Personality

What is a personality?Is our personality encoded or learned?

Does it ever change?What other factors influence our personalities?

What describes our own personality?

Essential questions:

What is Personality?

• How would you define personality?• “Personality psychologists” study how people:

THINK FEEL BEHAVE

• Your personality is a relatively stable combination or these characteristics

Top Enduring Issues

1. Nature vs. Nurture

2. Person vs. Situation

3. Stability vs. Change

4. Unconscious vs. Conscious

So what makes you, you??

Social PsychologistYou are a member of a group or culture whose behaviors depend largely on those around you! (final unit)

Neuropsychologists:You are a compilation of synaptic connections that are strengthened by experience!

Freud and the psychoanalysts:

You are the screwed up

product of your childhood conflicts (siblings, parents,

friends).

YOU!!

*Humanistic Psychologist:You are innately good and need love and support to achieve your “ideal self”!

Evolutionary Psychologists:

You are governed by your survival instincts.

Cognitive: You are how you

think.

Behavioral: Your behaviors are learned through reward and

punishment.

Psychodynamic Psychologists

• Emphasis unconscious conflict (we are not aware of the effects it has on our personality)• Focus is on the negative• Difficult to overcome–Therapy can only provide insight into

problem, not necessarily a solution

Psychodynamic Psychologists

• Freud– Unconscious drives of sex and aggression (ID, Superego)– Psychosexual Stages (Conflicts with Mother/Father)

• Alfred Adler– Birth order creates inferiority, unconsciously

• Jung– We all have universal similarities due to the collective

unconscious• Erik Erikson

– Psychosocial stages of development• Karen Horney

– Our general anxiety over our success and failures create neurotic tendencies

Freud’s Personality Structure• ID

– Born with this – Governed by “Pleasure Principle”– Houses unconscious drives of sex (libido) and aggression– Selfish, irrational, seeks instant gratification

• EGO– Develops during infancy (6 months)– Governed by “Reality Principle”– Seeks to gratify Id urges at an appropriate time– Inherits inevitable anxiety produced by Id-Superego conflict– Donald Duck

• SUPEREGO– Develops during childhood (6 years)– Governed by “Judicial” or “Moral Principle”– The internalized parent– Seeks to do what is right and good (conscience)– Causes us to feel guilty for our desires/id impulses

Freud’s Psychosocial Stages

• Oral (0-1.5 yrs)– Conflict: Weaning – Fixation: Oral (cigarettes, need to chew pens, gum, etc.)

• Anal (1.5-3 yrs)– Conflict: Potty Training– Fixation: Anal Retentive or Expulsive

• Phallic (4-6 yrs)– Conflict: Overcoming attraction to parents

• Oedipus and Electra Complex; Penis Envy

– Fixation: Poor relationships with the opposite sex• i.e. “promiscuous behavior” in females

• Latent (7-11)– Sexual desires are repressed

• Genital (12-adult)– Normal sexual relationships

Freud’s Defense Mechanisms

• Create a vignette (scenario and skit) for your defense mechanism

• You will act it out in front of your classmates• They will guess what defense mechanism you

are demonstrating

The Defense Mechanisms

• Denial (Negation)– Refusal to acknowledge a painful reality

• Repression– Unpleasant thoughts are excluded from consciousness; “motivated forgetting”

• Projection– Attributing one’s own feelings, motives, or wishes to others

• Identification– Taking on the characteristics of other to avoid feeling incompetent

• Regression– Reverting to childlike behavior

• Rationalization– Making up a logical explanation for an emotionally painful event rather than

dealing with the pain

• Intellectualization– Thinking about stressful problems in an abstract way to detach oneself from

them• Reaction formation

– Expression of exaggerated ideas and emotions that are opposite of true feelings• Displacement

– Shift repressed motives from an original object to a substitute object• Sublimation

– Redirecting repressed motives and feelings into socially acceptable activities• Undoing

– After-the-fact defense mechanism involving “making up” for guilt-producing actions

The Defense Mechanisms

He was the younger, “weaker” son in his family “Inferiority” influenced personality

Inferiority complex Fixation on feelings of personal inferiority that can lead to emotional

and social paralysis Birth Order

Oldest Middle Youngest Only

Dethronement When the next child is born, the older one is forced to share parental

attention Compensation

Our efforts to win back parental love after dethronement

Neo-Freudians: Alfred Adler

Neo-Freudians: Carl Jung

• One of Freud’s best students – his “surrogate son”

• Freud was said to have fainted in his presence several times!

• Existence of collective unconscious in addition to the personal unconscious

• Archetypes• Mother• Hero• Villain

Neo Freudians Erik Erikson

Disagreed with psychosexual stages

Instead, created his psychosocial stagesTrust vs. MistrustAutonomy vs. Shame and DoubtInitiative vs. GuiltIndustry vs. InferiorityIdentity vs. Role confusionIntimacy vs. isolationGenerativity vs. stagnationIntegrity vs. despair

Neofreudians: Karen Horney

• Our general social anxieties create neurotic tendencies

• These anxieties can manifest in “normal ways”….– i.e. nervous and doubtful of your abilities;

seek constant approval from others• Or “neurotic” ways– Develop OCD?

Uncovering the Unconscious

• How do we determine what is in the unconscious?– Dream analysis (Chapter 3- What do your dreams

tell you)– Free association (Write freely for 1 minute)– Freudian “slip of the tongue”– Projective Personality Tests• Rorschach• Thematic Apperception Test

Refresher: Psychodynamic Theories of Personality

According to psychodynamic theories, what drives personality and human behavior?

What are some methods that Freud employed to uncover this?

Dream analysis, Free association- Can tell us about the unconscious, but don’t “assess”

Uncovering the Unconscious:Psychodynamic Assessments

According to Freud, what is projection? With this in mind, how might you develop a

method by which a person “projects” in order to assess their unconscious?

Uncovering the Unconscious:Psychodynamic Assessments

• Projective tests– Ambiguous stimuli– Patient projects their unconscious when they

describe what they see• Examples– Rorschach test– Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Rorschach Test• “Blotto”- Interesting answers?• Most commonly used P.T. (Behind

MMPI- (Minn. Multiphasic Pers. Inv.)

• 10 inkblots – 5 color, 5 black/white

• Subjects describe all 10 inkblots• Examiner then goes through cards

again and asks questions for clarification/detail

• Provides subject with considerable freedom to respond

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

• Examiner chooses 10 cards with ambiguous black-and-white drawings of people in various emotional, yet undetailed situations

• Have psychodynamic undertones (i.e. aggression)

• Subjects must tell a story about each card and themes provide insight

Experience the Tests

• Take the TAT test and have a partner “interpret” results using psychodynamic concepts!!– Strengths and weaknesses of the test?

• Take the Word Association test!– Come up with ten words– Some words should include concepts that Freud believed

affected a personality• i.e. “Mother”, “sex”, “red” (as in aggression)

– Read them to your partner- they should say first thing that comes to their mind when they hear that word. Analyze the results.

Assessing Projective Personality tests

StrengthsEarly experiences do shape

personalityHuman emotion and

motivation are important in understanding personality

Concept of the unconscious is emphasized

Useful therapeutic techniques

Criticisms Lack reliability and validity

(recent attempts to standardize interpretations have resulted in more support)

SubjectivePessimistic (drives are

determined during childhood)

Today, common results are posted online- biased results

Early Applications Projective tests were once used for diagnosing

psychological disorders Rorschach intended it to be used for schizophrenic

diagnoses, not projective testing Example:

John Wayne GacyMurdered 33 boys in Chicago in 1970s Interviewed and given Projective Personality Assessments

to determine existence of mental illnessBuried Dreams: Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer

Ewing and Cahill

Modern Applications

Rorschach Exner’s Comprehensive System of scoring

How much of the inkblot is referenced, story that is told, level of detail (i.e. Form, Movement, Color)

Personality Assessment- Insight into underlying motivations of person’s current issues and behaviors

Forensic PsychologyTAT

Personality assessment, Personality disorders, thought disorders, crime suspect evaluation, high-stress occupation screenings

Also used internationally (France, Argentina, India)

Other Projective Techniques(Provide interesting insight into personality, but lack reliability

or clinical purpose)

• House, Tree, Person– Draw and describe each

• Word Association– Mother, Father, Sex

• Complete the sentence– A best friend _______– Mothers ___________– My worst experience was

__________________.

• Next time you gaze at the clouds to determine a shape, think of what you may be projecting!!

Humanistic Theories

• Emphasize the goodness in humans• You have the potential to control your future– Why would Freud disagree with this?

To achieve your true self…

Carl RogersThe impact of love

Positive RegardConditional – you are only loved

when you conform to others’ wishes

Unconditional – you are loved no matter what choices you make

Positive regard impacts personality and happinessReal self – what you really are Ideal self – what you want to beWill overlap if you get

unconditional positive regard!

REAL SELF

REAL SELF

IDEAL SELF

IDEAL SELF

Behaviorist Theories

• Behaviorist theories claim that personality is formed through environmental stimuli – reinforcement and punishment.

• Example psychologists include Albert Bandura, John Watson and B.F. Skinner

Behaviorist TheoriesAlbert Bandura

• Observational learning theory– Bobo Doll experiment– People learn what they

watch

• If you grow up watching your parents run marathons, you will be an active person that values fitness

Behaviorist TheoriesClassical Conditioning

• Watson and Pavlov – Aspects of personality could be learned simply

by pairing stimuli together• Watson and Baby Albert experiment– Fear can be learned

• You fear new social situations because of an embarrassment that you suffered from in the past

Behaviorist TheoriesOperant Conditioning

• Skinner – personality could be

learned by being reinforced or punished for certain behaviors.

• You are a hardworking person because you’ve been rewarded for good grades by your parents

You will NOT

swear, Johnny!

!@*#$#$%$!

Cognitive Theories

Personality is primarily a function of thoughts and thought processes.

Rotter’s Locus of Control Internal Locus of Control – things that happen in your life are a

result of your own actions.E.g. “I made varsity because I spent the whole off-season

training to do so!” External Locus of Control – things that happen in your life are a

result of forces beyond your control.E.g. “I made varsity because my horoscope said I would have

a lucky day!”

Cognitive TheoriesAlbert Bandura

• Bandura– Self efficacy is defined as one’s belief that they will be

successful in the things they do.– Individuals with a higher sense of self efficacy tend to

be happier and more successful.– i.e. “Can I do this? Am I doubtful of myself?”

• If you are doubtful, you may not even try to push yourself in the first place

Cognitive TheoriesWalter Mischel

• Mischel – Self-regulation.– people often change their personality depending on

the situation they are in.– people change their actions and responses on the

basis of past experiences as well as an assessment of the current situation.

Afterthoughts…• If you want to know more about your personality,

you can complete online “objective” tests• Mostly fit into the “trait-type” perspective– Generate different terms to describe you.

• Objective tests – Standardized, closed-ended – Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (Cattell’s 16PF)– Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2)– Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory– Preferred by trait and type theorists