Personality “She felt that those who prepared for all the emergencies of life beforehand may equip themselves at the expense of joy.” E.M. Forster “Howards End”

Personality Unique, relatively consistent pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving Preferences – for how you handle situations, your sense of humor, or your expectations of others “You have a strong need for other people to like & admire you. You have a tendency to be critical of yourself. You have a great deal of unused capacity, which you have not turned to your advantage…disciplined & controlled on the outside, you tend to be worrisome & insecure inside…at times, you’re extraverted, affable, & sociable; at other times, you’re introverted, wary, & reserved”

Psychoanalytic Approach Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939) Josef Breuer’s “talking cure” Catharsis Product of the Victorian era Repressed sexuality Rationality & self-control distinguish us from the animals Eros and Thanatos Inhibited sexuality & inhibited aggression The Iceberg Metaphor

Freud’s Structure of Personality Conscious— Acute awareness Preconscious— Just under awareness; easily known Unconscious— Well below awareness; Difficult to know but very influential Superego Consciousness Ego Id

How the iceberg works Id Functions on ‘pleasure principle’ Immediate gratification of needs to reduce tension & discomfort regardless of consequences Superego Functions on ‘idealistic principle’ Our moral guide/conscience Influenced by internalizing our parents’ values & the voice of society Works against the Id by inflicting guilt

How the iceberg works (cont.) Ego Functions on ‘reality principle’ Serves to balance the demands the Id and the Superego Assesses what is realistically possible in satisfying the Id and/or Superego (i.e., what society will deem acceptable) Ego uses defense mechanisms to protect itself Personality is result of the battle for control between id, ego & superego

Defense Mechanisms Denial Denying the anxiety outright Repression Blocking out/prevention of anxiety – forcing anxiety back into unconscious Rationalization Creating false reasons or explanations for anxiety in the form of a shortcoming

Defense Mechanisms (cont.) Projection Seeing in others unacceptable feelings that reside in one’s own unconscious Displacement Acting out your anxiety on an innocent party Scapegoating

Defense Mechanisms (cont.) Reaction formation Reversing the nature of the anxiety so that it feels like its opposite nature Exaggerated love for someone you unconsciously hate Sublimation Channeling anxiety into socially-acceptable activities Focusing sexual energy into art, music, etc.

Freud’s Psychosexual Stages Periods of development Sexual focus Implications for adult personality Fixation Oral (Birth to 1½ yrs) Gratification is centered around the mouth (e.g., breast-feeding, sucking, biting) Anal (1½ to 3 yrs) Gratification is centered around the pleasure of defecation; toilet-training is issue for resolution and development

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Stages Phallic (3 to 6) Gratification manifests itself through masturbation; resolution for development lies in identification w/ same-sex parent Oedipus Complex Boys have unconscious jealous love for mother and desire to kill the father; fear of castration by father leads to resolution with acceptance of/identification with father and internalization of father’s values Strong superego results in this resolution Electra Complex Girls discover that they do not have a penis and desire one (“penis envy”); they direct their anger toward the mother for not providing a penis; jealous of mother forefather Gradual realization that these desires are self-defeating; identification with mother results

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Stages Latency (6 to puberty) Sexual urges are repressed and transformed into socially acceptable activities, such as schoolwork and peer activities Genital (puberty – adulthood) Successful resolution and development into a mature sexual relationship

Criticisms of Freud Sexist Freud’s theory was thought to be sexist against women (e.g., “penis envy”, underdeveloped superego) Description rather than prediction Subjective description, solely by Freud, and “after the fact” on a relatively small sample of patients, including himself! His patients were mostly females from upper classes Unverifiable concepts How the heck can you directly confirm, disconfirm, or even observe the Oedipus Complex?! Feels more mythical than scientific Too many hypotheses for reactions to anxiety

But… Freud’s theory…. Was rich and comprehensive in description 1 st comprehensive theory of personality: every personality theory since can be seen as a reaction to Freud Sparked psychoanalysis Many still believe that psychoanalysis is the best treatment for mental illness Was controversial and stretched the boundaries for creativity Freud: “I am actually not a man of science, not an observer, not an experimenter, not a thinker. I am by temperament nothing but a conquistador—an adventurer…with all the curiosity, daring, and tenacity characteristic of a man of this sort.” Why do you think his theory is still popular today? What do you like about it and why?

Beyond Freud…Dispositional Approaches Principles of dispositional approaches Personality is stable over time Personality is consistent across situations Consequences of these principles We must have enduring personal characteristics Traits Types

Allport’s Trait Theory Trait Relatively enduring, consistent personality characteristics - inferred from behavior 3 types of traits Cardinal traits Affect every area of the individual’s life Mother Theresa – altruistic Central traits Influence many aspects of our lives, but not quite as pervasive Someone you think of as “kind” or “funny” Secondary traits Affect narrower aspects of our lives Preference for cowboy hats or always wearing perfume

Type Theories 5-factor model of personality Where we fall on 5 different dimensions determines personality type Dimensions Openness to experience Curiosity, flexibility, imagination, artistic sensibility Conscientiousness Discipline, organization, dependable Extraversion Outgoing, upbeat, friendly, assertive, gregarious Agreeableness Sympathetic, trusting, cooperative, straightforward Neuroticsm Anxious, hostile, self-conscious

Behavioral Perspectives Bandura Self Efficacy Take his ideas of observational learning and add cognition Knowing we can actually perform behaviors successfully, in the way we wish to behave, leads to self-praise Mischel’s controversy Situational specificity Our behavior is mostly a function of a given situation, not of stable, internal traits Interactionism: both traits and situations interact to produce behavior, thoughts Bandura’s reciprocal determinism: behavior also influences traits and situations – all 3 factors influence each other

Humanistic Psychology Focuses on the positive aspects of being human (e.g., goodness, creativity, free will) Rejection of the scientific goal of predicting and controlling human behavior The major aim should be to discover things that expand and enrich human experience Should strive to seek info that will help solve human problems Description of what it means to be a human being in terms of meaningful experience, such as values, language, and emotions

Humanistic perspectives Rogers Person-centered therapy Congruence vs. incongruence Lots of overlap between self and experience Little overlap between self and experience

Evolutionary perspective Disregards both conscious & unconscious determinants of personality Personality is a function of your unique combination of genes Good at: Explaining the Big Five Bad at: Explaining individual differences

Assessing Personality Provide a story here : What does this look like? What features make you think this? What does this remind you of?

Projective Tests Ask about meaningless, ambiguous stimuli Theory behind it that we will give an answer consistent with the inner workings of our minds Rorschach Inkblots Best used to measure how people process information Creativity, coping resources, emotional processing, relationships with others, thought disorders, psychoses

TAT-like Card Provide a story here: What is happening in this picture? What led up to it? What are the people here thinking and feeling? What will happen to these people here?

Thematic Apperception Test Black & white pictures of people in vague/ambiguous situations Asked to make up a dramatic story about the picture Best used to learn the motivation behind people’s behavior Believed that person will identify with one of the characters on each card In their stories, people are thought to express their own circumstances, needs, environmental demands, emotions, and perceptions of reality