Unit X Personality

1. Unit XPersonality What role does the unconscious play in personality development?

2. Personality • An individual’s way of thinking, feeling, and acting…explains what makes us unique • The two foremost theories on personality come from Freud's psychoanalytic and Maslow and Rodgers humanistic approach • Sigmund Freud first to focus clinical attention on the unconscious mind • Goal determine if neurological issues had a psychological cause • By observing patients he was able to “discover” the unconscious mind, where he believed most neurological issues began

4. Parts of the mind • Conscious • Preconscious Below the level of immediate awareness, but can be recalled • Unconscious Contains repressed information that we are unaware of • Free association was used to explore the unconscious • Patients talk about whatever comes to mind • “How does that make you feel” • Freud believed we often repressedinformation and nothing was accidental • This theory was known as Psychoanalysis

5. Exploring the Unconscious • Personality arises from a conflict between impulse and restraint, and it develops from this solution • Freud proposed three interacting systems • Id Devil • Strives to satisfy basic needs, and operates on the pleasure principleseeking immediate gratification-Freudian Slips • Ego You • Seeks to gratify impulses realistically(long-term pleasure) • Superego Angel • The voice of our moral principle(achieve the ideal scenario) • Often is in conflict with the Id

7. Psychosexual stages • Freud believed that personality/development formed during childhood, where the id focused solely on pleasure seeking behavior • Each stage represents a fixation on different areas of the body • Each stage is associated with a particular conflict that must be resolved • Stages Conflict • Oral weaning • Anal toilet training • Phallic sexual feelings • Latency none • Genital mating

8. How did Freud believe development occurred?

9. Exploring the Unconscious • During the phallic stage Freud believed the Oedipus Complex developed • A boys sexual desire for his mother/hatred for his father • This idea is eventually repressed/replaced with a child’s identification, or the mirroring of traits • Freud believed that the ego protected itself with defense mechanisms- tactics used to distort reality

12. Assessing Unconscious • Personality assessment tools, useful to study personality or provide therapy • Projective Test Goal is a “psychological X-ray” • Provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger internal projections • Rorschach Inkblot Test(Most widely used test) • Set of 10 inkblots, seeks to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots • Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) • A projective test in which people express their feelings through stories they make up

13. How did Freud change the understanding of personality development?

14. Evaluating Freud • Today psychologists give Freud credit for drawing attention to the unconscious, and the sexual conflict between biology and environment • Freud's concept of repression, and views of the unconscious have not been able to survive science • Freud most offered after-the-fact explanations with little to no scientific backing • Ideas have been mostly disproved/ignored but are crucial to understand as part of psychological history

15. Neo-Freudian Theorist • Though controversial Freud's writing attracted a small following known as Neo-Freudians • Accepted his thoughts on personality structure/the importance of the unconscious • Placed a greater emphasis on the conscious mind, doubted sex and aggression were the only motivators • Alfred Adler’s inferiority complex • Karen Horney’s sense of helplessness • Jung’s collective unconscious A shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species history

16. The Modern Unconscious • Freud was correct in thinking we only have access to some of our mind • The modern unconscious mind • Our lives are often guided by and off-screen, out of sight unconscious information processing center • Freud’s ideas failed to predict events, and often used after the fact explanations

18. Humanistic Theories Prior to 1960 psychology was divided into 2 camps, behaviorists and psychoanalyst, humanistic psychologist were like a breathe of fresh air.

19. Abraham Maslow • Humanistic Theories  focused on the ways people strive for self-determination/self-realization • Study people through their self reported experiences/feelings • Led by Maslow and Carl Rogers • Opposed Freud's view that the motives of people were “sick” • Abraham Maslowmotivated by a hierarchy of needs • Goal self-actualization/self-transcendence

20. Carl Rogers • Roger’s agreed with much of what Maslow said, and believed in the good of people • Carl Rogers developed Person-Centered Therapy which emphasized a “growth promoting climate” • Genuineness openness with feelings • Unconditional positive regard therapists must be empathetic and non-judgmental • Empathy sharing/mirroring of feelings

21. Assessing the Self • Maslow and Roger’s viewed self-concept as a central feature of personality • Positive self-concept = positive outlook on the world • Idealversusactual self • When the ideal self and the actual self match is when someone's self concept is positive • Many humanist reject formal testsbecause it depersonalizes, prefer interviews/conversations

22. Evaluating Humanism • Renewed interest in self-concept • 9 out of 10 individuals rate self-esteem as very important for motivating themselves and others • Criticisms • Vague, subjective, and often only Maslow and Roger’s values and ideas • Individualistic and Western biased

23. Trait Perspective:How has modern trait theory changed? Psychoanalysis dives to deep where as behaviorism and humanism does not dive deep enough

24. Traits • Instead of focusing on the unconscious or how we grow emotionally, some began to try and define personality in terms of a stable pattern of behavior • Trait Theory- Gordon Allport • Worried less on explaining and more on describing traits • Defined personality in terms of behavior patterns • Focus more on differences between individuals • Must understand motivation before the subconscious • Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) • An introspective self-report “test” • Goal indicating differing psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions

25. Exploring Traits • By placing different traits to individuals psychologists can describe different personality variations • Allport believed there 18,000 different traits • Factor Analysis A technique used to limit overlap, by findingmajor trends in large amounts of data • Believed most traits fall under 2-3 categories, Eysenck Personality Questionnaire • Extroversion versus introversion • Emotional stability versus instability

26. Assessing Traits • Personality inventory • A questionnaire (often true-false) which people respond to, designed to gauge a wide range of feelings/behaviors • Used to assess selected personality traits • Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)- classic personality inventory • Originally used to determine mental disorders • MMPI-2 567 questions-60-90 minutes(used in job screening)

27. The BigFive Factors • Todays trait research believed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire do not truly tell the whole story • Created an expanded set of factors…the Big Five • Conscientiousness Thought vs Impulsivity • Agreeableness Considerate vs Selfishness • Neuroticism Emotional stability vs instability • Openness to experience Opened vs closed thinking • Extraversion Energy level

28. Questions on The Big Five • How stable are the traits? As you get older these traits remain relatively the same, some strengthen • How heritable are the traits? About 50% • Do the traits predict our actual behavior? Somewhat…for example introverts are more likely to prefer communicating by email than in-person

29. Person-situation controversy • Although our traits may be stable, the consistency of our behavior is different • Group behavior is easier to predict than individual • Individuals behavior situation is extremely difficult to predict

30. Social-Cognitive Perspective How does your environment impact your personality?

31. Social-cognitive perspective- • Albert Bandura Bobo Doll Aggression Study • Social-behavioral approach • We learn most of our behavior through observation situation affects our behavior • Behaviorists focus on how we interact with our environment

32. Reciprocal Determinism • Personality is shaped by the interacting of behavior, internal personal factor, and environment • If a person is shy(int. factor), and enters a room full of strangers(env.) the person may try to slip to the back of the room to avoid attention (behav) • Ways individuals and the environment interact • Different people choose different environments • Our personalities shape how we interpret and react to events • The way we treat other affects the way they treat us

35. Social-Cognitive Effects • Researchers tend to believe the proper way to predict behavior is through simulations • Student-teaching/World War II spies • Individualism vs Collectivism • Individualism promotes being independent from others, and defining yourself based on your traits and abilities • Collectivism promotes a connection with others, and defining success in terms of the overall group/team

36. Exploring the Self • Selfthe center of personality • One example of thinking about self is the concept of possible selves • Many believe that self-esteem is an indication of reality • Self-serving bias People accept responsibility for good deeds not bad • Spotlight effect is an example of how self-focus can fail us • Overestimating other’s noticing/evaluating us • Narcissism has been on the rise “Generation Me” • Tolerant, confident, open-minded, and ambitious but also disengaged, narcissistic, distrustful, and anxious