1. Personality
Chapter 14

3. Personality
Pattern of feeling, motives, and behavior that set people apart from one another
Psychologists describe personality characteristics and explain how personality develops
Also try to predict how people will respond to life’s demands

4. Trait Approach Trait: aspect of personality that is relatively stable
Where do traits come from?

5. Trait Approach Hippocrates
Humors: yellow bile, blood, phlegm, and black bile
Traits are a combination of different humors
Gordon Allport
Traits are building blocks of personality
Behavior is result of specific combination of traits
Traits are the predisposition to react in a specific way to a broad range of situation
Helped identify over 18,000 words to describe personality

6. Trait Approach Hans Eysenck
Introversion vs. extroversion and emotional stability vs. instability and impulse control vs. psychotic
The first two factors create 4 combinations, related to the four basic temperaments recognized by ancient Greeks:
Melancholic (introverted + unstable): sad, gloomy
Choleric (extroverted + unstable): hot-tempered, irritable
Phlegmatic (introverted + stable): sluggish, calm
Sanguine (extroverted + stable): cheerful, hopeful

7. UNSTABLE STABLE INTROVERTED EXTRAVERTED
choleric
melancholic
phlegmatic
sanguine
INTROVERTED
EXTRAVERTED
Moody
Anxious
Rigid
Sober
Pessimistic
Reserved
Unsociable
Quiet
Sociable
Outgoing
Talkative
Responsive
Easygoing
Lively
Carefree
Leadership
Passive
Careful
Thoughtful
Peaceful
Controlled
Reliable
Even-tempered
Calm
Touchy
Restless
Aggressive
Excitable
Changeable
Impulsive
Optimistic
Active

8. Five-factor model Five basic personality factors OCEAN
Suggests that people are born with their personality which matures
But personality is still influenced by culture

9. Raymond Cattell Two categories of traits
Surface traits: make up the visible areas of personality
Source traits: are the underlying characteristics of personality
16 Personality Factors
Test identifying 16 personality factors (source traits)
Used factor analysis to discover the 16 personality factors

10. Cattell’s Personality Factors
Warmth
Abstractedness
Reasoning
Privateness
Emotional Stability
Apprehension
Dominance
Openness to change
Liveliness
Self-reliance
Rule-consciousness
Perfectionism
Social Boldness
Tension
Sensitivity
Vigilance

11. 16 Personality Factors

12. Discussion
Are personality traits set in stone or do they depend on the situation?
Can we change our traits?
Can we do it easily?
Are our traits formed at birth? Or are they influenced by the environment?

13. Psychoanalytic Approach
All people undergo inner struggles
Humans have biological drives that conflict with laws and social conventions
Psychological problems are rooted in the unconscious

14. Sigmund Freud Father of Psychoanalysis
Used psychoanalysis to explore unconscious
People talk about any ideas or memories that pop into their mind
Also used hypnosis and dream analysis

15. Id, Ego, and superego Id-basic drives Wants immediate gratification
Ego-reason
Tries to satisfy the demands of id and the warnings of superego
Mediator, balance id and superego
Superego-moral sense/conscience
Wants to act in socially appropriate manner

16. Stages of Development Freud’s Psychosexual Stages Stage Focus
Personality develops in stages
Children have conflicts at each stage
Freud’s Psychosexual Stages
Stage Focus
Oral Pleasure centers on the mouth--
(0-18 months) sucking, biting, chewing
Anal Toilet training; coping with demands for (18-36 months) control
Phallic Sexual identity; physical differences; (3-6 years) coping with incestuous sexual feelings
Latency Dormant sexual feelings
(6 to puberty)
Genital Maturation of sexual interests
(puberty on)

17. Psychoanalysis Batman/Bruce Wayne What happened in his childhood?
Why is this trauma important?
How did this impact him?
How did he handle it well?
How did he handle it poorly?
Is he more Batman or Bruce Wayne?
Why is his bat phobia important?
What is the impact of his relationship to his parents?

18. Defense Mechanisms Repression Rationalization Displacement Regression
Projection
Reaction Formation
Denial
Sublimation

19. Psychoanalytic Approach
Carl Jung
Collective unconscious-store of shared human concepts
Archetypes-basic concepts in collective unconscious
Hero, wise old man, trickster, etc.
Alfred Adler
Inferiority complex-feelings of inadequacy and insecurity
Erik Erikson
Eight stages of development
Named after traits developed during each stage

21. Myers-Briggs Test
Started as test during WWII to help women decide what job type would fit their personality
Based on Jung’s four principal psychological functions:
Sensation, Intuition, Feeling, Thinking
Test has four pairs
Extraversion-Introversion
Sensing-Intuition
Thinking-Feeling
Judging-Perception

23. Extraverted Characteristics Introverted Characteristics
Act first, think/reflect later
Feel deprived when cutoff from interaction with the outside world
Usually open to and motivated by outside world of people and things
Enjoy wide variety and change in people relationships
Introverted Characteristics
Think/reflect first, then Act
Regularly require an amount of "private time" to recharge batteries
Motivated internally, mind is sometimes so active it is "closed" to outside world
Prefer one-to-one communication and relationships
 Choose which best fits:
 Extraversion (E)
 Introversion (I)

24. Sensing Characteristics Intuitive Characteristics
Mentally live in the Now, attending to present opportunities
Using common sense and creating practical solutions is automatic-instinctual
Memory recall is rich in detail of facts and past events
Best improvise from past experience
Like clear and concrete information; dislike guessing when facts are "fuzzy"
Intuitive Characteristics
Mentally live in the Future, attending to future possibilities
Using imagination and creating/inventing new possibilities is automatic-instinctual
Memory recall emphasizes patterns, contexts, and connections
Best improvise from theoretical understanding
Comfortable with ambiguous, fuzzy data and with guessing its meaning.
 Choose which best fits:
 Sensing (S)
 iNtuition (N)

25. Thinking Characteristics Feeling Characteristics
Instinctively search for facts and logic in a decision situation.
Naturally notices tasks and work to be accomplished.
Easily able to provide an objective and critical analysis.
Accept conflict as a natural, normal part of relationships with people.
Feeling Characteristics
Instinctively employ personal feelings and impact on people in decision situations
Naturally sensitive to people needs and reactions.
Naturally seek consensus and popular opinions.
Unsettled by conflict; have almost a toxic reaction to disharmony.
Choose which best fits:
 Thinking (T)
 Feeling (F)

26. Judging Characteristics Perceiving Characteristics
Plan many of the details in advance before moving into action.
Focus on task-related action; complete meaningful segments before moving on.
Work best and avoid stress when able to keep ahead of deadlines.
Naturally use targets, dates and standard routines to manage life.
Perceiving Characteristics
Comfortable moving into action without a plan; plan on-the-go.
Like to multitask, have variety, mix work and play.
Naturally tolerant of time pressure; work best close to the deadlines.
Instinctively avoid commitments which interfere with flexibility, freedom and variety
Choose which best fits:
 Judging (J)
 Perceiving (P)

28. Learning Approach Behaviorism John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner
Outside forces (not traits or inner conflict) shape preferences and behavior
Look at behavior instead of mind
Environment shapes peoples wants
Socialization-people learn what is acceptable and desired in their culture and adopt that as part of their personality

29. Stanford prison experiment
Conducted by Philip Zimbardo; 1971
24 college students
Planned 2 week experiment, ended after 6 days
Psychological effects of being a prison guard or prisoner
Goal was to prove that inherent personality traits are the source of abusive behavior in prisons
Conclusion-the situation rather than personality caused the behaviors

30. Learning Approach Social-Learning Theory
People act to influence the environment
Learning through observation
Internal Factors:
Skills
Values
Goals
Expectations
Self-efficacy expectations
Person
Behavior
Environment

31. Humanistic Approach Abraham Maslow Search for self-actualization
Takes risks to reach self-actualization

32. Humanistic Approach Carl Rogers Self-Theory
People shape their personality through free choice and action
Self-Concept
Viewing yourself as an individual
Congruence-consistency between self-concept and experiences
Cannot live fully according to the wishes of others and remain true to ourselves

33. Sociocultural Approach
Individualism vs. Collectivism
Individualists-identify self based on personal identity
Collectivists-identify self based on group they belong to
Helps account for personality differences between individualistic Western nations and collectivist nations elsewhere

34. Sociocultural Approach
Acculturation
Process of adapting to a new culture
Culture influences personality

35. History of Personality Tests

36. Personality Tests
Standardization-test administered and scored the same way every time
Reliability-measure of consistency
Validity-extent that a test measures what it is supposed to
Objective test-has standardized set of items in form of questionnaire
Projective tests-open-ended questions with no specified answers

37. Rorschach Ink Blots (projective test)
Common responses: bat, butterfly, moth
This is card 1 of 10
Reveals clues as to how people respond to new and stressful tasks

38. Rorschach Ink Blots (projective test)
Common responses: human heads/faces
This is card 7 of 10
Card is associated with femininity;
Difficulty responding may relate to conflict with female figures in life

39. Accuracy

40. Questions to ask Is the test based on research? Who wrote the test?
Why was the test created?
Job hiring, psychological problems, therapy, entertainment?
Do the questions relate to what is being measured?
Do the results describe personality?
Would people answer the questions falsely?

41. Good personality tests
Myers-Briggs: MBTI
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory: MMPI
16 Personality Factors: 16 PF Questionnaire
Big Five: Revised NEO Personality Inventory
Bad personality tests