© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Chapter 13: Personality

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Personality The pattern of enduring characteristics that differentiate people – those behaviors that make each of us unique

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 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 Sigmund Freud Carl Jung Karen Horney Alfred Adler

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Sigmund Freud Psychoanalytic theory –Freud’s theory that our behavior is triggered by forces within personality of which we are not aware Unconscious –A part of the personality of which a person is not aware

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Freud: Structuring Personality Id –Raw, unorganized, inborn part of the personality –Libido Psychic energy that fuels primitive drives –Pleasure principle Immediate reduction of tension and the maximization of satisfaction

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Freud: Structuring Personality Ego –Strives to balance the desires of the id and the realities of the objective, outside world –Reality principle Instinctual energy is restrained in order to maintain the safety of the individual and help integrate the person into society

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Freud: Structuring Personality Superego –The final personality structure to develop that represents the rights and wrongs of society as taught and modeled by a person’s parents, teachers, and other significant individuals –Conscience Prevents us from behaving in a morally improper way –Ego-ideal Represents the “perfect person” we wish we were

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Freud: Psychosexual Stages Oral stage –Center of pleasure is mouth Anal stage –Center of pleasure is anus Phallic stage –Pleasure focuses on genitals –Oedipal conflict –Identification Latent stage –Children’s sexual concerns are temporarily put aside Genital stage –Marked by mature sexual behavior (sexual intercourse)

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Freud: Psychosexual Stages Fixation –Refers to conflicts or concerns that persist beyond developmental period in which they first occur

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Defense Mechanisms Unconscious strategies that people use to reduce anxiety by concealing the source from themselves and others

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Carl Jung: Collective Unconscious Collective unconscious –Common set of ideas, feelings, images, and symbols that we inherit from our ancestors, the whole human race, and even nonhuman ancestors from the distant past Archetypes –Universal symbolic representations of a particular person, object, or experience Mother Good Evil

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Karen Horney: Neo-Freudian Perspective First feminist psychologist Personality develops in the context of social relationships Relationship between parents and child and his/her needs is very important Cultural factors

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Alfred Adler People strive for superiority –Self-improvement Inferiority complex –Problem affecting adults who have not been able to overcome the feelings of inferiority that they developed as children, when they were small and limited in their knowledge about the world

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Trait Approaches Trait theory –Model of personality that seeks to identify the basic traits necessary to describe personality Trait –Consistent personality characteristics and behaviors displayed in different situations Friendliness Shy Sensitive Tense

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Gordon Allport 18,000 terms to describe personality Cardinal –Single characteristic that directs most of a person’s activities Central –Five to ten major characteristics of an individual Secondary –Characteristics that affect behavior in fewer situations and are less influential

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Raymond Cattell Factor analysis –Statistical method of identifying associations among a large number of variables to reveal more general patterns Source traits –Sixteen Personality actor Questionnaire (16 PF)

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Raymond Cattell

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Hans Eysenck Extraversion –sociability Neuroticism –Emotional stability Psychoticism –Degree to which reality is distorted

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. The Big Five Openness to experience Conscientiousness Extraversion Agreeableness Neuroticism

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Learning Approaches Behaviorist approach –B.F. Skinner –Collection of learned behavior patterns

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Learning Approaches Social cognitive approach –Albert Bandura –Observational learning –Viewing the actions of others and observing the consequences –Emphasizes the influence of cognition Thoughts Feelings Expectations values

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Learning Approaches Social cognitive approach –Self-Efficacy Belief in one’s personal capabilities –Self-esteem Component of personality that encompasses our positive and negative self-evaluations

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Learning Approaches The downside of high self-esteem –Roy Baumeister –Unjustified high self-esteem can be psychologically damaging –Can lead to a variety of undesirable outcomes Narcissism

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Biological and Evolutionary Approaches Biological and evolutionary approaches to personality –Suggest that important components of personality are inherited –Temperament Innate disposition that emerges early in life

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Humanistic Approaches Humanistic approaches to personality –Abraham Maslow –Carl Rogers Self-actualization –State of self-fulfillment in which people realize their highest potential, each in his or her own unique way Unconditional positive regard –Attitude of acceptance and respect on the part of an observer, no matter what a person says or does

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Comparing Approaches

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Assessing Personality Psychological tests –Standard measures devised to assess behavior objectively Self-report measures MMPI-2 –A test used to differentiate people with specific sorts of psychological difficulties as well as predicting a variety of other behaviors

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. MMPI-2

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Projective Methods Projective personality test –A test in which a person is shown an ambiguous stimulus and asked to describe it or tell a story about it Rorschach test TAT

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Behavioral Assessment Direct measures of an individual’s behavior used to describe characteristics indicative of personality

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Using Tests in Employment Decisions 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