personality

personality definition : the unique and relatively stable ways in which people think, feel, and behave

includes character and temperament

Character = value judgments made about a person’s moral and ethical behavior

Temperament = the enduring characteristics with which each person is born

theories of personality

personality :the unique and relatively stable ways in which people think, feel, and behave

perspectives /theories: different ways of viewing and explaining personality

behavioral and social cognitive views: focus on the effect of the environment on behavior; based on theories of learning

humanistic : focuses on conscious life experiences and choices

psychodynamic: based on Freud; primary focus is on role of unconscious mind , the psychology of everything in life was his book

traits: focuses on characteristics themselves, not roots of personality

3 parts of mind from Freud perspective

conscious

unconscious

preconscious

memories, information and events that can easily remembered or awared or information is available but not currently conscious

level aware of immediate surroundings and perceptions

level in which thoughts, feelings, memories, and other information that are not easily or voluntarily brought into consciousness are kept

Most important factor in human behavior and personality

psychodynamic perspective

the basic aspects

personality stem from interplay and conflict between demands made by id, restrictions set forth by the superego, direction by the ego or Personality divided into three (conflicting) parts: id, ego, and superego

disordered behavior is product of constant conflict and anxiety; ego uses unconscious defense mechanisms as ways to manage anxiety/ conflict between three parts of personality

mind made up of different levels of awareness- conscious, preconscious and unconscious

Each part exists at one or more levels of consciousness

Freud based his theory on how these parts develop and interact with each other

Id = part of personality present at birth and completely unconscious

Libido = instinctual energy that may come into conflict with demands of a society’s standards for behavior

Pleasure principle = immediate satisfaction of needs without regard for the consequences

Principle by which the id functions

Ego = Mostly conscious, rational, and logical

Reality principle = the satisfaction of the demands of the id only when negative consequences will not result

Principle by which the ego functions

Superego = part of the personality that acts as a moral center

Ego ideal = part of superego that contains the standards for moral behavior

Conscience = part of superego that produces pride or guilt, depending on how well behavior matches or does not match the ego ideal

Develops out of a need to deal with reality

Psychological defense mechanisms = unconscious distortions of a person’s perception of reality that reduce stress and anxiety

Mainly studied by Anna Freud (Freud’s daughter)

Descriptions of defense mechanisms have more or less held up over time

But the psychoanalytic explanation of them hasn’t

Psychoanalytic explanation is all about conflict between id, ego, and superego

Defense mechanisms are how the ego manages that conflict

defense mechanism and definition

Reaction formation: forming an emotional reaction or attitude that is the opposite of one's threatening or unacceptable actual thoughts.

Displacement: expressing feelings that would be threatening if directed at the real target onto a less threatening substitute target.

Projection: placing one's own unacceptable thoughts onto others, as if the thoughts belonged to them and not to oneself

Sublimation: turning socially unacceptable urges into socially acceptable behavior

Repression: "pushing" threatening or conflicting events or situations out of conscious memory.

Psychosexual stages of personality development

id exists at birth; ego and superego develop in childhood

different erogenous zones are sources of conflict as individual ages; unresolved conflicts result in individuals getting stuck or fixated at that stage or five stages of personality development proposed by Freud and tied to the sexual development of the child

▪ The stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital

Phallic stage (3 to 6 years)

Latency stage (6 years to puberty)

Anal stage (18 to 36 months)

Genital stage (puberty on)

Oral stage (first 18 months)

Fixation = if the person does not fully resolve the conflict in a particular psychosexual stage, it will result in personality traits and behaviors associated with that earlier stage

Dominated by the id

Primary conflict: weaning

Erogenous zone: mouth

Erogenous zone: anus

Primary conflict: toilet training

Anal expulsive personality = a person fixated in the anal stage who is messy, destructive, and hostile

Anal retentive personality = a person fixated in the anal stage who is neat, fussy, stingy, and stubborn

Ego develops

Child aware of sex differences

Primary conflict: awakening of sexual feelings and sexual curiosity

Erogenous zone: genitals

Oedipus complex = situation occurring in phallic stage in which a boy develops a sexual attraction to his mother and jealousy of his father

Electra complex = a similar process for girls

Conflict resolves by identification with same-sex parent

Libido is dormant

Child develops in other ways

Libido = instinctual energy that may come into conflict with demands of a society’s standards for behavior

Sexual feelings are repressed, sometimes sublimated

Acquiring new skills or knowledge

Sexual feelings reawaken with appropriate targets

Begins with adolescent sexual experimentation

Resolves with monogamous relationship

PIV sex believed to be proper outlet for sexual instinct

a group of freud's students and followers of psychoanalytic perspective, called the neo- Freudians, modified his theory and altered the focus of psychoanalysis

Adler: focused on feelings of inferiority and seeking feelings of superiority as opposed to importance of sexuality; birth order also important

Horney; disagreed with concept of penis envy, developed womb envy; rather than sexuality, focused on basic anxiety

Jung: believed in both a personal unconscious and collective unconscious that holds universal human memories called archetypes

Erikson: emphasized social relationships at every stage of life

despite several criticisms, Freud's theory still important- first to suggest that personality develops through stages, that we are not always consciously aware of reasons for behavior, and that early life experiences influence who we are later in life.

behavioral and social cognitive learning perspectives

Behaviorists defined personality as a set of learned responses or habits, gained through classical and operant conditioning

Watson and Skinner

More modern learning theorists believe there’s more to personality than conditioning

Social cognitive learning theorists emphasize the influences of other people’s behavior and a person’s own expectancies on learning; observational learning, modeling and other cognitive learning techniques influence personality

Bandura: concept of self- efficacy; believed three factors were important; the environment, the behavior itself, and personal or cognitive experiences from earlier experiences; each effect the other 2 in reciprocal way- reciprocal determination.

Rotter; theory based on principles of motivation derived from Thorndike's law of effect; personality is set of potential responses to various situations, including one's locus of control ( internal vs. external), sense of expectancy, and preference for particular reinforcers.

in Bandura's social cognitive view, both learning ( individual and through imitation of models) and cognitive processes ( such as anticipation, judgement, and memory) are important.

Humanistic Perspective

Humanistic perspective = focuses on aspects of personality that make people uniquely human, such as subjective feelings and freedom of choice

Rogers and Maslow

Social cognitive view = learning theory that includes cognitive processes such as anticipating, judging, memory, and imitation of models

Social Learning Theory based on principle of motivation

Expectancy and reinforcement value influence decision to act

Expectancy = a person’s subjective feeling that a particular behavior will lead to a reinforcing consequence

Reciprocal determinism = explanation of how the factors of environment, personal characteristics, and behavior can interact to determine future behavior

Self-efficacy = an individual’s perception of how effective a behavior will be in any particular circumstance

Not the same as self-esteem

People want to seek reinforcement and avoid punishment

Locus of control = internal vs. external

Reinforcement value = a person’s preference for a reinforcer

Developed as a reaction against the negativity of psychoanalysis and the deterministic nature of behaviorism

Self-actualizing tendency = the striving to fulfill one’s innate capacities and capabilities

Self-concept = the image of oneself that develops from interactions with significant people in one’s life

Rogers: believed that humans are always striving to fulfill their innate capacities and capabilities ( self- actualizing tendency)

when there is congruence between real and ideal selves, one is considered to be fully functioning and capable of reaching the goal of self- actualization

Components of self-concept

Real self: actual characteristics, traits, and abilities

Ideal self: what one should be or would like to be

Positive regard = warmth, affection, love and respect that come from significant others in one’s life

Unconditional positive regard: given without conditions or strings attached

Conditional positive regard: given only when person doing what providers of positive regard wish

Fully functioning person = a person who is in touch with and trusting of the deepest, innermost urges and feelings

trait theories (theories that endeavor to describe the characteristics that make up human personality in an effort to predict future behavior )

Trait = a consistent, enduring way of thinking, feeling, or behaving

Gordon Allport

First developed a list of about 200 traits

Believed these traits were part of nervous system

▪ No evidence for this at the time

▪ Some support now from behavioral geneticists

Raymond Cattell

Reduced number of traits to 16 (source traits)

Added 7 additional source traits later

Surface traits = aspects of personality that can be easily seen by other people in outward actions

Source traits = the more basic traits that underlie the surface traits, forming the core of personality

Five-factor model (Big Five) = model of personality traits that describes five basic trait dimensions

Five traits: O C E A N

Modern trait theory

Extraversion

Agreeableness

Conscientiousness

Neuroticism

Openness

Mischel and others have suggested that there is a trait- situation interaction; there is evidence of Big Five trait dimensions across various cultures.

trait theories attempt to describe personality in terms of a person's traits and are less concerned with explaining development, or attempting to change personality.

extraverts are outgoing and sociable

introverts are more solitary and dislike being the center of attention

Personality Assessments

Many professionals take eclectic approach

Interview = personality assessment in which professional asks questions of the client and allows client to answer

Can be unstructured, semistructured, or structured

Personality Inventory = paper-and-pencil or computerized test that consists of statements that require a specific, standardized response from the person taking test

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: based on Jung’s theory of personality types

MMPI-2: designed to detect abnormal behavior or thinking patterns in personality

NEO-PI: based on the five-factor model

Interviews and personality inventories are both examples of self-report

Clients can lie, distort the truth, misremember, or give a socially acceptable answer instead of true information

Projective tests = personality assessments that present ambiguous visual stimuli to the client and ask the client to respond with whatever comes to mind

Rorschach inkblot test: projective test that uses ten inkblots as the ambiguous stimuli

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): projective test that uses twenty pictures of people in ambiguous situations as the visual stimuli

behavioral genetics studies how much of an individual's personality is due to inherited traits

identical twins are more similar than fraternal twins or unrelated people in many facets of personality

adoption studies of twins have confirmed that genetics influences account for a great deal of personality development, regardless of shared or nonshared environments.

personality of 5 factor model have nearly a 50 percent rate of heritability across cultures; variations in personality are about 25 to 50 percent inherited.