PersonalityTheories and Approaches

By: Ryan SousaPeriod 1

AP Psychology5/4/08

What's on it?

Psychoanalytical Theories Humanistic Theories Social-Cognitive Theories Trait Theories Evaluation Of The Various

Personality Theories Assessment Techniques Self Concept, Self Esteem

Personality is…

“A person’s enduring general style of dealing with others and with the world around them”.

Psychoanalytical Theories Freud was the first

personality psychologists. He believed the mind could

be divided between the unconscious and the conscious mind.

To Freud the unconscious mind holds ones motivations and the sources to ones problems, however, these facts are concealed and many times repressed from active memory and thought.

The only clues as to the contents of the unconscious mind are slips of the tongue (Freudian slips), free word association, and Freudian symbols (dream interpretation).

Freud describes three factions within the mind: the Id, Superego, and the Ego.

Id – source of mental energy and drive. Controls basic human needs and desires. Operates on a pleasure principle (the desire to maximize pleasure and minimize pain).

Superego – the manifestation of societal rules, morals, and obligations (opposite of Id).

(Let go my) Ego –allows a person to function in the environment and to be logical. Operates on the Reality principle (desires can be only satisfied if the means exist and are available). “Balances the interaction with the environment along with the opposing forces of the Id and Ego”

Psychoanalytical Theories Continued… Freud believed that the ego deals with the anxiety

produced by the id-superego conflict by using defense mechanisms.

Defense mechanisms help one reduce tension and maintain homeostasis (or close to it).

Some types of defense mechanisms are: Repression – the moving of stressful

memories/desires into unconsciousness Displacement – the direction of anger away from the

source of the anger to a less threatening form Reaction formation – the ego reverses a disturbing

desire to make it safer or more socially acceptable. Compensation – making up for failures in one area by

success in another. Rationalization – creating logical excuses for

emotional/irrational behavior. Regression – reverting to childish things Denial – the refusal to accept unwanted

beliefs/actions Sublimation – the redirection of sexual/aggressive

feelings to a more socially acceptable outlet.

Psychodynamic Psychoanalysts

Karen Horney - Personality theory based on the need for security; basic anxiety (the fear of being alone) is central childhood. Children who find security in their relationships with their parents find security in other adult relationships, visa versa

Carl Jung – personality theory based on the mind comprising pairs of opposing forces. Such as a personal (overt personality) and shadow (covert personality), and anima and animus , female and male, sides to our personality.

Each of us has a personal unconsciousness (suppressed memories) and a collective unconsciousness (instinctual behavior) comprised of archetypes.

Alfred Adler – all children develop a feeling of inferiority because of their size and level of competence. People spend their whole lives trying to overcome the inferiority and develop a life style to support the change. The best way to overcome the feeling of inferiority is to tailor your life style around social interest (contribution to society)

If these feelings of inferiority are left unchecked, then an inferiority complex develops.

Humanistic Theories Humanistic theories – “emphasizes the

uniqueness and richness of being human”. Humanistic theories are a response to

behaviorism, thus they denote subjective reality and mental events.

Humanist theorists take a holistic view believing that one is united, that one is not broken up into parts such as the id, superego, and ego.

Self-actualization – becoming the person you are capable of being through your own means.

To Humanistic theorists self-actualization is the ultimate purpose for existence.

Carl Rogers, Humanistic Theorist

“The self constitutes the most important aspect of personality.”

Self-concept – a mental representation of who we feel we are.

Incongruence – conflicts between our self-concept and our actual thoughts and behavior, which cause internal conflicts.

Conditions of worth – other people’s evaluations of our worth, which inhibit our self-concept.

Parents should not implement conditions of worth on children, they should be treated with unconditional positive regard (being loved even if they fail)

Social-Cognitive Theories “Social-cognitive theories are based on the assumption

that cognitive constructs are the basis for personality…which are modified though learning in social environments.”

Albert Bandura – focuses on the concept of self-efficacy, which refers to a person’s beliefs about their own abilities. The belief that you can do a particular task greatly increases the changes that you will succeed.

Julian Rotter – locus of control theory – the extent to which people believe that their successes or failures are a result of their own efforts.

To have an internal locus of control would be to believe that success or failures are a direct result of ones own efforts.

To have an external locus of control would be to attribute success or failure to luck or chance.

Albert Bandura Julian Rotter

Trait Theories “Trait theories of personality provide quantitative

systems for describing and comparing traits or stable predispositions to behave in a certain way… traits are part of the person and are not typically environmentally dependant”

Trait theorists believe that traits are mostly inherited rather than learned.

The Big 5 personality traits: 1. Introversion-extroversion2. Neuroticism-stability3. Agreeableness-antagonism4. Conscientious-undirectedness5. Openness-nonopenness

Continued… The two most common ways to research traits are

nomothetic, and idiographic analysis. Nomothetic traits (like the Big 5) are universal. Idiographic traits are unique to the individual. Gordon Allport – trait theorist – identified 3 types

of traits:1. Cardinal (traits that “override” a persons actions)2. Central (a persons primary characteristics)3. Secondary (traits that are brought about by

interest) Raymond Cattell – believed that 16 source traits

were the basis of personality. “Source traits are the persons underlying

characteristics...[which] give rise to clusters of surface traits, those readily seen in the individual.”

Evaluation of the Various Personality Theories

The main problem with the psychoanalytic and humanistic theories is that they were not developed through empirical testing, thus have a lack of evidence.

Despite their lack of fact these theories are still used today.

“Trait theories are unable to explain the origin of personality”

Assessment Techniques The psychoanalytical approach calls for one-

on-one therapist and patient relationships where techniques, such as free association and dream recall, are used to explain the catalyst for ones personality.

Humanist theorists fall short in assessment since all their evidence are merely theories, based on no empirical evidence.

Social-cognitive theorists use questionnaires to assess personality, many versions of Rotters questionnaires are still used today.

Trait theorists have the most complete tools for assessment out of any other.

Self-Concept “Self-concept refers to how we view ourselves” “Self-esteem refers to how much we value

ourselves” Self understanding: Me The physical self – our body, our name, etc. The active self – how we behave. The social self – how we interact with others. The psychological self – comprises our feelings and

personalities. The self knower: I Responsible for coordination and interpretaion of

the for Me parts. Also how we precieve ourselves as consistent over time as individuals. It allows us to reflect on ourselves and to have a self-concept

Self-Esteem Self-esteem grows and differs as we age. As children we are unable to make judgments

about ourselves, and self evaluations, due to a halo effect.

Halo effect – refers to when we generalize a high self –evaluation from one domain to another.

Example: “when one assumes a successful athlete would also be articulate”

Adult self-esteem is broken up into 11 domains which we use to evaluate ourselves:

1-11; morality, sociability, intimacy, athleticism, intelligence, sense of humor, nurturance, job competence, adequacy, as a provider, physical appearance, and household management.

Low self-esteem is a product of reluctance to try new tasks and continue with begun tasks.

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