Theories of Personality

Josée L. Jarry, Ph.D., C.Psych.

Introduction to Psychology

Department of Psychology

University of Toronto

July 23, 2003

Libido• Eros

– biological energy form– an essential energy that invests different parts

of the body at different points in development– life-sustaining and life-creating

• Thanatos– aggression or death instinct– motivation toward self-destruction– Eros protects the self and directs Thanatos

towards others.

Unconscious Motivations

• The causes of behaviour are buried in the unconscious mind

• The unconscious affect people’s behaviour

• But is not open to conscious inspection

• Our conscious reasons for behaving are distortions and disguises for the real, unconscious motive.

Theory of Personality Development• Oral stage 0 - 2 years

• Anal Stage 2 - 4 years

• Phallic Stage 4 - 6 years

• Latency Stage 6 - 12 years

• Genital Stage From adolescence on

• Personality develops as the libido invests different parts of the body

• Adult personality is a function of whether and where the libido gets fixated.

Oral Stage• Libido invested in the mouth

• Sucking initially serves the purpose of feeding

• Eventually becomes pleasurable in itself

• The infant is a passive recipient of pleasure

• Oral fixation results in “oral personalities”

• Expectations to be fed and cared for by others

• Dependant and demanding.

Anal Stage

• Libido invests the anus

• Pleasure comes from the passage of feces

• The child experiences his first conflict between his desire for immediate gratification and his parents’ wish

• Fixation implies conflict between retaining and expelling

• May result in obsessive or disorganized personality.

Phallic Stage: Boys• Libido invests the genitals• Oedipus complex for boys

– boy becomes sexually attracted to his mother– feels competition and hatred towards father– fears being castrated by father– tries to repress hostility but fails– projects hostility on father– increased fear of castration– results in repression of all sexual feelings– identifies with father– allows the development of the superego

Phallic Stage: Girls• Libido invests the genitals• Electra complex for girls

– initially attached to her mother– disappointed because mother does not have a penis– feels that she and her mother have been castrated– withdraws love from mother, invests it in father– wants him to give her a penis in the form of a child– becomes fearful of mother and represses– process weaker because of absence of fear of

castration– results in weaker superego or morality

Latency & Genital Stages• Latency Stage

– sexuality is repressed– libido is displaced into activities such as play,

athletics, hobby, and friends

• Genital Stage– sexuality reappears– libido is invested in other people– also invested in generation activities: love,

children, and caring for others– lasts to the end of life.

The Structure of the Mind

Id• The entire set of inborn drives and desires

• Pleasure principle– find pleasure through gratification of drives

and avoid pain

• Primary process– no differentiation of reality and fantasy– wishes that cannot be satisfied in reality are

satisfied through fantasy and imagination– dreams function according to the primary

process.

Ego• Develops in infancy as an outgrowth of the Id• Reality principle

– wishes can be satisfied only if a means of gratification exists in the environment

• Secondary process– capacity for understanding reality and logic– prevents satisfaction exclusively through

imagination

• The arbiter of the mind– compromises between the Id and Superego.

Superego• Develops in early childhood as an outgrowth of

the Id

• Internalized representation of society’s moral rules

• Acquired through interaction with parents

• Purpose is to oppose the gratification of drives by means that would violate morality

• Enforces moral conduct by applying guilt on the Ego

• Ego compromises by promoting moral conduct.

Anxiety• In its dealing with the Id, the Superego, and

reality, the ego experiences anxiety

• Each of these instances poses a threat

• Reality anxiety– comes from threats in reality such as bodily harm

• Neurotic anxiety– ego’s fears of the Id’s irrational wishes

• Moral anxiety– ego’s fear of the guilt produced by the superego.

Defense Mechanisms (1)• Self-deception strategies of the ego aimed at

reducing anxiety

• Repression– most important defense mechanism– process by which the id’s anxiety-provoking

wishes are prevented from entering the ego’s conscious mind

– also pushes anxiety provoking memories in the unconscious part of the ego

• Some degree of repression is essential to normal functioning.

Defense Mechanisms (2)

• Displacement– occurs when a drive directed towards one activity

by the id is directed by the ego towards a safer activity symbolically equivalent to the original

• Sublimation– displacement most in line with the ideals of the

superego– activities particularly valued by society: artistic,

scientific, or humanitarian endeavors.

Defense Mechanisms (3)• Reaction formation

– the turning of a frightening wish into its opposite

• Projection– occurs when a person experiences his/her own

unconscious emotions and wishes as someone else’s

• Rationalization– use of conscious reasoning to explain anxiety-

provoking thoughts and feelings.

Criticism of Freud’s Theory• Limitation of the data

– based on the analysis of Vienna’s upper class citizens

• Influence of personal bias– based on clinical data unavailable to public

scrutiny

• Vague terms and untestable concepts– libido– Oedipus complex– unconscious.

Behaviourist Perspective• The notion of personality is circular• Human behaviour is the product of environmental

contingencies

• Classical conditioning– specific behaviours develop through CS-US pairing

• Operant conditioning– spontaneous behaviours are reinforced– personality is unique because of unique learning

histories– personality is stable because of intermittent

reinforcement

Humanistic Psychology

• Phenomenological reality– people do not simply react to the reality of the

world around them– they behave according to their mental interpretation

of that reality

• The actualizing tendency– every organism has a natural tendency to develop

to their full potential

• Holistic view of the person– people are more than the sum of their separate parts

Self-theory• Carl Rogers (1902-1987)

• Unconditional positive regard– fundamental respect for the person– not for the behaviour

• Conditions of worth– conditions imposed by significant others to be worthy

• Incongruence– discrepancy between the real and ideal self– aspects of the real self are denied which causes

anxiety.

The Hierarchy of Needs (1)

• Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)

• Physiological needs– essentials of life such as food and water

• Safety needs– protection from threats from the environment

• Belongingness and love needs– establish bonds with other people

• Esteem needs– competence, self-respect, respect from others

The Hierarchy of Needs (2)

• First four needs are deficiency needs

• Self-actualization– self-expression and creativity– sense of connectedness with the universe

• Peak experiences– intense experience of a sense of connection

with the universe– all is contained into all.

Social Learning Theories

Locus of Control

• Julian Rotter (1954)– people’s behaviour depends on their expectancy

about the connection between behaviour and rewards

• Expectancies are situation specific– people learn that in some situations, they can

control their rewards while in others, they cannot

• In ambiguous situations, behaviour is controlled by a personality trait

• Internal-external locus of control

Locus of Control: Research• Internals

– take more responsibility for failure than externals– prefer games of skill over games of chance– more likely to adopt preventative health behaviour– less likely to conform in laboratory tests

• Externals– are more anxious and less satisfied than internals

• sense of control promotes hard work, success, and happiness?

• or, hard work, success, and happiness promote sense of control?

Self-Efficacy• Albert Bandura (1982, 1986)

• The degree to which people expect that they can perform a certain task

• High self-efficacy– general disposition to believe in capacity to

perform

• Low self-efficacy– general belief in incapacity to perform

Self-Efficacy: Research• Improved self-efficacy for a task predicts

improvement in actual performance of the task• Alternative explanation

– people’s belief in their capacity to perform a task may be mediated by a realistic appraisal of their ability to perform the task

• Proof– false positive feedback about ability to solve

problems leads to perseverance

• High self-efficacy increased effort success

Locus of Control & Self-Efficacy

• Usually come together but

• Distinct from one another

• One may believe the self skilled at a particular task

• But may also believe that has no control over the rewards.