The Individual & Society

1. The Individual & Society Personality

2. Today • What is personality? • What are some approaches to the study of personality?

3. Personality • Personality: Total organization of the inherited and acquired characteristics of an individual as evidenced in the individual’s behavior • Examples of personality traits: moody, impulsive, friendly, helpful, etc.

4. Some Approaches to the Study of Personality • Psychodynamic • Behavioralism • Humanism

5. Psychodynamics • Emerged with the work of Sigmund Freud • Emphasizes unconscious motives and desires, childhood experiences in shaping personality

6. Example: Sigmund Freud • Personality has three components: Id, Ego, Superego • Defense mechanisms help individuals manage conflict between above and reduce anxiety • Children pass through several stages of psychosexual development that influence personality

7. Example: Sigmund Freud

8. Example: Sigmund Freud

9. Critiques of Psychodynamic Approach • Not falsifiable and therefore unscientific • Based on generalizations made from a small number of patients (usually unhealthy) to the whole human population • Not based on studies that follow people from childhood to adulthood – conclusions about influence of childhood experience based on adult’s unreliable memories

10. Behaviorism • Emerged in the 1910s, led by John B. Watson • Focuses on actions, not thoughts, which can be observed • Unlike psychodynamic theorists, behaviorists study only observable behavior • Major theorists: BF Skinner, Albert Bandura, and Walter Mischel

11. Example: BF Skinner • Strongly emphasized role of society on the individual • Personalities shaped by operant conditioning: altering habits by behaviors or operants that themselves have an observable effect on the environment • Positive and negative reinforcement and punishment • Worked with lab animals like rats and rabbits to test ideas

12. Example: BF Skinner

13. Example: BF Skinner

14. Critiques of the Behavioralist Approach • Usually based on animal studies of behavior and then generalized to apply to human beings • Emphasizes situational influences on personality, so underestimates the importance of underlying personality traits or biological factors

15. Humanistic Psychology • Emerged in the 1950s • Focus on the ability of human beings to think consciously and rationally, to control their biological urges, and to achieve their full potential • People are responsible for their lives and actions and have the freedom and will to change their attitudes and behavior • Major theorists: Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers

16. Example: Abraham Maslow • Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs : Five levels of human achievement each of which must be satisfied before moving up to the next to finally reach “self actualization” • Studied exceptional historical figure, such as Abraham Lincoln and Eleanor Roosevelt whom he thought had exceptionally good mental health. • Identified severalcharacteristics that self-actualizing people share

17. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

18. Critiques of Humanistic Approach • Too naïvely optimistic and fail to provide insight into less pleasant side of human nature • Cannot be easily tested. • Concepts such as that of the self-actualized person are vague and subjective; may reflect Maslow’s own values and ideals • Also biased toward individualistic values