What is personality?

1. What is personality? Specifically how people differ in behavior, feelings, reactions to the environment and to other people

2. Basic questions about personality • How does one measure and describe personality differences • For example– what kind of person do you want to date? • Can personality be measured objectively?

3. Trait Perspective • Take a piece of paper and write down a list of adjectives that describes the personality of someone you know well

4. Contemporary Research-- The Trait Perspective • Trait • a characteristic pattern of behavior • a disposition to feel and act, as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports • Personality Inventory • a questionnaire (often with true-false or agree-disagree items) on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors • used to assess selected personality traits

5. The “Big Five” Personality Factors Trait Dimension Description Emotional Stability Calm versus anxious Secure versus insecure Self-satisfied versus self-pitying Extraversion Sociable versus retiring Fun-loving versus sober Affectionate versus reserved Openness Imaginative versus practical Preference for variety versus preference for routine Independent versus conforming Warmth Soft-hearted versus ruthless Trusting versus suspicious Helpful versus uncooperative Conscientiousness Organized versus disorganized Careful versus careless Disciplined versus impulsive The Trait Perspective

6. The Trait Perspective: Clinical Perspective • Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) • the most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests • originally developed to identify emotional disorders (still considered its most appropriate use) • now used for many other screening purposes

7. Example MMPI Questions • I like mechanics magazines. • I have a good appetite. • I wake up fresh & rested most mornings. • I think I would like the work of a librarian. • I am easily awakened by noise. • I like to read newspaper articles on crime. • My hands & feet are usually warm enough. • My daily life is full of things that keep me interested. • I am about as able to work as I ever was. • There seems to be a lump in my throat most of the time.

8. Clinically significant range 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Hypochondriasis (concern with body symptoms) Depression (pessimism, hopelessness) After treatment (no scores in the clinically significant range) Hysteria (uses symptoms to solve problems) Before treatment (anxious, depressed, and displaying deviant behaviors) Psychopathic deviancy (disregard for social standards) Masculinity/femininity (interests like those of other sex) Paranoia (delusions, suspiciousness) Psychasthenia (anxious, guilt feelings) Schizophrenia (withdrawn, bizarre thoughts) Hypomania (overactive, excited, impulsive) Social introversion (shy, inhibited) 0 30 40 50 60 70 80 T-score The Trait Perspective • Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) test profile

9. Core Theories • Trait Perspective Is a practical approach but it doesn’t explain Personality • There are classic theories about personality • Tend to be older • Not discussed much in current Psychology • But, can be used for both understanding individual and as a basis for therapy

10. Your Theory of Personality • 1. Human behavior results primarily from heredity, what has been genetically transmitted by parents, or from environment, the external circumstances and experiences that shape a person after conception has occurred. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 heredity environment

11. Your Theory of Personality • 2. Personality is relatively unchanging, with each person showing the same behavior throughout a lifetime, or personality is relatively changing, with each person showing different behavior throughout a lifetime. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 unchanging changing

12. Your Theory of Personality • 3. The most important influences on behavior are past events, what has previously occurred to a person, or in contrast, future events, what a person seeks to bring about by striving to meet certain goals. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 past future

13. Your Theory of Personality • 4. People are motivated to cooperate with others mainly because they are self-centered, expecting to receive some personal gain, or mainly because they are altruistic, seeking to work with others only for the benefit of doing things with and for others. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 self-centered altruistic

14. What is Personality? Basic perspectives • Psychoanalytic—Sigmund Freud • Humanistic– Carl Rogers

15. Sigmund Freud • Lived 1856 – 1939 • Was a Physician • Theory based on clinical population • Theory influenced by “Victorian Times”

16. Sigmund and Anna Freud (on right) with friends

17. The Psychoanalytic Perspective • Freud’s theory proposed that childhood sexuality and unconscious motivations influence personality

18. The Psychoanalytic Perspective • Psychoanalysis • Freud’s theory of personality that attributes our thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts • techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions

19. The Psychoanalytic Perspective • First Came up use of hypnosis – influenced by work of Dr. Mesmer • Free Association • in psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious • person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing

20. The Psychoanalytic Perspective • Unconscious • according to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings and memories • contemporary viewpoint- information processing of which we are unaware

21. Ego Conscious mind Unconscious mind Superego Id Personality Structure • Freud’s idea of the mind’s structure

22. Personality Structure • Id • contains a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy • strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives • operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification

23. Personality Structure • Superego • the part of personality that presents internalized ideals • Represents “rules” of society • provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations

24. Id and Superego • Id and Superego are in constant conflict • This cause guilt and anxiety • People need to learn how to cope with this conflict– some do it successfully and others don’t • Conflicts most be resolved by ego

25. Personality Structure • Ego • the largely conscious, “executive” part of personality • mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality • operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id’s desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain

26. Ego Conscious mind Unconscious mind Superego Id Personality Structure • Freud’s idea of the mind’s structure

27. Defense Mechanisms • Defense Mechanisms • the ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality (can be a normal process, but can also lead to disordered behavior) • Repression • the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness (e.g., memories of childhood or past marriage)

28. Defense Mechanisms • Regression • defense mechanism in which an individual faced with anxiety retreats to a more infantile psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated • Example– party behavior?

29. Defense Mechanisms • Reaction Formation • defense mechanism by which the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites • people may express feelings that are the opposite of their anxiety-arousing unconscious feelings (e.g., express a disdain for pornography but really enjoy it) • For example, someone who can’t cope with anxiety becomes very religious, become celibate, etc. • Or opposite, person from strict background becomes promiscuous

30. Defense Mechanisms • Projection • defense mechanism by which people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others • Prejudice against other ethnic groups or ages groups such as teens • Rationalization • defense mechanism that offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one’s actions • I “hit” because she “deserved” it

31. Defense Mechanisms • Displacement • defense mechanism that shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person • as when redirecting anger toward a safer outlet., e.g., football for aggression; art for sexual desire

32. Assessing the Unconscious • Projective Test • a personality test, such as the Rorschach or TAT, that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics • Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) • a projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes

33. Assessing the Unconscious--TAT

34. Assessing the Unconscious • Rorschach Inkblot Test • the most widely used projective test • a set of 10 inkblots designed by Hermann Rorschach • seeks to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots

35. Assessing the Unconscious--Rorschach

36. Personality Development • Psychosexual Stages • the childhood stages of development during which the id’s pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones

37. Freud’s Psychosexual Stages Stage Focus Oral Pleasure centers on the mouth-- (0-18 months) sucking, biting, chewing Anal Pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder (18-36 months) elimination; coping with demands for control Phallic Pleasure zone is the genitals; coping with (3-6 years) incestuous sexual feelings Latency Dormant sexual feelings (6 to puberty) Genital Maturation of sexual interests (puberty on) Personality Development

38. Personality Development • Identification • the process by which children incorporate their parents’ values into their developing superegos • The reason our culture placed so much emphasis on traditional families • Fixation • a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, where conflicts were unresolved

39. Humanistic Perspective • Self-Actualization • the ultimate psychological need that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved • the motivation to fulfill one’s potential

40. Humanistic Perspective– Self Actualization Theories • Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) • studied self-actualization processes of productive and healthy people (e.g., Lincoln)

41. Carl Rogers • Everyone has a self concept and an ideal self • Goal is to actualize or become ideal self • Requires realistic idea of self • Requires realistic ideal self • Requires Positive Self Regard

42. Heredity Nature Nurture 1---------------------------------------------------7 Freud Rogers, Skinner

43. Personality Change Constant Changing 1----------------------------------------------------7 Freud Skinner Rogers

44. Influence of Past Past is Critical Focus on Future 1---------------------------------------------------7 Freud Skinner Rogers

45. Selfishness Selfish Altruistic 1----------------------------------------------------7 Freud Skinner Rogers