1. Personality: Vive la Difference!

2. What Is Personality?

What are some terms you use to describe the personalities of others?

What are you trying to communicate about them?

Definition

A set of behavioral, emotional,

and cognitive tendencies that

people display over time and

across situations that distinguishes

individuals from each other.

3. Sigmund Freud

Two major drives

Sex and Aggression

Psychological determinism

All behavior has an underlying psychological cause

4. Freud: Consciousness

Conscious level

• Normal awareness

Preconscious level

• Easily brought to consciousness

Unconscious level

• Hidden thoughts and desires

5. Freud: Structural Model

The id

• Unconscious level

• Present at birth

• Home to sexual and aggressive drive

• Governed by the

• pleasure principle

6. Freud: Structural Model

The superego

• Preconscious and unconscious levels

• Develops in childhood

• Home to morality and conscience

• Governed by theego ideal

7. Freud: Structural Model

The ego

• Conscious, preconscious, and unconscious levels

• Develops in childhood (before superego)

• Acts as a referee between id and superego

• Governed by thereality principle

8. Freud:Personality Development

We must pass through psychosexual stages successfully

• Each stage focuses on how we receive pleasure

Failure to pass through

a stage leads to fixation

• In times of stress, we

• regress to that stage

9. Freud: Psychosexual Stages

Oral stage (birth to 1 year)

Anal stage (1 to 3 years)

Phallic stage (3 to 6 years)

• Oedipus and Electra complexes

Latency period (6 to puberty)

Genital stage (puberty onward)

10. Freud: Defense Mechanisms

Unconscious attempts prevent unacceptable thoughts from reaching conscious awareness

11. Freuds Followers: Alfred Adler

Key concepts:

People strive for superiority : Perfection and self-actualization.

People possess an innate social interest : They are cooperative and interested in the welfare of others.

People possess an inferiority complex : They are motivated to overcome feelings of inferiority.

Birth order has a tremendous impact on personality.

12. Birth Order

Does birth order influence

personality? Do children share

personality traits with other children

of the same birth order?

How could/does birth order influence personality?

Does gender of siblings or spacing of births influence birth order effects?

How different would you be if you were born in a different birth order position?

13. Personality andBirth Order First Borns and Success

Agreeable

Extraverted

Open toexperience

Less identified with family

Conscientious

Neurotic

Later-born Middle-born First-born or only child 14. Freuds Followers: Eric Fromm

Key concepts:

Humans strive for freedom and autonomy.

Humans strive for connectedness with each other.

An imbalance between freedom/autonomy and connectedness can result maladaptive behaviors.

For example, excessive freedom can sometimes lead to:

• Authoritarianism : People become over dominant or submissive.

• Destructiveness : People may no longer try to relate to others and may become destructive.

• Conformity : To reduce feelings of separateness they become like everyone else.

15. Humanistic Theories

Humanists focus on peoples positive aspects: their innate goodness, creativity, and free will

Reaction to Freud and behavioristemphasis on

• Dehumanization

• Determinism

16. Humanistic Theories

Abraham Maslow

• Hierarchy of needs

• Self-actualization

Carl Rogers

• Unconditional positive regard

Criticisms

• Difficult to test

• Idealistic view

17. Carl Rogers Person Centered Theory

Self-concept:A collection of beliefs about ones nature, qualities, and behavior.

Congruence:A correspondence between ones self-concept and reality.

Incongruence:A disparity between ones self-concept and reality.

18. Carl Rogers Person Centered Theory

What contributes to congruence or incongruence?

• Conditional Love:Affection and love are made conditional.Kids block out of self-awareness those experiences that make them feel unworthy of love.

• Unconditional Love:Affection and love are made unconditional.Kids do not block out of self-awareness any experiences, because they feel loved regardless.

How does incongruence contribute to anxiety and psychological problems?

• Experiences that are inconsistent with self-concept create anxiety, denial, distortions of truth, creative reinterpretation of the events.

19. Personality: Traits or Situations?

Trait view

• We think and behave consistently across situations

Situationist view

• Our thoughts and behaviors

• change with the situation

Interactionist view

• Both traits and situations

• affect thoughts and behavior

20. Trait Theories: The Big Five 21. Measuring Personality: Inventories

Questionnaires (paper or computer)

Produce a personality profile

Easy to score and statistically analyze

Social desirability

22. Measuring Personality: Projective Tests

Include Rorschach and TAT

Concerns about validity and reliability

What do you see? 23. Biological Influences on Personality

Do horse breeds have common personality traits?

Do dog breeds have common personality traits?

24. Temperament

Innate tendencies to behave in certain ways

Correlation between temperament at infancy and adulthood

Shyness

Sensation seeking

25. Theories of Temperament

Buss and Plomins four factors

• Sociability

• Emotionality

• Activity

• Impulsivity

26. Heritability

Heritability of personality

• Minnesota twin studies

Heritability of specific behaviors

• .5 for work and leisure interests

• .44-.8 for happiness

27. Learning and Cognitive Elements of Personality

Learning

• Conditioning

• Operant learning

• Social learning

28. Personality and Gender

Female

More empathic

More neurotic

Greater social connectedness

Male

Greater individuality

More aggressive

More assertive

Nature or nurture? 29. Personality and Culture

Difficult to compare personality across cultures

Collectivism

• Focus on the needs of the group

• Chinese, African, Latin American, Arab cultures

Individualism

• Focus on needs of the individual

• United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia