Chapter 12

1. PSYCHOLOGY Chapter 12 Personality

2. Schacter Gilbert Wegner PSYCHOLOGY 12.1 Personality: What It Is and How It Is Measured

3. 12.1 Personality—What Is It? • Personality— the study of relatively enduring patterns of behavior that may be said to characterize or differentiate an individual or a “type” of individual from others • Paradox: Change and continuity

4. 4 “Big Questions” addressed by most personality theories How much consistency is there in a person’s behavior across time and situations – how do we explain this? How do we explain individual differences between people in the same situation? How much does personality change across time and lifespan – how do we explain change? What constitutes psychological well-being, and how does one achieve it? Conversely, what are causes of psychological problems?

5. Approaches to Studying Personality Global Theory Approaches Taxonomic approaches – the study of individual differences Psychologically meaningful differences Why are people different? prior events anticipated events biologically based predispositions

6. Approaches to Studying Personality “Global” Theories of Personality: Big Picture Theories Psychodynamic or psychoanalytic – Freud, Jung, Erikson Behavioral or behaviorist – Watson, Skinner Humanistic – Existential – Rogers, Maslow, Csikszentmihalyi, May, Frankl Social – Cognitive - Cultural – Mischel, Kelly, Rotter, Markus & Kitayama, social psych influences – many others Biopsychological – neuroscientific – evolutionary - Eysenck Taxonomic approach to individual differences Trait (with or without biological basis assumed) e.g. The “Big Five” - Costa & McRae

7. Schacter Gilbert Wegner PSYCHOLOGY 12.3 The Psychodynamic Approach: Forces That Lie Beneath Awareness

8. Many Psychodynamic Perspectives All assume behavior is primarily caused by unconscious processes, e.g. unconscious motives, conflicts Wide variety of psychodynamic theories: e.g. Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson Carl Jung Differ in assumptions about 1. the content and dynamics of the unconscious 2. How personality changes/develops over time 3. Views about psychological well-being and illness

9. 12.3 Psychodynamic Approach • Freud: “psychopathologies of everyday life” • Freudian slips • Psychodynamic approach • dynamic unconscious • emphasis on process • conflict & tension within & among parts of self • goal of tension reduction

10. Psychodynamic Perspectives Freud’s psychoanalytic theory Structure of personality Id - Pleasure principle Ego - Reality principle Superego - Morality Levels of awareness Conscious Unconscious Preconscious Conflict Sex and Aggression Anxiety Defense Mechanisms

11. 12.3 Psychodynamic Approach—Structure of Personality • Three independent, interacting, and often conflicting systems • Id—present at birth • pleasure principle • Ego—acquired through contact with reality • reality principle • Superego— internalized through identification with parents (usually same-sex parent – Freud) • morality principle

12. Figure 11.2

13. Figure 11.3 Freud’s model of personality dynamics. According to Freud, unconscious conflicts between the id, ego, and superego sometimes lead to anxiety. This discomfort may lead to the use of defense mechanisms, which may temporarily relieve anxiety. Figure 11.3

14. 12.3 Psychodynamic Approach—Defense Mechanisms • Repression • Rationalization • Reaction formation • Projection • Regression • Displacement • Identification • Sublimation

15. Freud on Development: Psychosexual Stages Sexual = physical pleasure Erogenous zones (erotogenic) – bodily source of pleasure different emphasis with each stage Psychosexual stages Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latent, Genital Fixation = personality characterized by one of these stages results from excessive gratification or frustration Overemphasis on psychosexual needs during fixated stage Resolution of the Oedipal conflict & identification with same-same parent during the Phallic Stage assumed to be critical for a. the development of the superego b. incorporation/development of gender roles

16. 12.3 Psychodynamic Approach—Personality Development & Change • Psychosexual stages of development • Personality formed by age 6 through crucial experiences • Fixation • Oedipus conflict

17. Carl Jung’s Analytical Psychology and Alfred Adler’s Individual Psychology • Carl Jung • Analytical Psychology • Personal and collective unconscious • Archetypes • Introversion/Extroversion • Alfred Adler • Individual Psychology • Striving for superiority • Compensation • Inferiority complex/overcompensation • Birth order

18. Evaluating Psychodynamic Perspectives • Pros • Insights regarding • The unconscious • The role of internal conflict • The importance of early childhood experiences • Cons • Poor testability, inadequate empirical evidence • Lack of parsimony (unnecessarily complex theory) • Sexism – esp. in Freudian version • Overemphasis on early childhood experiences

19. Schacter Gilbert Wegner PSYCHOLOGY 12.4 The Humanistic-Existential Approach: Personality as Choice

20. 12.4 Humanistic-Existential Approach • Assumes free will and responsibility • Assumes basic motivation to “grow” • Healthy choices • Self-actualizing tendency • Hierarchy of needs (chapter 10) • Peak experiences • Conditions for growth • unconditional positive regard (Carl Rogers)

21. Humanistic Perspectives Carl Rogers Person-centered Theory Self-concept Conditional/unconditional positive regard Incongruence and anxiety Abraham Maslow Self-actualization theory Hierarchy of needs The healthy personality

22. Figure 11.7 Rogers’s view of personality structure. In Rogers’s model, the self-concept is the only important structural construct. However, Rogers acknowledged that one’s self-concept may not be consistent with the realities of one’s actual experience—a condition called incongruence. Figure 11.7

23. Figure 11.9 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. According to Maslow, human needs are arranged in a hierarchy, and people must satisfy their basic needs before they can satisfy higher needs. In the diagram, higher levels in the pyramid represent progressively less basic needs. Individuals progress upward in the hierarchy when lower needs are satisfied reasonably well, but they may regress back to lower levels if basic needs are no longer satisfied. Figure 11.9

24. Evaluating Humanistic Perspectives Pros Importance of subjective reality Developed self-concept construct Foundation for Positive Psychology Cons Difficult to test Overly optimistic More experimental research needed

25. 12.4 Personality as Existence • Rollo May & Victor Frankl—looked at specific aspects of human existence • awareness of our own existence • ability to make choices • Finding meaning in life • existential dread (if I can think about life, I realize I will die!) • mortality salience (worldview defense)

26. Evaluating Humanistic Perspectives Pros Importance of subjective reality Developed self-concept construct Foundation for Positive Psychology Cons Some concepts difficult to test Overly optimistic More experimental research needed

27. Schacter Gilbert Wegner 12.2 The Trait Approach: Identifying Patterns of Behavior PSYCHOLOGY

28. Trait Theories of Personality Emphasizes underlying, possibly innate, attributes (traits) that predispose one toward patterns of thinking and behavior These traits are assumed to explain patterns of individual consistency in behavior across time and situations Tend to examine the correlation between traits and behavior. Usually emphasize one trait (e.g. sensation seeking, or self-esteem) or, at most, a few personality traits (e.g. “The Big Five”

29. 12.2 Personality—The Trait Approach A person’s special qualities? Gordon Allport (1937) —personality can be understood as a combination of traits Are the personalities of the two owners of the closets different? 29

30. 12.1 Personality—How It Is Measured Personality inventories Self-report Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory Easy to administer response style validity? 30

31. 12.1 Personality—How It Is Measured Projective techniques Rorschach Inkblot Test Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) Problems? always an interpretation reliable in predicting behavior? valid in predicting behavior? 31

32. 12.2 The Search for Core Traits How is personality represented in our language (synonyms) Factor analysis Hierarchical structure of traits 32

33. 12.2 The Big Five Dimensions of Personality Many factor analyses reveal the same “major” factors that seem to classify the personalities of most people The Big Five 33

34. 12.2 Traits as Biological Building Blocks Do immutable brain and biological processes produce the stability of personality? Brain changes do sometimes bring on personality changes—Phineas Gage Traits do seem to have a heritability component 34

35. 12.2 Do Animals Have Personalities? Gosling (1998) studied spotted hyenas. He: had human observers use personality scales to rate the different hyenas in the group did a factor analysis on these findings found five dimensions three closely resembled the Big Five traits of neuroticism, openness to experience, and agreeableness 35

36. 12.2 Traits in the Brain Reticular formation of extraverts may not be as easily stimulated as that of introverts Gray (1970) suggests extraversion/ introversion and neuroticism reflect differences in two basic brain systems: behavioral activation system (BAS) behavioral inhibition system (BIS) 36

37. Schacter Gilbert Wegner PSYCHOLOGY 12.5 The Social Cognitive Approach: Personalities in Situations

38. 12.4 Personalities in Situations • Social cognitive approach • social psychology • cognitive psychology • learning theory • Situations cause behavior, too!

39. 12.5 Consistency of Personality across Situations • Person-situation controversy • Walter Mischel (1968) • measured personality traits do a poor job of predicting behavior • George Kelly (1955)—people view the social world from different perspectives • Personal constructs are key to personality differences • can have the same traits but won’t act the same way if your perspective is different

40. 12.5 Personal Goals and Expectancies • Person’s unique perspective is reflected in personal goals • Outcome expectancies • Rotter (1966)—locus of control