1. Personality

2. What is it?
Psychologists define personality as an individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and acting.
As most areas of psychology, different psychologists have different ideas about how personality is developed.

3. Freud and Psychoanalysis
Have you ever heard of…
Fixated
Repressed
Regressed
Anal-retentive
Rationalize
Oedipus complex
All of these terms can be traced back to Sigmund Freud..

4. The Unconscious
The basis for Freud’s theories was that our behaviour stems from our unconscious minds: thoughts and feelings that we are unaware of, that usually come from our childhood experiences
He believed that a person’s personality comes from tensions generated by unconscious motives and unresolved childhood conflicts
To resolve these issues, the unconscious thoughts have to be explored and the feelings released
Examples of unconscious thoughts influencing our personality?
Freudian slips:

6. Id, Ego, Superego
Use your text pages , in your own words, create a written explanation of Freud’s three parts of personality and create a visual for each (or one general representation like above)
Include an example of how each part would respond in a fictional circumstance.

7. Psychosexual Stages

8. Defense Mechanisms
Anxiety results from conflict between the id and the superego. To deal with this the ego tries to protect itself through…
1. Repression
Push down and banish anxiety provoking thoughts, usually sexual in nature

9. 2. Regression Retreat to a comfortable, infantile stage of life
Eg. Older child using “baby talk”

10. 3. Denial
Refuse to admit that something unpleasant is happening

11. 4. Reaction Formation
Reverse the unacceptable impulse and express the opposite of the unconscious feeling

12. 5. Projection
Disguise own feelings by attributing the problem to others

13. 6. Rationalization
Displace real explanations and replace with comforting justification for actions.

14. 7. Displacement
Shift the unacceptable impulse toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person

15. Time for a skit….
In groups, create a brief skit for one of the seven defense mechanisms

16. Neo-Freudians
Alfred Adler – agreed with importance of childhood, but thought social (not sexual) tensions were important for personality development
- stressed the importance of an inferiority complex

17. Carl Jung – the collective unconscious, inherited memories from our ancestors
- archetypes or universal symbols found in myth, art, and stories

18. Karen Horney – objected to Freud’s male-dominated theories
- thought differences between men and women were socially created, not biological
Anxiety results from helplessness and isolation in a highly competitive world.

19. Assessing Personality
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) – stories told about ambiguous image
Rorschach Test (inkblot) – what do you see in a ink image, and is it what everyone else sees?
Let’s create our own Rorschach Test and see who in our lives has issues in their unconscious!!!

20. How valid is Freud’s view of personality?
Most modern psychologists don’t think sex is the basis of personality
Do agree that the unconscious makes up a significant amount of our mental life – our feelings and behaviour can be affected by things we can’t bring to mind or verbalise
Childhood is important to personality development
Personality development is lifelong – not fixed in childhood
Oedipus complex is bunk
His “defense mechanisms” have some validity
Read the article and create a GIST

21. HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE
In contrast to Freud's focus on unconscious thoughts, humanistic psychology focuses on:
conscious experiences
the individual’s freedom to choose
the individual’s capacity for personal growth
belief in the basic goodness and respect of humankind.
understanding and acceptance of one's own existence and responsibility
the present is the most important aspect of the person

22. Abraham Maslow
Maslow developed a hierarchy of needs to help explain personality and personal growth.
Maslow believed we must satisfy our basic physiological needs for food, water and air before attempting to meet the security and safety needs of the second level, and the love and belongingness of the third level, etc..

24. Carl Rogers
Rogers agreed with Maslow that people are good and strive for actualization. Rogers viewed people, much like seeds that will thrive when they have the right mixture of ingredients. Rogers said that people need:
Acceptance
Genuineness
Empathy

25. So. How do we nurture proper human growth in others
So.. How do we nurture proper human growth in others? The answer is, by being accepting.
Ideally, through unconditional positive regard, or an attitude of total acceptance toward another person.
This attitude values others even though we are aware of their faults and failings.
Let’s read, “How Full is your Bucket?”

26. Criticisms? Lengthy therapy Western-centric perspective
Individual needs and values above all else – can lead to selfishness? Self-indulgence?
Naïve – ignores human capacity for evil

27. Review
Complete the two quizzes on page to check your understanding.

28. The Trait and Social-Cognitive Perspectives
Using your text pages , fully answer the 6 learning goals at the beginning of the chapter.
Make sure to include key people and terms.

29. Cultural Differences in the Concept of Self
Culture is influential in shaping our self-concept, which plays a big role in personality
Western nations have a more individualistic self-concept
Asian and African cultures tend to have a more collectivistic self-concept
This can create different views on many things, like love and marriage. Dion and Dion argue that romantic notions of love flourish only in individualistic cultures – because it focuses on the need of the individual and not the family or society needs

30. Ted Talk!