PERSONALITY
Strengths of Psychoanalytic Theories
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– reasonably stable patterns of emotions, motives,
and behavior that distinguish one person from
another
1. PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORIES
- Argues that personality is primarily
unconscious and develops in stages
Explained personality through scientific analysis
Emphasized childhood experiences
Indicated that sexual and aggressive urges are
actually common
Weaknesses of Psychoanalytic Theories
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Main concepts are difficult to test in the laboratory
Primarily based on subjective interpretations of
clinicians
Too negative or pessimistic view of a person
Tends to have a male, Western bias
2. HUMANISTIC THEORIES
- Believes that humans are capable of
free choice, ethical behavior, and selfactualization
2A. Holistic-Dynamic Theory / Hierarchy of Needs
(Abraham Maslow)
1A. Psychoanalytic Theory (Sigmund Freud)
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We are only aware of a small part of our mind; a
larger portion of it is found in our unconscious
Inner conflict takes place as primitive drives
seek expression while learned values try to
keep them in check, leading to possible
psychological problems.
Psychic Structures
a. Id – psychic structure that represents
physiological drives (hunger, thrist, sex);
fully unconscious; follows the pleasure
principle and seeks immediate gratificaton
b. Ego – psychic structure that stands for
reason, good sense, and delay of
gratification; follows the reality principle;
may tend to use defense mechanisms
(ego’s method of decreasing anxiety by
distorting method)
c. Superego – psychic structure that
embodies one’s morals, conscience, and
high standards of behavior as a result of
interaction with one’s society
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Humans are driven by the desire to fulfill
needs, and they are ultimately led to fulfill the
need for self-actualization
Humans seek to fulfill their most basic
deficiency needs first before moving on to a
higher need.
People may decide to risk being deprived of a
lower deficiency need in exchange for a
higher need, but eventually the lower need will
reassert itself
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*Deficiency Needs – needs triggered by a lack or
deficit within the person
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a. Physiological Needs – includes food, water,
and sex
b. Safety needs – security, stability, dependency,
protection, freedom from fear, need for structure
c. Love and belongingness – need for friends,
family, and loving relationships with people
d. Esteem needs
d1. Lower esteem needs – need for respect
and esteem from others; includes fame, status,
dominance, attention, and dignity
d2. Higher esteem needs – need for selfesteem; includes desires for strength,
achievement, mastery and competence,
confidence, and independence
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*Growth needs - involves the person’s endeavor for
personal growth
a. Self-actualization – motivation to develop
one’s full potential as a human being; to
become what one is fully capable of
becoming
Traits involved in self-actualization
include truth, wisdom, justice, morality,
and lack of prejudice
2B. Person-Centered Theory (Carl Rogers)
Strengths of Humanistic Theories
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For Rogers, he believed that most people have
a hard time accepting who we truly are, and it
moves us away from positive feelings; as our
society puts pressure to us on what we should
do, we may devalue who we truly are and lose
our sense of self
Self-concept – individual’s overall perceptions
and assessments of their abilities, behavior, and
Focused on the importance of personal,
conscious experiences
Emphasized the need to understand the whole
person
Weaknesses of Humanistic Theories
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personalities; persons with an inaccurate selfconcept may experience emotional instability
Positive regard – desire to be accepted by
others; may either be unconditional or
conditional
Unconditional positive regard – accepting
someone for who they are regardless of all of
the person’s behaviors; leads a person to
positive self-concept, self-actualization, and
towards becoming a fully functioning person
Conditional positive regard – accepting
someone only when they perform behaviors that
are considered acceptable; may lead a person
to negative self-concept, anxiety, and frustration
Fully functioning person – someone who is
open to experience, is not overly defensive, is
aware of and sensitive to the self and the
external word, and for the most part has a
harmonious relationship with others; has the
capacity to show empathy (understanding
another’s true feelings)
Conscious experience is subjective and is difficult
to test in the laboratory
Believed to be too optimistic about human nature
May encourage excessive self-love by
encouraging people to think too positively about
themselves
3. TRAIT THEORIES
- Believes that personality consists of
broad, enduring dispositions that tend
to lead to characteristic responses
- Traits – relatively stable aspect of
personality that is inferred from
behavior and assumed to give rise to
consistent behavior
3A. Five-Factor Model
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neuroticism indicates
being more
emotionally unstable;
lower neuroticism
indicates being more
emotionally stable
There are five factors or “supertraits” that are
thought to describe the main dimensions of
personality
Each “supertrait” has a continuum to emphasize
whether a person is high or low in that factor
Strengths of Trait Theories
Five Factors:
Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticism
(emotional stability)
*For this factor, higher
HIGH
Imaginative,
interested in
variety,
independent
Organized,
careful,
disciplined
Sociable, funloving,
affectionate
Softhearted,
trusting,
helpful
Anxious,
insecure, selfpitying
LOW
Practical,
interested in
routine,
conforming
Disorganized,
careless,
impulsive
Retiring,
somber,
reserved
Ruthless,
suspicious,
uncooperative
Calm, secure,
self-satisfied
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Knowing one’s traits allows us to know him/her
better
Can be determined through personality tests
Can be utilized in determining relationships
between traits and other variables (ex. How
one’s traits are related to one’s current job)
Weaknesses of Trait Theories
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Limited only to describing personality; does NOT
explain how traits are acquired and how it can be
modified
Personality may tend to change according to a
given situation, so traits cannot be consistent all
the time