AP Personality
What is personality?
• The patterns of behaviors, beliefs, and
characteristics of an individual. These patterns
are relatively stable.
Theories of personality
1. Psychoanalytic (Sigmund Freud)
- Freud believed that people are generally
unpleasant, but are effective at hiding it from
themselves/each other
- Personality evolves from unresolved childhood
conflicts and/or unconscious sexual/violent
desires.
Psychoanalytic Theory
• Freud believed the mind operated at three levels.
1. unconscious: the hidden unacceptable self
2. preconscious: person aware, but not concentrating at
present
3. Conscious: the current self
- Personality is a two-part process formed by the
unconscious:
A. Thanatos: Death, the dark unpleasant side
B. Eros: love, self-preservation
Thanatos and Eros form a person’s libido, which is formed of
life instincts, particularly sex
Freud’s Five-Stage Process of
Personality Formation
• According to Freud, personality is formed over the first 10-12 years of life.
1. Oral: sexual enjoyment derived from putting objects into the mouth.
2. Anal: focus on toilet training, bowel control.
3. Phallic: genital identification
Males: Fear castration by their fathers, seek an exclusive relationship with
mothers (Oedipus Complex).
Females: Seek having their own male genitalia (penis envy), seek an exclusive
relationship with their father (Electra Complex).
4. Latency (6-11 years): libido becomes hidden
5. Genital (11 plus): sexual impulses reappear
First three stages most important, inability to pass successfully through these
stages will result in fixation. This will manifest itself in certain behaviors in
adulthood.
Personality Formation
The personality formed will have three parts.
1. Id (Unconscious): seeks pleasure. According
to Freud, we are all id at birth.
2. Ego (conscious/preconscious): involved in
problem-solving and rational thought.
3. Superego (all levels): a person’s ideal
behavior/conscience. Develops during
childhood.
Defense Mechanisms
According to Freud, defense mechanisms are
methods employed by an individual
unconsciously to keep the ego from being
overwhelmed by anxiety/unhealthy thoughts.
Types of Defense Mechanisms
1. Repression: unconscious blocking of event.
Suppression is the conscious blocking of
event.
2. Denial: refusal to accept reality
3. Displacement: taking frustration out on
weaker party not responsible as the source of
frustration
4. Sublimnation: channeling frustration into
positive acceptable behaviors
Defense Mechanisms, continued
5. Projection: placing one’s unacceptable
behavior to another.
6. Rationalization: finding excuses for behavior
7. Reaction Formation: It’s opposite day. Acting
in direct opposition to your true feelings (e.g.
you love what you hate).
8. Regression: acting out in an age-inappropriate
matter.
Criticisms of Freud
• Based on case studies, not on empirical
research.
• Research based on narrow class of individuals
(upper-class Europeans)
• Lack of replication
• Overemphasis on sex
• Freud is still important for getting people
interested in the subject
Other Personality Theories
1. Psychodynamic (neo-Freudian)
- Theories emphasize unconscious/childhood
experiences, but de-emphasize sex drives
A. Carl Jung: Spiritual emphasis on unconscious .
I. Personal unconscious: repressed individual
memories that are unpleasant
II. Collective unconscious: set of inherited
images/experiences found throughout humanity. Images
are known as archetypes.
shadow: the repressed dark side
persona: what the person shows the outside world
• Jung introduced two terms that still describe
personality types:
1. Extroverts: confident, social, externally
focused
2. Introverts: internal focus, quiet, less social
B. Alfred Adler: focus is on social interactions
and conscious thoughts.
-people are striving for superiority: meaning
that they are seeking to conquer challenges, not
gain control over others.
- Inferiority complex: criticism/failure may cause
fear, social withdrawal, or oversized need to
compete/succeed.
C. Karen Horney
- Women do not seek to have their own penis, but
want the social power associated with being
male.
- Some males have womb envy: want the ability to
give birth
- Children will develop into healthy adults if they
have a positive relationship with their parents. If
this fails to occur, child may develop basic anxiety.
D. Erik Erikson: Personality is developed through
the successful resolution of conflicts that occurs
throughout life.
This concludes the Neo-Freudian Section
Other personality theories
2. Humanist: People are good, creative, and seek
personal freedom for themselves/each other.
The goal of an individual is self-actualization,
which is the desire to become all that you can
be.
A. Carl Rogers: Focused on the idea of selfconcept, what we think we are.
Self-concept can be congruent (based on reality)
or incongruent (not based on reality)
According to Rogers, a child’s self-concept can
be blocked by conditions of worth, where
parents/authority figure attach elements
inconsistent with self-concept. Children need
unconditional positive regard. This is created
through acceptance, genuineness, and empathy.
Unanswered question: Is self-esteem cause or
effect? Studies unclear.
C. Abraham Maslow: Hierarchy of Needs (Refer to
Motivation and Emotion section.
D. Ed Diener: What makes people happy? Generally:
1. Making goals
2. Achieving goals
3. Creating new goals
End of Humanist section
Other Personality Theories
3. Behaviorism (John Watson, B.F. Skinner)
- What is called personality is simply a function of
environment/consequences
- Free will is not a factor!
4. Social Cognitive (Albert Bandura)
- Personality developed by thoughts, personal
characteristics, and social interactions
- Reciprocal determinism: a person will do
actions/behaviors that will reinforce their personality
- Self-efficacy: what does an individual believe they are
capable of doing?