Chapter 11

PersonalityPersonality

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Defining Personality and Traits.

• Personality– Distinctive and relatively stable pattern of

behaviors, thoughts, motives, and emotions that characterizes an individual

– Trait, Temperament– Person-situation controversy

Psychodynamic Theories

• Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

• Carl Jung: Extending the Unconscious

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

(Drives and instincts)

ErosEros

Thanatos

Sexual, life-giving, and creative drive

(energy = libido)

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

Drives and instincts

Eros

ThanatosThanatos

Aggressive and destructive drive

(“death” instinct)

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

Freudian slip – “Accidental” speech or behavior that reveals an unconscious desire

Psychic determinism – Freud’s assumption that all mental and behavioral reactions are caused by earlier life experiences

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

Early childhood experiences

• Oedipus complex• Penis envy• Fixation (stage of development)

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

Personality structure

IdId

Superego

Ego

Primitive, unconscious (basic drives and repressed memories)

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

Personality structure

Id

SuperegoSuperego

Ego

(values, moral attitudes learned from parents and society)

-conscience

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

Personality structure

Id

Superego

EgoEgo

Conscious, rational part of personality, keeps peace between superego and id

Defense Mechanisms

• Repression• Projection• Displacement• Sublimation• Regression• Denial

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

Projective tests –

Personality assessment instruments

• Rorschach inkblot technique• Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

The Rorschach Inkblot Test

Thematic Apperception Test

Collective unconscious – Involves a reservoir for instinctive “memories” (the archetypes)

Personal unconscious – Portion of the unconscious corresponding roughly to Freud’s id

Carl Jung: Extending the Unconscious

Carl Jung: Extending the Unconscious

Principle of opposites –

Portrays each personality as a balance between opposing pairs of unconscious tendencies, such as introversion and extroversion

• Three scientific failings.– Violating the principle of falsifiability.– Drawing universal principles from the

experiences of a few atypical patients.– Basing theories of personality development

on retrospective accounts and the fallible memories of patients.

Evaluating Psychodynamic Theories

Humanistic Theories

• Abraham Maslow and the Healthy Personality

• Rollo May: existentialism-dangers of free will

• Carl Roger’s

Phenomenal field – Our psychological reality, composed of perceptions

Carl Rogers’s Fully Functioning Person

Unconditional positive regard –

Love or caring without conditions attached

Incongruence- a sense of being out of touch with your feelings

(neuroticism)

Evaluating Humanistic Theories

Positive psychology –

Focus on the desirable aspects of human functioning

(Psychodynamic = Abnormal functioning)

Personality as a Composite of Traits

Traits –

Stable personality characteristics

-individual difference

-measurement

-little role for ‘theory’

Patterns in Personality

The “Big Five” traits

– Extraversion

– Agreeableness

– Neuroticism

– Openness to experience

– Conscientiousness

Assessing Traits

• NEO-PI (Big Five Inventory)

• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2)

Objective Personality Scales

• Answer a series of question about self– ‘I am easily embarrassed’ T or F – ‘I like to go to parties’ T or F

• Assumes that you can accurately report

• There are no right or wrong answers

• From responses, develop a picture of you called a ‘personality profile’

Social Learning and Personality

Reciprocal determinism Process in which the person, behavior and environment mutually influence each other

Personality Assessment

1. Personal Interview: structured vs. open

2. Observation: interpretation, real-world

3. Objective tests: atheoretical, measurement, objective(?)

4. Projective tests: Inkblot, T.A.T.