1. Ch. 12 Personality: Theory, Research, & Assessment

2. What is Personality?
Personality an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, & acting
Four Basic Perspectives
Trait
Psychoanalytic
Humanistic
Social-Cognitive

3. Defining Personality: Consistency & Distinctiveness
Personality Traits: characteristic pattern of behavior, disposition to feel or act
Personality Inventory a questionnaire (true or false) that gauge a range of feelings & behaviors, used to assess selected personality traits
-Raymond Cattell.
Factor Analysis (common variables)

4. Defining Personality: The “Big Five”
The Five-Factor Model
Agreeableness (sympathetic, trusting, cooperative, modest)
Conscientiousness (diligent, discipline, well organized, punctual, dependable)
Openness to experience (curiosity, flexibility, imaginative, artistic)
Neuroticism (anxious, hostile, self conscious, insecure)
Extraversion (outgoing, sociable, upbeat, friendly)

5. Five Factor Model

6. The Trait Perspective
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) most widely researched & clinically used personality test. Developed to identify emotional disorders.
Empirically Derived Test developed by testing a pool of items & then selecting those that discriminate between groups.

7. Evaluating the Trait Perspective
Situational influences on behavior are important
People can fake desirable responses on self-report measures of personality
Average behavior across situations seems to indicate that people do have distinct personality traits

8. Psychodynamic Perspective
Freud’s psychoanalytic theory personality that attributes our thoughts & actions to unconscious motives & conflicts
Used to treat psychological disorders by seeking to expose & interpret unconscious tensions
Free Association method of exploring the unconscious, a person relaxes & says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing

9. Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Structure of personality
Id (Primitive)
Pleasure principle (immediate gratification)
Ego (Decision Making)
Reality principle (delay gratification through mediation)
Superego (Judgement)
Morality develops around 3 to 5 (right or wrong)
Levels of awareness
Conscious. Aware of
Preconscious. Beneath the surface that can be retrieved
Unconscious. Not aware of, unacceptable thoughts but influence behavior

10. Psychodynamic Perspective

11. Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Conflict
Sex & Aggression
Anxiety
Defense Mechanisms
1. Rationalization
(Creating false excuses to justify behavior)
2. Repression
(Keep distressing thought & feeling buried in unconscious)
3. Projection
(Attributing your own thoughts/feelings on to others)
4. Displacement
(Diverting emotional feelings from the source to someone else)
5. Reaction Formation
(Behaving in the opposite way of how you truly feel)
6. Regression
(Revert to immature patterns of behavior)
7. Identification
(Increase self esteem by forming a real or imaginary alliance with someone)

12. Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

13. Freud’s Psychosexual Stages
Psychosexual stages. How children deal with immature but powerful sexual urges. Each stage focuses on their own erotic energy
Sexual = physical pleasure
Fixation = Stuck on excessive gratification or frustration. Overemphasis on psychosexual needs during fixated stage
Oedipus Complex a boy’s sexual desire towards his mother & feeling of jealousy for the rival father
Electra Complex a girl’s sexual desire towards her father & feelings of jealousy for the rival mother
Penis Envy girls are jealous of boys b/c they have a penis, & are mad at their mother for not giving them one

14. Freud’s Psychosexual Stages
1. Oral Stage- 1 year old erotic stimulation is the mouth (sucking, biting, chewing)
2. Anal Stage- 2 year old erotic stimulation is from bowel & bladder movement, coping with demands for control (Expulsion or Retention)
3. Phallic Stage- 4 years old erotic stimulation through self
Gratification, coping with incestuous sexual feelings
4. Latency Stage- 6 to puberty sexuality is suppressed. Social contacts
5. Genital Stage- Puberty & beyond, energy is focused on
other people’s genitals

15. Other Psychodynamic Thoerists
Carl Jung: Analytical Psychology
Personal unconscious (individually)
Collective unconscious (Inherited)
Archetypes (universal meaning, symbols in art & religion)
Introversion (Internal thoughts, feelings & experiences)
Extroversion (External, people)
Alfred Adler: Individual Psychology
Striving for superiority (universal drive to improve)
Compensation (efforts to overcome imagined/real inferiorities)
Inferiority complex/overcompensation (to conceal feeling of inferiorities)
Birth order (1st born problem child because they were dethroned)

16. Other Psychodynamic Theorists

17. Assessing the Unconscious
Projective Testing a personality test,
(Rorschach or TAT), gives ambiguous stimuli
designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) a projective test that people express their inner feelings & interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes
Rorschach Inkblot Test seeks to identify inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations

18. TAT

19. Rorschach

20. Evaluating Psychodynamic Perspective
Pros
The unconscious
The role of internal conflict
The importance of early childhood experiences
Cons
Poor testability
Inadequate empirical base
Sexist views

21. Behavioral Perspective

22. Personality & Operant Conditioning

23. Bandura’s Reciprocal Determinism

24. Evaluating Behavioral Perspective
Pros
Based on rigorous research
Insights into effects of learning and environmental factors
Cons
Over-dependence on animal research
Fragmented view of personality
Dehumanizing views

25. Humanistic Perspective
Carl Rogers focus on growth & fulfillment of individuals
Person Centered Theory
1) Genuineness 2) Acceptance 3) Empathy
-Self-concept (mental picture of yourself)
Conditional/unconditional positive regard
Incongruence & anxiety (disparity between self image & reality)
-Self-Esteem one’s feelings of high or low self worth
-Self Serving Bias a readiness to perceive oneself favorably

26. Roger’s View of Personality

27. Roger’s View of Personality

28. Humanistic Perspective
Abraham Maslow
Self-actualization theory (the strive for personal best)
Hierarchy of needs (according to priority, when satisfied activates needs at the next level)
The Need for Self Actualization (Need to fulfill one’s potential “what a man can be he must be”
Self Actualizing Persons (exceptionally healthy personalities with continual growth)

29. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

30. Maslow’s View of Healthy Personality

32. Evaluating Humanistic Perspective
Humanistic theories are credited with highlighting the importance of a person’s subjective view of reality. They are also applauded for focusing attention on the issue of what constitutes a healthy personality.
They are criticized for lacking a strong research base, poor testability, and what may be an overly optimistic view of human nature (Maslow had a hard time finding live people who had self-actualized).

33. Biological Perspective
Eysenk’s theory
3 higher order traits
1) Extraversion (sociable)
2) Neuroticism (anxious)
3) Psychoticism (egocentric)
Determined by genes
Twin studies
Novelty seeking and genetics
The evolutionary approach
Traits conducive to reproductive fitness
1. Humans have evolved special sensitivity to bond with others (Extraverts)
2. The willing to cooperate & collaborate (Agreeableness)
3. The tendency to be reliable & ethical (Conscientiousness)
4. The capacity to be an innovation problem solver (Openness to Experience)
5. The ability to handle stress (Low Neuroticism).

34. Twin’s Studies of Personality

35. Evaluating Biological Perspective
Pros
Convincing evidence for genetic influence
Cons
Conceptual problems with heritability estimates
Artificial carving apart of nature and nurture
No comprehensive biological theory