father of modern psychology; many followers still. Originated out of an attempt to deal with a fairly frequent medical disorder: hysteria (i.e., medical symptom that had no physiological basis) e.g., glove paralysis.
Some could be treated with hypnosis but not all; Developed his theory of psychoanalysis to treat the disorder. The cornerstone of his theory is the unconscious mind (i.e., a part of the mind of which we are unaware that houses powerful impulses, motives and instinct; many of which are too anxiety provoking to face consciously. In the case of glove paralysis  women’s hands would become paralyzed because they either had urges to masturbate or engaged in masturbation; the victorian era was very sexually repressed which may account for why many of the hysterias were thought to stem from an attempt to curtail sexual urges.

9. The Unconscious Mind Two main drives Eros  lust and libidinal energy
Pleasure Principal
Thanatos  death instinct
The actions of the unconscious mind are driven by psychological energy -> motives, drives, and desires. Kind of like steam in a boiler; will build up until it leaks out.
Psychoanalysis focuses on how the energy is transformed, exchanged, and ultimately expressed. Sexual energy, for example, can be expressed directly through engaging in sexual activity or indirectly through joking or creative pursuits. The sexual drive is called eros and the energy behind the drive was called libido; it is libidinal energy that drives our sexual pursuits but also our work and leisure activity. Foundation of our hedonistic tendencies or our drive toward pleasure.
Eros did not explain aggressive behavior or symptoms of veterans who returned from war. These behaviors/symptoms Freud explained as being driven by another instinct; thanatos or the death instinct.
Essentially: all behavior is driven either by an instinct toward life or death; pleasure or pain; creation or destruction.

10. The ID Unconscious Primitive Mind
Basic motives, drives, and instinctive desires
Acts on Impulse, desires immediate gratification
especially for sexual, emotional and physical pleasures
Only part of personality present at birth

11. The Superego
Our conscience; i.e., it is in charge of values and morals learned from parents and society
Individual’s view of the kind of person s/he should strive to become
Frequently in conflict with the Id
Id wants to do want feels good (e.g., drinking with friends) and the superego wants to do what’s right (e.g., studying for your exam)

12. The Ego Conscious, rational portion of the mind
Resolves conflicts between the Id and the Superego
Must balance gratifying the Id without violating the moral principals of the superego
Pressures to satisfy the needs of the Id and superego can become increasingly difficult and thus lead to mental disorder

13. Freud’s Model of the Mind
Ego
Conscious
Preconscious
Superego
Unconscious Id
Freud envisioned a constant battle between two aspects of the personality: the ID and the SUPEREGO which is moderated by the EGO.
The ID is hedonistic pushing for immediate gratification of basic needs for pleasure. Superego is like the policeman pushing us to do what is right and moral; the ego’s job is to satisfy the ID’s need for pleasure without violating one’s moral code or incurring negative consequences. This works well unless pressure from the ID, SUPEREGO, and environment to the point where a reasonable solution or compromise cannot be achieved; at this point, the individual will display disturbed thoughts or behaviors indicative of mental disorder.

14. Psychosexual Stages Oral Stage (1st year of life)
Oral stimulation from sucking, babbling, crying, eating
Anal Stage (years 1-3)
Anal stimulation through learning control of bodily functions
Phallic Stage (years 3-6)
Focus on stimulation of the genitals (i.e., self-stimulation and sex play)
Freud believed that personality development followed a predictable pattern and that early, often forgotten, childhood experiences have the strongest influence on later personality. Each stage focuses on achieving pleasure through stimulation of specific body areas.

15. Psychosexual Stages Latency (years 6-puberty)
Repression of sexual and aggressive desires
Learning of modesty and shame
Genital Stage (puberty )
Mature sexual relationship

16. Theory of Personality Fixation at particular stage 
Arrested psychological development
Development of specific types of problems
E.g., fixation at oral stage  overeating, smoking
E.g., fixation at anal stage  compulsive behavior, excessive neatness, stubbornness

17. Ego Defense Mechanisms
Repression  unacceptable impulses are manifested in dreams or fantasies
Denial
Rationalization  providing socially acceptable explanation for unacceptable behavior
Reaction Formation  Act opposite to true feeling
e.g., dreaming about having sex with many different partners
e.g., denying that you stole money from your roommates wallet
e.g., You flirted with your roommates boyfriend because you wanted to show her what a jerk he was
e.g., being overly nice to your roommate who you really think is a jerk; flattering a professor you hate

18. Ego Defense Mechanisms
Displacement  Shifting reaction from real source of distress to a safer source
Regression  adopt juvenile behavior
Sublimation  gratifying desires in ways that are acceptable in one’s culture
Projection  attribute our desires to other people
e.g., when you are mad at your boss, you kick the dog
e.g., when you get upset, you throw a temper tantrum or lock yourself in your room and refuse to speak to anyone
e.g., playing a violent video game instead of beating up your annoying neighbor
e.g., accusing others of wanting your roommate’s girlfriend when in fact it is you who really want her.
Freud lived and wrote during the Victorian era; very sexually repressed time; may in fact explain some of the disorders that were seen then; may explain his fixation with sex as an explanation for everything

19. The Humanists
Personality is driven by the need to adapt, learn, grow, and excel
Mental disorders are caused by unhealthy situations rather than unhealthy people
E.g., Abusive relationships
Freudians had compelling explanations for mental disorder but their theories could not explain, healthy or normal personality. Humanistic movement developed to address that need.
Personality develops out of the need to adapt, learn, grow, and excel
Mental disorders stem from unhealthy situations that trigger negative thoughts, low self-esteem, and unmet needs  once the situation is changed and negative cognitions are replaced with positive self-evaluations, natural tendency for growth takes over leading to the development of a healthy personality

20. The Humanists Maslow – Hierarchy of Needs
Strive for self-actualization
Those whose base needs are not met, are maladjusted
Rogers – Fully Functioning Person
When self-concept is congruent with reality  fully functioning person
Conditional love from parent  low Self-esteem, mental problems, guilt
Unconditional Positive Regard
Self-actualizers, those who are free to fulfill their potentials.
Fully functioning person has high self-esteem that is congruent with the messages he or she receives from the environment. Incongruence leads to mental disorder (e.g., think self as smart but get a C on a paper)

21. Critiques of the Theories
Freud
Only concentrates on what's wrong with people
Doesn’t explain healthy behavior
Humanist
Lack of operational definitions
Ignore possible biological reasons for mental disorders/abnormal personalities