Do Now: Write down as many personality traits as you can think of. Longest list wins!

Story time…

The Trait Perspective Trait= An individual’s characteristic behaviors and conscious motives Examples of Traits Honest Dependable Moody Impulsive

Personality Type Personality types, assessed by measures such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, consist of a number of traits. Sympathetic Appreciative Tactful Feeling Type Personality

Gordon Allport’s Theory Cardinal Trait- defining characteristic Example: Mother Teresa = altruism Central Trait: general characteristic

Cardinal Traits Obama Lincoln George Bush Michael Jackson Lady Gaga

Exploring Traits Factor analysis is a statistical approach used to describe and relate personality traits. Cattell 16 Personality Factor (16PF) inventory. Raymond Cattell ( )

Factor Analysis Cattell found that large groups of traits could be reduced down to 16 core personality traits based on statistical correlations. Impulsive Excitement Impatient Irritable Boisterous Basic trait Superficial traits

Personality Dimensions Hans and Sybil Eysenck suggested that personality could be reduced down to three dimensions extroversion vs introversion, neuroticism vs stability, and psychoticism vs empathetic.

Eysenck’s Personality Traits Extroversion vs introversion Neuroticism- moody, anxious, unreliable Psychoticism- tough mindedness, hostile, ruthless, insensitive

Are our personalities genetically determined?

Assessing Traits Personality inventories are questionnaires (often with true-false or agree-disagree items) designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors

MMPI The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is the most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests.

MMPI Test Profile

Do Now: 1) What is the MMPI? 2) How are traits evaluated today? 3) Which movie won best picture last night?

Fortune telling.

Barnum Effect Tendency to accept as valid descriptions of our personality that are true of everyone especially if favorable

AIM: How do psychologists determine our personality traits?

The Big Five Factors Today’s trait researchers believe that Eysencks’ personality dimensions are too narrow and Cattell’s 16PF too large. A middle range (five factors) of traits does a better job of assessment. Conscientiousness Agreeableness Neuroticism Openness Extraversion

Endpoints

Questions about the Big Five Yes. Conscientious people are morning type and extraverted are evening type. 4. Can they predict other personal attributes? These traits are common across cultures. 3. How about other cultures? Fifty percent or so for each trait. 2. How heritable are they? Quite stable in adulthood. However, they change over development. 1. How stable are these traits?

Evaluating the Trait Perspective The Person-Situation Controversy Walter Mischel (1968, 1984, 2004) points out that traits may be enduring, but the resulting behavior in various situations is different.

The Person-Situation Controversy Trait theorists argue that behaviors from a situation may be different, but average behavior remains the same.

The Person-Situation Controversy Traits are socially significant and influence our health, thinking, and performance Samuel Gosling John Langford Photography

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Consistency of Expressive Style Expressive styles in speaking and gestures demonstrate trait consistency. Observers are able to judge people’s behavior and feelings in as little as seconds

Humanistic Perspective By the 1960s, psychologists became discontent with Freud’s negativity and the mechanistic psychology of the behaviorists. Abraham Maslow ( ) Carl Rogers ( )

Self-Actualizing Person Maslow proposed that we as individuals are motivated by a hierarchy of needs. Beginning with physiological needs, we try to reach the state of self-actualization—fulfilling our potential. Ted Polumbaum/ Time Pix/ Getty Images

Growth and Fulfillment Carl Rogers -believed in an individual's self-actualization tendencies. -He said that Unconditional Positive Regard is an attitude of acceptance of others despite their failings. Michael Rougier/ Life Magazine © Time Warner, Inc.

Ideal versus Real

Assessing the Self All of our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in an answer to the question, “Who am I?” refers to Self-Concept. Carl Rogers asked people to describe themselves as they would like to be (ideal) and as they actually are (real). If the two descriptions were close the individual had a positive self-concept.

Evaluating the Humanistic Perspective 1.Humanistic psychology has a pervasive impact on counseling, education, child- rearing, and management. 2.Concepts in humanistic psychology are vague and subjective and lack scientific basis. 3.Gender identity may develop before 5-6 years of age.

Do Now: Which Theory of Personality (Psychoanalytic, Humanist, Neofreud, Trait) do you agree with and why?

AIM: How does the interaction between the social context and the person influence personality?

Social-Cognitive Perspective Bandura (1986, 2001, 2005) believes that personality is the result of an interaction that takes place between a person’s behavior and their social context. Albert Bandura

Bandura called the interaction between personality and our environment reciprocal determinism. The three factors, behavior, cognition, and environment, are interlocking determinants of each other. Reciprocal Influences Stephen Wade/ Allsport/ Getty Images

Reciprocal Determinism Taylor is friendly (trait) 1. Influences her behavior (she talks a lot) 2. Influences her environment (she is more likely to go to parties where she will talk a lot) 3. Her environment influences her behavior: the more she talks, the more friendly she thinks she is and the more parties she goes to, the more she talks

Individuals & Environments How we view and treat people influences how they treat us. Our personalities shape situations. Anxious people react to situations differently than calm people. Our personalities shape how we react to events. The school you attend and the music you listen to are partly based on your dispositions. Different people choose different environments. Specific ways in which individuals and environments interact

Bandura’s Self- Efficacy Self-efficacy is our belief that we can perform behaviors that are necessary to accomplish tasks Major factor in how we regulate our lives

Behavior Behavior emerges from an interplay of external and internal influences.

We develop personal constructs consisting of polar opposites (fair- unfair, exciting-dull, smart-unintelligent) to understand our world Personality differences result from different constructs George Kelly’s Personal Construct Theory

Role Construct Repertory Test Too few constructs= stereotype others Too many constructs- may have difficulty predicting other’s behavior

Social-Learning Theory: Personal Control External locus of control refers to the perception that chance or outside forces beyond our personal control determine our fate. Internal locus of control refers to the perception that we can control our own fate. Julian Rotter emphasize our sense of personal control, whether we control the environment or the environment controls us.

Internal Locus of Control Internals believe they can control their destinies achieve more at school act more independently enjoy better health better self control less depression Warm protective nurturing family environment, 1st /earlier born

External Locus of Control Limited social power Limited resources low socioeconomic class Socially Marginalized

Learned Helplessness When unable to avoid repeated adverse events an animal or human learns helplessness.

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Positive Psychology and Humanistic Psychology Positive psychology, such as humanistic psychology, attempts to foster human fulfillment. Positive psychology, in addition, seeks positive subjective well-being, positive character, and positive social groups. Martin Seligman Courtesy of Martin E.P. Seligman, PhD Director, Positive Psychology Center/ University of Pennsylvania

Do Now: 1.According to Freud, fixation refers to a difficulty in the process of: a. free association. b. psychosexual development. c. projective testing. d. hypnosis. 2. Who emphasized the importance of unconditional positive regard in healthy personality development? a. Allport b. Bandura c. Rogers d. Adler 3.Albert Bandura’s social-cognitive perspective highlights the importance of: a. free association. b. self-actualization. c. reciprocal determinism. d. factor analysis. 4.Is there a downside to too much freedom in decision-making?

Tyranny of Choice

Write down positive and negative qualities about yourself… Which list is longer?

AIM: How does our self-concept influence our personality?

-Psychology-The-Self

Optimism vs. Pessimism An optimistic or pessimistic attributional style is your way of explaining positive or negative events.

Seligman’s Positive Psychology aims to discover and promote conditions that enable individuals and communities to thrive.

Positive Psychology and Humanistic Psychology Positive psychology, in addition, seeks positive subjective well-being, positive character, and positive social groups. Martin Seligman Courtesy of Martin E.P. Seligman, PhD Director, Positive Psychology Center/ University of Pennsylvania

Evaluating the Social-Cognitive Perspective Critics say that social-cognitive psychologists pay a lot of attention to the situation and pay less attention to the individual, his unconscious mind, his emotions, and his genetics.

Assessing Behavior in Situations Social-cognitive psychologists observe people in realistic and simulated situations because they find that it is the best way to predict the behavior of others in similar situations.

Exploring the Self 1.Research focuses on the different selves we possess. Some we dream and others we dread. 2.Research studies how we overestimate our concern that others evaluate our appearance, performance, and blunders (spotlight effect). 3. Research studies the self-reference effect in recall.

Benefits of Self-Esteem Maslow and Rogers argued that a successful life results from a healthy self-image (self-esteem). 1.When self-esteem is deflated, we view ourselves and others critically. 2.Low self-esteem reflects reality, our failure in meeting challenges, or surmounting difficulties.

Culture & Self-Esteem People maintain their self-esteem even with a low status by valuing things they achieve and comparing themselves to people with similar positions.

Self-Serving Bias 1)We accept responsibility for good deeds and successes more than for bad deeds and failures. 2)We tend to view ourselves as better than average 3)Defensive self-esteem is fragile and egotistic whereas secure self-esteem is less fragile and less dependent on external evaluation.