Personality Discussion
How would you describe your own personality?
Is your personality the same as it was 5 years ago? Will it be the same in 5 years?
Does your personality change based on the situation?
Chapter 10: PersonalityPsychological qualities that bring continuity to an individual’s behavior in different situations and at different times
Used to explain…Stability in person’s behavior over time and
across situations (consistency)Behavioral differences between people
reacting to the same situation (distinctiveness)
Theories – help understand the causes of similarities and differences among people
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Psychoanalytic theory: early childhood experiences, unconscious motives/conflicts, and methods used to cope with sexual & aggressive urges Personality, behavior, and disorders are determined by
basic drives and past psychological events. Unconscious: thoughts, memories, desires well
below the surface of conscious awareness, but still exert great influence on behavior
Sexual & aggressive impulses – major source of conflict Ambiguous social norms – inconsistent messages about
what is appropriate Thwarted more often than other urges
Drives and Instincts(psychic energy)
Eros (life instincts) – drives people towards acts that are life giving Libido (energy behind eros) – drives people to
experience sensual pleasureThanatos (death instincts) – drives people
toward aggressive and destructive behaviors
Freud’s Model of the Mind
Id
Superego
Ego
Primitive, unconscious portion of personality; houses most basic drives and stores repressed memories
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
PLEASURE PRINCIPLE
Id
Superego
Ego
Mind’s storehouse of values, moral attitudes learned from parents and society; same as common notion of conscience
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
MORAL PRINCIPLE
Id
Superego
Ego
Conscious, rational part of personality; charged with keeping peace between superego and id
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
REALITY PRINCIPLE
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Ego defense mechanisms: Largely unconscious mental strategies employed to reduce the experience of anxiety or guiltRepression: keeping distressing
thought/feelings in the unconsciousProjection: attributing one’s own thoughts,
feelings, or motives to anotherRegression: reversion to immature patterns
of behaviorDenial: arguing against an anxiety by
stating that it doesn’t exist
More Defense Mechanisms
Undoing: attempt to take back thoughts/ behaviors that are unacceptable
Displacement: diverting emotional feelings from their original source to a substitute target
Reaction Formation: acting in a way opposite of one’s true feelings
Sublimation: acting out unacceptable impulses in a socially acceptable way
Rationalization: creating false, but plausible excuses to justify unacceptable behavior
Oral Stage Anal Stage
Phallic Stage
Latency Genital Stage
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Psychosexual stages: Successive, developmental periods with a characteristic sexual focus that leave their mark on adult personality
Assessing Unconscious Processes
Projective tests: Personality assessment instruments based on Freud’s concept of projecting hidden motives, interests, conflicts; ambiguous stimuliRorschach inkblot techniqueSentence completionFree associationThematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Rorschach Inkblot
Thematic Apperception Test
Neo-Freudian and Psychodynamic Theories Accepted basics: personality structure,
unconscious, childhood influence, anxiety Disagreed in two ways:
More emphasis on the conscious mind Sex and aggression not main motivators
Alfred Adler and Karen Horney – emphasized social factors Adler: Supported inferiority complex Horney: Against penis envy; need for love and
security Carl Jung – still focused on unconscious
Collective unconscious: shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species’ history
Humanistic Perspective Third Force – emphasized human
potential; gave rise to positive psychology Self-concept: thoughts and feelings about
ourselves; central feature of personality Self-esteem: How we evaluate ourselves
Abraham Maslow Hierarchy of Needs Self-actualization: fulfilling one’s potential
Carl Rogers Unconditional positive regard: total acceptance
toward another Fully-functioning person: has a self-concept
that is positive and congruent with reality
Trait Perspective
Gordon AllportTraits: Stable personality characteristics
that are presumed to exist within the individual and guide his/her thoughts and actions under various conditionsCentral traits form the basis of personalitySecondary traits include preferences and
attitudesCardinal traits define peoples lives
Patterns in PersonalityTrait Theory
Type: Clusters of traits that are not only central to a person’s personality but are found with essentially the same pattern in many people Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment
The Big Five (McCrae) – handout Best approximation of the basic trait dimensions NEO-PI assessment
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) – abnormal assessment
Person-situation controversy: dispute over the relative contribution of personality factors and situational factors in controlling behavior (criticizes trait theory)
Social-Cognitive Theories
Bandura – interaction between people’s traits (including thinking) and social context
Personality is a collection of learned behavior patterns (skills, attitudes, beliefs, fears) and the way we think about situations
Self efficacy: our learned sense of competency What we do/try to do is largely controlled by our
beliefs about our chances of success at itReciprocal determinism: Process in which
cognitions, behavior and environment mutually influence each other
Reciprocal Determinism
Cognition
Environment
Behavior
Implicit Personality Theories
Implicit personality theories: Assumptions about personality that are held by people to simplify the task of understanding others
Fundamental attribution error: Assumption that another person’s behavior (especially undesirable behavior) is the result of a flaw in the personality, rather than in the situation
