Chapter 14 Personality

Personality Each person’s unique and relatively enduring stable behavior patterns Personality traits: stable qualities that a person shows in most situations Leads to predictable behavior Inferred from behavior Stable at age 30

Theories Trait theories: what traits make up personality and how they relate to behavior Psychodynamic theories: focus on inner working of personality, especially internal conflicts and struggles Behavioristic theories: importance of external environment and effect of conditioning and learning Social Learning: attribute differences to socialization, expectation, and mental processes Humanistic: stress private, subjective experience and personal growth

Traits Approach Analyze, classify, inter-relate traits Allport: individual traits (define unique qualities) Cattell: trait profile (16 PF) Trait-situation interactions: when external circumstances influence the expression of personality traits Heredity accounts for 25 to 50% of variability in many personality traits

Psychodynamic Theory Sigmund Freud 3 parts of personality: Id: innate, biological instincts; self-serving, irrational, operates on pleasure principle, unconscious Ego: conscious control of personality; operates on reality principle Superego: internalized parent; conscience

Psychosexual Development Oral: feeding Anal: toilet training Phallic: attracted to opposite sex parent; Oedipus conflict in males Latency: dormant period Genital: puberty First years of life shape personality Not verified scientifically Freud believed sexual abuse was a fantasy

Behavioral Theory of Personality Personality is a collection of learned behavior patterns Acquired through classical and operant conditioning, observational learning, reinforcement, extinction, generalization, and stimulus discrimination Reject notion of personality traits Situational determinants interact with prior learning history

Social Learning Theory How person interprets a situation Expectancy: anticipation that responding will lead to reinforcement Attach different values to different reinforcers

Humanistic Theory Rogers, Maslow Focus on human experiences, problems, potentials Human nature is inherently good Person you are is product of choices you have made Stressed private perceptions rather than prior learning

Maslow Self-actualization: process of fully developing personal potential Judge situations correctly Comfortable acceptance of self, others Resourceful, independent Continued freshness for appreciation Steps to self-actualization: be willing to change, take responsibility, self-discovery, see yourself as others do

Carl Rogers Self theory Fully functioning person lives in harmony with deepest feelings and impulses Trust intuition Most likely to occur with love and acceptance from others Behavior understood as attempt to maintain consistency between self-image and action Unconditional positive regard: love and approval without qualification

Personality Theories Trait theories: useful in describing and comparing personalities Psychoanalytic: exaggerates sexuality and biological instincts, doesn’t predict behavior Behavioristic and social learning: can study scientifically, understate importance of temperament, emotion Humanistic: positive dimensions of personality

Personality Assessment Interview Direct observation Rating scales Behavioral assessment Personality questionnaires (MMPI) Projective Tests: Rorschach, TAT