Psych 370: Exam 4 concept review Factor analysis: What is it and roughly what does it do? •Individual differences – People differ in their traits, as measured by personality tests • Adjustment – Maladjustment can be described in terms of combinations of traits, which can be measured reliably with tests • Cognition – Mental abilities can be measured objectively • Society/culture – Group level (national and cultural) differences exist and can be measured. Factor structures of tests are generally universal, cross culturally • Biology – Various traits are thought to have a biological etiology • Development – Adult personality is assumed to be stable Humanistic approach: What are its major premises and assumptions? How did it develop? - a holistic-dynamic theory because it assumes that the whole person is constantly being motivated by one need or another and that people have the potential to grow toward psychological health, that is, self-actualization. - To attain self-actualization, people must satisfy lower level needs such as hunger, safety, love, and esteem. Only after they are relatively satisfied in each of these needs can they reach self-actualization. - Growth-oriented psychology • Maslow eschewed scientific method • People develop through various levels to their full potential • Some make it all the way, but most don’t • Focused on those who do Humanistic significance of acorns Idiographic or nomothetic: Maslow? Rogers? Trait theory? - Idiographic: Maslow, Rogers - Nomothetic: trait theory Maslow: How did he develop his theory? - Abraham Maslow took a phenomenological approach to the study of human beings and were interested only in documenting the conscious experience of the individual or ‘self’. In describing themselves as ‘anti-scientific’, humanistic psychologists were more concerned with investigating unique experience ‘on its own merits’ than producing general laws of behaviour Maslow’s need hierarchy: what are the levels, what order do they follow, what does each level mean? - Maslow’s hierarchy of needs concept assumes that lower level needs must be satisfied or at least relatively satisfied before higher level needs become motivators. - The five needs composing this hierarchy are conative needs, meaning that they have a striving or motivational character. - These needs, which Maslow often referred to as basic needs, can be arranged on a hierarchy or staircase, with each ascending step representing a higher need but one less basic to survival (see Figure 9.1). - Lower level needs have prepotency over higher level needs; that is, they must be satisfied or mostly satisfied before higher level needs become activated. Conative needs: Physiological Needs - The most basic needs of any person are physiological needs, including food, water, oxygen, maintenance of body temperature, and so on. - Physiological needs are the most prepotent of all. Perpetually hungry people are motivated to eat—not to make friends or gain self-esteem. - They do not see beyond food, and as long as this need remains unsatisfied, their primary motivation is to obtain something to eat. Safety Needs - When people have partially satisfied their physiological needs, they become motivated by safety needs, including physical security, stability, dependency, protection, and freedom from threatening forces such as war, terrorism, illness, fear, anxiety, danger, chaos, and natural disasters. - The needs for law, order, and structure are also safety needs (Maslow, 1970). Love and Belongingness Needs - After people partially satisfy their physiological and safety needs, they become motivated by love and belongingness needs, such as the desire for friendship; the wish for a mate and children; the need to belong to a family, a club, a neighborhood, or a nation. - Love and belongingness also include some aspects of sex and human contact as well as the need to both give and receive love (Maslow, 1970). Esteem Needs - To the extent that people satisfy their love and belongingness needs, they are free to pursue esteem needs, which include self-respect, confidence, competence, and the knowledge that others hold them in high esteem. - Maslow (1970) identified two levels of esteem needs—reputation and self-esteem. Reputation is the perception of the prestige, recognition, or fame a person has achieved in the eyes of others, whereas self-esteem is a person’s own feelings of worth and confidence. Self-Actualization Needs - Self-actualization needs include self-fulfillment, the realization of all one’s potential, and a desire to become creative in the full sense of the word (Maslow, 1970). - People who have reached the level of self-actualization become fully human, satisfying needs that others merely glimpse or never view at all. - They are natural in the same sense that animals and infants are natural; that is, they express their basic human needs and do not allow them to be suppressed by culture. - Self-actualizing people maintain their feelings of self-esteem even when scorned, rejected, and dismissed by other people. - In other words, self-actualizers are not dependent on the satisfaction of either love or esteem needs; they become independent from the lower level needs that gave them birth. (We present a more complete sketch of self-actualizing people in the section titled Self-Actualization.) 3 other categories of needs: Aesthetic Needs - Unlike conative needs, aesthetic needs are not universal, but at least some people in every culture seem to be motivated by the need for beauty and aesthetically pleasing experiences (Maslow, 1967). From the days of the cave dwellers down to the present time, some people have produced art for art’s sake. Cognitive Needs- Most people have a desire to know, to solve mysteries, to understand, and to be curious. Maslow (1970) called these desires cognitive needs. When cognitive needs are blocked, all needs on Maslow’s hierarchy are threatened; that is, knowledge is necessary to satisfy each of the five conative needs. People can gratify their physiological needs by knowing how to secure food, safety needs by knowing how to build a shelter, love needs by knowing how to relate to people, esteem needs by knowing how to acquire some level of self-confidence, and self-actualization by fully using their cognitive potential. Neurotic Needs- The satisfaction of conative, aesthetic, and cognitive needs is basic to one’s physical and psychological health, and their frustration leads to some level of illness. However, neurotic needslead only to stagnation and pathology (Maslow, 1970). - By definition, neurotic needs are nonproductive. They perpetuate an unhealthy style of life and have no value in the striving for self-actualization. Neurotic needs are usually reactive; that is, they serve as compensation for unsatisfied basic needs. Maslow’s notion of self-actualization: What characteristics do self-actualized people show? ❏ Criterion - they were free from psychopathology. They were neither neurotic nor psychotic nor did they have a tendency toward psychological disturbances. This point is an important negative criterion because some neurotic and psychotic individuals have some things in common with self-actualizing people: namely, such characteristics as a heightened sense of reality, mystical experiences, creativity, and detachment from other people. Maslow eliminated from the list of possible self-actualizing people anyone who showed clear signs of psychopathology—excepting some psychosomatic illnesses. - these self-actualizing people had progressed through the hierarchy of needs and therefore lived above the subsistence level of existence and had no ever-present threat to their safety. Also, they experienced love and had a well-rooted sense of self-worth. Because they had their lower level needs satisfied, self-actualizing people were better able to tolerate the frustration of these needs, even in the face of criticism and scorn. They are capable of loving a wide variety of people but have no obligation to love everyone. - Maslow’s third criterion for self-actualization was the embracing of the B-values. His self-actualizing people felt comfortable with and even demanded truth, beauty, justice, simplicity, humor, and each of the other B-values that we discuss later. - The final criterion for reaching self-actualization was “full use and exploitation of talents, capacities, potentialities, etc.” (Maslow, 1970, p. 150). In other words, his self-actualizing individuals fulfilled their needs to grow, to develop, and to increasingly become what they were capable of becoming. ❏ B-values: - Self-actualizing people are motivated by the “eternal verities,” what he called B-values. These “Being” values are indicators of psychological health and are opposed to deficiency needs, which motivate non-self-actualizers. - B-values are not needs in the same sense that food, shelter, or companionship are. Maslow termed B-values “metaneeds” to indicate that they are the ultimate level of needs. - He distinguished between ordinary need motivation and the motives of self-actualizing people, which he called metamotivation. Metamotivation is characterized by expressive rather than coping behavior and is associated with the B-values. It differentiates self-actualizing people from those who are not. ❏ Characteristics - More Ef icient Perception of Reality - Acceptance of Self, Others, and Nature - Spontaneity, Simplicity, and Naturalness - Problem-Centering - The Need for Privacy - Autonomy - Freshness of Appreciation - The Peak Experience - Gemeinschaftsgefühl ❖ Gemeinschaftsgefühl, Adler’s term for social interest, community feeling, or a sense of oneness with all humanity. ❖ Maslow found that his self-actualizers had a kind of caring attitude toward other people. ❖ Although they often feel like aliens in a foreign land, self-actualizers nevertheless identify with all other people and have a genuine interest in helping others—strangers as well as friends. - Profound Interpersonal Relations ❖ Quality of interpersonal relations that involves deep and profound feelings for individuals. ❖ Self-actualizers have a nurturant feeling toward people in general, but their close friendships are limited to only a few. ❖ They have no frantic need to be friends with everyone, but the few important interpersonal relationships they do have are quite deep and intense. - The Democratic Character Structure ❖ Maslow found that all his self-actualizers possessed democratic values. ❖ They could be friendly and considerate with other people regardless of class, color, age, or gender, and in fact, they seemed to be quite unaware of superficial differences among people. - Discrimination Between Means and Ends ❖ Self-actualizing people have a clear sense of right and wrong conduct and have little conflict about basic values. ❖ They set their sights on ends rather than means and have an unusual ability to distinguish between the two. What other people consider to be a means (e.g., eating or exercising), self-actualizing people often see as an end in itself. - Philosophical Sense of Humor - Creativeness ❖ Maslow suggested that creativity and self-actualization may be one and the same. Not all self-actualizers are talented or creative in the arts, but all are creative in their own way. - Resistance to Enculturation ❖ self-actualizing people have a sense of detachment from their surroundings and are able to transcend a particular culture. They are neither antisocial nor consciously nonconforming. Rather, they are autonomous, following their own standards of conduct and not blindly obeying the rules of others Peak experiences: What are they, what are the common characteristics of them? - An intense mystical experience, often characteristic to self-actualized people but not limited to them. - Not all peak experiences are of equal intensity; some are only mildly sensed, others moderately felt, and some are quite intensely experienced. - In their mild form, these peak experiences probably occur in everyone, although they are seldom noticed. - These experiences cannot be brought on by an act of the will; often they occur at unexpected, quite ordinary moments. - First, peak experiences are quite natural and are part of human makeup. - Second, people having a peak experience see the whole universe as unified or all in one piece, and they see clearly their place in that universe. - Also, during this mystical time, peakers feel both more humble and more powerful at the same time. They feel passive, receptive, more desirous of listening, and more capable of hearing. - Simultaneously, they feel more responsible for their activities and perceptions, more active, and more self-determined. - Peakers experience a loss of fear, anxiety, and conflict and become more loving, accepting, and spontaneous. - Although peakers often report such emotions as awe, wonder, rapture, ecstasy, reverence, humility, and surrender, they are not likely to want to get something practical from the experience. - They often experience a disorientation in time and space, a loss of self-consciousness, an unselfish attitude, and an ability to transcend everyday polarities. - The peak experience is unmotivated, nonstriving, and nonwishing, and during such an experience, a person experiences no needs, wants, or deficiencies. - In addition, Maslow (1964) says, “The peak experience is seen only as beautiful, good, desirable, worthwhile, etc., and is never experienced as evil or undesirable” (p. 63). Maslow also believed that the peak experience often has a lasting effect on a person’s life. Phenomenological view: What is it? - The focus of phenomenologic inquiry is what people experience in regard to some phenomenon or other and how they interpret those experiences. - A phenomenological research study is a study that attempts to understand people's perceptions, perspectives and understandings of a particular situation Positive psychology: What is it? - Positive Psychology is the scientific study of human flourishing, and an applied approach to optimal functioning. - It has also been defined as the study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals, communities and organisations to thrive. Rogers’ actualizing tendency and organismic valuing process Actualizing tendency • Innate force for growth and development • Fundamental process that drives all other motivations • Organismic valuing process • A person’s inner sense that guides him or her in the direction of growth and health • You are naturally inclined to reach your highest potential and become your best possible self • Every person is intrinsically good • So why do people do bad things or become otherwise dysfunctional? - the actualizing tendency, or the tendency within all humans (and other animals and plants) to move toward completion or fulfillment of potentials. - This tendency is the only motive people possess. - The need to satisfy one’s hunger drive, to express deep emotions when they are felt, and to accept one’s self are all examples of the single motive of actualization. - Because each person operates as one complete organism, actualization involves the whole person—physiological and intellectual, rational and emotional, conscious and unconscious. - Carl Rogers described our actualizing tendency as being an 'organismic valuing process', where we select goals based on our inner nature and purpose. Rogers’ conditions of worth and unconditional positive regard - That is, the person develops a need to be loved, liked, or accepted by another person, a need that Rogers (1959)referred to as positive regard. If we perceive that others, especially significant others, care for, prize, or value us, then our need to receive positive regard is at least partially satisfied. - Instead of receiving unconditional positive regard, most people receive conditions of worth; that is, they perceive that their parents, peers, or partners love and accept them only if they meet those people’s expectations and approval. - “A condition of worth arises when the positive regard of a significant other is conditional, when the individual feels that in some respects he [or she] is prized and in others not” - Our perceptions of other people’s view of us are called external evaluations. These evaluations, whether positive or negative, do not foster psychological health but, rather, prevent us from being completely open to our own experiences Rogers’ notion of a fully-functioning person: What characteristics do they show? 1. Rogers’ positive self-regard - Positive regard is a prerequisite for positive self-regard, defined as the experience of prizing or valuing one’s self. Rogers (1959) believed that receiving positive regard from others is necessary for positive self-regard, but once positive self-regard is established, it becomes independent of the continual need to be loved. Rogers’ congruence versus incongruence; real versus ideal self - The self-concept includes all those aspects of one’s being and one’s experiences that are perceived in awareness (though not always accurately) by the individual. The self-concept is not identical with the organismic self. Portions of the organismic self may be beyond a person’s awareness or simply not owned by that person. - An established self-concept does not make change impossible, merely difficult. Change most readily occurs in an atmosphere of acceptance by others, which allows a person to reduce anxiety and threat and to take ownership of previously rejected experiences. - The second subsystem of the self is the ideal self, defined as one’s view of self as one wishes to be. The ideal self contains all those attributes, usually positive, that people aspire to possess. - A wide gap between the ideal self and the self-concept indicates incongruence and an unhealthy personality. Psychologically healthy individuals perceive little discrepancy between their self-concept and what they ideally would like to be. The Big Five factors: What are they, what are their relative factor strengths, what characteristics are typical of people who are high on each factor? What evidence is there that the five factors are real? Big Five Factors ❖ Extraversion - Routinely found by factor analytic methods - Talkative, passionate, active, dominant, sociable - Opposite (introversion): quiet, unfeeling, passive, shy - Marked by “energetic happiness” - Fun-loving • Interactive - Work well in groups - Sexual ❖ Agreeableness - Good-natured, soft-hearted, trusting, cooperative - Opposite: Cruel, ruthless, suspicious - Getting along with others - Values harmony - Avoids conflict ❖ Conscientiousness - Hardworking, ambitious, responsible - Opposite: Negligent, lazy, aimless, irresponsible - Tendency to be orderly and self-disciplined - Achievement oriented • Successful - Predicts job satisfaction, income, occupational status, good employer evaluations, life satisfaction - Lower social deviance - Health and stability ❖ Neuroticism - Worrying, emotional, vulnerable, anxious - Opposite (emotional stability): calm, unemotional, hardy - Marked by negative affect and emotional lability - Interpersonal problems - Life problems - Low life satisfaction ❖ Openness - Sense of being artistic, curious, creative, imaginative, insightful, original, having wide interests, liking variety - Opposite: mundane, down-to-earth, preference for routine - Progressiveness - Aesthetic appreciation - Non-authoritarian - Growth and creativity - Low need for structure Criticisms • Content but not process • Taxonomy rather than a real theory • Development? • Assumption of stability • Low clinical utility • Nomothetic approach • Lacking in richness • What is missing? • “Gary Busey” problem • Is there a “there” there? • Why do certain traits “hang together”? • Inductive approach, susceptible to bias • Reflects implicit personality theory? Trait theory: Major criticisms, ways of establishing the validity of trait factors - First, do trait and factor theories generate research? On this criterion, the Five-Factor Model of Costa and McCrae must be rated very high. The trait theory of McCrae and Costa and other advocates of the Big Five personality structure have also generated large amounts of empirical research. That research has shown that the traits of extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness are not limited to Western nations, but are found in a wide variety of cultures, using myriad translations of the revised NEO-PI (McCrae, 2002). In addition, McCrae and Costa have found that basic personality traits are somewhat flexible up to about age 30, but, after that time, they remain quite stable over the lifespan. - Second, are trait and factor theories falsifiable? On this criterion, trait and factor theories receive a moderate to high rating. The work of McCrae and Costa lends itself to falsification, even though some of the research coming from non-Western countries suggests that traits other than the Big Five may be needed to explain personality in Asian countries. - Third, trait and factor theories are rated high on their ability to organize knowledge. Anything that is truly known about personality should be reducible to some quantity. Anything that can be quantified can be measured, and anything that can be measured can be factor analyzed. The extracted factors then provide a convenient and accurate description of personality in terms of traits. These traits, in turn, can present a framework for organizing many disparate observations about human personality. - The final criterion of a useful theory is parsimony. Ideally, trait and factor theories should receive an excellent rating on this standard, because factor analysis is predicated on the idea of the fewest explanatory factors possible. In other words, the very purpose of factor analysis is to reduce a large number of variables to as few as possible. This approach is the essence of parsimony.
