INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY PsychSmart INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

CHAPTER TEN: PERSONALITY

Psychodynamic Approaches to Personality How do psychologists define and use the concept of personality? What do the theories of Freud and his successors tell us about the structure and development of personality?

Psychodynamic Approaches to Personality Based on the idea that personality is motivated by inner forces and conflicts about which people have little awareness and over which they have no control

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory: Mapping The Unconscious Mind Sigmund Freud Unconscious Part of the personality that contains memories, knowledge, beliefs, feelings, urges, drives, and instincts of which one is not aware Motivates much of our behavior Preconscious Holds material easily brought to mind

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory: Mapping The Unconscious Mind Structuring Personality: Id, Ego, and Superego Id Raw, unorganized, inborn part of personality Holds primitive drives Pleasure principle

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory: Mapping The Unconscious Mind Structuring Personality: Id, Ego, and Superego Ego Strives to balance the desires of the id and the realities of the objective, outside world Reality principle “Executive” of personality

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory: Mapping The Unconscious Mind Structuring Personality: Id, Ego, and Superego Superego Represents the rights and the wrongs of society as taught and modeled by one’s parents, teachers, and other significant individuals Includes the conscience

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory: Mapping The Unconscious Mind Freud’s Model of Personality Figure 1 of Chapter 10

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory: Mapping The Unconscious Mind Developing Personality: Psychosexual Stages Individuals encounter conflicts between the demands of society and their own sexual urges Failure to resolve conflicts at any stage can result in fixation

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory: Mapping The Unconscious Mind Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of Personality Figure 2 of Chapter 10

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory: Mapping The Unconscious Mind Defense Mechanisms Unconscious strategies that people use to reduce anxiety by concealing its source from themselves and others Repression

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory: Mapping The Unconscious Mind Freud’s Defense Mechanisms Figure 3 of Chapter 10

The Neo-Freudian Psychoanalysts: Building on Freud Jung’s Collective Unconscious Common set of ideas, feelings, images, and symbols that we inherit from our relatives, the whole human race, and even animal ancestors from the distant past Archetypes Universal symbolic representations of a particular person, object, or experience

The Neo-Freudian Psychoanalysts: Building on Freud Horney’s Neo-Freudian Perspective Women’s issues First feminist psychologist Suggested that personality develops in the context of social relationships and depends particularly on the relationship between parents and child

The Neo-Freudian Psychoanalysts: Building on Freud Adler and the Other Neo-Freudians Alfred Adler Proposed that the primary human motivation is a striving for superiority in a quest for self-improvement and perfection Inferiority complex Describes situations in which adults have not been able to overcome the feelings of inferiority they developed as children Erik Erikson Anna Freud

Trait Approaches to Personality What are the major aspects of trait, learning, social cognitive, biological and evolutionary, and humanistic approaches to personality?

Trait Approaches to Personality Trait Theory Seeks to explain, in a straightforward way, the consistencies in individuals’ behavior Traits Consistent personality characteristics and behaviors displayed in different situations

Allport’s Trait Theory Cardinal Trait Single characteristic that directs most of a person’s activities Central Trait Major characteristics of an individual Secondary Trait Affect behavior in fewer situations

Factor Analysis Statistical method of identifying associations among a large number of variables to reveal more general patterns Factors Combinations of traits Cattell Eysenck

Eysenck’s Three Dimensions of Personality Factor Analysis Eysenck’s Three Dimensions of Personality Figure 4 of Chapter 10

The Big Five Factors of Personality Openness to Experience Conscientiousness Extraversion Agreeableness Neuroticism

The Big Five Factors of Personality The Big Five Personality Factors and Dimensions of Sample Traits Figure 5 of Chapter 10

Learning Approaches B.F. Skinner’s Behaviorist Approach States that personality is a collection of learned behavior patterns Social Cognitive Approaches to Personality Emphasize the influence of cognition as well as others’ behavior Self-efficacy Belief in one’s personal capabilities Self-esteem Encompasses our positive and negative self-evaluations

Biological and Evolutionary Approaches Suggest that important components of personality are inherited

Biological and Evolutionary Approaches Genetic Influences on Personality Figure 6 of Chapter 10

Humanistic Approaches Emphasize people’s inherent goodness and their tendency to move toward higher levels of functioning Carl Rogers Self-actualization Self-concepts Unconditional positive regard

Humanistic Approaches Rogers’s Model of the Need for Unconditional Positive Regard Figure 7 of Chapter 10

Comparing Approaches to Personality Summary of Five Approaches to Personality Figure 8 of Chapter 10

Assessing Personality How can we most accurately assess personality? What are the major types of personality measures?

Psychological Tests Standard measures devised to assess behavior objectively Reliability The measurement consistency of a test Validity When a test measures what it is designed to measure Norms Standards of test performance that permit the comparison of one person’s score with the scores of others

Self-Report Measures of Personality Ask people about a relatively small sample of their behavior Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory -2 (MMPI-2) Test standardization

Projective Measures Projective Personality Tests Rorschach test Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Behavioral Assessment Direct measures of an individual’s behavior designed to describe characteristics indicative of personality

Assessing Personality Assessments Understand what the test claims to measure Base no decision only on the results of any one test Remember that test results are not always accurate