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Transcript of Personality. What is Personality? sPeople differ from each other in meaningful ways sPeople seem to...
Personality
What is Personality?People differ from
each other in
meaningful ways
People seem to show some consistency in behavior
Personality is defined as distinctive and relatively enduring ways of thinking, feeling, and acting
Personality
• Personality refers to a person’s unique and relatively stable pattern of thoughts, feelings, and actions
• Personality is an interaction between biology and environment– Genetic studies suggest heritability of personality
– Other studies suggest learned components of personality
Four Theories of Personality
1. Trait
2. Psychoanalytic
3. Humanistic
4. Socio-Cognitive
The First Trait Theory
• Two Factor Trait Theory of Personality
UNSTABLE
STABLE
cholericmelancholic
phlegmatic sanguineINTROVERTED EXTRAVERTED
MoodyAnxious
RigidSober
PessimisticReservedUnsociable
Quiet
SociableOutgoing
TalkativeResponsiveEasygoingLively
CarefreeLeadership
PassiveCarefulThoughtful
Peaceful
ControlledReliableEven-tempered
Calm
TouchyRestlessAggressive
ExcitableChangeable
ImpulsiveOptimistic
Active
Personality Traits• Traits are relatively stable and consistent personal
characteristics• Trait personality theories suggest that a person can be
described on the basis of some number of personality traits– Allport identified some 4,500 traits
– Cattel used factor analysis to identify 30-35 basic traits
– Eysenck argued there are 3 distinct traits in personality• Extraversion/introversion
• Neuroticism
• Psychotocism
Allport
Overview of the Big “5”
Assessing Traits: An Example
• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)– the most widely researched and clinically used of
all personality tests– developed to identify emotional disorders
MMPI: examples
• “Nothing in the newspaper interests me except the comics.”
• “I get angry sometimes.”
Evaluating Trait Theory• Trait theory, especially the Big 5 model, is able to
describe personality– Cross-cultural human studies find good agreement for the
Big 5 model in many cultures
– Appear to be highly correlated not only in adulthood, but also in childhood and even late preschoolers
– Three dimensions (extraversion, neuroticism and agreeableness) have cross-species generality
• Problems with trait theory include:– Lack of explanation as to WHY traits develop
– Issue of explaining transient versus long-lasting traits
Psychoanalytic Theory• Psychoanalytic theory, as devised by Freud,
attempts to explain personality on the basis of unconscious mental forces– Levels of consciousness: We are unaware of some
aspects of our mental states– Freud argued that personality is made up of
multiple structures, some of which are unconscious– Freud argued that as we have impulses that cause us
anxiety; our personality develops defense mechanisms to protect against anxiety
Freudian Theory
Levels of consciousness– Conscious
• What we’re aware of
– Preconscious• Memories etc. that can
be recalled
– Unconscious• Wishes, feelings,
impulses that lies beyond awareness
Structures of Personality– Id
• Operates according to the “pleasure principle”
– Ego• Operates according to
the “reality” principle
– Superego• Contains values and
ideals
Freudian Theory
Anxiety occurs when:– Impulses from the id threaten to get out of
control– The ego perceives danger from the environment
The ego deals with the problem through:– coping strategies– defense mechanisms
Defense Mechanisms
• Defense mechanisms refer to unconscious mental processes that protect the conscious person from developing anxiety– Sublimation: person channels energy from unacceptable
impulses to create socially acceptable accomplishments
– Denial: person refuses to recognize reality
– Projection: person attributes their own unacceptable impulses to others
– Repression: anxiety-evoking thoughts are pushed into the unconscious
Defense Mechanisms
• Rationalization: Substituting socially acceptable reasons• Intellectualization: Ignoring the emotional aspects of a
painful experience by focusing on abstract thoughts, words, or ideas
• Reaction formation: Refusing to acknowledge unacceptable urges, thoughts or feelings by exaggerating the opposite state
• Regression: Responding to a threatening situation in a way appropriate to an earlier age or level of development
• Displacement: Substituting a less threatening object for the original object of impulse
Assessing the Unconscious
• Projective Tests – used to assess personality (e.g., Rorschach or
TAT tests)– How? provides ambiguous stimuli and subject
projects his or her motives into the ambiguous stimuli
Assessing the Unconscious -- Rorschach
• Rorschach Inkblot Test – the most widely used
projective test– a set of 10 inkblots designed
by Hermann Rorschach
Rorschach
Assessing the Unconscious--Rorschach
used to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots
Assessing the Unconscious--TAT
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)• people express their inner motives through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes
PsychoanalyticNeo-Freudian
Alfred Adler– Humans are motivated by social interest– Takes social context into account– First Born
• Privileged until Dethroned
– Second Born• In shadow of 1st Born inferiority, restlessness
– Youngest• Pampered, dependent
– Only Child• Higher intellect, timid, passive, & withdrawn
PsychoanalyticNeo-Freudian
Carl Jung– A collective unconscious is represented
by universal archetypes
– Two forms of unconscious mind• Personal unconscious: unique for each person
• Collective unconscious: consists of primitive images and ideas that are universal for humans
Humanistic Theory
• Humanistic personality theories reject psychoanalytic notions– Humanistic theories view each person as
basically good and that people are striving for self-fulfillment
– Humanistic theory argues that people carry a perception of themselves and of the world
– The goal for a humanist is to develop/promote a positive self-concept
Humanistic PerspectivesCarl Rogers
– We have needs for:• Self-consistency (absence of conflict between self-
perceptions
• Congruence (consistency between self-perceptions and experience)
– Inconsistency evokes anxiety and threat
– People with low self-esteem generally have poor congruence between their self-concepts and life experiences.
▲Abraham Maslow emphasized the basic goodness of human nature and a natural tendency toward self-actualization.
Humanistic Perspectives
Social/Cognitive Perspective
• Proposed that each person has a unique personality because of our personal histories and interpretations shape our personalities
▲Albert Bandura’s social-cognitive approach focuses on self-efficacy and reciprocal determinism.
▲Julian Rotter’s locus of control theory emphasizes a person’s internal or external focus as a major determinant of personality.
Locus of Control (Rotter)
Internal locus of control– Life outcomes are under personal control– Positively correlated with self-esteem– Internals use more problem-focused coping
External locus of control– Luck, chance, and powerful others control
behavior