THEORIES OF PERSONALITY

FEM4105 Psychology of Personality

& Human DynamicsBS(PM)-PJJ

Week 3-4

INSTRUCTOR:SITI NOR BINTI YAACOB, PhD.

sitinor@upm.edu.my/012-2841844

Personality Theory

• Psychoanalytic • Social Psychoanalytic• Behaviorism• Social-Learning• Biological• Trait• Cognitive • Humanistic

PSYCHOANALYTICPERSPECTIVE

PsychoanalyticTheory

• “conscious becoming aware of the unconscious…”

• Accepts the importance of early childhood experiences and the unconscious mind.

PsychoanalyticTheory

Important theorists:• Sigmund Freud • Carl Jung• Alfred Adler

Sigmund Freud: Father Of The

Psychoanalytic Theory

• Born in Moravia, on May 6, 1856

• Lived 78 years practicing in Vienna, Austria and established a private practice for the treatment of nervous disorders.

Determinism Vs Choice

• Biological determinism vs. Psychological determinism - Freud emphasized psychological rather than biological as he said:

“Consciousness knows nothing of. . . neurons.”

Freud’s View OfA Person

• Human organisms are selfish beings, existing in a state of external and internal turmoil. (displaying aggressive and sexual excesses)– Dominated by forces outside of conscious

control.

Classic Theory: Sigmund Freud Psychosexual

• Basic tenets:–Constant struggles between desire

to meet biological urge and realities of living.

–Unconscious process influence behavior

Personality Structures

• What lies beneath the surface of the unconscious mind??– ID: inborn, operate based on pleasure

and self-satisfaction, powered by libido– EGO: based on reality, helps to meet

needs of id with considering the reality situation

– SUPEREGO: based on moral and ethical restraints

Psychosexual Theory

ORAL STAGE(Birth to 18 months)

-Focus on oral pleasures (sucking)-Very dependent on others-Pessimistic and aggressive behavior dev.

ANAL STAGE(18 months to three years)

-Focus on eliminating and retaining faeces-Control anal stimulation (anal expulsive)-Obsess to cleanliness (perfect or messy)

PHALLIC STAGE(ages three to six)

-Focus on genitals-Unconscious sexual desires: boys to mother(Oedipus Complex); girls to father(Electra Complex)

LATENCY STAGE(age six to puberty)

-Sexual urge repressed and libido (energy) is channeled in to school work or sports-Id, ego and superego are fully developed

GENITAL STAGE(adolescence-adulthood)

-Puberty starts as sexual urges are once again awakened

SOCIAL PSYCHOANALYTIC PERSPECTIVE

Moving away from Freud- Why?

• Rejected the idea that the adult personality is formed from experiences in the first 5 or 6 years of life

• Recognized social and cultural forces that shape individuals

• Psychoanalytic theories emphasize the role of social forces in shaping personality.

Neo-Analytic Theorists

–Alfred Adler (1870-1937)–Carl Jung (1875-1961)–Erik Homburger Erikson (1902-1994)–Karen Horney (1885-1952)

Alfred Adler

• Reasons he broke from Freud in 1911–Adler assumed that humans are

motivated primarily by social urges

Carl Jung

• Reasons he broke from Freud in 1913–Basic disagreement over the importance

of sex drive–Tired of Freud’s concern with

pathological side of human nature

The Development of Personality

• No formal stages of development • During childhood…• And a second puberty…• Individuation • Meyers-Briggs type indicator

Erik Homburger Erikson

• Retained Freud’s model of id, ego and superego with modifications

• Described identity as…• Confusion about identity or Identity crisis

Personality Development

• Trust vs. Mistrust (Infancy, 0-1 year old)• Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (Toddler,1-3 year old)• Initiative vs. Guilt (Early Childhood, 3-6 years old)• Industry vs. Inferiority (Elementary School Age, 7-12)• identity vs. Role Confusion (Adolescence, 12-19)• Intimacy vs. Isolation (Young Adulthood, 20-29)• Generativity vs. Stagnation (Adulthood, 30-50)• Ego Integrity vs. Despair (Old Age, above 50)

Karen Horney

• Reasons she broke from Freud/Psychoanalytic Theory 1941– Could not accept some of Freud’s views

concerning women – Did not agree with Freud’s penis envy – More focused on social world and social

motivations than Freudians

Assets of Neo-Analytic Theory

• Emphasizes the self –cope with emotions and drives on the

inside and the demands of others on the outside

• Emphasizes the importance of the positive and goal-oriented nature of humanity

BEHAVIORISMPERSPECTIVE

John Watson

What is Behaviorism?

· Understand behavior by focusing on the external contingencies of reinforcement (any consequence of an action that increases the probability of that action being executed again) and punishment (any consequence of an action that decreases the probability of its repetition)

Theorists of Behaviorism

• Pavlov• “Classical Conditioning”

• Thorndike• “Law of Effect”

• Skinner• “Operant Conditioning”

How can these rules of behavior, derived from the

experiments with animals be applied to understanding

human personality?

Applying Behaviorism to Personality

· B.F. Skinner - most of human behavior is driven by secondary reinforcers, such as money & social praise, which derive their value from primary reinforcers.

Does Behaviorism explain personality?

· HOW?· Human current behavior is the result of their

past learning

· Albert Bandura · self-representations · self-efficacy

SOCIAL LEARNING(SOCIAL COGNITION)

PERSPECTIVEAlbert Bandura

Social Cognitive Theory

• Focus on • role of modeling on behavior as

well as the role of social influences, expectations, and interpretations on behavior.

Bandura’s Self-Efficacyin personality development

· Can a person’s self-efficacy be changed?

· HOW?· People organize their perceptions, thoughts

and beliefs about a situation in simple and meaningful ways (grouping, categorizing), which will then determine their behavior and personality

BIOLOGICALPERSPECTIVE

Biological Perspective In Personality

• Theorists use biological processes in an attempt to fill in the gap between personality and genetics by inferring, theorizing and researching biological links with behavior.

• Ernst Kretchmer (a physician, in 1925) proposed a correlation of mental disorder with the three body types: obese, muscular, thin.

Biological Perspective In Personality

• Personality are inherited from parent genes passing the inherited characteristics. (Evolutionary)

• Biological processes is concerned with how these genes influence behavior through the various chemicals within the brain. (Biological theory)

• Temperament: individual differences in - reactivity - self-regulation

TRAITPERSPECTIVE

Definition

• What is TRAIT?– A habitual patterns of behavior, thought,

and emotion, which is stable over time– Every individual have different trait.

• Traits serve three major functions:– To summarize, predict, and explain a

person’s conduct

Theorists

• Gordon Allport (1897-1967)

• Raymond B. Cattell (1905-1998)

• Hans J. Eysenck (1916-1997)

Allport’s Disposition Theory

Allport suggested that each individual has a unique set of personality traits/personal dispositions

Four categories of traits: Cardinal: Strongly recognized and

dominant, not many people have them Central: Basic, characterize daily

interaction, most people have 5-10 Secondary: Exhibited in specific

situation only, easily modified than central traits

Common: Recognized within a culture, vary between cultures.

Cattell’s Trait Theory

• Three sources of data are required to uncover all the major dimensions of personality:– L-data (life data): data gathered from

one’s life record(e.g.rating of peer/official)– Q-data (questionnaire data): information

gathered from questionnaire and interview (e.g. self rating questions)

– T-data (experimental data): information gathered from objective testing situations. Subject often unaware of being measured

Hans J. Eysenck

• Eysenck – extroversion-introversion: shy, quiet people

(introverts) versus out-going, even loud people (extroverts). More likely to take risks and make friends.

– neuroticism-stability: emotional stable or instable, tendency to become emotionally upset.

• Focus on higher levels of trait organization called types:-– Types incorporate lower-level elements (traits)– Each trait incorporates even lower-order qualities

(habits)

Five Factor Model

1. Extraversion-introversion: shows how much they relate to and prefer to work with other people (prefer group activities/prefer individual activities)

2. Neuroticism-stability: shows tendency to worry (overall calm/anxious disposition)

3. Conscientiousness-undirectedness: shows how structured we are (rigid schedule/laid back)

4. Agreeableness-antagonism: shows levels of empathy and aggressiveness (understanding/skeptical)

5. Openness to experience: shows levels of practicality and curiousity (interested in new ideas/traditional)

(Robert McCrae & Paul T. Costa Jr.)

COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE

Cognitive Perspective

• Cognitive theory focused on the individual's thoughts as the determinate of his or her emotions and behaviors personality. 

George Kelly:pioneer in 1930s

• Kelly criticized Psychoanalytic and behaviorism perspectives.• individual differences as a result of

how we interpret and predict the events that affect us. 

Kelly’s 3 big ideas

– What we think determines what we do. – Some properties of our thoughts. – Techniques can help people change.

Albert Ellis

· Ellis interpretation of cognitive model is often described as the A-B-C process.

· According to Ellis, we experience:

Cognitive Social Learning Theory

• Julian Rotter and Walter Mischel • cognitive factors determine how

people will react to environmental forces.

Cognitive Theory:Mischel’s Cognitive-Affective

Personality System • Mischel

• Cognitive factors important in shaping personality.

• How??????• Also recognize inconsistency of some

behaviors

Cognitive Theory: Mischel’s Cognitive-Affective Personality

System • Inconsistency of some behaviors

are due to:– Consistency Paradox– Person-Situation Interaction

HUMANISTICPERSPECTIVE

Humanistic Approach

· Humanistic personality theorists- Abraham Maslow - Carl Rogers- Rollo May

Humanistic Approach

· It encompasses phenomenological and existential approaches to human nature. - Phenomenological

- Focus on subjective experience

- Existentialism- Focus on the authenticity, freedom,

responsibility, and individual options when confronted with threat of meaningless and non-existence

Abraham Maslow

· "hierarchy of needs,“- a series of needs that people

need to satisfy before they could reach their full potential.

- emphasized on particular needs that people need to satisfy before they could become self-actualized.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Self-Actualization

Physiological

Safety

Belongingness

Esteem

Carl Rogers

• Influence of psychotherapy: • the purpose of psychotherapy was to

help patients find their "true selves." • emphasizing on:

• Unconditional Positive Regard• Conditional Positive Regard

Rollo May

• COURAGE TO BE! • each person need to take responsibility

for his or her own choices even though constantly threatened by failure and, more importantly the possibility of non-being (death or dissolution).

• personal growth and self-actualization the result of courageously facing one's anxiety