Unit XIV Personality

Personality: An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and acting (cognition, emotion, behavior) General theories Psychoanalytic – Freud, Adler, Horney, Jung Humanistic – Maslow, Rogers Trait – Allport, Eysenck Social-Cognitive – Bandura, Seligman

Psychoanalytic Theory Sigmund Freud Bio and psychoanalysis Free association Unconscious Mind Id, ego, superego Life and death drives Psychosexual stages Oral (0-1.5) Anal (1.5-3) Phallic (3-6) Latency (6-puberty) Genital (puberty-death) Be a Freud, be very a Freud

Freud and the Neo-Freudians Freudian Defense Mechanisms Handout (with neo-Freudian additions) Alfred Adler Differences from Freud Inferiority complex Karen Horney Differences from Freud Carl Jung Differences from Freud Collective Unconscious and archetypes Synchronicity and spirituality

Assessing the Unconscious Projective Tests Thematic Apperception Test Ambiguous pictures Patient creates a story Rorschach inkblot test 10 cards with inkblots (mix of b/w and color) Location, Content, Determinants, Form Criticisms

What do you see?

Evaluating the Psychoanalytic Perspective Psychoanalysis vs. Modern Research Development, nurture, gender, dreaming, defense mechanisms The Myth of Repression Freud’s idea of repression may not exist Modern Views of the Unconscious Today, unconscious = beyond conscious awareness We do defend ourselves against anxiety, however. Freud vs. Science After-the-fact explanations and predictive validity What good is Freud, anyhow?

Humanistic Psychology 1960’s discontent Waning psychoanalytic and behavioralism Focus on healthy people and human potential Abraham Maslow Hierarchy of needs Brief review of development of his theories Personal characteristics of a self-actualizing individual.

Carl Rogers Biography Person-Centered Concept Genuine, Accepting, Empathic Conditional and unconditional positive regard Need for self-regard Congruence and the self A measure of real self versus ideal self “Incongruency exists when people no longer use their organismic valuing process as a means of determining if their experiences are in accordance with their actualizing tendency.”

Evaluating the Humanists Humanist ideas have infiltrated culture. Vague and subjective Individualism, moral relativism and the slippery slope. Naïveté in assuming the inner drives of humanity.

Personality Traits Rather than “why” or “what could be”, this is the study of what is stable and enduring – traits. Gordon Allport Character, Traits (dispositions), and personality theory Hans and Sybil Eysenck Dimensions: Ex – Int ; St – Ins Biology and Personality

Assessing Traits Objective Tests – Personality Inventories MMPI – Minnesota Multiphasic PI 567 True-false questions; 10 clinical scales; 11 validity scales Designed to detect psychological disorders CPI – California Psychological Inventory 434 Yes-no questions; Self-assurance, intrapersonal skills, achievement potential and intellectual and interest modes. Designed to examine traits of the psychologically healthy. MBTI – Myers-Briggs Type Indicator 136 MC Questions; 4 dichotomies: E – I; S – N; T – F; J- P Yields a 4-letter personality type (INTJ)

Big 5 and Criticisms “Big 5” Traits/ Factors Eysenck’s two-factors have been expanded. Conscientiousness Agreeableness Neuroticism Openness Extraversion Stable, heritable, valid Proposed by Paul Costa and Robert McCrae Critiques of Trait Theory Does who you are depend on where you are? Person-situation controversy General vs. specific validity Traits do offer general predictive validity. Differences among traits Behavior averages out to demonstrate distinctive traits.

Social-Cognitive Perspective Albert Bandura – “Beyond Bobo”; Walter Mischel Social-cognitive theory: Behavior is determined via the interaction between traits and the social context. Reciprocal Determinism Interactions create varying levels of personal control. External vs. Internal Locus of Control Changing feelings of control and learned helplessness. Martin Seligman – Positive Psychology “Optimum Control theory” and effects of control

Optimism vs. Pessimism Attributional style Effects of pessimism Effects of optimism Health Excessive optimism Realists? Dunning-Kruger effect Incompetence blindness We don’t know what we don’t know.

Assessing the Social- Cognitive Perspective Observation of behavior Simulated assessment situations Best predictor of future behavior is past behavior* This perspective may leave inner traits out of the personality equation. * To which the humanists cry out “people can change”

The Self and Identity The self through time Possible selves Spotlight effect Self-esteem Misconceptions Benefits of s-e Self-Serving Bias Examples Cultural differences Defensive vs. secure self-esteem