2. Ch. 10 Personality

3. Trait Approach
Doesn’t explain where personality comes from

4. Personality Traits
Reasonably stable elements of personality that are inferred from behavior
Consistent behavior in different situations
Fixed unchanging

5. Hippocrates Greeks believed traits embedded in bodily fluids (humors)
Disorders and diseases were due to imbalance of the humors
Removing blood/vomitting recommended to restore health

7. Gordon Allport (1930s)
Traits can be inherited and fixed within the nervous system
Traits are the building blocks of personality
Behavior a product of their particular combination of traits

8. Hans Eysenck ( )
Studied relationships between 2 personality dimensions
Introvert v. Extrovert (which was first proposed by Carl Jung)
Imaginative v. active
Look inward for ideas and energy v. gain energy from interactions with others
Stable v. Unstable

10. The Five Factor Model Extroversion Neuroticism (Emotional stability)
Conscientiousness
Agreeableness
Openness to new experiences
Personalities mature, not change by culture

11. Psychodynamic Approach

12. Freud’s take Personality is a conflict between two forces:
1. Drives like sex, aggression, need for superiority
2. Laws, social rules, moral codes
3 levels of awareness - conscious, preconscious, unconscious
Psychoanalysis - therapy to explore unconscious

13. 3 Structures of Personality
ID - Concerned with basic drives; does not care about laws, customs, or needs of others
EGO - Reality principle, keeps id in check
SUPEREGO - Guilt and identification

14. IE.

15. Defense Mechanisms
Methods the ego uses to avoid recognizing ideas or emotions that may cause personal anxiety
Freudian theory
More mechanisms you use, the healthier you are

16. Identification (with aggressor)
Taking on characteristics of someone else
Abused children can become abusive parents
Kids idolize sports stars
Stockholm Sydrome

17. Intellectualization/Isolation
Something that should be a big deal, isn’t
Emotions are overwhelming, therefore we try to eliminate them altogether
Can be healthy for a short period of time
Examples?

18. Repression Push anxiety - causing ideas to be put into unconscious
Things build up
Usually results in outbursts of anger and development of other problems
Usually unhealthy
Examples?

19. Rationalization
Use self-deception to justify unacceptable behaviors or ideas
Explain what we do in such a way to avoid responsibility for bad outcome
Seems harmless, but can be dangerous
Examples?

20. Displacement
Transfer of an idea or impulse from a threatening or unsuitable object to a less thretening object
“Kick the dog”
A little bit is expected, but too much is bad
Examples?

21. Regression
When under stress, we return to behavior that is characteristic of an earlier stage of development
Reaction to the extreme frustration of having to be an adult and take responsibility
Examples?

22. Projection Project unacceptable impulses outward onto other people
See own faults in other people
Attributing our thoughts to someone else
Shift responsibility onto someone else
Normal occasionally, but can become self-destructive
Examples?

23. Reaction Formation
Act contrary to genuine feelings in order to keep true feelings hidden
Acting “too nice” around someone you’re angry at
Sometimes hard to see
Examples?

24. Fantasy
The process of imagining or longing for, a storybook ending to an unpleasant situation
Examples?

25. Denial
Refuse to accept the reality of anything that is bad or upsetting
Similar to repression, except we do not allow the problem into consciousness

26. Avoidance
Process of evading a potentially unpleasant or threatening situation
Examples?

27. Sublimation
Channel basic impulses into socially acceptable behavior (constructive/creative behavior)
“good” defense mechanism – healthy and adaptive
Examples?

28. Undoing Process of cancelling out unpleasant thoughts or feelings
Examples?

29. Effects of Defense Mechanisms
Normal and useful if used in moderation
Can protect people from painful feelings (guilt, anxiety, shame)
Person with healthy ego able to balance id and superego without mechanisms

30. HTP test and results
A projective test to measure aspects of a person’s personality and also brain damage and general mental functioning
Uses symbolism
Designed by John Buck in 1948
Freudian roots

31. Neo-Freudians
More optimistic
Social psychoanalysts

32. Erik Erikson
Expanded upon Freud’s work by that it continues into adulthood
Social relationships are important for personality development
Great emphasis on mother-infant relationship
Early childhood traumas have great effect on us for a lifetime
Psychosocial development
Trust/mistrust, autonomy/shame, initiative/guilt, industry/inferiority, identity/role diffusion, intimacy/isolation, generativity/stagnation, integrity/despair
(Review with your chart print-out)

33. Carl Jung Was a believer in Freud and then fell out
Unconscious is a well of mystical and religious beliefs that control our behavior
Certain themes in every culture
Archetypes – anima/yin and animus/yang
Personality is made up by inherited traits
Collective Unconscious – ideas shared by entire human race
Persona – fake personality we develop to hide real feelings and personality

34. Myers-Briggs
Myers-Briggs test was created using Jung’s theories in 1940s for women entering the workforce
MMPI – Minnesota Multiple Personality Inventory in 1930s

37. Alfred Adler
Follower of Freud, but questioned his emphasis on biological needs
Believed one of the biggest problems people faced: trying to feel important and worthwhile around others
Motivated by feelings

38. Karen Horney Freud is sexist
Feel most helpless, anxious, and lost around kids
Basic Anxiety – being helpless and isolated in a hostile world (not loved)
Personality comes from childhood experiences
Build personality around fighting rejection

39. Questions?