UNIT 11: PERSONALITY

Myers-Chapter 15: Personality

What is personality? an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting

five major approaches to personality…1.psychoanalytic (childhood

experiences; unconscious motives; sexual instincts)

2.humanistic (conscious awareness; the self; subjective feelings)

3.cognitive (interpretations of experience; organization of reality; expectations)

4.trait (temperament; abilities; enduring characteristics)

5. learning (external environment; rewards and punishments; observable behavior)

Two Historic Perspectives1.psychoanalytic (Freud)

2.humanistic (Maslow and Rogers)

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

The Psychoanalytic Perspective

Psychoanalysis Freud’s theory of personality

that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts

free association

unconscious: thoughts, wishes, feelings, memories of which we are unaware and many of which we are ashamed of; these thoughts we repress, but they drive many of our life decisions

Freudian slips of the tongue… the president of the Austrian parliament opens a session by thundering, “I declare this meeting closed!”

answering his phone, a preoccupied business executive picks up the receiver and bellows, “Come in”

at a copying machine, a secretary counts copies: “eight, nine, ten, jack, queen, king”

a jogger, just finishing her run, tosses her shirt into the toilet instead of the laundry hamper

Freud’s view… personality is a combination of the

conflict between aggressive, pleasure-seeking biological impulses and internalized social restraints

id egosuperego

ego- operates on reality principle, seeking to gratify the id’s impulses in realistic ways that bring long-term pleasure

id- operates on the pleasure principle; contains a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives

superego- part of personality that represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment and for future aspirations

Psychosexual Stages personality develops during the

first few years

childhood stages of development during which the id’s pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital)

Oedipus complex/Electra complex

identification process by which children incorporate their parents’ values into their developing superegos

fixation lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved

Defense Mechanisms the ego’s protective methods of

reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality1. repression2. regression3. reaction formation4. projection5. rationalization6. displacement

*all of these happen unconsciously

repression-banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings and memories from consciousness

regression-individual faced with anxiety retreats to a more infantile psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated

reaction formation-ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites

rationalization-offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons

projection-people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others

displacement-shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person

Which defense mechanism is this? Lisa was embarrassed when she kept forgetting her appointment with the dentist.

After her new baby brother came home from the hospital, the parents discovered Cheryl had dismembered her favorite doll.

John has a lot of unconscious hostility toward his father but he is very affectionate toward his father and tells other people that he and his father have a wonderful relationship.

Mark slams the door to the classroom after failing the exam.

A student attributed his flunking out of the university to the poor quality of teaching there.

George feels that his younger son, Gary, is unattractive and not very smart. He accuses his wife of picking on Gary and favoring their other son.

Trixie was homesick and anxious when she moved into the dormitory and started her first year in college. She began to sleep with her old teddy bear again because it made her feel better.

The Neo-Freudian and Psychodynamic Theorists

Alfred Adler (1870-1937)Karen Horney (1885-1952)Carl Jung (1875-1961)

Alfred Adler agreed that childhood is

important, but focused on social, not sexual tensions

human motivation comes from striving for superiority

compensation is normal, but excessive feelings of inferiority can lead to an inferiority complex

stressed the importance of cultural and social factors in personality development and importance of social relationships

basic anxiety

“womb envy”

Karen Horney

like Freud, he emphasized the unconscious

two levels: personal unconscious (repressed or forgotten)

collective unconscious (shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species’ history)

Carl Jung

Today’s Psychodynamic

Theory

much of our mental life is unconscious

we often struggle with inner conflicts among wishes, fears and values

childhood shapes our personalities and ways of becoming attached

Projective Testsleads to unconscious; provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Rorschach Inkblot Test Sentence Completion Test

Sentence Completion Test:1.I secretly wish…2.I fear…3.I get angry when…4.My best friend doesn’t

know…5.If only I could…6.I wish I could forget…7.It is hard for me to…

“Many aspects of Freudian theory are indeed out of date,

and they should be: Freud died in 1939, and he has been

slow to undertake further revisions.”

~Drew WestenWhat do we think

of the psychoanalytic theory today?

What did Freud get right? we have limited access to what goes on in our minds

we do defend ourselves against anxiety

An overall analysis…

Freud’s theory “offers after-the-fact explanations of any characteristic yet fails to predict such behaviors and traits”.~Myers

Freud’s supporters argue that some of his ideas are

lasting.

His influence in scientific circles is waning, but his

influence in popular culture is still strong!

Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)Carl Rogers (1902-1987)

The Humanistic Perspective

Abraham Maslow and Self-Actualization

self-actualization- ultimate psychological need that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved; the motivation to fulfill one’s potential

Carl Rogers people basically good and have

self-actualizing tendencies self-concept- all our thoughts

and feelings about ourselves in answer to the question “Who am I?”

a positive self-concept leads to a positive world view

a negative self-concept causes us to feel we fall short of our ideal self

Assessing the Self using the Humanistic Perspective questionnaires interviews/conversations

Evaluating the Humanistic PerspectiveLegacy:• people understanding the importance of self-

concept/self-imageCriticism:1. concepts are vague and subjective2. its individualism can lead to selfishness, etc.3. fails to recognize the reality of human capacity

for evil

The Trait PerspectiveHans Eysenck (1916-1997)Sybil Eysenck

The trait perspective tries to define personality using terms

of stable and enduring behavior patterns. traits- characteristic

patterns of behavior or a disposition to feel and act

describe rather than explain behavior/traits

Hans Eysenck personality structure is a hierarchy of

traits, derived from three higher-order traits

extraversion-involves being sociable, assertive, active and lively

neuroticism- involves being anxious, tense, moody, having low self-esteem

psychoticism- involves being egocentric, impulsive, cold antisocial

extraversion

sociable lively active assertive sensation-seeking

Does

biology

influence

personality

?

How do we assess personality using the trait theory? personality inventories-

questionnaire covering a wide range of feelings and behaviors; designed to measure several traits at once Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

conscientiousness; agreeableness; neuroticism; openness; extraversion

These traits seem pretty stable in adulthood and they apply pretty well to various cultures.

The Big Five Factors

Albert Bandura (b. 1925)

The Social-Cognitive Perspective

Highlights of the social-cognitive perspective… behavior is influenced by the interaction between people, their thinking and their social context

reciprocal determinism internal vs. external locus of

control learned helplessness How do we assess behavior in

the social-cognitive perspective?

What do critics say?

The Self Perspective

Highlights of the Self Perspective… the self, is an organizer of our thoughts, feelings, and actions and is a pivotal center of our personality

possible selves spotlight effect

self-esteem one‘s feelings of high or low self-worth

self-serving bias a readiness to perceive oneself favorably