Personality

What is Personality?
People differ from each other in meaningful ways People seem to show some consistency in behavior

Personality is defined as distinctive and relatively enduring ways of thinking, feeling, and acting

Personality
Personality refers to a persons unique and relatively stable pattern of thoughts, feelings, and actions Personality is an interaction between biology and environment
Genetic studies suggest heritability of personality Other studies suggest learned components of personality

Four Theories of Personality

1. Trait 2. Psychoanalytic 3. Humanistic 4. Socio-Cognitive

The First Trait Theory

Moody Anxious Rigid Sober Pessimistic Reserved Unsociable Quiet

UNSTABLE

Touchy Restless Aggressive Excitable Changeable Impulsive Optimistic Active melancholic choleric

Two Factor Trait Theory of Personality

INTROVERTED

EXTRAVERTED

phlegmatic sanguine Passive Sociable Careful Outgoing Thoughtful Talkative Peaceful Responsive Controlled Easygoing Reliable Lively Carefree Even-tempered Leadership Calm

STABLE

Personality Traits
Traits are relatively stable and consistent personal characteristics Trait personality theories suggest that a person can be described on the basis of some number of personality traits
Allport identified some 4,500 traits Cattel used factor analysis to identify 30-35 basic traits Eysenck argued there are 3 distinct traits in personality
Extraversion/introversion Neuroticism Psychotocism

Allport

Overview of the Big 5

Assessing Traits: An Example

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
the most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests developed to identify emotional disorders

MMPI: examples
Nothing in the newspaper interests me except the comics.
I get angry sometimes.

Evaluating Trait Theory

Trait theory, especially the Big 5 model, is able to describe personality
Cross-cultural human studies find good agreement for the Big 5 model in many cultures Appear to be highly correlated not only in adulthood, but also in childhood and even late preschoolers Three dimensions (extraversion, neuroticism and agreeableness) have cross-species generality

Problems with trait theory include:

Lack of explanation as to WHY traits develop Issue of explaining transient versus long-lasting traits

Psychoanalytic Theory
Psychoanalytic theory, as devised by Freud, attempts to explain personality on the basis of unconscious mental forces
Levels of consciousness: We are unaware of some aspects of our mental states Freud argued that personality is made up of multiple structures, some of which are unconscious Freud argued that as we have impulses that cause us anxiety; our personality develops defense mechanisms to protect against anxiety

Freudian Theory
Levels of consciousness
Conscious
What were aware of

Structures of Personality
Id
Operates according to the pleasure principle

Preconscious

Memories etc. that can Ego be recalled Operates according to the reality principle Unconscious Superego Wishes, feelings, impulses that lies Contains values and beyond awareness ideals

Freudian Theory
Anxiety occurs when:
Impulses from the id threaten to get out of control The ego perceives danger from the environment

The ego deals with the problem through:

coping strategies defense mechanisms

Defense Mechanisms
Defense mechanisms refer to unconscious mental processes that protect the conscious person from developing anxiety
Sublimation: person channels energy from unacceptable impulses to create socially acceptable accomplishments Denial: person refuses to recognize reality Projection: person attributes their own unacceptable impulses to others Repression: anxiety-evoking thoughts are pushed into the unconscious

Defense Mechanisms
Rationalization: Substituting socially acceptable reasons Intellectualization: Ignoring the emotional aspects of a painful experience by focusing on abstract thoughts, words, or ideas Reaction formation: Refusing to acknowledge unacceptable urges, thoughts or feelings by exaggerating the opposite state Regression: Responding to a threatening situation in a way appropriate to an earlier age or level of development Displacement: Substituting a less threatening object for the original object of impulse

Assessing the Unconscious

Projective Tests
used to assess personality (e.g., Rorschach or TAT tests) How? provides ambiguous stimuli and subject projects his or her motives into the ambiguous stimuli

Assessing the Unconscious -Rorschach

Rorschach Inkblot Test
the most widely used projective test a set of 10 inkblots designed by Hermann Rorschach
Rorschach

Assessing the Unconscious-Rorschach

used to identify peoples inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots

Assessing the Unconscious--TAT

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) people express their inner motives through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes

Psychoanalytic Neo-Freudian
Alfred Adler
Humans are motivated by social interest Takes social context into account First Born
Privileged until Dethroned

Second Born
In shadow of 1st Born inferiority, restlessness

Youngest
Pampered, dependent

Only Child
Higher intellect, timid, passive, & withdrawn

Psychoanalytic Neo-Freudian
Carl Jung
A collective unconscious is represented by universal archetypes Two forms of unconscious mind
Personal unconscious: unique for each person Collective unconscious: consists of primitive images and ideas that are universal for humans

Humanistic Theory
Humanistic personality theories reject psychoanalytic notions
Humanistic theories view each person as basically good and that people are striving for self-fulfillment Humanistic theory argues that people carry a perception of themselves and of the world The goal for a humanist is to develop/promote a positive self-concept

Humanistic Perspectives
Carl Rogers
We have needs for:
Self-consistency (absence of conflict between selfperceptions Congruence (consistency between self-perceptions and experience)

Inconsistency evokes anxiety and threat People with low self-esteem generally have poor congruence between their self-concepts and life experiences.

Humanistic Perspectives
Abraham Maslow emphasized the basic goodness of human nature and a natural tendency toward self-actualization.

Social/Cognitive Perspective
Proposed that each person has a unique personality because of our personal histories and interpretations shape our personalities Albert Banduras social-cognitive approach focuses on self-efficacy and reciprocal determinism. Julian Rotters locus of control theory emphasizes a persons internal or external focus as a major determinant of personality.

Locus of Control (Rotter)

Internal locus of control
Life outcomes are under personal control Positively correlated with self-esteem Internals use more problem-focused coping

External locus of control

Luck, chance, and powerful others control behavior