Personality Psychology

1. Personality Psychology Unit 6

2. Personality • A hotly debated topic! • Back to Nature vs Nurture Debate again 

3. Psychoanalytic Theories • Psychoanalytic Theories study development in terms of drives and urges. • At each stage in life we have different urges and are driven toward different goals. • These changing urges lead to development.

4. Psychoanalytic Theories • Sigmund Freud: The founder/father of psychoanalytic therapy. • Believed development occurred as a result of psychosexual changes. • Based his theory of personality on inhibited sexual drives. • Humans are motivated by eros (the instinct of life) and thanatos (the instinct of death).

5. Psychoanalytic Theories • Freud’s Theory of Consciousness: • Conscious: We are aware of these thoughts at any time.

6. Psychoanalytic Theories • Freud’s Theory of Consciousness: • Preconscious: Things that we can recall at will, but are not continually thought of.

7. Psychoanalytic Theories • Freud’s Theory of Consciousness: • Unconscious: Thoughts and feelings that cannot be intentionally remembered.

8. Psychoanalytic Theories • Freud’s Theory of Personality: • Id: Unconscious portion of the mind that contains biological drives.

9. Psychoanalytic Theories • Freud’s Theory of Personality: • Superego: The preconscious area of the mind that contributes to feelings of extreme guilt for fr wrong-doing. This is the area where MORALS are stored!

10. Psychoanalytic Theories • Freud’s Theory of Personality: • Ego: The conscious area of the mind that is aware of reality and helps to express sexual and aggressive urges in socially acceptable ways. • The Ego is the balance between the Id and the Superego.

11. Psychoanalytic Theories • Freud’s Theory of Psychosexual Development: Personality develops based on changes in the libido (sexual energy) and fixation on erogenous zones. • 5 stages of Psychosexual Development • Personality is determined by the first 3 stages and is fixed by the age of 5

12. Stages of Psychosexual Development

13. Psychoanalytic Theories • Oedipal Complex: The belief that little boys resent the relationship that their fathers have with their mothers, and as a result, harbor a latent desire to murder their fathers and marry/engage in sexual relations with their mothers. • Electra Complex: The belief that little girls resent the relationship that their mothers have with their fathers, and as a result, harbor a latent desire to rebel against their mothers and marry their fathers (or someone eerily similar!)

14. Psychoanalytic Theories • Defense Mechanisms: Strategies the psyche uses to protect itself from situations or events that may be traumatic.

15. Anxiety and the Mechanisms of Defense Repression • Unconscious • Motivated • Forgetting The process of preventing unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or urges from reaching conscious awareness

16. Anxiety and the Mechanisms of Defense Denial • Unconscious • Motivated • Not Perceiving Perceptual Defense Research

17. Anxiety and the Mechanisms of Defense Rationalization • Unconscious • Motivated • Not Perceiving Perceptual Defense Research

18. Anxiety and the Mechanisms of Defense Other Defense Mechanisms • Reaction Formation • Act opposite of impulse • Projection • Make impulse external

19. Anxiety and the Mechanisms of Defense Other Defense Mechanisms Displacement Channel impulse to non-threatening target Sublimation Channel impulse into socially desired activity

20. Anxiety and the Mechanisms of Defense Defense Mechanisms in Everyday Life • Useful in coping with unexpected or disappointing events • Can also make circumstances worse

21. Psychoanalytic Theories

22. Psychoanalytic Theories • Freud is widely accepted as a noted theorist, even today. However… • Criticisms: • Lack of scientific research • Subjects Freud observed were often greatly disturbed • First 2 stages of psychosexual development theory still unsupported using studies of children with normal development

23. Neo-Freudians • Consider parts of Freud's theory valid • Modified other aspects • Karen Horney: Postulated that Freud exaggerated the role of sex drive in human behavior • Misunderstood sexual motivation of women • Conflict between parents and child due to parental hostility and intimidation instead of sexual desires manifested

24. Carl Jung • Swiss Physician • More emphasis on search for life and spiritual meaning continuity of past and present human experiences • Conscious Mind • A Personal Unconscious- Freud's unconscious • Collective Unconscious - Present at birth • Represents cumulative experience of previous generations • Archetypes- Images inherited from the experience of ancestors is contained in collective unconscious

25. Alfred Adler • Austrian Physician • Founded school of thought known as individual psychology • Individual Psychology- Indivisible Psychology • Psychology of the whole person- not id, ego, super ego • Conscious goal-directed behavior I • Inferiority Complex- exaggerated feeling of failure and helplessness • Striving for Superiority- Personal Excellence and fulfillment • Social Concern and interest for others

26. Learning Approach • Personality is a result of learning in various situations • Specific Behaviors • Specific Experiences • Some Experiences are a person’s own and some are imitated

27. Humanistic Psychology • 1950’s • Protest against Behaviorism and Psychoanalysis • Not based on determinism or reductionism like behaviorism and Psychoanalysis • Deals with consciousness, values, and abstract beliefs that include spiritual experiences • Personality depends how individual perceive the world and on what they believe

28. Carl Rogers and Self-Actualization • American • Most influential Psychologists • Human Nature –Basically Good • Natural Drive toward self-actualization • Self concept and image of what they are • Ideal Self • Unconditional Positive Regard: Unqualified acceptance for another person just as they are

29. Abraham Maslow • Hierarchy of needs must be met before proceeding top next level • Final Stage –Self Actualization • Accurate perceptions of reality • Showed independence • Creativity and spontaneity • Accepted themselves and others • Enjoyed Life • Good sense of humor

30. Personality Traits and States • Individual Personalities differ in two ways • 1. Nomothetic: Researchers seek generalities • Personalities affect behavior • Based on statistical comparisons of large groups • 2. Idiographic: Focus on intensive studies of individuals • Life goals affect moods and their reactions to various events • Conclusions that apply to more than one person • Not meant to generalize the whole population

31. Personality Traits and States • Trait: Long lasting behavioral tendency • Shyness is trait • State: Temporary expression of behavior • Stage fright is a state • Traits and States are behavioral descriptions • They don’t provide explanations of behavior

32. Personality Traits and States • The Trait Approach • Consistent Personality Characteristics • Honesty, Friendliness, and Nervousness • Studied and measured • Internal Locus of Control: Internal forces credited for success • External Locus of Control: External forces blamed for failure

33. Personality Traits and States • Gordon Alport: ”Trait Psychologist” • Said there are 4,500 trait-like words • 3 Central Trait Components: • Cardinal Trait: Dominates and shapes a person’s behavior • Central Trait: General Characteristic found in some degree in every person • Basic Building blocks that shape most of our behavior –not as overwhelming as cardinal traits ex: honesty • Secondary Trait: Particular likes or dislikes that a very close friend may know

34. Personality Traits and States • Raymond B Cattell • 35 personality traits • The Big Five • 1. Neuroticism: Tendency to experience unpleasant emotions • 2. Extraversion: Seeks simulation and enjoys company of others people • 3.Agreeableness: Compassionate toward others • 4.Conscientiousness: Shows self discipline • 5.Openess: Tendency to enjoy new intellectual experiences: open to new ideas, people and exploring new ideas • Hardest to observe!

35. Personality Traits and States • Raymond B Cattell’s The Big 5 Personality Traits

36. Criticism of the Big Five • The Big Five cite 9 overlooked personality traits that don’t emerge as clusters • 1.Religiousness • 2. Manipulativeness • 3. Honesty • 4. Sexiness • 5. Thriftiness • 6. Conservatives • 7. Masculinity and Femininity • 8. snobbishness • 9. Sense of Humor

37. Criticism of the Big Five • Hans Eysenck: • German Behaviorist • Personality differences grow out of our genetic inheritance • Primarily interested in “temperament” Suggested three biologically based categories of temperament • 1. Neuroticism or it’s opposite, stability • 2. Extraversion or introversion • 3. Agreeableness, or opposite—hostility

38. Origins of Personality • Studies of twins and adopted children • Heredity does contribute to some observable differences in personality • Family environment contributes a little • Special Experiences could contribute to a variation in personalities from one person to another even in a family

39. Assessing Traits: An Example • Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) • The most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests • Developed to identify emotional disorders

40. MMPI: Examples • “Nothing in the newspaper interests me except the comics.” • “I get angry sometimes.”

41. Personaility Assesment • MMPI-1940’s • Series of true and false questions • Measure personality dimensions • Depression • Paranoia and Schizophrenia • MMPI-550 items • MMPI-2 567 items • Both exams contain certain test questions identify dishonest answers • Both tests are widely used to measure personality don’t provide as much accuracy as one might expect • Very useful in correlating personality traits with others traits, in testing theories of personality development, and in assessing a client before beginning therapy

42. Personaility Assesment • 16PF-Test • Standardized test • Personality Factors: Schizophrenia,, Depression, Alcoholism • Measured 16 factors or personality traits various aspects of normal personality • Ego • Strength • Dominance • Trust • Intelligence • Self-sufficency • Printed out as a personality profile • Should be cautiously used with people from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds

43. Personaility Assesment • MMPI and 16-PF • Easy to score • Calculate • Objective nature limits the test takers responses • Projective techniques • Helps people reveal themselves more fully than they would to a stranger or even to themselves

44. Personaility Assesment • Rorschach Inkblot Test • Projective test • Herman Rorschach: Swiss Psychiatrists • Interpretations of Ambiguous Inkblot • Everything revealed in a poorly defined situation gives clues to your personality • Valuable personal information

45. Personaility Assesment • Rorschach Inkblot Test

46. Personaility Assesment • Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) • Test Taker makes up a story for each picture, describe what is occurring, what events led up to the scene, what will occur in the future • TAT-Clinical setting, induce clients to discuss their problems and for research purposes • More accurate in assessing what a person has done rather than what he or she will do in the future

47. Personaility Assesment • Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

48. Uses and Misuses of Personality Tests • Aid in assessing personality • Results interpreted cautiously • Job selection • Results valid for employment screening

49. Personality Tests Review Test MMPI Purpose: T or F questions intended to measure different personality dimensions: depression, paranoia, and schizophrenia Usefulness: Helps correlate personality traits with other traits. Helps to test theories of personality development. Helps to assess a client before beginning therapy Weaknesses: Not very accurate

50. Personality Tests Review Test 16-PF Test Purpose: Measures various aspects of normal personality. Test measures 16 factors or personality traits Usefulness: Helps clinicians ID abnormalities such as schizophrenia, alcoholism and depression Weaknesses: Has to be used with caution on people of different cultural backgrounds