Chapter 15: Personality. Personality: An individual’s unique, consistent, patterned methods of...

Chapter 15: Personality

Personality: An individual’s unique, consistent, patterned methods of behaving in relation to the environment

What words are important in that definition?

• Unique

• Consistent

• Pattern

The Psychoanalytic Approach

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) Background

• Victorian Era• Prim and Proper

• Position

• View on sex


Free Association• In Psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the

unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing. Freud began to use Free Association to unlock the unconscious when he realized that not all his patients were capable of being hypnotized.


Psychoanalysis Freud’s theory of personality that attributes

thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts; the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions.


Three Levels of the Mind


Conscious:

All our thoughts and perceptions of which we are currently aware

The Psychoanalytic ApproachPreconscious: A level of mental activity that is not currently conscious but of which we can easily become conscious

Examples: memories, stored knowledge


Unconscious: Region of the mind that is a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, desires, feelings, and painful memories

Examples: immoral urges, violent motives, shameful experiences, selfish needs, fears, drives, etc.

The Psychoanalytic ApproachUnconscious• Freudian Slips: an unconscious error or oversight in writing,

speech, or action that is held to be caused by unacceptable impulses breaking through the ego’s defenses and

exposing the individual’s

true wishes or feelings.


Freud’s Dream Theory• Why do we dream? We dream to fulfill

unconscious, socially unacceptable urges

• What’s the problem with dreaming openly? If we dreamed openly we would have the same anxiety and embarrassment as we would if we consciously thought about it

The Psychoanalytic ApproachTwo types of dream content• Manifest Content: The part of the dream

we can recall. The plot line of the dream. The surface/literal meaning of the dream

• Latent Content: The true hidden meaning of the dream, which can only be discovered through dream interpretation and by analyzing the symbols and stripping away the displacement


How do we disguise our dreams?• Symbols: Something that stands for something

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• Displacement: When we shift our attention away from the true meaning of the dream onto a seemingly insignificant part


Id, Ego, Superego (three parts of the personality)


ID

Ego

Superego

Freud believed that the 3 parts of the personality overlapped and should not be separated and analyzed separately. He believed one was an outgrowth of the other.


Id: The part of the personality that emerges first. When we are an infant we are almost all Id• Pleasure Principle: the Id is hedonistic.

It seeks pleasure and avoids pain

• Energy Source: the Id is the major source for all psychological energy


Id• Drives and Instincts: basic inborn needs

• Libido: the sex drive

• Aggression:

• Thanatos: the death instinct

• Eros: love for life


Id• Primary Process: the need for

immediate and instant gratification

The Psychoanalytic ApproachEgo: the second part of the personality to emerge. It is more logical and practical than the id• Reality Principle: the ego’s awareness of the external world

• Secondary Process: the ability to delay gratification

The Psychoanalytic ApproachSuper Ego: The sense of morality• Ego Ideal: the child’s perception of what they think their parents think is morally good• Conscience: the child’s perception of what they think their parents think is morally bad


Superego• Identification: the process of associating

the self closely with other individuals and their characteristics or views. Identification operates largely on the unconscious level.


Stages of Development: Freud believed that an individual develops through a series of five Psychosexual Stages. Each of these stages was associated with the part of the body that gave the individual the most pleasure at that time.


Oral Stage (Birth – 18 months)

Pleasure comes from the

mouth—sucking, biting,

chewing


Anal Stage (18 months-3 years old):

Pleasure focuses on bowel

and bladder function;

the child must cope with

demands for control


Fixation: Being stuck in a psychosexual stages.

Fixation can occur because of either too much or too little pleasure in a stage.

The Psychoanalytic ApproachAnal Retentive: The anal retentive person is neat, orderly, organized, and overly concerned with CONTROL

This is caused by too strict of toilet training resulting in a lack of pleasure

Anal Expulsive: The anal expulsive person is messy, disorganized,

It is caused by too lax toilet training resulting in too much pleasure


Phallic Stage (3-6 years):

The pleasure zone is

the genitals; the

child must cope with

incestuous feelings


Oedipus Complex:

A pattern described by Freud

in which a boy has sexual

desire for his mother and

wants to eliminate his

father’s competition for

her attention

What does a child learn from this stage?


Latency Stage (6 years old-puberty):

During this stage sexual impulses stay in the background as the child focuses on education, same-sex

peer play, and the

development of social

skills


Genital Stage (Puberty- )

It is during this stages that sexual impulses appear at the conscious level

Defense Mechanisms

See Handout

Defense Mechanisms

Definitions• The Ego’s way of satisfying the id without

overstepping the bounds of the superego

• The Ego’s unconscious attempt to defend against our anxiety

Defense Mechanisms

Four aspects of all defense mechanisms• They are all unconscious

• They all involve self-deception

• They all give us time to get over anxiety producing events in our life

• They are all normal methods of dealing with our anxiety if……

NAME OF DEFENSE MECHANISM

DEFINITION EXAMPLE

RATIONALIZATIONSweet LemonsSour Grapes

We give ourselves false reassurances about an anxiety producing experience in order to reduce our anxiety.What we have we love and think is greatWhat we can’t have we tell ourselves we didn’t want anyway.

REACTION FORMATION We act in a manner that is completely opposite of how we are truly feeling.

REPRESSION Unconsciously blocking unpleasant or anxiety producing thoughts from consciousness.

*SUPPRESSION When we consciously avoid thinking about something.

NAME OF DEFENSE

MECHANISM

DEFINITION EXAMPLE

PROJECTION The tendency to see in others the undesirable traits and qualities that we possess.

IDENTIFICATION Identifying with a group by taking on some of their behaviors.

DISPLACEMENT Taking our anxiety out on other, safer objects.

SUBLIMATION We find socially acceptable ways to fulfill socially unacceptable urges.

REGRESSION Returning to earlier modes of dealing with anxiety.

FANTASY/DREAMS/ESCAPE

Avoiding anxiety by escaping into a fantasy/dream world

UNDOING Reducing anxiety by making amends for unethical thoughts or deeds.

COMPENSATION We pursue success in one area to reduce our anxiety about our failure in another.

DENIAL Defending against anxiety-producing realities by failing to perceive or recognize them.

Identifying Defense MechanismsMy girlfriend recently broke up with me after we had dated seriously for several years. At first, I cried a great deal and locked myself in my room, where I pouted endlessly. I was sure that my former girlfriend felt as miserable as I did. I told several friends that she was probably lonely and depressed. Later, I decided that I hated her. I was happy about the breakup and talked about how much I was going to enjoy my newfound freedom. I went to parties and socialized a great deal and just forgot about her. It’s funny—at one point I couldn’t even remember her phone number! Then I started pining for her again. But eventually I began to look at the situation more objectively. I realized that she had many faults and that we were bound to break up sooner or later, so I was better off without her.


Neo-Freudians: Followers of Freud who kept the main points of his theory but proposed changes. Some noted Neo-Freudians are:• Carl Jung

• Alfred Adler

• Karen Horney

• Erik Erikson


Neo-Freudians• Points of agreement

• Three personality structure of the id, ego & superego

• The importance of the unconscious

• The shaping of personality in childhood


Neo-Freudians• Points of disagreement

• The overemphasis of the importance of sex

• The underemphasis of the conscious mind

Psychodynamic TheoristsAlfred Adler (Individual Psychology)• Believed that social tensions are more

important than sexual tensions. He said we are motivated by a striving for superiority which is triggered by feelings of inferiority

Psychodynamic TheoristsAlfred Adler (Individual Psychology)

• Feelings of Inferiority: Normal feelings of inadequacy that are brought on by childhood dependence

• Inferiority Complex:

The inability to overcome

feelings of inadequacy

Psychodynamic Theorists

Karen Horney (Horn- eye)

She believed that we are driven

by feelings of basic anxiety

(Feelings of being isolated and

helpless in a potentially hostile world). These feelings of basic anxiety arise out of parental indifference and inconsistency


Karen Horney• Horney also objected to Freud’s

chauvinistic view of psychology. She objected to his assumption of penis envy and countered that instead, men have “womb envy”


Carl Jung (Analytical Psychology):• Like Freud he believed in the importance

of the unconscious. He termed the unconscious that Freud described the “personal unconscious”


Carl Jung (Analytical Psychology):• Collective Unconscious: The part of the

unconscious that, according to Jung, is common to all humankind and contains the inherited accumulation of primitive human experiences in the form of ideas and images called archetypes

Psychodynamic TheoristsCarl Jung

• Introvert: An introvert is a person whose thoughts and feelings are directed

inward. He/she withdraws interest from external world and typically spends little time interacting with others

• Extrovert: An extrovert is an outgoing individual who wants to interact

with others and stay in touch with events in the outside world. They are out-going, sociable, and excitement-seeking


Erik Erikson vs. Freud

Assessing Unconscious Processes

Projective Tests: Methods of studying the personality by confronting the subject with a situation to which he will respond according to what the situation means to him. A projective test evokes from the subject what is in various ways expressive of his private world and personality process. The techniques are “response-free” in the sense that there is no right or wrong responses. The techniques present relatively ambiguous stimuli to the examinee.

Assessing Unconscious ProcessesThematic Apperception Test (TAT)

One of the most popular projective tests, it is a picture-story test consisting of 20 pictures with alternative for some of them (for women, men, girls and boys). Most of the pictures are of clearly recognizable people of different ages and both sexes in some form of interaction or relationship. It is believed that in the telling of these stories participants reveal their attitudes, feelings, conflicts, motivation for achievement, power, and personality characteristics. The participant is told that the narrative should have a beginning, a middle, and ending.


Rorschach TestThe test was first introduced in 1921 when Herman Rorschach presented his 10 inkblots. The reliability of this test as an assessment tool has been questioned.


Word Association:oThis test was the first adopted projective

technique. It was first used clinically by Carl Jung. The subject is presented with a standard series of words and is asked to respond to each word with the first association (word) that comes to mind. Both content and style are interpreted clinically

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EeEWuz_zds


Sentence Completion:• This test is a relatively structured verbal method

where incomplete sentences are presented to the examinee who is instructed to finish them as quickly as possible. This partial sentence limits the degrees of freedom of the respondent much more than the other methods such as the TAT or Rorschach do.

• e.g., “I feel upset when . . . ”; “What burns me up is . . .


Expression• The subject is given the instruction to draw a

picture. Often times they are asked to draw a picture of him/herself and a person of the opposite sex.

Dear Ms. Davis,I want to be very clear on my child's illustration. It is NOT of me on a dance pole on a stage in a strip joint. I work at Home Depot and had commented to my daughter how much money we made in the recent snowstorm. This drawing is of me.... selling a shovel.Mrs. Harrington


Criticism of Projective Tests• The subjects’ responses must be interpreted.

This interpretation varies with the examiner who must be careful not to “project” his/her own attitudes and expectations onto the responses. Therefore, it has poor interjudge reliability

Humanistic PerspectiveClaim: Humanism and Psychoanalysis are opposing viewpoints. Humanism vs. Psychoanalysis

Optimistic

Non-mechanistic

Here-and-now

Humanistic PerspectiveMaslow’s Humanistic

PsychologyIf you want a healthy psychology, study healthy people. If you want a sick psychology, study sick people

Humanistic Perspective

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Examples of self-actualized people according to Maslow: Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Eleanor Roosevelt


Characteristics of a Self-Actualized Person• Accepting of self & reality

• Spontaneous

• Creative

• Has quality relationships

• Lives in the moment

• Takes calculated risks

Humanistic PerspectiveAbraham Maslow• Self-Actualization: the full use and exploitation

of talent, capacities, potentialities, such that the individual develops to maximum self-realization, ideally integrating physical, social, intellectual, and emotional needs.

• Peak Experiences: Individuals who are self-actualized often have what Maslow termed peak experiences, or moments of intense joy, wonder, awe and ecstasy. After these experiences, people feel inspired, strengthened, renewed or transformed.

Basic: Food, Shelter, Water, Clothing, Sleep

Safety: Protection, Law & Order, Limits, Stability, Financial Security

Love: Family, Affection, Relationships, Work Groups, Teams

Esteem: Achievement, Status, Responsibility, Reputation, confidence

Self-Actualization: Personal Growth, Fulfillment, Self-sufficiency, Authenticity, “Becoming all you can be”


Deficiency Orientation: A preoccupation with a perceived need for

material things.

People coming to perceive life as disappointing and boring


Growth Orientation:

People with a growth

orientation do not focus

on what is missing,

instead they are satisfied

with what they have, are,

and can do


Roger’s Person Centered Perspective• Fully Functioning Person

(FFP): A person has an

innate tendency toward

realizing his/her

potentialities

Humanistic PerspectiveUnconditional Love/ Positive Regard: a child will develop a positive self-concept if parents and authority figures provide an attitude of total acceptance of the child regardless of his/her actions (faults and failings)

Conditions of Worth: judgments about the kinds of behaviors that will bring approval from others (this is a universal need and a prerequisite for healthy development)


Self-Concept:

all our thoughts and

feelings about ourselves,

in answer to the question,

“Who am I?”


Assessing the Self• Humanistic psychologists assess personality

through questionnaires (Q-sort) on which people report their self-concept. One questionnaire asks people to compare their actual self with their ideal self. Other humanistic psychologists maintain that we can only understand each person’s unique experience through interviews and intimate conversations


Evaluating the Humanistic Perspective

1. It is vague: For example, the description of self-actualizing people seems more a reflection of Maslow’s personal values than a scientific description.

2. It can lead to self-indulgence and selfishness

3. It fails to appreciate the reality of the human capacity for evil: It is naively optimistic and may lead to apathy about major social problems

The Trait Perspective

Trait• an enduring personality characteristic that

describes or determines an individual’s behavior across a range of situations

Type discrete categories (a person is one type or

another)


Types• Hippocrates was the first person who described

personality types during the time of the ancient Greeks. The four types he describes were

related to bodily fluids (humors)• Sanguine (optimistic)• Phlegmatic (slow, lethargic)• Melancholic (sad, depressive)• Choleric (angry, irritable)


Types• William Sheldon and physiognomy he studied

the link between personality and physique• Endomorph: heavy, round, lack of anxiety, pursuit

of pleasure, eager to please

• Ectomorph: light, delicate physique, inhibited, nervous, intellectual

• Mesomorph: muscular, extraversion, aggressiveness


Factor Analysis (Eysenck)• This is a statistical procedure that identifies

clusters of behaviors that tend to appear together. For instance, Hans and Sybil Eysenck reduced normal variations to three genetically influenced dimensions

The Trait PerspectiveIntroversion – Extraversion

Introversion: a person whose thoughts and feelings are directed inward. He/she withdraws interest from the external world and typically spends little time interacting with others.


• Introversion: Characteristics: feeling hurt easily, daydreaming frequently, blushing often, keeping in the background on social occasions, worrying over possible misfortune, showing great concern over what others think of you, being extremely careful of personal property


Extroverts: an outgoing individual who wants to interact with others and stay in touch with events in the outside world. They are outgoing, sociable, and excitement seeking


• Extroverts: • Characteristics: not feeling hurt easily,

making friends easily, being the “life of the party”, not worrying a great deal, laughing frequently and easily, preferring oral reports rather than written reports, being a good loser

The Trait PerspectiveEmotionally unstable (neurotic)-emotionally stable

Emotionally unstable (neurotic): Unstable: moodiness, restlessness, worry, anxiety

Emotionally stable: Calm, even-tempered, relaxed,

The Trait Perspective• Criminals: are high on instability and high on

extraversion

• Anxiety disorders: high on instability and high on introversion


Zeon knows all of the answers in class. He confidently raises his hand. However, when the teacher does not call on him immediately, Zeon shouts out the answer before his classmates can.


Chuck loves to play “Call of Duty.” He sits in his room hour after hour playing his game. When Chuck’s parents ask him to stop, he saves the game and shuts down.

The Trait PerspectiveSuzy is a junior on the varsity basketball team. Her teammates chose her as a co-captain. On senior night, Suzy graciously offers to sit on the bench so her senior teammates may play in front of their parents.

The Trait PerspectiveZelda spends hours documenting her angst in her diary. She records every slight, real and imagined, that has occurred throughout the day. When her parents call her to dinner, she eats without interacting with any family members.


Biology and Personality (the brain activity scans suggest that introverts and extroverts differ in their level of arousal)• Extraverts: seek stimulation because their

normal brain arousal level is relatively low• Autonomic Nervous System: if a person has a

reactive autonomic nervous system they will respond to stress with greater anxiety and inhibition

Assessing Traits

Personality Inventories: questionnaires (often with true-false or

agree-disagree items) designed to gage a wide range of feelings and behaviors; they are often used to assess selected personality traits.

Assessing TraitsMMPI

(Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory)• This inventory was first published in 1940 and is now

one of the most widely used self-report tools for assessing personality. The version currently in used (MMPI-2 1989), features 567 true-false questions that assess symptoms, attitudes, and beliefs that relate to emotional and behavioral problems. This inventory includes scales for assessing hypochondria, depression, hysteria, psychopathic deviate, anxiety, to name a few

Assessing Traits

Empirically derived test:• a test that is developed by testing a pool

of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups

OPENNESS CONSCIENTIOUS-NESS

EXTRA-VERSION

AGREEABLE-NESS

NEUROTICISM

Rich fantasy life

Competent Outgoing Trusting Anxious

Rich emotional life

Orderly PositiveEmotions

Straightforward Self-conscious

Action-oriented Dutiful Assertive Compliant Depressed

Novel Ideas Self-disciplined Full of Energy Modest Hostile

Eccentric Deliberate ExcitementSeeking

Tender-minded Impulsive

Idiosyncratic Achievement-Oriented

Warm Altruistic Vulnerable


The Big Five FactorsThe Big Five does a more thorough job of describing personality. Openness: imaginative, prefers variety, independentConscientiousness: organized, careful, disciplinedExtraversion: sociable, fun-loving, affectionateAgreeableness: soft-hearted, trusting, helpfulNeuroticism: (on the instability end): anxious, insecure, self-pitying


The Big Five Factors• How stable are these traits?

For the most part they are stable in adulthood, with a bit variance. For instance, conscientiousness increases during the twenties, while emotional instability decreases

• How heritable are they?

They are largely heritable (50% of variance can be attributed to genes)

The Trait PerspectiveThe Big Five Factors• How well do they apply to various cultures? They are common to all cultures• Do the Big Five traits predict other personal

attributes?

They are good predictors of other personalities aattributes (ex: highly conscientious people are

likely to be morning types, extraverted slightly more likely to be night owls)


Evaluating the Trait Perspective• Critics say that human behavior varies widely

from situation to situation (so traits are not always good predictors of behavior).

• Defenders say that overall, behavior is consistent. They also suggest that our traits influence our thinking, health, and our job performance.

The Social-Cognitive Perspective

Social-Cognitive Perspective (advanced by Alfred Bandura and Walter Mischel)

• Views behavior as influenced by the interaction between persons (and their thinking) and their social context

• Reciprocal determinism: Personality is shaped by the interaction of 3 forces1. Environment

2. Behavior

3. Cognition (thoughts)


Three ways in which individuals and environments interact:• Different people choose different environments

• Our personalities shape how we interpret and react to events

• Our personalities help create situations to which we react


Personal Control: our sense of controlling our environment rather than feeling helpless• Self-Efficacy: is our conviction that we can

perform the actions necessary to produce an intended behavior)


Internal vs. External Locus of Control (Julian Rotter)

• External Locus of Control the perception that chance or outside forces

beyond one’s personal control determine one’s fate


Internal vs. External Locus of Control• Internal Locus of Control the perception that one controls one’s own life

• Those with an internal locus achieve more in school, are more independent, enjoy better health, and feel less depressed than those with an external locus of control


Learned Helplessness Versus Personal Control• One would expect people suffering from learned

helplessness to have an external locus of control.

• When people feel like they have more control (workers believing that they have a say in decision making) they have better health and better morale.


Learned Helplessness Versus Personal Control Lack of motivation and failure to act after exposure to

unpleasant events or stimuli over which the individual has no control. Individuals learn that they cannot control their environment, and this may lead them to fail to make use of any control options that are available. (Learned helplessness is a risk factor for depression)


Optimism Versus Pessimism• Our attributional style (that is our way of explaining

positive and negative events) can reveal how effective or helpless we feel. For example, those who optimistically see setbacks as flukes rather than as signs of incompetence are likely to be more persistent and successful.

• Optimists have been found to outlive pessimists, as well as to have fewer illnesses.

• Excessive optimism, however, can lead to complacency and can blind us to real risks.


Assessing Behavior in Situations• Social-cognitive researchers observe how

people’s behaviors and beliefs both affect and are affected by their situations. They have found that the best way to predict someone’s behavior in a given situation is to observe that person’s behavior pattern in similar situations.

Other vocabulary words from this chapter

Spotlight Effect• overestimating others’ noticing and evaluating

our appearance, performance, and blunders (as if we presume a spotlight shines on us)

• Example: giving speeches in class


Self-esteem • one’s feelings of high or low self-worth


Self-serving bias:

• a readiness to perceive oneself favorably

• People accept more responsibility for good deeds than for bad, and for successes than for failures. Also, most people see themselves as better than average on nearly all socially desirable dimensions.

Signal Cards to Check for Understanding

Charles is 19 years old. He is the first person in his family to go to college. His grades last semester were very poor. He decides that rather than go back to college, he will join his family’s carpentry business.


Charles has learned that he is not a good college student. It seems that no matter how hard he studies he doesn’t earn good grades. Consequently he has learned to be helpless. Since he doesn’t succeed no matter how hard he tries he has stopped trying and dropped out.


Charles is aware that he is not doing well in college. He has the free will to drop out of college if he wants. He believes that to realize his potentiality he needs to be the best he can be. He has come to realize that he is more suited for carpentry where he will experience success and have the chance to be the best carpenter he can be.


Charles does not enjoy being a poor college student. He sees his friends who work full time buying nice cars, expensive electronics and fashionable clothes. Charles is emphasizing the material goods he is lacking as opposed to the knowledge he is gaining. Charles also feels that college is boring because he doesn’t perceive any of his classes as being meaningful to his personal growth.


Unconsciously Charles has felt rejected by his parents since childhood. He feels the need for their love and approval but has a conflict between what he really wants to do (go to college) and what his parents want him to do (join the family carpentry business). He unconsciously sabotages his college career by getting bad grades so that he has no choice but to drop out and join the family carpentry business.


Charles has always been a bright, conscientious student. So college seemed like the logical step after high school. However, Charles lacks self-confidence, is introverted, and is not very open to new experiences. Additionally, he has always been one to submit to other people’s demands. These personality characteristics make it difficult for him to experience success in college. Dropping out of college will fit with the pattern of behavior shown in his childhood.


Charles does not enjoy being a poor college student. He sees his friends who work full time buying nice cars, expensive electronics and fashionable clothes. Charles is emphasizing the material goods he is lacking as opposed to the knowledge he is gaining. Charles also feels that college is boring because he doesn’t perceive any of his classes as being meaningful to his personal growth.

A Personal Appraisal

External environmentTemperamentConscious AwarenessChildhood ExperiencesRewards and PunishmentsAbilitiesOrganization of RealityInterpretation of experience

A Personal Appraisal

The self

Unconscious motives

Observable behavior

Enduring characteristics

Expectations

Subjective Feelings

Sexual Instincts

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