Personality

Chapter 1

Psychodynamic

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Trait TheoriesTrait TheoriesHumanistic Theory

Sociocultural

Learning Learning TheoriesTheories

What is What is Personality?Personality?The distinct patterns of behavior, thoughts, and feelings that characterize a person’s adjustment to the demands of life.

Historically, people have had different views of personality.

Psychodynamic Psychodynamic TheoriesTheories

• There are several Psychodynamic theories. Each can be traced back to Sigmund Freud.

• Personality is characterized by a dynamic struggle between elements of the personality.

Sigmund Freud’s TheorySigmund Freud’s Theory

• Freud believed that the human mind was like an iceberg.

• In terms of the thoughts and impulses in our minds, we are only aware of the “tip of the iceberg.”

Sigmund FreudSigmund Freud

• Freud hypothesized that we have several psychic structures that make up the personality and clash with one another.

• These structures are the Id, Ego and Superego.

The “Id”The “Id”

• The id is present at birth and represents our instinctual drives such as hunger, sex and aggression.

• The id is completely unconscious and operates on the “pleasure principle.”

The “Ego”The “Ego”• The ego begins to develop during the first

year of life and balances the id’s urges with reality. Hence, the ego is guided by the “Reality Principle”

• While doing most of its work in the conscious, a portion is working beneath the surface.

Defense MechanismsDefense Mechanisms

• When the ego is threatened by unconscious impulses, it will employ defense mechanisms to protect the conscious self.

The “Superego”The “Superego”

• The superego is the embodiment of societal rules, ethics and morals.

• The superego sets high standards for behavior and monitors the decisions of the ego. The superego causes feelings of guilt and shame when its standards aren’t met.

Psychosexual StagesPsychosexual Stages

• Oral Stage: Sexual gratification is obtained through oral activities. Fixation may lead to gullibility, smoking, alcohol abuse, nail biting and/or excessive optimism/pessimism.

• Anal Stage: Sexual gratification is obtained through contraction and relaxation of the muscles that control elimination (Fixation may lead to anal-retentive or anal-expulsive traits).

Psychosexual StagesPsychosexual Stages

• Phallic Stage: Libidinal energy is shifted to the phallic regions (penis for boys and clitoris for girls).

• Oedipus Complex: A conflict of the phallic stage in which the boy wishes to possess his mother sexually and perceives his father as a rival.

• Electra Complex: Similar to the Oedipus complex in that a young girl longs for her father and resents her mother.

Psychosexual StagesPsychosexual Stages

• Latency Stage: The pressures of the Oedipus and Electra complexes cause children to repress their sexual urges and enter a period of latency where their urges remain unconscious.

• Genital Stage: The mature stage of psychosexual development, characterized by the preferred expression of libido via intercourse with an adult of the opposite gender.

Other Psychodynamic Other Psychodynamic TheoristsTheorists

• Carl Jung: Unlike Freud, Jung viewed the sexual instinct as just one of many important instincts. Jung also believed in a unifying force of personality (the “Self”) that gives direction and purpose to human behavior. Believed in a capacity for self-awareness and self-direction.

• Alfred Adler: Believed that people are motivated by an inferiority complex. This inferiority complex therefore, leads to a drive for superiority. Like Jung, Adler believed in a capacity for self-awareness.

• Karen Horney: Unlike Freud, Horney argued that little girls do not suffer penis envy. She believed that interpersonal relationships were more influential in childhood development than sexual impulses. She put forth the notion that genuine and consistent love can alleviate the effects of a traumatic childhood.

Erik EriksonErik Erikson

• Whereas Freud focused on sexual energy as a developmental force, Erikson viewed the social world as a much more important component of our development.

• Hence, Erikson’s theory is labeled Psychosocial instead of Psychosexual.

Learning TheoriesLearning Theories

• Learning theories focus upon our ability to learn and adapt to the environments in which we find ourselves.

• Two prominent theories are Behaviorism and Social-Cognitive Theory.

BehaviorismBehaviorism• A school of psychology that explains

and predicts behavior in terms of the environmental stimuli acting upon an organism and the organism’s subsequent responses.

Classical ConditioningClassical Conditioning

• A simple form of learning in which one stimulus comes to bring forth the response usually brought forth by a second stimulus as a result of being paired repeatedly with the second stimulus.

Classical ConditioningClassical Conditioning

• Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): A stimulus that elicits a response from an organism without learning. (In Pavlov’s classic experiment, the meat was the UCS).

• Unconditioned Response (UCR): An unlearned response. A response to an unconditioned stimulus. (In Pavlov’s experiment, salivation was the UCR).

• Conditioned Stimulus (CS): A previously neutral stimulus that elicits a conditioned response because it has been paired repeatedly with a stimulus that already brought forth that response. (In Pavlov’s experiment, the bell started as a Neutral Stimulus and become the CS).

• Conditioned Response (CR): A response to a conditioned stimulus. (In Pavlov’s experiment, the salivatory response began as an UCR but becomes a CR as the dog salivates to the sound of the bell.)

Classical ConditioningClassical Conditioning

NSNS

UCSUCS

(Bell)

(Meat)

↕↕ PairingsPairings

↔↔ UCRUCR

↔↔

(Salivation)

AssociationAssociation

Operant ConditioningOperant Conditioning

• A simple form of learning in which the frequency of behavior is increased (by means of reinforcement) or decreased (by means of punishment).

ReinforcementReinforcement

• Positive Reinforcer: A reinforcer that increases the frequency of behavior when it is presented (an example would be to reward behavior by giving something pleasant such as food or money).

• Negative Reinforcer: A reinforcer that increases the frequency of behavior when it is removed (an example would be to reward behavior by taking away an unpleasant task such as doing the dishes).

PunishmentPunishment

• Punishment is an unpleasant stimulus that suppresses behavior.

• Punishment is often used because it can quickly suppress behavior. However, psychologists suggest utilizing reinforcement due to the inherent weaknesses of punishment.

Weaknesses of Weaknesses of PunishmentPunishment• Punishment does not in and of itself

suggest an alternate, acceptable form of behavior.

• Punishment suppresses the behavior only so long as the delivery is guaranteed. For example, if parents are inconsistent with punishment, children learn very quickly how to “get away with murder” with one parent and not the other.

• Punishment may be imitated as a way of solving problems. Thus, a child might strike another at school as a way of dealing with their frustrations.

Social-Cognitive Social-Cognitive TheoryTheory

• A cognitively oriented theory in which observational learning, values and expectations play major roles in determining behavior.

• Reciprocal determinism: Albert Bandura’s term for the social-cognitive view that people influence their environment just as their environment influences them.

Social-CognitiveSocial-Cognitive

• Observational Learning: Unlike behaviorism, social-cognitive theory holds that we can learn simply by observation. However, whether or not we engage in the behavior we have learned depends upon both situation and personal variables.

• Person Variables: Factors within the person that influence behavior (examples include: competencies, encoding strategies, expectancies, emotions, self-regulatory systems and plans).

Humanistic-Existential Humanistic-Existential TheoriesTheories

• Humanism: The view that people are capable of free choice, self-fulfillment, and ethical behavior.

• Existentialism: The view that people are completely free and responsible for their own behavior.

Self-ActualizationSelf-Actualization

• An innate tendency to strive to realize one’s potential. The goal to “be all you can be”.

• Maslow believed that we progress toward higher psychological needs once our basic needs are met. He envisioned this as a “Hierarchy of Needs”.

Rogers’ Self TheoryRogers’ Self Theory

• Rogers believed that each of us is unique and views the world from a unique frame of reference. He felt that if we are given unconditional positive regard, we would develop our unique abilities and talents.

Unconditional Positive Unconditional Positive RegardRegard

• Acceptance of others as having intrinsic merit regardless of their behavior of the moment. Consistent expression of esteem for the value of another person.

Trait TheoriesTrait Theories• A school of psychology that attempts to

understand personality by classifying, measuring and interrelating relatively stable aspects of personality known as traits.

• Hippocrates believed that traits are embedded in people’s bodily fluids and personality depends upon the balance of these fluids: Yellow bile (quick-tempered), blood (warm, cheerful), phlegm (calm, cool) and black bile (gloomy).

What is a Trait?What is a Trait?

• A trait is a relatively stable aspect of personality that is inferred from behavior and assumed to give rise to consistent behavior. In other words, an individual will display this trait in most situations.

• Examples of traits include: Quiet, impulsive, outgoing, moody, calm, optimistic, anxious, reliable, etc.

Traits and GenesTraits and Genes

• An increasing body of evidence points to the influence that genes have in shaping our personality.

• Genes influence personality by creating predispositions.

• The old nature versus nurture debate has become “how do genes interact with the environment in leading to expression of behavioral traits?”

Sociocultural TheoriesSociocultural Theories

• The view that focuses on the roles of ethnicity, gender, culture, and socioeconomic status in personality, behavior and adjustment.

Individualism vs. Individualism vs. CollectivismCollectivism

• Individualist: A person who defines herself or himself in terms of personal traits and gives priority to her or his own goals.

• Collectivist: A person who defines herself or himself in terms of relationships to other people and groups and gives priority to group goals.

Personality Personality AssessmentAssessment

• Psychologists assess personality for a variety of reasons: to help individuals make academic or vocational choices, to identify psychological problems or to help organizations make successful hiring decisions.

• The two most common forms of assessment are projective and objective types of tests.

Objective Personality Objective Personality TestsTests

• Objective tests present respondents with a standard group of test items in the form of a questionnaire.

• One such example is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

Projective Personality Projective Personality TestsTests

• Projective personality tests are derived from the belief (in psychodynamic theory) that people tend to impose their unconscious needs, impulses, or motives onto their responses to unstructured or vague stimuli.

• Two examples are the Rorschach and the TAT.