Theories of Personality

PERSONALITY

Stems from persona (Latin for mask)

No consensus on definition
Few personality theorists have formally defined personality
A pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that give
both consistency and individuality to a persons behavior (p. 4)
Traits
Individual differences in behavior (unique pattern for each individual)
Consistency over time and stability across situations (relatively permanent)
Characteristics
Unique qualities (e.g., temperament, physique, and intelligence)

THEORY
A set of related assumptions that allows scientists to use logical deductive
reasoning to formulate testable hypotheses (p. 4)
Several assumptions
Internal consistency
Not proven facts but accepted as if they were true
Clear and precise statements that lends itself to testable hypotheses
(i.e. lends itself to confirmation or disconfirmation)

Relationship of theory and research

Theory is not synonymous to:
Philosophy
Broader than theory
Deals with oughts and shoulds
Speculation
Theories must be tied to empirical data and science
Hypothesis
More specific than theories
Normally generated from theories
Taxonomy
Classification according to natural relationships
Can evolve into theories

Why theories of personality?

Different personal backgrounds
o Childhood experiences
o Interpersonal relationships
Different philosophical orientations (ways of looking at the world)
Different methodologies

Are divergent theories useful?

Yes. Humans are complex beings. Different perspective will make us understand the
complex phenomenon.

Understanding theories of personality

The personalities and psychology of different theorists influence the kinds of
theories that they develop
historical, social, and psychological context of each theorist at the
time of their theorizing
fundamental disagreements between those inclined toward the
quantitative side of psychology (behaviorists, social learning theorists,
trait theorists) and those inclined toward the clinical and qualitative
side of psychology (psychoanalysts, humanists, existentialists)

The usefulness of a theory does not depend on its commonsense value or on

its agreement with other theories; rather, it depends on its ability to
generate research and to explain research data and other observations (p.
7)

Criteria for evaluating theory

1 Generates Research
2 Is Falsifiable (Verifiable)
3 Organizes Known Data
4 Guides Action (Practical)
5 Is Internally Consistent (Operational definitions)
6 Is Parsimonious (Simple)

1 Generates Research
2 Is Falsifiable (Verifiable)
If a theory is so vague and nebulous that both
positive and negative research results can be interpreted as support, then that
theory is not
falsifiable and ceases to be useful (p. 9)
3 Organizes Known Data
4 Guides Action (Practical)

5 Is Internally Consistent (Operational definitions)

6 Is Parsimonious (Simple)

Dimensions for a concept of humanity

1 Determinism v. Free Choice
2 Pessimism v. Optimism
3 Causality (past experiences) v. Teleology (future goals)
4 Conscious v. Unconscious Determinants of Behavior
5 Biological (heredity) v. Social Influences (environment) on Personality
6 Uniqueness v. Similarities

PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORIES: FREUD

Psychoanalytic theory
Cornerstones: Sex and Aggression
Spread by a dedicated group of Freuds followers
Freuds brilliant command of language
Primarily based on Freuds case studies of his patients and dream
analyses
Sigmund Freud
Born in Freiberg Moravia (now the Czech Republic) in 1856
Spent most of life (80 years) in Vienna Austria
Was the eldest son of eight
Enjoyed a warm and indulgent relationship with his mother
Felt hostile toward his younger brother, Julius
Felt guilty when Julius died at 6 months of age
Studied Medicine (specializing in psychiatry)
Studied hysteria with Charcot & Breuer
Studies on Hysteria (1895)
Abandoned seduction theory in 1897 and replaced it with Oedipus Complex
 Interpretation of Dreams (1900)
After 1900 developed international circle of followers (Adler, Jung, and
others)
Was driven out of Austria by Nazis in 1938
Died in London in 1939

Levels of Mental Life

1. Unconscious
o Beyond awareness
o Includes drives, urges, instincts
o Is known only indirectly
o Motivates behavior
o Two sources of unconscious processes
Repression (e.g. from suppression and anxiety)
Phylogenetic Endowment (inherited from ancestors)
2. Preconscious
o Not in conscious awareness, but can be
o Two sources
Conscious perception
Unconscious
3. Conscious
o Mental life that is directly available at any given time
o Plays a minor role in psychoanalytic theory
o Two sources
Perceptual conscious system (i.e. what we perceive through the
our sense organs)
 Non-threatening ideas from the preconscious / well- disguised
images from the unconscious

Levels of Mental Life Provinces of the

mind

Provinces of the mind

1. The Id (it)
o Has no contact with reality (unchangeable, illogical, amoral)
o Serves the Pleasure Principle
2. The Ego (I)

o Only region in contact with reality (partly conscious, preconscious,

unconscious)
o Grows out of the id
o Governed by the Reality Principle
o Decision-making branch of personality
o Uses defense
3. The Superego (over-I)
o Has no contact with reality (unrealistic)
o Grows out of the ego
o Guided by the Moralistic and Idealistic
Principles
Conscience (should not do, guilt)
Ego-Ideal (should do, inferiority)
 Dynamics of
personality
Drives Anxiety
1. Libido (sex drive) 1. Neurotic Anxiety
2. Thanatos (aggressive/ 2. Moral Anxiety
destructive drive) 3. Realistic Anxiety
Internal stimulus Internal and External stimulus
Cannot be avoided through flight Managed through defense
mechanisms

EROS (SEX) THANATOS (AGGRESSION)

Aim: pleasure Aim: self-destruction
Forms: Forms:
Narcissism Gossiping
Love Humiliation
Sadism Enjoyment in others suffering
Masochism
Anxiety
Ego-preserving mechanism (signals threat and danger)
1. Neurotic anxiety (id, unknown danger)
2. Moral anxiety (superego, guilt)
3. Realistic anxiety (external environment, possible danger)
Defense mechanism
o Universally used (normal)
o Carried to extreme (psychopathology)
o Repression

o Reaction Formation
o Displacement
o Fixation
o Regression
o Projection
o Introjection
o Sublimation

Psychosexual stages of development

Infantile Period (Birth-5)

Oral Phase (erogenous zone: mouth)
Anal Phase (erogenous zone: anus)
Phallic Phase (erogenous zone: genitals)
Male Oedipus Complex
Castration Complex
Female Oedipus Complex (Electra)
Penis Envy
Latency Period (5-puberty)
Genital Period (puberty-adulthood)
Maturity

Applications
Free Association
Verbalizing every thought that comes to mind
Purpose: arrive at the unconscious
Transference
Strong sexual or aggressive feelings, positive or negative, that patients
develop toward their analyst during the course of treatment (p. 49)
Dream Analysis
Transforms the conscious content of dreams (manifest content) to its
unconscious form (latent content)
Basic assumption: all dreams are wish fulfillments
Dreams are the royal road to the unconscious
Freudian slips (parapraxes)
 Everyday slips of the tongue or pen, misreading, incorrect hearing that
reveal ones unconscious intentions

Dimensions for a concept of humanity

1 Determinism v. Free Choice

2 Pessimism v. Optimism
3 Causality v. Teleology
4 Conscious v. Unconscious Determinants of Behavior
5 Biological v. Social Influences on Personality
6 Uniqueness v. Similarities