Theories of personality

Personality
Characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and acting.
Four major perspectives on Personality

Psychoanalytic - unconscious motivations Trait - specific dimensions of personality Humanistic - inner capacity for growth Social-Cognitive - influence of environment

MAJOR THEORIES OF PERSONALITY TYPE

Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality

Dr Sigmund Freud 1856-1939

Oldest of eight children Married, with 3 girls and 3 boys Physician-Biologist Scientific oriented and Pathology oriented theory Jewish-anti-religion-All religion an illusion used to cope with feelings of infantile helplessness In Vienna Austria 78 years till 1938 Based theory on personal experiences Died of cancer of jaw & mouth lifelong cigar chain-smoker

In Freuds perspective
Behavior is determined by
Irrational forces Unconscious motivations Biological and instinctual drives as they evolve through the six psychosexual stages of life

Psychoanalytic Perspective
first comprehensive theory of personality
Q: What caused neurological symptoms in patients with no neurological problems?

Hypnosis

Unconscious
Free Association

Psychoanalysis

The Unconscious
the mind is like an iceburg - mostly hidden Conscious Awareness small part above surface (Preconscious) Unconscious below the surface (thoughts, feelings, wishes, memories)

Repression

banishing unacceptable thoughts & passions to unconscious Dreams & Slips

Conscious Contact with outside world

Preconscious Material just beneath surface of awareness Unconscious Well below surface of awareness; difficult to retrieve

Ego Reality principle Secondary process thinking

Superego Moral imperatives Ideals

Id Pleasure principle Primary process thinking

Freud & Personality Structure

Id

- energy constantly striving to satisfy basic drives Pleasure Principle

Ego

- seeks to gratify the Id in realistic ways Reality Principle

Super Ego Super Ego

Ego

Id

- voice of conscience that focuses on how we ought to behave

Life and death instincts

Primary process thinking Libido

Reality principle

Ego Ideal

Id
Sexual, aggressive urges Pleasure principle The selfish beast

Ego

Superego
The conscience

The executive

Freudian Theory
s Levels of consciousness
Conscious
What were aware of

s Structures of Personality
Id
Operates according to the pleasure principle

Preconscious

Memories etc. that can Ego be recalled Operates according to the reality principle Unconscious Superego Wishes, feelings, impulses that lies Contains values and beyond awareness ideals

Freud: Psychosexual Theory

Fixation stuck in one stage Five stages of developmental theory:

Oral stage (birth to 1 year)

Erogenous zones Oral dependent oral personality oral aggressive personality

Anal stage (1 to 3 years)

Anal retentive personality Anal expulsive personality

Freud: Psychosexual Theory

Phallic stage (3 to 6 years)
Oedipus complex Castration anxiety Electra complex Phallic personality

Latency stage (6 to 11 years) Genital stage (11 years on)

Defense Mechanisms
Ego
When the inner war gets out of hand, the result is Anxiety

Id

Ego protects itself via Defense Mechanisms

Defense Mechanisms reduce/redirect anxiety by distorting reality

Super Ego

 Repression - banishes certain thoughts/feelings from consciousness (underlies all other defense mechanisms) Regression - retreating to earlier stage of fixated development Reaction Formation - ego makes unacceptable impulses appear as their opposites Projection - attributes threatening impulses to others Rationalization - generate self-justifying explanations to hide the real reasons for our actions Displacement - divert impulses toward a more acceptable object Sublimation - transform unacceptable impulse into something socially valued

Defense Mechanisms

The Unconscious & Assessment

How can we assess personality? (i.e., the unconscious)

Objective Tests? No - tap the conscious

Projective Tests? Yes - tap the unconscious

Thematic Apperceptions Test (TAT) Rorschach Inkblot Test

Assessing the Unconscious

Projective Tests
used to assess personality (e.g., Rorschach or TAT tests) How? provides ambiguous stimuli and subject projects his or her motives into the ambiguous stimuli

Assessing the Unconscious -Rorschach

Rorschach Inkblot Test
the most widely used projective test a set of 10 inkblots designed by Hermann Rorschach
Rorschach

Assessing the Unconscious-Rorschach

used to identify peoples inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the

blots

Assessing the Unconscious-TAT

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) people express their inner motives through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes

Evaluating the Psychoanalytic Perspective

Were Freuds theories the best of his time or were they simply incorrect? Current research contradicts many of Freuds specific ideas

Development does not stop in childhood

Dreams may not be unconscious drives and wishes

Freuds Ideas as Scientific Theory

Theories must explain observations and offer testable hypotheses Few Objective Observations Few Hypotheses

(Freuds theories based on his recollections & interpretations of patients free associations, dreams & slips o the tongue)

Does Not PREDICT Behavior or Traits

Psychoanalytic Neo-Freudian
s Carl Jung
A collective unconscious is represented by universal archetypes Two forms of unconscious mind
Personal unconscious: unique for each person Collective unconscious: consists of primitive images and ideas that are universal for humans

Trait Perspective
No hidden personality dynamics just basic personality dimensions

Traits - peoples characteristic behaviors & conscious motives

Personality Traits
Traits are relatively stable and consistent personal characteristics Trait personality theories suggest that a person can be described on the basis of some number of personality traits
Allport identified some 4,500 traits

A trait is what we call a characteristic way in which an individual perceives, feels, believes, or acts. When we casually describe someone, we are likely to use trait terms: I am, for example, somewhat of an introvert, a pretty nervous person, strongly attached to my family, frequently depressed, and awesomely intelligent. I have a good sense of humor, fond of languages, very fond of good food, not at all fond of exercise, and a little obsessive. You see: I have just given you ten traits that actually go a long way towards describing me! These inborn, genetically determined traits are usually called temperaments.

The First Trait Theory

Moody Anxious Rigid Sober Pessimistic Reserved Unsociable Quiet

UNSTABLE

Touchy Restless Aggressive Excitable Changeable Impulsive Optimistic Active melancholic choleric

Two Factor Trait Theory of Personality

INTROVERTED

EXTRAVERTED

phlegmatic sanguine Passive Sociable Careful Outgoing Thoughtful Talkative Peaceful Responsive Controlled Easygoing Reliable Lively Carefree Even-tempered Leadership Calm

STABLE

The Big Five

Emotional Stability

Calm/Anxious Secure/Insecure Sociable/Retiring Fun Loving/Sober

Extraversion

Openness

Imaginative/Practical Independent/Conforming
Soft-Hearted/Ruthless Trusting/Suspicious Organized/Disorganized Careful/Careless

Agreeableness

Conscientiousness

The Humanistic Perspective

Maslows Self-Actualizing Person Rogers Person-Centered Perspective

Healthy rather than Sick Individual as greater than the sum of test scores

Humanistic Theory
Humanistic personality theories reject psychoanalytic notions
Humanistic theories view each person as basically good and that people are striving for self-fulfillment Humanistic theory argues that people carry a perception of themselves and of the world The goal for a humanist is to develop/promote a positive self-concept

Carl Rogers
We have needs for:
Self-consistency (absence of conflict between selfperceptions Congruence (consistency between self-perceptions and experience)

Inconsistency evokes anxiety and threat People with low self-esteem generally have poor congruence between their self-concepts and life experiences.

Rogers Person-Centered Perspective

People are basically good with actualizing tendencies.

Given the right environmental conditions, we will develop to our full potentials

Genuineness, Acceptance, Empathy

Self Concept - central feature of personality (+ or -)

Humanistic Perspectives- Abraham Maslow

Abraham Maslow emphasized the basic goodness of human nature and a natural tendency toward selfactualization.

Social-Cognitive Perspective
Behavior learned through conditioning & observation

What we think about our situation affects our behavior

Interaction of Environment & Intellect

Reciprocal Determinism
Personal/ Cognitive Factors

Environment Factors
Internal World + External World = Us

Behavior

Social/Cognitive Perspective
Proposed that each person has a unique personality because of our personal histories and interpretations shape our personalities Albert Bandura Julian Rotters.