Personality

1. Psychology 001Introduction to PsychologyChristopher Gade, PhDOffice: 621 HeafeyOffice hours: F 3-6 and by apt. Email: gadecj@gmail.com Class WF 7:00-8:30 Heafey 650

2. Personality • To effectively examine the topic of personality, one canask a number of questions… • How is an individual’s personality defined? • How do we determine different personalities? • Can and do our personalities change? • How does personality come about?

3. What is personality? • Personality – all the consistent ways in which the behavior of one person differs from and is similar to that of others, especially in social situations • Specific behaviors signify specific personalities • Personality measures can’t determine what we do all of the time in every social situation, but it can give us a good indication about what we are likely to do • Personality traits are often tough to define, but there are a number of theories about how many, and what types of traits individuals have • Personality is said to be the product of experience and genetics

4. Defining Personality: Freud and His Psychodynamic Approach • Psychodynamic theory – personality is based on the interplay of conflicting forces within the individual. This includes forces that the individual is both aware of (conscious), and unaware of (unconscious). • Our personality is a derivative of theexperiences of our past, as well as the current desires acting on the individual • Abnormal personality is a result of pent up or conflicting forces within the individual • Personality-based behaviors are committed in order to reduce the strain built up by desires • Catharsis – a release of pent up tensions

5. Where do the pent up desires come from? • the ‘id’: an unconscious force that constantly seeks satisfaction of basic needs (survival, sex, immediate gratification) • The ‘superego’: an unconscious force that’s only goal is to push us to do what is ‘right’ (society’s standards) • The ‘ego’: a conscious force that operates on the reality principle. It seeks to satisfy id’s and the superego’s desires in realistic ways

6. What causes tensions (according to Freud)? • Tensions and irrational behavior come from a pent up store of desires and experiences that have an effect on the individual • Conscious – thoughts, memories, and emotions that we are aware of • Unconscious – thoughts, memories, and emotions that we are unaware of due to their traumatic or unacceptable nature • Note on the impact of the unconscious in personality

7. How do we get at these unconscious memories/emotions/thoughts? • Psychoanalysis • Hypnosis • Free association • Dream interpretation • “Freudian Slips”

8. Freud’s Psychosexual Stages Stage Focus Fixation Oral Pleasure centers on the mouth-- smoking, (0-18 months) sucking, biting, chewing overeating Anal Pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder stinginess (18-36 months) elimination; coping with demands for control strict orderliness Phallic Pleasure zone is the genitals; coping with penis envy (3-6 years) incestuous sexual feelings castration fear Latency Dormant sexual feelings (6 to puberty) Genital Maturation of sexual interests (puberty on) Differentiation of Sexual Desires • Freud eventually went on to argue that these tensions often come from sexual desires. In particular, libido (psychosexual energy), which comes in different forms throughout development

9. So what can we take from Freud? • Humans apparently have a mental life that is at least partly unconscious • People often have conflicting motives and desires • Childhood experiences contribute to the development of adult personality and social behavior • Sexual development has an impact on psychological development

10. Where was Freud just dead wrong? • Unconscious thoughts defined by Freud are very different from today’s theories of unconscious • Its not all about sex and psychosexual stages (if these stages even exist) • Almost all (if not all) forms of mental disorders have been only weakly linked to childhood experiences

11. Then and now… • In the firstpart of this class, we began discussing personality psychology by discussing the theories proposed by Sigmund Freud • Now we’ll be continuing our exploration of personality psychology be examining other theories of where personality comes from

12. Carl Jung (1875-1961) • Colleague of Freud’s • Accepted many of Freud’s beliefs about the formation of personality • Personality is formed from both conscious and unconscious forces • Our past experiences have an impact on our personalities • Broke with Freud’s work because of his differing beliefs about personality formation • Our personal unconscious did not contain the basic instincts that Freud proposed (primarily the id) • People possess personality traits as a result of a collective unconscious. • Archetypes – vague, existential, and spiritual images/concepts found within our personality. Some archetypes are inherited from the experiences of our ancestors, others are unique to the individual.

13. Alfred Adler’s Superiority Theory • Another early student of Freud’s, but broke away because of differing theories (too much focus on sex) • Formed a branch of psychology called individual psychology • Individual psychology – a psychology of the person as a whole rather than a person in parts • Believed that personality was based on our attempts to pursue our strengths and make up for our shortcomings • Striving for superiority – a desire to seek personal excellence and fulfillment • Inferiority complex – an exaggerated feeling of weakness, inadequacy, and helplessness

14. Carl Rogers’ & Self Actualization • Formed theory that was very similar in structure to Adler’s theory of striving for superiority • Postulatedthat people are constantly striving for betterment and to reach a point of self actualization • Self-actualization – the achievement of one’s full potential (note: self-actualization is said to rarely be met by individuals) • Our personality is based on a number of selves that we have, and the discrepancy between these selves • Actual self – the person that we are • Ideal self – the person that we want to be • Aught self – the person that we feel we “should” be (not Rogers’ idea)

15. Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs • Maslow was another positive psychologist that believed in the concept of self- actualization. However, he believed that self-actualization was met through another mechanism… The fulfillment of needs. • Maslow proposed that each of us has a hierarchy of needs, and once all of those needs are met, we are able to approach self-actualization.

16. What does it mean to beself actualized? • According to positive psychologists (Rogers and Maslow), once a person reaches self actualization, a number of recognizable behaviors take shape. • Unconditional positive regard • An accurate perception of reality • Independence, creativity, and spontaneity • Acceptance of oneself and others • Enjoyment of life • A good sense of humor ***Note: Skeptics have questions whether or not this was a sign of self-actualization, or just a list of characteristics that Rogers and Maslow valued.

17. Moving on… In the next class, we’ll look at some more scientific views of where personality comes from We’ll also examine some common techniques of measuring personality See you then