Slide 1 U T S C Chapter 14 - Personality Chapter 14 Personality

Slide 2 U T S C Chapter 14 - Personality Approaches To Personality –Trait Approach. –Psychobiological Approach. –Social Learning Approach. –Psychodynamic Approach. –Humanistic Approach.

Slide 3 U T S C Chapter 14 - Personality Trait Approach The trait approach makes two important assumptions: –Personality consists of traits that are unique to each individual. –Traits are stable and enduring dispositions. We know that humans have five senses. But how many traits do they have?

Slide 4 U T S C Chapter 14 - Personality The Big Five The English vocabulary contains nearly 20,000 trait terms. But there is a lot of redundancy among them (sociable, outgoing). Decades of research on similarities between traits have yielded five clusters: –Neuroticism –Extroversion –Openness –Agreeableness –Conscientiousness These tendencies mix in different proportions to create different personalities.

Slide 5 U T S C Chapter 14 - Personality Focuses on the role of biology in determining personality. There are a number of ways to look at the role of biology in personality. One way is to look at the heritability of personality traits. Another way is to look at the effect of brain damage on personality. Let’s look at the famous case of Phineas Gage, a railroad worker, who suffered a terrible accident (page in textbook). Psychobiological Approach

Slide 6 U T S C Chapter 14 - Personality Video on The Story of Phineas Gage

Slide 7 U T S C Chapter 14 - Personality Optimum-Level Theory Some personality traits like extroversion and thrill seeking, produce behaviour that increases arousal. Could it be that such people are trying to raise their natural low level of arousal to an optimal level? Optimal Level Theory states that: There is an optimal level of arousal for motivated action. When arousal is low, we feel bored and unmotivated. When arousal is very high, we feel tense and fearful. Do thrill seekers start out with a low level of arousal?

Slide 8 U T S C Chapter 14 - Personality Video on Brain Chemistry and Sensation Seeking

Slide 9 U T S C Chapter 14 - Personality Social Learning Approach States that our personality is shaped by what we learn from our experiences. We develop expectations about the outcome of our behaviour in certain situations. One particularly interesting effect of such expectations is reflected in what is known as self-handicapping.

Slide 10 U T S C Chapter 14 - Personality Self-Handicapping Making excuses for one’s performance before the fact. Sometimes this is done by saying things that suggest that one is not at one’s best (I have a headache, I slept terribly, etc.) At the extreme one may actually engage in behaviour that will handicap one’s performance (getting drunk the night before a competition). Self-handicapping is an attempt to protect one’s self-esteem. Research shows that people who self-handicap do not cope well with stress.

Slide 11 U T S C Chapter 14 - Personality Psychodynamic Approach According to this approach, diverse sources of psychic energy interact dynamically in each of us. Sigmund Freud is the most famous proponent of this view. Freud’s psychoanalytic theory begins with the idea that the mind exists on two basic levels: conscious and unconscious. Freud believed that the mind has three basic structures: –Id: unconscious irrational source of primitive impulses. –Ego: conscious and realistic (respects “reality principle”) –Superego: both conscious and unconscious. Based on rules and prohibitions we have internalized.

Slide 12 U T S C Chapter 14 - Personality Defense Mechanisms The conflicts created by the id’s strong impulses and the inhibitions imposed by the ego and superego can be very upsetting. Defense mechanism: –Repression –Reaction Formation –Projection –Sublimation –Rationalization –Conversion Personality Development in Psychodynamic Theory...

Slide 13 U T S C Chapter 14 - Personality Personality Development Psychodynamic theories of personality stress the importance of personality development in producing healthy adults. Have you ever wondered where the “Anal Personality” comes from? The following video describes: –Freud’s stages of psychosexual development. –Object-Relations Theory, that stresses people’s investment in other people or “objects.”

Slide 14 U T S C Chapter 14 - Personality Video on Personality Development

Slide 15 U T S C Chapter 14 - Personality Personality Disorders According to Psychodynamic theory, problems during early personality development can result in personality disorders in later life. The “anal” personality reflects fixation at the anal stage: Anal Retentive: Excessively neat, meticulous, obsessive. Anal Expulsive: Sarcastic, hostile, untidy. Other disorders reflect preoccupation with other things. Narcissism is a sense that others are there to serve the self. Narcissists love attention and praise, but respond to criticism with extreme anger.

Slide 16 U T S C Chapter 14 - Personality Video on Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Slide 17 U T S C Chapter 14 - Personality Humanistic Approach Humanism emphasizes the individual’s potential for growth and change. Abraham Maslow proposed that personality is shaped by motivation to satisfy a hierarchy of needs: Self Actualization Aesthetic needs Cognitive needs Esteem needs Attachment needs Safety needs Physiological needs Carl Rogers proposed that people seek to be fully functioning.