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.