Personality

1. Personality Chapter 12 George S. Robinson, Jr., Ph.D. Department of Psychology North Carolina A&T State University

2. Personality • Personality • A relatively stable pattern of behaving, feeling, and thinking that distinguishes one person from another

3. Personality Tests • Self-Report Inventories • tests in which individuals answer questions about themselves • MMPI - 2 (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) • 567 true and false questions • 10 clinical scales • CPI (California Psychological Inventory) • 20 scales

4. MMPI Sample Questions • My father is a good man • My No one seems to understand me • Once in a while I think of things too bad to talk about • I usually feel that life is worthwhile • I go to church almost every week • Someone has it in for me • I have a great deal of stomach trouble • There is something wrong with my mind • I enjoy social gatherings just to be with people • I like to poke fun at people • I used to have imaginary companions

5. MMPI - profile

6. Personality Tests - cont. • Projective tests • test that involves the use of unstructured or ambiguous stimuli • TAT (Thematic Apperception Test) • 20 cards of vague black and white images • Rorschach Inkblot Test • 10 symmetrical inkblot cards • Barnum effect • The tendency to accept generalized personality descriptions as accurate descriptions of oneself

7. TAT

8. Rorschach

9. Trait Approaches • Trait • A summary term that describes the tendency to behave, feel, and think in ways that are consistent across different situations • Raymond Cattell • 16PF (sixteen personality factors questionnaire) • same 16 traits can be used to describes everyone, the degree or level of these traits vary from person to person

10. Trait Approaches - cont. • Hans Eysenck • three basic traits • extraversion: orientation inward or outward • neuroticism: emotional instability, shyness, low self-esteem • psychoticism: aggressiveness, impulsivity, lack of empathy

11. Trait Approaches - cont. • The “Big Five” Traits • extraversion • assertive, talkative, expressive • agreeableness • easily liked, fundamentally altruistic • conscientiousness • orderly, dependable, responsible • neuroticism • anxious, self-defeating, concerned with adequacy • openness to experience • preference for the new, untried

12. Biological Factors in Personality • Humors and bumps • Hippocrates and Gall (phrenology) based personality of bile and bumps on the head • Body types • Sheldon based personality on the shape and build of ones body • endomorphs (round) • mesomorphs (rectangular) • ectomorphs (thin) • Sensation seeking • Twin Studies

13. Sheldon’s Body Types

14. The Psychodynamic Perspective • Basic Concepts • psychic determinism • all behaviors result from early childhood experiences, especially conflicts related to sexual instincts • instincts • behavior driven by instincts • eros = life-giving, pleasure, sex • thanatos = death, destruction, aggression • Unconscious • part of the personality that lies outside outside of awareness, yet is believed to be a crucial determinant of behavior

15. Personality Structure

16. The Structure of the Mind • Id • Pleasure principle • Entirely unconscious • Ego • Reality principle • Executive of the personality • Superego • Morality principle • Conscience, and ego ideal

17. Defense Mechanisms • Defense mechanism * Unconscious methods of reducing anxiety or guilt • Repression • Denial • Displacement • Projection • Rationalization • Reaction formation • Regression • Sublimation

18. Stages of Psychosexual Development • Fixation – failure to move from one stage to another as expected • Stages • Oral • Anal • Phallic • Latency • Genital

19. Psychosexual Stages – cont. • Oral state (birth – 1 year old) • Gratification via mouth • Oral receptive personality • Oral aggressive personality • Anal stage (1 – 3 years old) • Gratification via defecation • Anal retentive personality • Anal expulsive personality

20. Psychosexual Stages – cont. • Phallic stage (3 – 6 years old) • Oedipus complex • Boy loves (sexually) mother • Boy is hostile toward father • Boy fears castration (castration anxiety) • Boy identifies with father • Electra complex • Girl loves (sexually) father • Girl is hostile toward mother • Girl envies father’s penis (penis envy) • Girl identifies with mother

21. Psychosexual Stages – cont. • Latency stage (6 – 11 years old) • Non-sexual focus • School-work and other interests • Genital stage (11 – adulthood) • Appropriate sexual attraction toward the opposite sex

22. Neo-Freudians • Carl Jung • Much less emphasis on sex • Personal unconscious • Collective unconscious • Archetypes • Karen Horney • Rejected Freud’s emphasis on sex • Personality results from struggles with overcoming basic anxiety • Alfred Adler • Natural feelings of inferiority • Personality results from how we strive to overcome those feelings of inferiority

23. The Social-Cognitive and Humanistic Perspectives • Rotter’s Social Learning Theory • Expectancy – ones likelihood of success or failure • Locus of control • Internal • External • Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory • Reciprocal determinism • Self-efficacy • Abraham Maslow • Basic needs; physiological, safety, love, esteem, self-actualization • Carl Rogers • Self-concept • Unconditional positive regard • Real self versus the ideal self

24. The Self-Concept – Social Context Self-concept cont.