Theories of Personality

characteristic patterns of behaving, thinking, and feeling

theories that explain behavior and personality in terms of unconscious energy dynamics within the individual

therapy that focuses on unconscious processes and how they influence personality

1. Conscious 2. Preconscious 3. Unconscious

what we are are of at any given moment; thoughts, feelings, sensations, or memories

memories we are not aware of but can easily bring to mind

repressed memories, insticnts, wishes, desires; have never been conscious

contains life (sex) and death (aggressive) instincts; operates according to the pleasure principle

logical, rational part of personality; operates according to the reality principle

moral system of the personality, consists of conscience and ego ideal

used by ego to defend against anxiety created by conflict between the id and superego; everyone uses them

the id's demands for pleasure conflict with superego's desires for moral perfection

psychological problems

repression

projection, displacement, denial, sublimation, reaction formation

Sex instinct; devekios through a series of stages, creates conflict, conflict not resolved then fixation occurs

portion of the libido (psychic energy) remains invested at that stage

takes place from birth to 1 year; conflict: weaning; fixation can lead to dependency and passitivity or sarcasm and hostility

takes place 1 to 3 years; conflict: toilet training; fixation can lead to excessive cleanliness and stinginess or messiness and rebelliousness

anatomy is destiny; takes place 3 to 5 years; conflict: oedipus complex; fixation can lead to flirtatiousness and promicuity or excessive pride and chasity

lasts 5/6 years to puberty; period of sexual calm

puberty and beyond, revival of sexual interests

recognized importance of childhood experiences in shaping personality; identified role of defense mechanisms; called attention to the unconscious

sexual instinct is not the main factor in personality; felt that personality was not almost completely formed in early childhoof; archetypes

inherited tendencies to respond to universal human situations

predominant force of personality is not sexual in nature; emphasized unity of personality; drive to overcome feelings of inferiority motivates human behavior; individual psychology

work centered on 2 themes: The neurotic personality and feminine psychology; rejected Freud's psychosexual stages, the oedipus complex and the penis envy

from the failure to live up to idealized versions of themselves

irrational beliefs about the need for perfection

modern cognitive-behavioral therapy

people have a natural tendency toward growth and realization of their fullest potential; humanistic theories are more optimistic about human nature than Freud's; humanistic theories are difficult to test scientifically

proposed a hierarchy of needs that motivates behavior; highest need is self actualization

accurately percieve reality and quickly spot dishonesty; tend not to depend on external authority; internally driven, autonomous, and independent, frequently have peak experiences

experiences of deep meaning, insight, and harmony within themselves and with the universe

conditions of worth, in efforts to gain positive regard, we deny the true self

conditions on which positive regard depends, dorces us to live according to someone else's values

person-centered therapy

goal is to enable people to live by their own values; therapist gives client unconditional positive regard

unqualified caring and nonjudgemental acceptance, brings the person back in tune with self

variations in self-esteem can arise from comparisons of actual to desired traits; self esteem is fairly stable from childhood through late adulthood; by age 7 most children have global self esteem; judgements come from actual experiences and information provided by others

experience success in domains they view as important; be encouraged by parents, teachers and peers to value themselves

attempt to explain differences among people

personal characteristic that is stable across situations, used to describe or explain personality

cardinal traits and central traits

so pervasive that almost every act can be traced to their influence

traits which we would "mention in writing a careful letter of recommendation"

surface traits and source traits

observable qualities of personality

underlie surface traits, cause certain surface traits to cluster together: Cattell identified 23 source traits

proposed 3 personality factors: -psychoticism, extraversion, neuroticism; factors are rooted in neurological functioning, idea has been supported by modern brain imaging studies

an individual's link to reality

a dimension ranging from outgoing to shy

emotional stability, ranging from stable to anxious and irritable

attempts to explain personality using 5 broad dimensions, has become most closely associated with research of Robert McCrae and Paul Costa; model varies from the Big 5 model of Goldberg

each factor is composed of a constellation of personality traits: -openness -conscientiousness -extraversion -agreeableness -neuroticism

open to new experiences, curious, and broadminded versus having narrow interests and preferring the familiar

reliable, orderly, and industrious versus undependable and lazy

outgoing, prefer to be around other people versus shy, prefer to be alone

easygoing and friendly versus unfriendly and cold

pessimistic and irritable versus optimistic, take things in stride

McCrae and Costa (2003); behavioral genetic therory

asserts that heredity is largely responsible for individual differences

nuturance, empathy, and assertiveness are influenced by heredity

may be as high as .50

genes

culture influences personality, may not be captured in the 5 factor model

individualist cultures and collectivist cultures

emphasis is placed on independence and individual achievement

emphasis on social connectedness, define the self in terms of group membership

warn against overemphasizing cultural differences in personality; the goal for all individuals should be to enhance self esteem; a sense of personal control over one's life predicts well-being in all cultures

personality is defined as a collection of learned behaviors acquired through social interactions

stresses the important of factors within the situation and person in accounting for behavior; views trait as conditional probability; evidence suggests that traits are stable over time and across situations

a particular action will occur in resposne to a particular situation; situations can modify personality traits, ex) lack of social support can increase neuroticism

internal, environmental, and behavioral variables interact to influence personality; self efficacy

a person's perception of his or her ability to perfom competently whatever is attempted; can be high or low

persist in efforts, belief in success

expect failure, avoid challenges

internal locus of control, external locus of control

see selves as primarily in control of their behavior and its consequences

percieve events as in the hands of fate, luck, or chance

used in hospitals, clinics, schools, and workplaces; behavioral assesment

psychologists count and record the frequency of particular behaviors, often used in behavior modification programs in treatment, time consuming; behavior may be misinterpreted

used to help in diagnosis and treatment; structured interveiw

the content of the questions and the manner in which they are asked are carefully planned ahead of time; comparisons can be made between different subjects

provide standardized format, focus on relevant traits

paper and pecil test with questions about a person's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors; scored according to a standardized procedure; used to measure several dimensions of personality

now revised as MMPI-2; used to screen for and diagnose psychiatric problems and disorders; most extensively researched and widely used personality test

10 clinical scales and 3 validity scales; psycholofist-evaluated clinical scales in light of validity scales; more than 115 translations of the MMPI are used

discerns those who are attempting to look healthier than they are and those attempting to appear disturbed

developed to assess personality in normal individuals, does not include any questions designed to reveal psychiatric illness, useful in predicting school achievement, leadership, and executive success

based on Jung's Theory of personality; measures normal individual differences on 4 personality dimensions; popular in business and educational settings

consist of inkblots, drawings, ambiguous human situations, or incomplete sentences, no correct or incorrect responses, inner thoughts, feelings, fears, or conflicts are projected onto the test materials; include Rorschach Inkblot Test and Thematic Apperception Test

test taker is asked to describe 10 inkblots, responses can be used to diagnose diorders; critics argue that results are too dependent on the judgement of the examiner; comprehensive system for scoring

provides normative data for comparison of responses

developed by Henry Murray; consists of 1 blank card and 19 cards showing vague or ambiguous black and white drawings of human figures, test taker describes the drawings--the descriptions are thought to reveal inner feelings, conflicts and motives

test relies too heavily on interpreation of the examiner, responses may relect temporary states and may not indicate more permanent aspects of personality