1. AIM: How can we study the psychoanalytic perspective?

2. Personality Ms. Simon Chapter 15

3. Each dwarf has a distinct personality.
An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.
Define personality.
Each dwarf has a distinct personality.

4. Psychodynamic Perspective
In his clinical practice, Freud encountered patients suffering from nervous disorders. Their complaints could not be explained in terms of purely physical causes.
Explain how Freud’s experiences in private practice led to his theory of psychoanalysis.
Culver Pictures
Sigmund Freud
( )

5. Psychodynamic Perspective
Freud’s clinical experience led him to develop the first comprehensive theory of personality, which included the
1. unconscious mind, 2. psychosexual stages 3. defense mechanisms.
Culver Pictures
Sigmund Freud
( )

6. Exploring the Unconscious
A reservoir (unconscious mind) of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. Freud asked patients to say whatever came to their minds (free association) in order to tap the unconscious.
Discuss Freud’s view of the mind as an iceberg, and explain how he used this image to represent conscious and unconscious regions of the mind.

7. Dream Analysis
Another method to analyze the unconscious mind is through interpreting manifest and latent contents of dreams.
The Nightmare, Henry Fuseli (1791)

8. Psychoanalysis
The process of free association (chain of thoughts) leads to painful, embarrassing unconscious memories.
Once these memories are retrieved and released (treatment: psychoanalysis) the patient feels better.

9. Model of Mind
The mind is like an iceberg. It is mostly hidden, and below the surface lies the unconscious mind. The preconscious stores temporary memories.

10. Personality Structure
Personality develops as a result of our efforts to resolve conflicts between our biological impulses (id) and social restraints (superego).

11. March 2, 2011 Do Now:
What three methods did Freud use to “treat” his patients?
Free Association- speaking whatever words come to mind
Dream Analysis
Psychoanalysis
Id- take them
Superego- bad
Ego- I’ll just look at them, but I won’t memorize them

12. Id, Ego and Superego
The Id unconsciously strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives, operating on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification.
The ego functions as the “executive” and mediates the demands of the id and superego.
Personality consists of 3 parts
o Id- consists of instincts and psychic energy (libido)
o 2 instincts- life instinct (Eros)evidenced as desire for sex
o Death instinct (Thanatos)expressed as aggression
o Completely in the unconscious mind
o Propelled by the pleasure principle- wants immediate gratification
o Babies propelled by id
o Ego- contains thoughts, judgments and memories- partly conscious, partly unconscious
o Operates on reality principle- tries to satisfy desires of the id within limitations of the environment
o Superego- the sense of conscience-sense of right and wrong- partly conscious, partly unconscious
o Ego mediates between Id and superego
The superego provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations.

13. Freud’s Personality Development
Psychosexual stages: Personality formed during the first few years of life divided into stages.
Determinism= early experiences will shape your later personality
During these stages the id’s pleasure-seeking energies focus on pleasure sensitive body areas called erogenous zones.
OBJECTIVE 5| Identify Freud’s psychosexual stages of development, and describe the effects of fixation on behavior.

14. Psychosexual Stages
Freud divided the development of personality into five psychosexual stages.

15. Fixation
Fixation at any stage results from being either overly or underly satisfied
Oral fixation- smoke, talk, chew gum, chew ice (under)
Oral retentive: (overly satisfied during oral stage) shy or quiet
Anal retentive- too neat, organized (overly gratified from the anal stage)
Anal expulsive- messy, disorganized (under satisfied)

16. A girl’s desire for her father is called the Electra complex.
Oedipus Complex
A boy’s sexual desire for his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father.
A girl’s desire for her father is called the Electra complex.

17. “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer”
Identification
Identification: Children cope with threatening feelings by repressing them and by “identifying” with the rival parent.
“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer”
From the K. Vandervelde private collection
Through this process of identification, their superego gains strength that incorporates their parents’ values.

18. Defense Mechanisms
The ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality.
Repression banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness.
underlies all other defense mechanisms
2. Regression- leads to an infantile (childish) stage
OBJECTIVE 6| Describe the function of defense mechanisms, and identify six of them.
Defense mechanisms reduce or redirect anxiety in various ways, but always by distorting reality. Repression, which underlies the other defense mechanisms, banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts from consciousness; regression involves retreat to an earlier, more infantile stage of development; and reaction formation makes unacceptable impulses look like their opposites. Projection attributes threatening impulses to others, rationalization offers self-justifying explanations for behavior, and displacement diverts impulses to a more acceptable object.

19. Defense Mechanisms
3. Reaction Formation causes the ego to unconsciously switch unacceptable impulses into their opposites. Example: “I hate my father  I love him”
Projection leads people to disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others.
Example: My friend is always criticizing other people, she is mean and critical
Example of reaction formation- ego unconsciously makes unaccpetable impulses look like their opposites
“I hate him” becomes “I love him” People may express feelings of purity when they may be suffering anxiety from unconscious feelings about sex.

20. Defense Mechanisms Rationalization offers self-justifying explanations
example: it’s not my fault I failed, I had three other tests
Displacement shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable object or person
Example: you want to punch your sister, so instead you punch the pillow
7. Sublimation – redirecting unacceptable or aggressive impulses into an acceptable behavior- example: you want to punch your sister, but instead you go for a run
Ratinalization occurs when we unconsciously generate self-justifying exoplanations to hide ourselves from the real treasons for our actions
Habitaul drinkers who drink with their friends “just to be sociable”
Students who fail to study may rationalize
in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one’s actions.
or person, redirecting anger toward a safer outlet.

21. SKITS!

22. Do Now:
Bryce often acts so daring and overly confident that few people realize he is actually riddled with unconscious insecurity and self-doubt. Bryce best illustrates the use of a defense mechanism known as: a. regression. b. projection. c. displacement. d. reaction formation.
Jaydon doesn’t realize that his alcohol abuse and neglect of his family is leading to the destruction of both family and career. A psychoanalyst would suggest that Jaydon shows signs of a: a. strong ego. b. weak id. c. strong superego. d. weak ego
Bonnie is afraid to express anger at her overbearing and irritating supervisor at work, so she is critical of her children instead. A psychoanalyst would suggest that Bonnie’s reaction to her children illustrates: a. identification. b. reaction formation. c. displacement. d. projection.
Freud's theories of Personality:
Id, Ego, Superego
Defense Mechanisms- in order to resolve the conflict between id and superego, we develop six defense mechanisms
repression-
rationalization-
regression-
reaction-
projection-
displacement-
question?
All very controversial
All published in "Interpretation of Dreams,"
What are some reasons why Freud might be controversial?

23. Do Now: Review homework

24. Freud’s Theory of Personality
Id, Ego, Superego
Psychosexual Stages
Defense Mechanisms
in order to resolve the conflict between id and superego, we develop six defense mechanisms
repression-
rationalization-
regression-
reaction-
projection-
Displacement
While many of Freudian theories are very controversial, he has had a huge impact on contemporary psychology, particularly influencing the PSYCHODYNAMIC movement

25. AIM: How has Freud impacted contemporary psychology?
The neo-Freudians accepted Freud’s basic ideas regarding personality structures, the importance of the unconscious, the shaping of personality in children, and the dynamics of anxiety and defense mechanisms.

26. Why was Freud revolutionary?
First to propose psychoanalysis
Impact on pop culture
“Oedipus complex”
Freudian slip: unconscious is manifested through an error in speech
"A Freudian slip is when you mean one thing, but you say your mother."
Inspired future psychologists in the Neo-Freudian movement (Psychodynamic Movement)
Can you think of Freudian references in pop culture?
Bottom line- need to understand and appreciate Freud for what he is and what he gave- revolutionary and historic- greater impact on popculture, art, laypeople’s language (ego, repression, projection, complex, fixation, Freudian slips) than contemporary psychology

27. Why were Freud’s Theories so heavily criticized?
Gender Bias
For example: Little Hans
2) Too much emphasis on sex
3) Not predictive
4) Little empirical evidence to support
Not predictive
Gender Bias
Too much emphasis on Sex
Little empirical evidence to support
Can’t refute Both positive and negative reactions support- negative reaction= resistance
Not predictive (can explain why but not predict- but was never meant to predict)
Example- Little Hans
Contemporary studies- gender identity before age 5-6 and occurs without same sex parent present
Too much sex- underestimates social influence
Penis envy is objectionable and Women have weak superegos to many feminists (ex: Karen Horney)- Freud had assumption that men superior to women (weak superego)

28. Charles Potkay and Bem Allen describe Freud’s case study of Little Hans as the cornerstone of Freud’s ideas about the Oedipus Complex. Five-year-old Hans was afraid to leave his house because of an irrational fear that a horse would bite him. Hans developed the fear after having seen a horse fall down in the street. Freud believed that the real target of Hans’ fear was something else; through displacement Hans’s unconscious anxiety had merely been redirected from its original source onto horses. Freud suggested that Hans was actually afraid of his erotic feelings toward his mother and aggressive wishes toward his father. He supported his hypothesis with the following observations. 8 Chapter 15   Personality1. Hans has said he wanted to sleep with his mother, “coax with” or caress her, be married to her, and have children “just like daddy.” 2. Hans experienced castration anxiety. His parents warned that if he continued to play with his “widdler” (penis), it would be cut off. He noticed that his sister had no “widdler.” 3. Hans wanted his mother all to himself, was jealous of his father, and feared his mother would prefer his father’s bigger widdler, which was “like a horse.” 4. Hans was most afraid of horses with black muzzles, similar to his father’s black moustache. Hans had “accidentally” knocked a statue of a horse from its stand. When he saw a real horse fall down, he recognized his own aggressive impulse that his father fall down and die, an idea that frightened him and that he could not consciously acknowledge. Horses, then, were symbolic substitutes for Hans’s father, whom he both feared and hated. 5. Through psychoanalysis, the unconscious was made conscious. Hans’s fears were brought into the open and he achieved insight. Freud observed, “Hans was really a little Oedipus who wanted to have his father ‘out of the way,’ to get rid of him, so that he might be alone with his handsome mother and sleep with her.”

29. (Psychodynamic) Neo-Freudians agree with Freud:
id, ego, superego
anxiety, defense mechanisms
shaping of personality in childhood
(Psychodynamic approach)- even dissenters influenced by Freud
The neo-Freudians accepted Freud’s basic ideas regarding personality structures, the importance of the unconscious, the shaping of personality in children, and the dynamics of anxiety and defense mechanisms.

30. Neo-Freudians disagree with Freud:
Importance of consciousness
Sex and Aggression
However, in contrast to Freud, the neo-Freudians generally placed more emphasis on the conscious mind in interpreting experience and coping with the environment, and they argued that we have more positive motives than sex and aggression.

31. Carl Jung: Neofreudian
Unconscious consists of:
1) Personal unconscious
2) Collective unconscious based on our species’ universal experiences or archetypes
Example: myths, maternal images, fear of dark
Archive of the History of American Psychology/ University of Akron
unconscious consist of
personal unconscious (complexes=Freud’s unconscious and repressed thoughts)
collective unconscious: collection of memories and behaviors (archetypes) passed down through the ancestors ex: mother as nurturer, circles, fear of the dark
more likely shared evolution results in some universal dispositions
which contained a common reservoir of images derived from our species’ past. This is why many cultures share certain myths and images such as the mother being a symbol of nurturance.
Carl Jung ( )

32. Alfred Adler ego psychologist (downplayed unconscious)
childhood is formative period
Inferiority-complex people are motivated by fear of failure (inferiority) and desire to achieve (superiority)
Birth order
Alfred Adler- Viennese psychiatrist
Freud- emphasizes sex
Jung- emphasizes role of ancesters
Adler emphasized social interest as the primary determinant tof behavior
Consciousness is the center of personality
social not sexual interactions shape personality
ego psychologist because he downplayed unconscious and focused on ego
childhood is formative period
Inferiority complex: people are motivated by fear of failure (inferiority) and desire to achieve (superiority)
We all try to compensate for physical, intellectual and social inadequacies.
Birth order- oldest child- responsible, protective
Middle- ambitious
Young- spoiked
Period 2
National Library of Medicine
Alfred Adler ( )

33. Karen Horney Womb envy Personality based on need for security
Relationship with parent influences personality
Women’s superego is just as strong as men
Karen Horney- great critic but also Neo-Freudian-
social not sexual interactions shape personality
womb envy versus penis envy- penis envy is envy of privileges that males have in society
personality is based on need for security
interaction between child and parent as child deals with basic anxiety (being alone in unfamiliar and hostile world) forms basis for personality
children who find security in relationship with parents will find security in relationships with others
if not, likely to grow up insecure and distrusting
Like Adler, Horney believed in the social aspects of childhood growth and development. She countered Freud’s assumption that women have weak superegos and suffer from “penis envy.”
The Bettmann Archive/ Corbis
Karen Horney ( )

34. Do Now: Which NeoFreudian emphasized..?
The role of the mother
Childhood is important in personality development
ALL of the psychodyanmic psychologists
Inferiority complexes
Adler
Collective unconscious
Jung
Birth order- Adler
Womb Envy- Horney

35. Assessing Unconscious Processes
Projective tests- reveal the hidden unconscious mind
Rorschach Inkblot Test
TAT (Thematic Apperception Test)
OBJECTIVE 8| Describe two projective tests used to assess personality, and discuss some criticisms of them.
Evaluating personality from an unconscious mind’s perspective would require a psychological instrument (projective tests) that would reveal the hidden unconscious mind.
Good test must be:
Reliability- consistent for scores
Validity- assesses what its supposed to assess
Standardized- 35

36. Rorschach Inkblot Test
The most widely used projective test
Herman Rorschach
10 inkblots
It seeks to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots.
1921
Lew Merrim/ Photo Researcher, Inc.

37. Rorschach InkBlot Test1

38. 2

39. 3

40. 4

41. 5

42. 6

43. Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Developed by Henry Murray, the TAT is a projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes.
Developed by Henry Murray,
Lew Merrim/ Photo Researcher, Inc. 43

44. Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

45. Projective Tests: Criticisms
Critics argue that projective tests lack both reliability (consistency of results) and validity (predicting what it is supposed to).
When evaluating the same patient, even trained raters come up with different interpretations (reliability).
2. Projective tests may misdiagnose a normal individual as pathological (validity).

46. Personality Tests

47. Evaluating the Psychoanalytic Perspective
Modern Research
Personality develops throughout life and is not fixed in childhood.
Freud underemphasized peer influence on the individual
OBJECTIVE 9| Summarize psychology’s current assessment of Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis.
which may be as powerful as parental influence.

48. Evaluating the Psychoanalytic Perspective
Modern Research
3. There may be other reasons for dreams besides wish fulfillment.
4. Verbal slips can be explained on the basis of cognitive processing of verbal choices.
5. Suppressed sexuality leads to psychological disorders. Sexual inhibition has decreased, but psychological disorders have not.
Period 6 ends here

49. Freud and the Unconscious Mind
Modern research shows the existence of non-conscious information processing.
Schemas that automatically control perceptions and interpretations
Parallel processing during vision and thinking
Implicit memories
Emotions that activate instantly without consciousness 49

50. Humanistic Perspective
By the 1960s, psychologists became discontent with Freud’s negativity and the mechanistic psychology of the behaviorists.
Abraham Maslow
( )
Carl Rogers
( )

51. Self-Actualizing Person
Maslow proposed that we as individuals are motivated by a hierarchy of needs. Beginning with physiological needs, we try to reach the state of self-actualization—fulfilling our potential.
OBJECTIVE 10| Summarize Abraham Maslow’s concept of self-actualization, and explain how his ideas illustrate the humanistic perspective.
According to Maslow, self-actualization is the motivation to fulfill one’s potential. It is the ultimate psychological need that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved. In his effort to turn psychology’s attention from the baser motives of troubled people to the growth potential of healthy people, who are thought to be basically good, Maslow reflects the humanistic perspective.
Ted Polumbaum/ Time Pix/ Getty Images

52. Growth and Fulfillment
Carl Rogers
-believed in an individual's self-actualization tendencies.
-He said that Unconditional Positive Regard is an attitude of acceptance of others despite their failings.
OBJECTIVE 11| Discuss Carl Roger’s person-centered perspective, and explain the importance of unconditional positive regard.
Carl Rogers agreed with Maslow that people are basically good and are endowed with self-actualizing tendencies. To nurture growth in others, Rogers advised being genuine, empathic, and accepting (offering unconditional positive regard). In such a climate, people can develop a deeper self-awareness and a more realistic and positive self-concept.
Michael Rougier/ Life Magazine © Time Warner, Inc.

53. Ideal versus Real Write down a description of yourself currently:
Write down a description of how you would like to perceive yourself:

54. Assessing the Self
Carl Rogers asked people to describe themselves as they would like to be (ideal) and as they actually are (real).
If the two descriptions were close the individual had a positive self-concept.
OBJECTIVE 12| Explain how humanistic psychologists assessed personality.
Humanistic psychologists assessed personality through questionnaires on which people report their self-concept. One questionnaire asked people to compare their actual self with their ideal self. Other humanistic psychologists maintained that we can only understand each person’s unique experience through interviews and intimate conversations.
All of our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in an answer to the question, “Who am I?” refers to Self-Concept.

55. Evaluating the Humanistic Perspective
Humanistic psychology has a pervasive impact on counseling, education, child-rearing, and management.
Concepts in humanistic psychology are vague and subjective and lack scientific basis.
Individualism can promote selfishness
Too idealistic- some of us will never be able to acquire self-actualization
OBJECTIVE 13| State the major criticism of the humanistic perspective on personality.
Humanistic psychologists assess personality through questionnaires on which people report their self-concept and by seeking to understand others’ subjective personal experiences in therapy.
First, critics complain that the perspective’s concepts are vague and subjective. For example, the description of self-actualizing people seems more a reflection of Maslow’s personal values than a scientific description. Second, the individualism promoted by humanistic psychology may promote self-indulgence, selfishness, and an erosion of moral restraints. Third, humanistic psychology fails to appreciate the reality of our human capacity for evil. Its naive optimism may lead to apathy about major social problems.

56. Self-Esteem and Self-Concept
Self-concept: our overall view of our abilities
Self-esteem: how we evaluate ourselves

57. Read pages :
Pick a personality trait, and explain or evaluate this trait using the following perspectives:
Freudian
NeoFreudian (Jung, Adler, Horney)
Humanistic

58. Evaluating the Psychoanalytic Perspective
The scientific merits of Freud’s theory have been criticized. Psychoanalysis is meagerly testable. Most of its concepts arise out of clinical practice, which are the after-the-fact explanation.

59. The Trait Perspective
Trait= An individual’s characteristic behaviors and conscious motives
Examples of Traits
Honest
Dependable
Moody
Impulsive
OBJECTIVE 14| Describe the trait and perspective’s contribution to personality research.
Allport & Odbert (1936), identified 18,000 words representing traits.
Allport is more concerned with describing traits rather than explaining
How different from Freud?

60. Personality Type
Personality types, assessed by measures such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, consist of a number of traits.
Sympathetic
Appreciative
Tactful
Ancient Greeks described personality based on 4 basic categories- melancholic, cheerful, unemotional, irreitable
2.5 million Americans a year take the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to determine their profile, it declares preferences and leaves them feeling good, not very valuable as a job predictor
For example, a feeling type personality is sympathetic, appreciative, and tactful. More research is needed on this popular test’s validity.
Freud attempted to explain personality in terms of hidden, unconscious motives. In contrast to the psychoanalytic perspective, trait theorists attempt to describe personality in terms of stable and enduring behavior patterns, or dispositions to feel and act. Some theorists use dominant traits and their associated characteristics to describe personality “types.”
Feeling Type Personality

61. Gordon Allport’s Theory
Cardinal Trait- defining characteristic
Example: Mother Teresa
= altruism
Central Trait: general
characteristic

62. Cardinal Traits
Obama
Lincoln
George Bush
Michael Jackson
Lady Gaga

64. Cattell 16 Personality Factor (16PF) inventory.
Exploring Traits
Factor analysis is a statistical approach used to describe and relate personality traits.
Cattell 16 Personality Factor (16PF) inventory.
OBJECTIVE 15| Describe some of the ways psychologists have attempted to compile a list of basic personality traits.
used this approach to develop a
One way has been to suggest traits, such as anxiety, that some theory regards as basic. A newer technique is factor analysis, a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of behaviors that tend to appear together. For example, through factor analysis, Hans and Sybil Eysenck reduced normal variations to two or three genetically influenced dimensions, including extraversion–introversion and emotional stability–instability. Brain activity scans suggest that extraverts and introverts differ in their level of arousal, with extraverts seeking stimulation because their normal brain arousal level is relatively low. Jerome Kagan maintains that heredity, by influencing autonomic nervous system arousal, also affects our temperament and behavioral style, which help define our
personality.
Raymond Cattell
( )

65. Factor Analysis
Cattell found that large groups of traits could be reduced down to 16 core personality traits based on statistical correlations.
Excitement
Impatient
Irritable
Boisterous
Basic
trait
Superficial
traits
Impulsive

66. Personality Dimensions
Hans and Sybil Eysenck suggested that personality could be reduced down to three dimensions
extroversion vs introversion,
neuroticism vs stability,
and psychoticism vs empathetic.
Extroversion-
Neuroticism- level of isntability, moody anxious and urneliable
Psychotism- toughmindedness, hostuile ruthless inseticie as opposed to tender mindeneness

67. Eysenck’s Personality Traits
Extroversion vs introversion
Neuroticism- moody, anxious, unreliable
Psychoticism- tough mindedness, hostile, ruthless, insensitive

68. Are our personalities genetically determined?

69. Assessing Traits
Personality inventories are questionnaires (often with true-false or agree-disagree items) designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors
OBJECTIVE 16| Explain how psychologists use personality inventories to assess traits, and discuss the most widely used of these inventories.

70. MMPI
The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is the most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests.
Psychologists assess several traits at once by administering personality inventories on which people respond to items designed to measure a wide range of feelings and behaviors. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is the most widely used personality inventory. Originally developed to identify emotional disorders, this test is now used for many other screening purposes. The MMPI items were empirically derived—that is, from a large pool of items, the test developers selected those on which particular diagnostic groups differed. The objective scoring of the test does not guarantee its validity. For example, those taking the MMPI for employment screening may give socially desirable responses that create a good impression.

71. MMPI Test Profile

72. Barnum Effect
Tendency to accept as valid descriptions of our personality that are true of everyone especially if favorable
Barnum: “There’s a sucker born every minute”
Barnum effect exploited by astrologers, palm readers, fortune tellers
These are not accurate or scientific methods of determining personality. Fortune tellers and astrologists ar NOT scientists. Psychologists must rely on empirical and unbiased techniques.

73. AIM: How do psychologists determine our personality traits?

74. The Big Five Factors
Today’s trait researchers believe that Eysencks’ personality dimensions are too narrow and Cattell’s 16PF too large. A middle range (five factors) of traits does a better job of assessment.
Conscientiousness
Agreeableness
Neuroticism
Openness
Extraversion
OBJECTIVE 17| Identify the Big Five personality factors, and discuss some of the strengths of this approach to studying personality.
Researchers have isolated five distinct personality dimensions, dubbed the Big Five: emotional stability, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. These traits appear to be stable in adulthood, largely heritable, common to all cultures, and good predictors of other personal attributes. Locating an individual on these five dimensions provides a comprehensive picture of personality.
* What is missing from this list? Can you define yourself on these characteristics?

75. Endpoints
If a test specifies where you are on the five dimensions (conscientiousness, ageeableness, neuroticism, openness, extraversion)
* What is missing from this list? Can you define yourself on these characteristics?
Self-consciousness, masculinity

76. Questions about the Big Five
1. How stable are these traits?
Quite stable in adulthood. However, they change over development.
2. How heritable are they?
Fifty percent or so for each trait.
3. How about other cultures?
These traits are common across cultures.
4. Can they predict other personal attributes?
Yes. Conscientious people are morning type and extraverted are evening type.

77. 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.
OBJECTIVE 18| Summarize the person-situation controversy, and explain its importance as a commentary on the trait perspective.
Therefore, traits are not good predictors of behavior.
Although people’s traits seem to persist over time, critics of the trait perspective note that human behavior varies widely from situation to situation. Thus, traits are not good predictors of behavior. For example, being conscientious on one occasion is only modestly related to being conscientious on another occasion. Defenders of the trait perspective note that, despite these variations, a person’s average behavior across different situations is fairly consistent. We do have distinct personality traits. Moreover, research suggests that our traits are socially significant; they influence our health, our thinking, and our job performance.

78. The Person-Situation Controversy
Trait theorists argue that behaviors from a situation may be different, but average behavior remains the same.
Therefore, traits matter.
What does this graph show us?
With age, personality traits become more stable, as reflected in the correlatio of tait scores with follow-up scores seven years later

79. The Person-Situation Controversy
Traits are socially significant and influence our health, thinking, and performance
Zero acquaintance- we can discern something of others’ personality from glimpsing their Web site, dorm room, or office
Music preferences- classical, jazz, blues, folkd music
Dorm rooms and offices-
John Langford Photography
Samuel Gosling

80. Facebook

81. Consistency of Expressive Style
Expressive styles in speaking and gestures demonstrate trait consistency.
OBJECTIVE 19| Explain why psychologists are interested in the consistency of the trait expressiveness.
13 harvard university graduate students teaching, mere 10 second clips and rate confidence, activeness, warmth, predicted amazingly well the average student ratings
Surgeons- tone, pitch, rhythm- could accurately determine who was sued
In informal social situations, our expressive styles—our animation, manner of speaking, and gestures—are impressively consistent. Moreover, we can judge individual differences in expressiveness in a matter of seconds. Thus, we may form lasting impressions within a few moments of meeting someone. Research suggests people have little voluntary control over their expressiveness.
Observers are able to judge people’s behavior and feelings in as little as seconds

82. AIM: How does the interaction between the social context and the person influence personality? Sociocognitive Perspective
People as biopsychosocial organisms
People’s biologically influenced psychological traits interact with their situations 82

83. Consistency of Expressive Style
Expressive styles in speaking and gestures demonstrate trait consistency.
OBJECTIVE 19| Explain why psychologists are interested in the consistency of the trait expressiveness.
13 harvard university graduate students teaching, mere 10 second clips and rate confidence, activeness, warmth, predicted amazingly well the average student ratings
Surgeons- tone, pitch, rhythm- could accurately determine who was sued
In informal social situations, our expressive styles—our animation, manner of speaking, and gestures—are impressively consistent. Moreover, we can judge individual differences in expressiveness in a matter of seconds. Thus, we may form lasting impressions within a few moments of meeting someone. Research suggests people have little voluntary control over their expressiveness.
Observers are able to judge people’s behavior and feelings in as little as seconds 83

84. Social-Cognitive Perspective
Albert Bandura believes that personality is the result of an interaction that takes place between a person’s behavior and their social context.
Albert Bandura 84

85. Reciprocal Influences
Bandura called the interaction between personality and our environment reciprocal determinism.
The social-cognitive perspective applies principles of learning and cognition to the understanding of personality.
Stephen Wade/ Allsport/ Getty Images 85

86. Reciprocal Determinism
Specific ways in which individuals and environments interact
Different people choose different environments.
The school you attend and the music you listen to are partly based on your dispositions.
Our personalities shape how we react to events.
Anxious people react to situations differently than calm people.
Our personalities shape situations.
How we view and treat people influences how they treat us. 86

87. Reciprocal Determinism
Taylor is friendly (trait)
1. Influences her behavior (she talks a lot)
2. Influences her environment (she is more likely to go to parties where she will talk a lot)
3. Her environment influences her behavior: the more she talks, the more friendly she thinks she is and the more parties she goes to, the more she talks
Interactions between individuals and environments occur when different people choose different environments, when our personalities shape how we interpret and react to events, and when our personalities help create situations to which we react. 87

88. Bandura’s Self- Efficacy
Self-efficacy is our belief that we can perform behaviors that are necessary to accomplish tasks
Major factor in how we regulate our lives
Greater self-efficacy- more competent,
North america, western europe, societies foster an independent view of the self characterized by individualism
Collective efficacy 88

89. Behavior
Behavior emerges from an interplay of external and internal influences. 89

90. Do Now:
For each of the following perspectives, identify founding theorists:
Psychodynamic
Freud
NeoFreudian
Horney, Adler, Jung
Humanist
Maslow, Mr. Rogers
Trait Perspective
Gordon Allport
Sociocognitive

91. Sociocognitive Perspective
Bandura Self Efficacy
George Kelly Personal Construct
Julian Rotter Internal/External Locus of Control

92. George Kelly’s Personal Construct Theory
We develop personal constructs consisting of polar opposites (fair-unfair, exciting-dull, smart-unintelligent) to understand our world Personality differences result from different constructs
George Kelly- we are strongly influenced to make sense out of world
Personal constructs exist in opposites
Behavior is influenced by thinking and knowing how people behaved in the past can predict how they’ll behave in the future 92

93. Role Construct Repertory Test
Too few constructs= stereotype others
Too many constructs- may have difficulty predicting other’s behavior
People who use few constructs end to stereotype others
Too many constructs- may have difficulty predicting others’ behaviors 93

94. Social-Learning Theory: Personal Control
Julian Rotter emphasized our sense of personal control, whether we control the environment or the environment controls us.
External locus of control refers to the perception that chance or outside forces beyond our personal control determine our fate.
Discuss the effects of a perception of internal or external control, and describe the concept of learned helplessness.
In examining our interactions with our environment, social-cognitive psychologists emphasize our sense of personal control, that is, whether we learn to see ourselves as controlling, or, as being controlled by, our environment. People who perceive an internal rather than an external locus of control achieve more in school, are more independent, and are less depressed. Moreover, they are better able to delay gratification and cope with various stresses. Faced with repeated traumatic events over which they have no control, people come to feel helpless, hopeless, and depressed. This learned helplessness may result in passivity in later situations where their efforts could make a difference. In contrast, under conditions of personal freedom and empowerment, people thrive.
Internal locus of control refers to the perception that we can control our own fate. 94

95. Internal Locus of Control
Internals believe they can control their destinies
achieve more at school
act more independently
enjoy better health
better self control
less depression
Warm protective nurturing family environment, 1st /earlier born
What are some qualities of internal locus of control? 95

96. External Locus of Control
Limited social power
Limited resources
low socioeconomic class
Socially Marginalized
Democracy- would it have an internal or external locus of control? 96

98. Learned Helplessness
When unable to avoid repeated adverse events an animal or human learns helplessness. 98

100. Under conditions of personal freedom and empowerment, people thrive.

101. 1. Whirl 2. Slapstick 3. Cinerama

102. Tyranny of Choice

103. Positive Psychology and Humanistic Psychology
Positive psychology, such as humanistic psychology, attempts to foster human fulfillment. Positive psychology, in addition, seeks positive subjective well-being, (self-rating for happiness) positive character, and positive social groups.
Courtesy of Martin E.P. Seligman, PhD Director,
Positive Psychology Center/ University of Pennsylvania
Martin Seligman
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105. Optimism vs. Pessimism
An optimistic or pessimistic attributional style is your way of explaining positive or negative events.
Our attributional style, that is, our way of explaining positive and negative events, can reveal how effective or helpless we feel. For example, those who optimistically see setbacks as flukes rather than as signs of incompetence are likely to be more persistent and successful.
Optimists have also been found to outlive pessimists, as well as to have fewer illnesses. Excessive optimism, however, can lead to complacency, naivete and can blind us to real risks.
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106. What do these all have in common?
Times of relative peace and prosperity have enabled cultures to turn their attention towards promoting the highest quality of life
Seligman’s Positive Psychology aims to discover and promote conditions that enable individuals and communities to thrive.
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107. Positive Psychology and Humanistic Psychology
Positive psychology, in addition, seeks positive subjective well-being, positive character, and positive social groups.
Seligman: positive psychology
Courtesy of Martin E.P. Seligman, PhD Director,
Positive Psychology Center/ University of Pennsylvania
Martin Seligman
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108. Review:
According to Freud, fixation refers to a difficulty in the process of: a. free association. b. psychosexual development. c. projective testing. d. hypnosis.
Who emphasized the importance of unconditional positive regard in healthy personality development? a. Allport b. Bandura c. Rogers d. Adler
Albert Bandura’s social-cognitive perspective highlights the importance of: a. free association. b. self-actualization. c. reciprocal determinism. d. factor analysis.
Is there a downside to too much freedom in decision-making?

109. Evaluating the Social-Cognitive Perspective
Critics say that social-cognitive psychologists pay a lot of attention to the situation and pay less attention to the individual, his unconscious mind, his emotions, and his genetics.
Critics argue that the social-cognitive perspective focuses so much on the situation that it fails to appreciate the importance of the person’s inner traits, emotions, and unconscious motives.
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110. Assessing Behavior in Situations
Social-cognitive psychologists observe people in realistic and simulated situations because they find that it is the best way to predict the behavior of others in similar situations.
Social-cognitive researchers observe how people’s behaviors and beliefs both affect and are affected by their situations. They have found that the best way to predict someone’s behavior in a given situation is to observe that person’s behavior pattern in similar situations.
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111. Exploring the Self
Research focuses on the different selves we possess. Some we dream and others we dread.
Research studies how we overestimate our concern that others evaluate our appearance, performance, and blunders (spotlight effect).
3. Research studies the self-reference effect in recall- remember information better if it applies to yourself
Research on the self has a long history because the self organizes thinking, feelings, and actions and is a critical part of our personality.
The self is one of Western psychology’s most vigorously researched topics. Underlying this research is the assumption that the self, as organizer of our thoughts, feelings, and actions, is pivotal in our universal understanding personality. One example of research on the self is the study of possible selves. It explores people’s visions of the self they dream of becoming. Such possible selves motivate us by laying out specific goals and calling forth the energy to work toward them.
Another example is the study of the spotlight effect, which reflects our tendency to overestimate others’ noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunders. Give example of Barry Manilow- spotlight effect
the self-reference phenomenon, our tendency to remember information better if we encode it in terms of ourselves. (adj friendly, for example)
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112. Benefits of Self-Esteem
Maslow and Rogers argued that a successful life results from a healthy self-image (self-esteem).
When self-esteem is deflated, we view ourselves and others critically.
Low self-esteem reflects reality, our failure in meeting challenges, or surmounting difficulties.
From Myers: People who have high self-esteem have fewer sleepless nights, are less conforming, are more persistent at difficult tasks, are less shy and lonely, and are just plain happier. Some research shows a destructive effect of low self-esteem. For example, temporarily deflating people’s self-esteem can lead them to disparage others and express greater racial prejudice. Other researchers suggest that personal problems and failure may cause low self-esteem.
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113. Culture & Self-Esteem
Members of groups who experience discrimination and low status maintain their self-esteem by (1) valuing the things at which they excel, (2) attributing problems to prejudice, and (3) comparing themselves to those in their own group.
People maintain their self-esteem even with a low status by valuing things they achieve and comparing themselves to people with similar positions= relative deprivation
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114. Self-Serving Bias
We accept responsibility for good deeds and successes more than for bad deeds and failures.
We tend to view ourselves as better than average
Defensive self-esteem is fragile and egotistic whereas secure self-esteem is less fragile and less dependent on external evaluation.
Self-serving bias, our readiness to perceive ourselves favorably, is evident in our tendency to accept more responsibility for good deeds than for bad, and for successes than for failures.
Note: Most people also see themselves as better than average. Defensive self-esteem is fragile and focuses on sustaining itself which makes failure and criticism feel threatening.
Similar to low self-esteem, defensive self-esteem correlates with antisocial behavior. In contrast, secure self-esteem is less fragile because it depends less on external evaluations. Feeling accepted for who we are enables us to lose ourselves in relationships and purposes larger than self.
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