580 likes | 1.74k Views
CHAPTER 11 SELF AND PERSONALITY. Personality. An organized combination of attributes, motives, values, and behaviors Patterns of traits Unique to each individual Consistent across situations and time Self-Concept : Perceptions Self Esteem : Evaluation
E N D
Personality • An organized combination of attributes, motives, values, and behaviors • Patterns of traits • Unique to each individual • Consistent across situations and time • Self-Concept: Perceptions • Self Esteem: Evaluation • Identity: Overall sense of who you are
McAdams and Pals (2006) Five Principles • Personality shaped by evolution for adaptation to environment • People differ in dispositional traits • People differ in characteristic adaptations • Each has a unique life story • Cultural and situational influences ever present
Psychoanalytic Theory: Sigmund Freud • Three parts of the personality • Selfish Id; Rational Ego; Moralist Superego • Stages of psychosexualdevelopment • Biological: ends at sexual maturity • Personality formed in first 5 years • Childhood anxieties become adult traits
Psychoanalytic Theory: Erik Erikson • Emphasized • Social influences • Rational ego • Life-span development • Crisis-Oriented Stages Result From: • Maturational forces • Social demands
Trait Theory • Psychometric Approach • Personality: a set of traits • Individual differences in each trait • Measurement approach • “Big Five” - Universal and stable • Evidence of genetic basis • Universal
Social Learning Theory • Personality: A set of behavior tendencies • Shaped by interactions • Found in specific social situations • No universal stages • Not enduring traits • People change as environment changes • Situational influences important • E.g., cheating
Infancy:The Emerging Self • First 6 months: Discover physical self • Joint attention at about 9 mo • Difference in perceptions can be shared • Self-recognition about 18 months • Categorical self (age, sex): 18 – 24 months • Based on cognitive development • Requires Social Experience • The looking-glass self: a “reflection”
Temperament • Seen in infancy • Genetically based • Tendencies to respond in predictable ways • Building blocks of personality • Goodness of Fit (Thomas & Chess) • Parenting techniques • Learning to interpret cues • Sensitive responding
Changes in Self-Concept: age 8 • Include psychological, social qualities • Previously used only physical traits • Increased Use of: • Social comparison, multidimensionality • Hierarchy with self-worth on top • More accurate self evaluations • Widening gap between ideal-self and real-self
Contributions to Higher Self-Esteem • Competence! • Positive social feedback • Warm democratic parents • Social comparisons that are positive • Some temperament traits established • Will develop into adult traits
The Adolescent • Increased awareness of psychological and abstract traits • Self-concept more integrated • Self-esteem dips temporarily, rebounds • Erikson’s Stage of Identity vs. Role Confusion • “Who Am I?” • Can last as long as into early 30s
Marcia’s Ego Identity Statuses • Diffusion: “Hey wait a minute – they didn’t know everything. Maybe I’m not who they said I was.” (No crisis. No commitment) • Foreclosure: “I’ll be a (Catholic, Democrat, doctor, etc.) because that’s what they told me was right.” (Commitment without crisis) • Moratorium: “Who am I? What is right? Who will I become?” (Crisis, no commitment) • Identity Achieved: “I can make my own life choices.” (Commitment, evolved from crisis)
The Four Identity Statuses as They Apply to Religious Identity
Identity Achievement • Ethnic Identity begins in infancy • Vocational Identity - increasingly realistic • “Goodness of fit” becomes useful • Influential Factors • Cognitive development • Openness to experience trait • Warm, democratic parenting • Culture that encourages exploration
Self-Concept and Adulthood • Stable Self-Esteem • Generally good • Ability to adjust ideal to real self • Evaluate self with different standards • Comparisons with age-mates • Related to stable personality traits • Losses in self-esteem in later old age
Changes in Personality • Cross-sectional studies show more changes • Longitudinal, Cross-Cultural Studies • Adulthood: achievement and confidence • Older adults • Decrease: activity level, openness to experience • Increase: introversion, emotional stability, conscientiousness
Influences on Personality Change • Heredity • Earlier experiences • Stability of environment • Biological factors (e.g., disease) • Poor person-environment fit
Adulthood – Erikson and Research • Identity provides for intimacy in young adulthood • More traditional women solve identity crisis after intimacy (marriage, children) • Midlife generativity supported • “Midlife crisis” not supported • Integrity in old age supported • Includes life review • Life Stories: narrative identity approach
Vocational Development • Young adults: Career exploration • Thirties: Settling down • Forties & Fifties: Career peaks • Older Workers • Competent, satisfied, and positive • Selective optimization with compensation
Retirement • Average age 63 • Adjustment phases • Success Factors: • Person-environment fit • Selective optimization with compensation • Disengagement versus Activity Theory • Support for activity theory