Personality & personality theories -an individual's unique & relatively consistent patterns of thinking, feeling, & behaving. 4 Major Personality Perspectives 1. psychoanalytic perspective: emphasizes the importance of unconscious processes and the influences of early childhood experience. 2. humanistic perspective: represents an optimistic look at human nature, emphasizing the self and the fulfillment of a person's unique potential. 3. social cognitive perspective: emphasizes learning and conscious cognitive processes, including the importance of beliefs about the self, goal setting, and self-regulation. 4. trait perspective: emphasizes the description and measurement of specific personality differences among individuals. Psychoanalytic Perspective -psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud's theory of personality, which emphasizes unconscious determinants of behavior, sexual & aggressive instinctual drives, and the enduring effects of early childhood experiences on later personality development. -developed his own technique of free association: a psychoanalytic technique in which the patient spontaneously reports all thoughts, feelings, and mental images that arise, revealing unconscious thoughts and emotions -believed that behavior is strongly influenced by the unconscious: a term used to describe thoughts, feelings, wishes, & drives that are operating below the level of conscious awareness. -displayed by Freudian slips Personality consists of 3 psychological processes 1. id: Latin for the it; the completely unconscious, irrational component of personality that seeks immediate satisfaction of instinctual urges and drives; ruled by the pleasure principle (the motive to obtain pleasure and avoid tension or discomfort; the most fundamental human motive and guiding principle of the id) -the id's reservoir of psychological energy is derived from two conflicting instinctual drives: the life instinct and the death instinct. -the life instinct, called Eros: the self-preservation or life instinct, reflected in the expression of basic biological urges that perpetuate the existence of the individual and the species ex: hunger, thirst, sexuality - libido: the psychological and emotional energy associated with the expressions of sexuality; sex drive -the death instinct, called Thanatos: reflected in aggressive, destructive, & self-destructive actions 2. Ego: Latin for I; the partly conscious rational component of personality that regulates thoughts and behaviors, and is most in touch with the demands of the world. -operates on the reality principle: the capacity to accommodate external demands by postponing gratification until the appropriate time or circumstances exist. 3. Superego: the partly conscious, self-evaluative, moralistic component of personality that is formed thought the internalization of parental and societal rules. -represents your conscience -can be punitive, imposing feelings of guilt, shame, etc. -largely unconscious distortions of thoughts or perceptions that act to reduce anxiety -anxiety results when the demands of the id or the superego threaten to overwhelm the ego -resorting to these, the ego can maintain an integrated sense of self while searching for a more acceptable & realistic solution to a conflict b/t the id & superego 1. repression: the unconscious exclusion of anxiety-provoking thoughts, feelings,, and memories from conscious awareness, the most fundamental ego defense mechanism -"unconscious forgetting" -can resurface 2. displacement: involves unconsciously shifting the target of an emotional urge to a substitute target that is less threatening or dangerous. 3. sublimation: involves redirecting sexual urge towards productive, socially acceptable, nonsexual activities; a form of displacement *see other defense mechanisms pg 449 Freud's 5 Psychosexual Stages of Development 1. oral (birth to age 1): mouth is primary focus of pleasurable sensations, which the infant achieves via feeding & exploring objects with mouth 2. anal (ages 1 to 3): anus is primary focus of pleasurable sensations, which the young child derives through developing control over elimination via toilet training. 3. phallic (ages
3 to 8): genitals are primary focus of pleasurable sensations, which the child derives thought sexual curiosity, masturbation, and sexual attraction to the opposite-sex parent. 4. latency (ages 7 to 11): sexual impulses become repressed and dormant as the child develops same-sex friendships, and focuses on school, sports, and other activities. 5. genital (adolescence): as the adolescent reaches physical sexual maturity, the genitals become the primary focus of pleasurable
sensations, which the person seeks to satisfy in heterosexual relationships. -a child's unconscious sexual desire for the opposite-sex parent, usually accompanied by hostile feelings toward the same-sex parent -during phallic stage -to resolve this, the child resorts to identification: an ego self defense mechanism that involves reducing anxiety by imitating the behavior and characteristics of another person (i.e.: the same-sex parent) *castration anxiety and penis envy -kept the key foundations that Freud had established but offered new explanations for personality processes -disagreed with Freud on 3 points: 1. took issue with Freud's belief that behavior was primarily motivated by sexual urges 2. disagreed with Freud's contention that personality is fundamentally determined by early childhood experiences (instead believed personality can also be influenced by experiences through the lifetime) 3. departed fro Freud's generally pessimistic view of human nature and society -believed that the deepest part of the individual psyche is the collective unconscious: the hypothesized part of the unconscious mind that is inherited from previous generations and that contains universally shared ancestral experiences and ideas. -contained in the collective unconscious are the archetypes: the inherited mental images of universal human instincts, themes, and preoccupations that are in the main components of the collective unconscious ex: hero, powerful father, the witch, the nurturing mother, the wise old man, the innocent child, and death and rebirth - anima and animus (feminine & masculine qualities) -was the first to describe two basic personality types: introverts and extroverts -also emphasized the drive toward psychological growth and self-realization -stressed importance of cultural & social factors in personality development -importance of social relationships, especially the parent-child relationship -believed disturbances in human relationships, not sexual conflicts, were the cause of psychological problems -such problems arise from the attempt to deal with basic anxiety: "the feeling a child has of being isolated and helpless in a potentially hostile world" -described 3 patterns of behavior that the individual uses to defend against basic anxiety: moving toward, against, or away from other people (should be a healthy balance) -argued womb envy rather than penis envy -believed that the most fundamental human motive is striving for superiority: the desire to improve oneself, master challenges, and move toward self-perfection and self-realization -arises from feelings of inferiority that are experienced during infancy & childhood, when the child is helpless and dependent on others -motivated people to compensate for their real or imagined weaknesses - inferiority vs. superiority complex Three main problems with the Psychoanalytic Perspective on Personality 1. Inadequacy of evidence 2. Lack of testability 3. Sexism The Humanistic Perspective on Personality -the theoretical viewpoint on personality that generally emphasizes the inherent goodness of people, human potential, self-actualization, the self-concept, and healthy personality development -Carl Rogers & Abraham Maslow -Rogers believed the most basic human motive is the actualizing tendency: the innate drive to maintain and enhance the human organism. -Rogers viewed self-concept (the set of perceptions and beliefs that you hold about yourself) as the most important aspect of personality --maintained that most parents provide their children with conditional positive regard: the sense that you will be valued and loved only if you behave in a way that is acceptable to others; conditional love or acceptance -believed that feelings become denied or distorted not because they are threatening (like Freud said) but because they contradict the self-concept.-- state of incongruence -incongruence can be avoided with unconditional positive regard: the sense that you will be valued and loved even if you don't conform to the standards and expectations of others -the fully-functioning person has a flexible, constantly evolving self-concept...realistic, open to new experiences, and capable of changing in response to new experiences Problems with the Humanistic Perspective on Personality 1. hard to validate and test scientifically 2. view of human nature is seen as too optimistic Freud versus Rogers on Human Nature -In Freud's view, the essence of human nature is destructive & aggressive -Rogers believed that people are more accurately described as "positive, forward-moving, constructive, realistic, trustworthy" -saw cultural factors as the major cause of evil behaviors The Social Cognitive Perspective on Personality -According to the social cognitive perspective, people actively process information from their social experiences which influences their goals, expectations, beliefs, and behavior, as well as the specific environments they choose. -relies heavily on experimental findings -emphasizes conscious, self-regulated behavior rather than unconscious mental influences and instinctual drives -emphasizes that our sense of self can vary, depending on our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in a given situation (English vs algebra class example) *self-regulation of behavior Albert Bandura and the Social Cognitive Theory -social cognitive theory: emphasizes the importance of observational learning, conscious cognitive processes, social experiences, self-efficacy beliefs, and reciprocal determinism. - reciprocal determinism: model that explains human functioning and personality as caused by the interaction of behavioral, cognitive, and environmental factors -collectively, a person's cognitive skills, abilities, and attitudes represent the person's
self-system, which is greatly influenced by beliefs of self efficacy: the beliefs that people have about their ability to meet the demands of a specific situations; feelings of self-confidence Problems with the Social Cognitive Perspective on Personality 1. Some psychologists feel that the social cognitive approach applies best to laboratory research (real life is far more complex) 2. Ignores unconscious influences, emotions, or conflicts, lacks the richness of the psychoanalytic and humanistic theories, which strive to describe the whole person, including the unconscious, irrational, and emotional aspects of personality. Freud versus Bandura on Human Aggression -In Freud's eyes, aggressive instincts were part of the irrational, impulsive, and unconscious id. -Bandura emphasized that behavior is driven by conscious goals and motives The Trait Perspective on Personality -the psychoanalytic, humanistic, and social cognitive theories emphasize the similarities among people -the trait approach to personality focuses primarily on describing individual differences -trait: a relatively stable, enduring predisposition to consistently behave in a certain way. -trait theory: a theory of personality that focuses on identifying, describing, and measuring individual differences in behavioral dispositions. -surface traits: personality characteristics or attributes that can easily be inferred from observable behavior -source traits: the most fundamental dimensions of personality; the broad, basic traits that are hypothesized to be universal and relatively few in number. Two Representative Trait Theories -Raymond Cattell: developed a list of 16 key personality factors that he believed represent the essential source traits of human personality. - Hans Eysenck: three dimensional trait theory which included introversion-extraversion, neuroticism- emotional stability, and psychoticism (added later) -by combining the first two dimensions, Hans believed people could be classified into four basic personality types Five-Factor Model of Personality -a trait theory of personality that identifies extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience at the fundamental building blocks of personality. pg 467 -traits are generally stable over time and across situations, although situations do influence how and whether traits are expressed The Neuroscience of Personality: Brain Structure and the Big Five -Some studies have identified distinct patterns of brain activity associated with different personality traits (ex: people high in extraversion showed higher levels of brain activation in response to positive images) -extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness showed differences in brain structure (increased volume) in certain areas of the brain -less clear correlations with neuroticism and openness to experience -while these findings suggest that there are biological influences on personality, researchers today are aware that both brain differences and personality traits are shaped by the complex interaction of environmental, genetic, and biological influences. -an interdisciplinary field that studies the effects of genes and heredity on behavior -basic research strategy is to compare the degree of trait difference among subjects to their degree of genetic relatedness. -evidence gathered from twin studies and adoption studies shows that certain personality traits are substantially influenced by genetics, particularly strong for extraversion and neuroticism -other Big Five traits are also influenced, but to a lesser extent Explaining Those Amazing Identical-Twin Similarities -Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart -Despite having been separated for most of their lives, many twins had similar personality traits, occupations, hobbies, and habits Problems with the Trait Perspective on Personality 1. Doesn't really explain human personality (just labels general dispositions) 2. Doesn't attempt to explain why or how individual differences develop 3. Generally fails to address other important personality issues *Review all 4 personality perspectives on pg. 471 -psychological tests: a test that assesses a person's abilities, aptitudes, interests, or personality on the basis of a systematically obtained sample of behavior -useful if it achieves two basic goals: 1. It accurately and consistently reflects a person's characteristics on some dimension. 2. It predicts a person's future psychological functioning or behavior -projective test: a type of personality test that involves a person's interpreting an ambiguous image; used to assess unconscious motives, conflicts, psychological defenses, and personality traits. - Rorschach Inkblot Test: a projective test using inkblots, developed by Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach in 1921. - Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): a projective personality test, developed by Henry Murray and colleagues, that involves creating stores about ambiguous scenes. -these are mainly used in counseling and therapy - problems: 1. testing situation or examiner's behavior can influence a person's responses 2. the scoring is highly subjective 3. often fail to produce consistent results 4. poor at predicting future behavior -a type of psychological test in which a person's responses to a standardized questions are compared to established norms. - Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory MMPI): assesses
personality characteristics and psychological disorders; used to assess both normal and disturbed populations (consists of over 500 true-false-or cannot say statements) -widely used for candidates for such occupations as police officers, doctors, nurses, and professional pilots - California Psychological Inventory (CPI): assesses personality characteristics in normal populations (over 400 true-false items) -used to predict such things as high school and college grades, delinquency, and
job performance ' - Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF): developed by Raymond Cattell, generates a personality profile with ratings on 16 trait dimensions. -widely used for career counseling, marital counseling, and evaluating employees and executives - Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI): designed to assess personality types rather than measure personality traits -four basic categories of preference: extraversion/introversion, sensing/intuition, thinking/feeling, and
perceiving/judging. -has problems of reliability and validity -a psuedoscience that claims to assess personality, social, and occupational attributes based on a person's distinctive handwriting, doodles, and drawing style -very popular in North America and Europe -the aspect of the self-concept that includes images of the selves that you hope, fear, or expect to become in the future |
What perspective on personality emphasizes that personality is primarily unconscious?
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