Personality Psychology

Personality The distinct patterns of behavior, thoughts, and feelings that characterize a person’s adaptation to life.

Psychodynamic Theory Sigmund Freud Emphasizes the importance of unconscious motives and conflicts as forces that determine behavior Dynamic struggle Drives (sex, aggression, superiority) conflict with moral codes, laws, and social rules

Mind is like an Iceberg Conscious-self awareness Preconscious-capable of being brought into awareness by focusing attention Unconscious-not available to awareness by simple attention

Unconscious Conscious Preconscious Unconscious

Psychic Structure In psychodynamic theory, a hypothesized mental structure that helps explain different aspects of behavior Id Ego Superego

Id Present at birth Represents physiological drives and is fully unconscious Pleasure principle-demands instant gratification without consideration of law, social custom, or the needs of others

Ego Develops during the first year of life Stands for “reason and good sense” Characterized by self-awareness, planning, and delay gratification Stands between id and superego Reality Principle-considers what is practical and possible in gratifying needs

Ego Defense Mechanisms: Repression Regression Rationalization Displacement Projection Reaction formation Denial Sublimation

Fixation A lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage. Where conflicts were unresolved. Orally fixated people may need to chain smoke or chew gum. Or denying the dependence by acting tough or being very sarcastic. Anally fixated people can either be anal expulsive or anal retentive.

Defense Mechanisms The ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by distorting reality. Never aware they are occurring. Seven major types.

Repression The Mac Daddy defense mechanism. Push or banish anxiety driven thought deep into unconscious. Why we do not remember lusting after our parents.

Regression When faced with anxiety the person retreats to a more infantile stage. Thumb sucking on the first day of school.

Reaction Formation Ego switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites. Being mean to someone you have a crush on.

Projection Disguise your own threatening impulses by attributing them to others. Thinking that your spouse wants to cheat on you when it is you that really want to cheat.

Rationalization Offers self-adjusting explanations in place of real, more threatening reasons for your actions. You don’t get into a college and say, “I really did not want to go there it was too far away!!”

Displacement Shifts the unacceptable impulses towards a safer outlet. Instead of yelling at a teacher, you will take anger out on a friend by peeing on his car).

Sublimation Re-channel their unacceptable impulses towards more acceptable or socially approved activities. Channel feeling of homosexuality into aggressive sports play.

Superego Develops throughout early childhood Functions as the moral guardian and sets forth high standards for behavior Identification-values of parents Moral principle-hands out judgments of right and wrong, floods the ego with shame and guilt

Psychosexual Development Sexual impulses are pivotal factors in personality development even among children 5 stages: Oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital

Oral Stage Weaning could lead to frustration Fixation-stuck in the stage and displays traits of that stage Oral traits-dependency, gullibility, optimism/pessimism Oral fixation-exaggerated desires for “oral activities” such as smoking, nail biting, overeating, alcohol abuse clinging, dependent relationships

Oral Stage 0-18 months Pleasure center is on the mouth. Sucking, biting and chewing.

Anal Stage Sexual gratification is attained through contraction and relaxation of the muscles that control the elimination of waste products Begin the second year of life Children learn to control their urge to eliminate may cause conflict between parent and child

Anal Stage 18-36 months Pleasure focuses on bladder and bowel control. Controlling ones life and independence. Anal retentive

Anal Stage Anal-retentive: excessive use of self-control Anal fixation may lead to two traits: Anal-retentive: excessive use of self-control Anal-expulsive: unregulated self expression (messiness, carelessness, sadism)

Phallic Stage 3-6 years Pleasure zone is the genitals. Coping with incestuous feelings. Oedipus and Electra complexes.

Phallic Stage Occurs in the third year Major erogenous zone is the phallic region (penis, clitoris) Parent-child conflict over masturbation Children may develop strong sexual attachments to the parent of the opposite gender and view the same gender parent as a rival (marry mommy and daddy)

Phallic Stage Oedipus complex:conflict for boys who wish to possess his mother sexually and perceives his father as a rival in love Electra complex: girl longs for her father and resents her mother

Oedipus and Electra Resolved by ages 5 and 6 Repress their hostilities toward and identify with the parent of same gender In adolescence, feelings are displaced or transferred to socially appropriate members of the other gender

Latency A phase characterized by repression of sexual impulses focus more on schoolwork engage in gender role behaviors prefer to play with children of same age

Latency Stage 6- puberty Dormant sexual feeling. Cooties stage.

Genital Stage Begins during puberty Adolescents again have sexual urges for their mothers and fathers but the incest taboo encourages repression and displacement onto other adolescents or adults Sexual gratification through intercourse Freud’s view-oral and anal stimulation, masturbation, homosexual activity pregenital fixations-less mature

Carl Jung Analytical psychology: Collective unconscious: racial memories that contain archetypes (young hero, nurturing mother, wise old man, wicked witches, rebirth and resurrection) Self-unifying force of personality that gives purpose and direction

Alfred Adler Inferiority complex: feelings of inferiority serve as a central motivating force Creative self-self-aware aspect of personality that strives to achieve its full potential Individual psychology

Karen Horney Parent-child relationships extremely important Basic anxiety-lasting feelings of insecurity from harsh or indifferent parents Basic hostility-lasting feelings of anger directed at nonfamily members in adulthood

Erick Erickson More psychosocial than psychosexual Social relationships are more crucial determinants of personality We are the conscious architects of our personalities Stages of psychosocial development-based on traits that may develop

Trait Perspective A relatively stable aspect of personality that is inferred from behavior and assumed to give rise to consistent behavior.

Gordon Allport Catalogued 18,000 human traits Physical traits (short, brunette, skinny) Behavorial traits (shy, emotional) Moral traits (honest, loyal)

Raymond Cattell Reduced this universe of traits to smaller lists of traits that show common features. His new list of primary personality traits would enable us to predict the person’s behavior in various situations 16 Personality Factors Scale

Hans Eysenck Emotional stability vs. instability Introversion: characterized by intense imagination and the tendency to inhibit impulses Extroversion: characterized by tendencies to be socially outgoing and to express feelings and impulses freely Emotional stability vs. instability

Eysenck Personality Questionnaire

The Big Five Conscientiousness-organized/disorganized, careful/careless, disciplined/impulsive Agreeableness-soft-hearted/ruthless, trusting/suspicious, helpful/uncooperative Neuroticism-Emotional stability Openness to experience Extroversion/introversion CANOE

Evaluation Trait theory is descriptive, not explanatory Circular explanations-merely restates its own concepts instead of offering additional information

Social-Cognitive Theory Albert Bandura: See people as influencing the environment just as the environment influences them Observational learning Person variables (expectancies, competencies, and values) influence behavior

Social Cognitive Theory Focus on how we interact with our environment. Reciprocal Determinism: the interacting influences between personality and environmental factors.

Social Cognitive Perspective Different People choose different environments. The TV you watch, friends you hang with, music you listen to were all chosen by you (your disposition) But after you choose the environment, it also shapes you.

Social Cognitive Perspective Our personalities help create situations to which we react. If I expect someone to be angry with me, I may give that person the cold shoulder, creating the very behavior I expect.

Personal Control Our sense of controlling our environment rather than the environment controlling us.

External Locus of Control The perception that chance or outside forces beyond one’s personal control determine one’s fate.

Internal Locus of Control The perception that one controls one’s own fate.

Learned Helplessness The hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events.

Competencies Knowledge and skills Ex: academic skills, athletic skills, social skills, job skills, etc…

Expectancies Personal predictions about the outcomes of potential behaviors Based on our observations of others and on our own experiences Self-efficacy expectations-beliefs to the effect that one can handle a task

Humanistic/Existential Perspective Humanism:the view that people are capable of free choice, self-fulfillment, and ethical behavior Existentialism:the view that people are completely free and responsible for their own behavior Agree or disagree?

Carl Rodgers Frames of reference: One’s unique patterning of perceptions and attitudes according to which one evaluates events Self-esteem: one’s evaluation and valuing of oneself

Carl Rogers’s Person-Centered Perspective People are basically GOOD. We are like Acorns Need Water, Sun and Nutrients to Grow into a big Oak Tree. We need genuineness, acceptance and empathy for us to grow.

Genuineness Being open with your own feelings. Dropping your facade. Being transparent and self-disclosing.

Acceptance Unconditional Positive Regard: An attitude of acceptance regardless of circumstances. Accepting yourself or others completely.

Positive Regard Unconditional-accepting a person as having intrinsic merit regardless of their behavior at the moment Conditional-accept them only when they behave in a desired manner can lead to low self-worth

Empathy Listening, sharing, understanding and mirroring feelings and reflecting their meanings. Preschool study

Self-Concept All of thoughts and feelings about ourselves trying to answer the question…. WHO AM I?

Self-Concept Both Rogers and Maslow believed that your self-concept is at the center of your personality. If our self concept is positive…. We tend to act and perceive the world positively. If our self-concept is negative…. We fall short of our “ideal self” and feel dissatisfied and unhappy

Assessing your Self-Concept ME Ideal Self

Self-Ideal A mental image of what we believe we ought to be Rodgers believed that the process of striving to meet meaningful goals, the good struggle, yields happiness

Self-Serving Bias A readiness to perceive oneself favorable. People accept more responsibility for successes than failures. Most people see themselves as better than average.

Acculturation and Self-Esteem Acculturation:the process of adaptation to the dominant culture and making behavioral and attitudinal changes Bicultural-become fluent in the languages of their country of origin and their new country and integrate the customs and values of both cultures highest self-esteem

Measurements of Personality Objective tests-tests whose items must be answered in a specified, limited manner. Tests whose items have concrete answers that are considered correct. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) Most widely used psychological test in the clinical setting

Projective Tests Tests that present ambiguous stimuli onto which the test taker projects his or her own personality in making a response Thematic Apperception Test Rorschach Inkblot Test LETS TRY IT :)

Hans Eysenck

The Big Five