PERSONALITY Personality PERSONALITY The dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environment. Personality Defining Personality • Personality is the combination of behavior, emotion, motivation, and thought patterns that define an individual…. that makes you definitely you!!! • Personality psychology attempts to study similarities and differences in these patterns among different people and groups. • Personality may change overtime MEASURING PERSONALITY • Self-report surveys • Observer-ratings surveys • Projective measures [Inkblot Test] Week 6 Personality PERSONALITY DETERMINANTS • Heredity • Environment Week 6 Personality Approaches to Studying Personality • Research into these five philosophical questions has branched into several different approaches to studying personality. • • • • Trait Theories Psychoanalytic theories Behavioral Theories Humanist Theories Some theories focus on explaining how personality develops while others are concerned with individual differences in personality. Trait Theories: Placing Labels on Personality • Trait Theory: A model of personality that seeks to identify the basic traits necessary to describe personality • Traits: Consistent personality characteristics and behaviors displayed in different situations THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY MODEL • A personality assessment model that taps five basic dimensions. • • • • • Extraversion Agreeableness. Conscientiousness. Emotional stability. Openness to experience. Week 6 Personality Big Five Model • Five Traits: • Extraversion: A personality dimension describing someone who is sociable, gregarious, and assertive. • Agreeableness: A personality dimension that describes someone who is good natured, cooperative, and trusting. • Conscientiousness: A personality dimension that describes someone who is responsible, dependable, persistent, and organized. • Emotional Stability: A personality dimension that characterizes someone as calm, self-confident, and secure versus nervous, depressed, and insecure. • Openness to Experience: A personality dimension that characterizes someone in terms of imagination, sensitivity, and curiosity Big Five Personality Traits • Openness to experience • Independent, imaginative, preference for variety • Conscientiousness • Careful, disciplined, organized • Extraversion • Talkative, fun-loving, sociable • Agreeableness • Sympathetic, kind, appreciative • Neuroticism • Stable, calm, secure Big Five Factor Model Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory: Mapping the unconscious mind • Freud’s theory that unconscious forces act as determinants of personality • Sigmund Freud proposed that psychic energy could be converted into behavior. • Thermodynamics- converting heat into mechanical energy • He proposed that human behavior is the result of the interaction among various components of the mind (the id, ego, and superego). 1) Id, ego, super ego (personality development) • These are systems, not parts of the brain, or in any way physical. Structuring Personality: ID, EGO and SUPERGO • id: Unorganized inborn part of personality whose sole purpose is to reduce tension created by primitive drives related to hunger, aggression, and irrational impulses • Ego: The part of personality that provides buffer between id and the outside world • Supergo: According to Freud, the final personality structure to develop; it represents the rights and wrongs of society as handed down by a person’s parents, teachers and other important figures Examples of ID (Or It) • Sally was thirsty. Rather than waiting for the server to refill her glass of water, she reached across the table and drank from Mr. Smith’s water glass, much to his surprise. • A hungry baby cried until he was fed. • Michael saw a $5 bill fall out of Nick’s backpack as he pulled his books out of his locker. As Nick walked away, Michael bent over, picked up the money, and slipped it into his pocket, glancing around to make sure no one was looking. Ego (Or I) • Like the id, the ego seeks pleasure and avoids pain, but unlike the id the ego is concerned with devising a realistic strategy to obtain pleasure. Freud made the analogy of the id being a horse while the ego is the rider. The ego is 'like a man on horseback, who has to hold in check the superior strength of the horse' (Freud, 1923, p.15). Cont.. • The ego has no concept of right or wrong; something is good simply if it achieves its end of satisfying without causing harm to itself or to the id. Examples of Ego • Sally was thirsty. However, she knew that her server would be back soon to refill her water glass, so she waited until then to get a drink, even though she really just wanted to drink from Mr. Smith’s glass. • Even though Michael needed money, he decided not to steal the money from the cash register because he didn’t want to get in trouble. The Superego (or above I) • The superego incorporates the values and morals of society which are learned from one's parents and others. • It develops around the age of 3 – 5 • The superego's function is to control the id's impulses, especially those which society forbids. Examples of Super Ego • Sarah knew that she could steal the supplies from work and no one would know about it. However, she knew that stealing was wrong, so she decided not to take anything even though she would probably never get caught. • When Michael saw the $5 bill lying on the floor with no one around it, he turned it into the school office in case anyone came looking for it. He wouldn’t want to lose $5, and hoped that whoever had lost it would ask about it in the office. SKINNER’S BEHAVIORIST APPROACH • According to the most influential learning theorist, B. F. Skinner (who carried out pioneering work on operant conditioning), personality is a collection of learned behavior patterns (Skinner, 1975). Similarities in responses across different situations are caused by similar patterns of reinforcement that have been received in such situations in the past. Humanistic Approach • Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need Theories that emphasize people’s innate goodness and desire to achieve higher levels of functioning. THE MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR • A personality test that taps four characteristics and classifies people into 1 of 16 personality types. • • • • Extraverted (E) versus Introverted (I). Sensing (S) versus Intuitive (N). Thinking (T) versus Feeling (F). Judging (J) versus Perceiving (P). Week 6 Personality Week 6 Personality • Extraversion and Introversion - The first pair of styles is concerned with the direction of your energy. If you prefer to direct your energy to deal with people, things, situations, or "the outer world", then your preference is for Extraversion. If you prefer to direct your energy to deal with ideas, information, explanations or beliefs, or "the inner world", then your preference is for Introversion. • Sensing and Intuition - The second pair concerns the type of information/things that you process. If you prefer to deal with facts, what you know, to have clarity, or to describe what you see, then your preference is for Sensing. If you prefer to deal with ideas, look into the unknown, to generate new possibilities or to anticipate what isn't obvious, then your preference is for Intuition. The letter N is used for intuition because I has already been allocated to Introversion. • Thinking and Feeling - The third pair reflects your style of decisionmaking. If you prefer to decide on the basis of objective logic, using an analytic and detached approach, then your preference is for Thinking. If you prefer to decide using values - i.e. on the basis of what or who you believe is important - then your preference is for Feeling. • Judgment and Perception - The final pair describes the type of lifestyle you adopt. If you prefer your life to be planned and wellstructured then your preference is for Judging. This is not to be confused with 'Judgmental', which is quite different. If you prefer to go with the flow, to maintain flexibility and respond to things as they arise, then your preference is for Perception.
