WHY AM I LIKE THIS? THEORIES OF PERSONALITY: NATURE VS.

NURTURE Lesson Plan 10

Competency Examine Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis. Identify the “Big Five” dimensions of

personality. Investigate the biopsychological philosophy of

personality. Explore the Humanistic view of personality. Summarize the social-cognitive learning

theories.

Overview Personality is defined as a person’s pattern of thoughts, feelings and

behaviors that persist over time and across situations. Once the scientific field of psychology emerged, personality became a major focus of scientific research. However, much debate continues around the topic of personality regardless of the vast amount of knowledge that has been accumulated.

One of the main questions surrounding the topic of personality is whether or not personality is a tangible human characteristic. Can scientists demonstrate that individuals exhibit consistency in their behavior that persists over time and across situations? Or does behavior evolve over time and within given situations? As these debates continue, most researchers in the field of psychology continue to observe characteristics of a person’s thoughts, feelings and behaviors that are stable and consistent and view them as a person’s personality.

Understanding personality is important in psychology because it can help individuals understand and predict future behavior. When individuals understand their personality characteristics, they can also sometimes anticipate situations that might be troublesome. This learning plan provides an overview of the theories of personality including major contributors to the field such as Sigmund Freud, Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow and Albert Bandura.

Personality Theories Psychodynamic Theory Humanistic Theory Trait Theory The Big Five Personality Dimensions

Psychodynamic Theory Sigmund Freud’s contributions to the field of psychology are

probably the most widely recognized and are rooted in unconscious, sexual desires, motivations and conflicts.

According to Freud, personality is structured around the id, ego and superego, which are functions of the mind used to describe components of personality. Defense mechanisms play an integral part in this theory.

Freud also used the terms conscious, preconscious and unconscious mind in his work. The conscious mind is defined as current awareness. The conscious mind is at work when a person is thinking about something and is aware that he/she is thinking it.

The preconscious mind takes a back seat, so to speak, to the conscious mind. The preconscious mind is a place where memories are kept and recollections that are accessible but not immediate thoughts are stored. Thoughts in the preconscious mind can be brought into the conscious mind at any moment.

Psychodynamic- Continued Within the unconscious mind are elements Freud termed the id, ego and superego. The id operates based on the pleasure principle and seeks immediate gratification.

The id is what causes people to seek gratification though a decision-making processes in which the outcome is not clearly considered. Because this process occurs in the unconscious, the individual is not aware of the id’s needs and desires. The urges of the id are basic and instinctual and result from sexual motivations or pain and trauma that encountered in childhood.

The ego is the id’s link to reality. The id relies on this link to create satisfaction. The ego is in a constant state of attempting to satisfy or provide gratification to the id. The ego operates in partially conscious state and functions within the reality principle. The ego functions to make the desires of the id a reality and satisfy its need for pleasure, but only when it is safe for the individual to do so. The ego is often termed the self and is the derivative of common phrases such as “he has such a big ego” or “she had her ego hurt.”

The superego elicits concern about the morality of the id’s desires and the ego’s functions. The individual’s sense of right and wrong are maintained in the superego. The superego is what causes a person to “stop and think” before acting on an urge. According to Freud, the superego can be at odds with the id and the ego. This incompatibility results in personality disorders or other psychological problems.

Humanistic Theory Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow are major contributors to the humanistic

theory of personality. Humanistic theory suggests that people are generally positively motivated and

want to improve. Unlike Freud’s theory of personality, which is rooted in negativity, the

humanistic theory states that we all want to achieve actualization or to realize the highest level of success possible.

While Rogers and Maslow both believed in the actualizing tendency, Rogers thought this was true of all living things, be it plants, fish or people. Maslow believed it to be a uniquely human experience.

Abraham Maslow is most notably known for creating the hierarchy of needs and that potential self-actualization is the basis for the satisfaction of all other human needs. To be self-actualized, individuals would have to live up to their fullest potential. When the self-actualizing has occurred, the individual no longer has any unsatisfied motivations.

Maslow also believed that to achieve self-actualization, all other needs must first be satisfied and in a hierarchical order, beginning with basic needs, moving toward safety then belonging and, finally, to esteem. According to Maslow, if any of these more basic needs go unmet, a person cannot reach self-actualization.

Humanistic- Continued Carl Rogers’ theory of personality is similar to Maslow’s in that Rogers

believed that all organisms strive to develop to their full potential. He used the term actualizing tendency to describe this inherent

motivation to not simply survive but to grow and develop. Rogers’ theory differs from Maslow, however, in that Rogers held that the

actualizing tendency applied to all organisms—not just human beings. Rogers maintained that human beings were different from other organisms only in that humans have developed culture and society which, in Rogers’ opinion, interfere with the human ability to self-actualize.

Rogers suggested that all organisms, when left to their own free will, inherently know what is good for them and will seek to embrace those things—a phenomenon that he termed organism value. These basic needs include sustenance, habitat, safety and belonging.

His theory also argues that the human environment has been altered to the state that people no longer maintain this ability to seek only what is good and necessary for their actualization. Rather the human environment successfully tempts individuals with choices that sabotage their actualization.

Humanistic Continued Rogers introduced the “self” concept, which are the particular

characteristics that one perceives as himself or herself, based largely on the social evaluations he or she has experienced.

Both Rogers and Maslow held that human beings are inherently good and seek positive influences in their lives. Rogers described “fully functioning,” healthy people as ones who are able to make choices based on their instinctual ability to develop to their full potential. Fully functioning individuals, according to Rogers, have the following characteristics: • They are open to diverse perspectives including those that are

opposed to their own. • They live for the moment and do not dwell on the past or have

anxiety about the future. • They trust their instincts and make decisions based on those

instincts. • They understand that they are capable of making choices and are

responsible for the consequences of the choices that they make. • They believe that they are obligated to guide others toward their

own actualization.

Trait Theory Trait theory categorizes and describes personality according to specific traits. Traits are characteristics that illustrate a consistent manner of thinking, feeling

and behaving. Happy, sad, depressed, outgoing, intelligent, funny, nervous and stable are all examples of traits.

We often use traits in descriptions of ourselves and others. Psychologists are most interested in traits that broadly describe human characteristics but remain stable over time rather than those which may be considered more volatile and based on mood.

Carl Jung was an early trait theorist. Jung and Freud were acquaintances, but Jung’s views differed significantly from those of Freud. As a result, Jung professionally distanced himself from Freud and developed his own unique theory of personality.

An important aspect of Jung’s theory was that he believed that some traits are determined by genetics or that we are born with them. He termed these traits temperaments.

Temperaments are often associated with behaviors of young children. We may say that child has a wild temperament or a shy temperament or even a quiet temperament. These behaviors are characterized as temperament because they are unlikely to have been influenced by outside experiences.

Trait Theory- Continued To test his theory of genetics versus environment, two of Jung’s students,

Myers and Briggs, created a personality test designed to determine a person’s personality characteristics. This test is now today one of the most well-known personality tests.

The Myers-Briggs test investigates four aspects of personality or personality sets. Each of these factors is assessed separately and then synthesized to provide an overall description of the individual’s personality. • Introversion or extraversion: An introvert typically describes someone who

is shy and does not enjoy social interaction. An extravert, on the other hand, is someone who enjoys social interaction and is often characterized as outgoing.

• Sensing or intuiting: A sensing person receives information about the world through his/her senses, whereas an intuitive person relies on his/her intuition.

• Thinking or feeling: A thinker uses logic for problem solving rather than feeling. Feeling people use emotions, and their resulting decisions sometimes lack logic.

• Judging or perceiving: People who are considered judging tend to be neat, on time, more orderly and exact than those who perceive. Perceiving people are more spontaneous and do not really plan ahead.

The Big Five Personality Dimensions Extroversion/Introversion: The first category of

extroversion/introversion is similar to the first category of Myers-Briggs and examines whether a person may possess more introverted or extroverted characteristics.

Emotional Stability: The second, known as emotional stability, means that the person does not display anxiety or characteristics of nervousness.

Agreeableness: Agreeableness also means that a person is not obsessed or filled with emotion. It refers to the level of sociability and pleasantness a person possesses. Note that one can be an introvert and also agreeable.

Conscientiousness: The fourth dimension is called conscientiousness, and as the word implies, a conscientious person is orderly, on time and concerned about doing things right.

Culture/Intellect/Openness: Finally, the fifth dimension is known as culture/ intellect and openness. A person with a high score on this dimension likes cultural experiences such as the opera, art, dance and music.

Cognitive Social Learning Theory Cognitive social learning theories are concerned about the

ways people think and act within their environment. The theories posit that while there may be a genetic and intuitive basis for certain human characteristics, the human mind is primarily responsible for what and why we behave the way we do.

An overview of the social learning theory includes three important aspects: People learn by observing others and their environment. People are more likely to model behavior they see in others if

they can identify with it. The use of rewards or punishments will influence a person’s

behavior. One of the major concepts according to the social learning

theory is that humans learn by observing others and their environment. A young child, for example, observes her parents using a fork and spoon at the dinner table. The child then begins mimicking this behavior with her own meal. This learning may be considered a result of social learning theory.

Glossary Personality: A person's pattern of thoughts,

feelings, and behaviors that persist over time and across situations.

Temperaments: In Jung theory, traits that are determined by genetics.

Introvert: A person who is typically shy and does not enjoy social interaction.

Extrovert: A person who enjoys social interaction; often characterized as outgoing.