Unit Ten:
Personality
What is Personality?

Definition



A relatively enduring set of behavioral,
emotional and mental characteristics
remains relatively stable over time
makes each of us unique
Begin Lec. 1 Guide
Enduring Issues in Psychology

Nature vs. Nurture

Is personality genetically encoded or learned?
Enduring Issues in Psychology

Unconscious or Conscious?

Do you know why you do what you do?
Enduring Issues in Psychology

Fixed vs. Situational

Is personality stable or does it change from
situation to situation?
Sigmund Freud
Background

Hot.
Victorian Era




A time of repression
Rigid gender roles separate spheres for males
and females
Clothing restricted
movement and covered
head to toe
Rumors said people were
even scandalized by bare
table and piano legs!
Queen Victoria of England
Sigmund Freud
Background

Personal History





Remarriage of his father
Older half-brothers
Young, doting mother
“Golden Sigi”
Favored over his other siblings
ABOVE: Freud and his
Dad. BELOW: Freud
and his Mom
Sigmund Freud
Three Main Beliefs
Childhood experiences determine the
adult personality
 Unconscious mental processes
influence everyday behavior
 Conflict causes most human behavior

Sigmund Freud
3-Part Theory of Personality Structure

Part 1: The Id
Born with this intact
 Governed by
“Pleasure Principle”
 Houses unconscious
drives of sex (libido)
and aggression
 Selfish, irrational,
seeks instant
gratification

DO IT NOW!
Sigmund Freud
3-Part Theory of Personality Structure

Part 2: The Superego





Develops during
childhood (6 years)
Governed by “Judicial”
or “Moral Principle”
The internalized parent
Seeks to do what is right
and good (conscience)
Causes us to feel guilty
for our desires/id
impulses
Behave!
Sigmund Freud
3-Part Theory of Personality Structure

Part 3: The Ego




Develops during
childhood (6 months)
Governed by “Reality
Principle”
Seeks to gratify Id
urges at an
appropriate time
Inherits inevitable
anxiety produced by
Id-Superego conflict
?
Sigmund Freud
Evidence for Existence of the Unconscious

Dream Interpretation



Dreams allow unconscious urges to leak
out
Dreams allow unconscious wishes to be
fulfilled in a safe way
Dreams are symbolic and may be
interpreted
Sigmund Freud
Evidence for Existence of the Unconscious

“Slip of the tongue”


AKA “Freudian Slip”
Your unconscious
thoughts leak out and
you say something you
did not mean to
Sigmund Freud
Evidence for Existence of the Unconscious

Free Association
Freudian therapeutic
technique
 Say whatever comes
to mind without
censorship
 Unconscious comes to
the surface

Sigmund Freud
Evidence for Existence of the Unconscious

“Tip of the Iceberg”
Freudian saying that
implies we are
unaware of most of
what motivates us
 What is conscious is
just the “tip of the
iceberg”
 A LOT more is
beneath the surface
S’up.

What we are aware of at
any given time.
What we can easily retrieve
What we are unaware of and
is deeply buried
Sigmund Freud
The Psychosexual Stages

Oral Stage (0-1.5)


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Erogenous Zone=Mouth
Libido satisfied by breast
feeding
Major conflict: weaning
Failure to resolve the issue
leads to an oral fixation
Suck/chew things for security
 Smoking, obsessive eating,
nail biting, pen chewing,
drinking
 Sarcasm, aggressiveness

Sigmund Freud
The Psychosexual Stages

Anal Stage (1.5-3)




Erogenous Zone=Anus
Libido satisfied by defecating
Major conflict: toilet training
Failure to resolve the issue
leads to an anal fixation


Anal Retentive - tightly
controlled, OCD, fear of dirt,
obsessed with punctuality
Anal Expulsive - messy,
disorganized, rebellious, overly
giving, obsession with
bathroom humor
I refuse!
Sigmund Freud
The Psychosexual Stages

Phallic Stage (4-6) BOYS



Erogenous Zone=Penis
Libido satisfied by genital
stimulation
Oedipus Complex



Boy desires mother, wants to
eliminate father
Uh-oh
Resolved through castration
anxiety, where boy fears father
will find out about his plan and
cut “it” off
Boy relinquishes desire for mom
and befriends dad out of fear
HA!
WT*!!
AHA!!
Sigmund Freud
The Psychosexual Stages

Phallic Stage (4-6) GIRLS



Erogenous Zone=Clitoris
Libido satisfied by genital
stimulation
Oedipus Complex



Resolved FAST due to PENIS ENVY
Girl then seeks penis through father
during Electra Complex
Girl resolves this by replacing her
desire for a penis with her desire for
a baby and plays with dolls
WHAT!?
MUAHAHAHA
Take
HAHAHAHA!
That!
Nope.
You don’t
have one.
Sigmund Freud
The Psychosexual Stages

Phallic Stage (4-6)


Major conflict: relinquishing desire for opposite sex
parent
Failure to resolve the issue leads to fixation
Excessive masturbation, overly flirtatious
 Excessive modesty, or excessively timid
 Overly proud
 Promiscuous

Sigmund Freud
The Psychosexual Stages

Latency (7-11)

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Erogenous
Zone=NONE
Child goes to school
Sexual feelings
repressed
Child develops
academic, social and
extracurricular skills
Typically plays in
same-sex play groups
Sigmund Freud
The Psychosexual Stages

Genital (puberty on)



Erogenous
Zone=Penis/Vagina
Begins when child hits
puberty/sexual
maturity
Normal sexual
relationships occur at
this stage
Hi, I’m your dad!
No he’s not.
Sigmund Freud
The Defense Mechanisms
The inevitable conflict between id and
superego produces anxiety.
 This anxiety is inherited by the ego,
which uses the defense mechanisms
to better manage it.

Sigmund Freud
The Defense Mechanisms

Denial (Negation)


Repression

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Taking on the characteristics of other to avoid feeling incompetent
Regression

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Attributing one’s own feelings, motives, or wishes to others
Identification


Unpleasant thoughts are excluded from consciousness; “motivated
forgetting”
Projection


Refusal to acknowledge a painful reality
Reverting to childlike behavior
Rationalization

Making up a logical explanation for an emotionally painful event rather
than dealing with the pain
Sigmund Freud
The Defense Mechanisms

Intellectualization

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Reaction formation

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Shift repressed motives from an original object to a substitute object
Sublimation

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Expression of exaggerated ideas and emotions that are opposite of true
feelings
Displacement


Thinking about stressful problems in an abstract way to detach oneself
from them
Redirecting repressed motives and feelings into socially acceptable
activities
Undoing

After-the-fact defense mechanism involving “making up” for guiltproducing actions
Neo Freudians
General Themes



The Neo-Freudians were a group of
psychologists who followed Freud’s teachings
and were often his best and brightest students.
They eventually had some minor disagreements
with Freud about his theory, and developed
theories of their own.
Freud had little patience for these dissenters,
and quickly kicked them to the curb.
Begin Lec. 2 Guide
Neo Freudians
Alfred Adler
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He was the younger, “weaker” son in his family
Inferiority was the key to understanding
personality
Inferiority complex

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Fixation on feelings of personal inferiority that can
lead to emotional and social paralysis
Fictional Finalism

Setting long-term goals that may never be reached,
but help you to achieve a sense of satisfaction along
the way
Neo Freudians
Alfred Adler

Birth Order

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Dethronement


Oldest
Middle
Youngest
Only
When the next child is born, the older one is forced to
share parental attention
Compensation

Our efforts to win back parental love after
dethronement
Neo Freudians
Karen Horney (Horn-EYE!)




One of the first female psychoanalysts to study
with Freud.
Got divorced to pursue her career – rare at the
time!
Viewed anxiety as a powerful motivating force
Environmental and social factors important seen
as being as important as unconscious sexual
conflict
Neo Freudians
Karen Horney

Developed Coping Mechanisms to deal
with insecurity


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Compliance – moving toward others
Aggression – moving against others
Withdrawal – moving away from others
Neurotic trends

Irrational strategies for coping with emotional
problems
Neo Freudians
Carl Jung

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One of Freud’s best students –
his “surrogate son”
Freud was said to have fainted
in his presence several times!
Believed in the collective
unconscious, in addition to the
personal unconscious
Collective unconscious was
comprised of archetypes
Neo Freudians
Erik Erikson
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

Another of Freud’s best students and biggest advocates
Strayed from Freud’s theory due to disagreement with the
psychosexual stages
Erikson believed in the psychosocial stages which involved
a series of conflicts that lasted throughout the entire
lifespan
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Trust vs. mistrust
Autonomy vs. shame and doubt
Initiative vs. guilt
Industry vs. inferiority
Identity vs. role confusion
Intimacy vs. isolation
Generativity vs. stagnation
Ego integrity vs. despair
Personality Assessment:
Psychodynamic Theories

Projective tests





Ambiguous stimuli presented to subject/client
Open-ended – no “correct” answer
Answers are interpreted by therapist for
underlying meaning
Preferred by psychodynamic theorists to
unleash the unconscious
Examples


Rorschach test
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Personality Assessment:
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)


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Developed by Henry Murray in 1935
Examiner chooses 10 cards with
ambiguous black-and-white drawings
of people in various situations
Subjects must tell a story about each
card
Results analyzed based on need for
achievement, affiliation, and
aggression
Heroes, needs, themes and outcomes
of the stories provide insight
Relies too much on the examiner’s
interpretation – little reliability/validity
Personality Assessment:
RorschachTest





Developed by Hermann
Rorschach in 1921
10 inkblots – 5 color, 5 bw
Subjects describe all 10 inkblots
Examiner then goes through
cards again and asks questions
for clarification/detail
Provides subject with
considerable freedom to respond,
but lacks reliability and validity.
Assessing Psychodynamic
Theories of Personality

Strengths


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Early experiences shape
personality and these
should be studied from a
developmental perspective
Human emotion and
motivation are important in
understanding personality
Concept of the unconscious
Therapeutic techniques

Criticisms




Untestable
Data to support this
theory comes primarily
from case studies based
on the memories of
clients, which we know
can be flawed
Pessimistic outlook on
human nature
Sexist/biased against
women
Humanistic Theories



As you already know, these theories stress the
potential for human goodness and the natural
desire to achieve personal goals
Unlike psychodynamic theories, humanistic
theories give individuals the power to control
their own destiny
Representatives include Abraham Maslow and
Carl Rogers
Begin Lec. 3 Guide
Humanistic Theories
Abraham Maslow
Humanistic Theories
Carl Rogers

REAL
SELF
IDEAL
SELF

Behavior is goal-directed and
worthwhile
Positive Regard



REAL
SELF
IDEAL
SELF
Conditional – you are only loved
when you conform to others’
wishes
Unconditional – you are loved no
matter what choices you make
Positive regard impacts
personality and happiness



Real self – what you really are
Ideal self – what you want to be
Should have some overlap – you
will if you get unconditional
positive regard!
Trait and Type Theories
Personality is best explained in terms
of descriptive adjectives and
categories comprised of related
qualities
 Earliest of all types of personality
theories
 Representatives include Hippocrates
and Galen, Allport and Eysenck

Trait and Type Theories
The Four Humors
The oldest theory of personality
structure dating back to the Classical
period (400 BCE)
 Personality can be explained by the
amounts of the four body fluids you
have at a given time
 A healthy personality meant a
balance of these body fluids (humors)

Trait and Type Theories
The Four Humors

A
B
Image from the Middle
Ages depicting the
personality types
associated with the four
humors.

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

D
C
Top Left (A): Melancholic
(Black Bile) moody, glum
Top Right (B): Choleric
(Yellow Bile) irritable and hot
tempered
Bottom Right (C): Phlegmatic
(Phlegm) slow and droopy
Bottom Left (D): Sanguine
(Red Bile) happy, energetic,
passionate
Trait and Type Theories
Gordon Allport



Allport perused the dictionary to extract every
possible adjective that could be used to describe
personality
After finding several thousand words, he decided
this task was…overwhelming
He decided to describe personality in terms of three
types of traits

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Cardinal Traits – DEFINING trait
Central Traits – top 8-10 descriptives
Secondary Traits – situational descriptives
Trait and Type Theories
Gordon Allport




Your assignment
tonight should
look like THIS
It SHOULD NOT
have your name
on it!
Typed, 12-point,
black ink TIMES
ROMAN font
Bring it
TOMORROW!
ALLPORT ANALYSIS
Cardinal Trait: (your DEFINING TRAIT)
1.
Central Traits: (one word – top 7 words that describe
you all the time)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Secondary Traits: (these should be phrases that
describe you in a particular situation)
1.
2.
3.
Trait and Type Theories
Hans Eysenck

Eysenck evaluated
personality based on 3 major
dimensions:

Stable vs. Unstable (Neurotic)



Introverted vs. Extroverted



Are you predictable?
Are you sponteneous?
Are you social and outgoing?
Are you reserved?
Psychoticism

Are you EXTREMELY stable,
unstable, introverted or
extroverted?
Trait and Type Theories
Big Five

The “Big Five” traits currently thought to be
central to describing personality (OCEAN)

Openness


Conscientiousness


Are you outgoing?
Agreeableness


Are you goal directed and driven?
Extroversion


Will you try new things? Do you keep an open mind? Are
you intelligent?
Are you a peace-maker or a trouble-maker?
Neuroticism/stability

Are you predictable? Do you enjoy routine?
Trait and Type Theories
Big Five


Why not try
eating
spiders?
Open to new
experiences…
NOT open…
I’m not
eating
that!
Hmpf!
Trait and Type Theories
Big Five

Conscientious…

Undirected…
I am
working ‘til
it’s DONE!
Whatever…
Trait and Type Theories
Big Five
I hate
people.
Yeeeehaw!

Introvert!

Extrovert!
Trait and Type Theories
Big Five
Break it up!
I am gonna
kick you’re
a**!

Agreeable…

Antagonistic…
Trait and Type Theories
Big Five
Did
someone
touch my
book!?!?!?!
I may
fetch…then
again, I may
maul you to
death…


Stable,
Predictable…
Unpredictable,
Neurotic…
Behaviorist Theories


Behaviorist theories claim that personality is
formed through environmental stimuli –
reinforcement and punishment.
Example psychologists include Albert Bandura,
John Watson and B.F. Skinner
Behaviorist Theories
Albert Bandura



Bandura believed people
will imitate what they
see others doing without
being directly reinforced.
He called this theory
observational
learning theory
His famous study was
called the Bobo Doll
Study pictured here…
Behaviorist Theories
Classical Conditioning


Some behaviorists like
Watson and Pavlov
believed aspects of
personality could be
learned simply by
pairing stimuli
together
Watson proved this in
his Baby Albert
experiment
Behaviorist Theories
Operant Conditioning

Some behaviorists like
Skinner believed that
personality could be
learned by being
reinforced or
punished for certain
behaviors.
You will
NOT
swear,
Johnny!
!@*#$
#$%$!
Cognitive Theories


Cognitive theorists believe that personality is
primarily a function of of thoughts and thought
processes.
Example cognitive theorists include Bandura,
Rotter and Mischel
Cognitive Theories
Julian Rotter


Rotter was a cognitive theorist who developed
the concept of locus of control.
People tend to have either an internal or
external locus of control.

Internal Locus of Control – things that happen in
your life are a result of your own actions.


E.g. “I made varsity because I spent the whole off-season
training to do so!”
External Locus of Control – things that happen in
your life are a result of forces beyond your control.

E.g. “I made varsity because my horoscope said I would
have a lucky day!”
Cognitive Theories
Albert Bandura




Bandura, who also could be considered a
cognitive theorist, believed that self efficacy
was important in understanding personality.
Self efficacy is defined as one’s belief that they
will be successful in the things they do.
Individuals with a higher sense of self efficacy
tend to be happier and more successful.
Interestingly, girls’ sense of self efficacy tends
to drop when they hit puberty. Why?
Cognitive Theories
Walter Mischel



Mischel believed in the concept of selfregulation.
This accounts for the fact that people often
change their personality depending on the
situation they are in.
In the process of self-regulation, people
change their actions and responses on the
basis of past experiences as well as an
assessment of the current situation.
Personality Assessment:
How do we measure personality?

Objective tests – Standardized, closed-ended





Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (Cattell’s
16PF)
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2)
Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory
Preferred by trait and type theorists
Projective tests – Ambiguous stimuli



Rorschach test
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Preferred by psychodynamic theorists to unleash the
unconscious
Personality Assessment

The personal interview/Assessment interview


Direct observation/Naturalistic Observation


As previously discussed, can get very honest information
Self Monitoring



1 to 1 direct questioning
Method of personality regulation used when you want to
change an aspect of your personality
Record all thoughts and behaviors surrounding a
behavioral pattern you want to change to try to eliminate
triggers
Neuropsychological Assessment

Use technology to monitor brain activity during certain
behaviors or thought processes to understand organic
causes of personality traits