Chapter 14
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Personality-the consistent, enduring, and
unique, characteristics of a person.
First Purpose:
 To provide a way of organizing the many
characteristics you know about yourself and other
people.
▪ Ex. Outgoing or shy, quick tempered or calm, witty or
dull.
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Second Purpose:
 To explain the difference among individuals
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Third Purpose:
 Explore how people conduct their lives
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Fourth Purpose:
 Determine how life can be improved
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Sigmund Freud
 A neurologist who specialized in nervous
disorders.
 Suggested that everyone has a large unconscious
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Unconscious-the part of the mind that
contains material of which we are unaware
but that strongly influences conscious
processes and behaviors.
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Id: the part of the unconscious personality
that contains our needs, drives, instincts, and
repressed material.
 Ex. When you are born all of your energy is
invested in the Id, responding unconsciously to
inborn instinctive urges for food and water.
▪ Cookie monster on Sesame Street is pure id.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shbgRy
ColvE
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Ego: the part of the personality that is in
touch with reality and strives to meet the
demands of the id and the superego in
socially acceptable ways.
 Forms during the second and third years of life
▪ If a person is hungry the ego would recognize that the
body needs real food and that it will continue to need
food in the future.
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Superego: the part of the personality that is
the source of conscience and counteracts the
socially undesirable impulses of the id.
 The moral part of the personality, the source of
conscience and of high ideals that operates in
terms of moral principle.
The id represents
what the person
wants to do, the
ego plans what she
can do, and the
superego
advocates what
she should do.
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Certain specific means by which the ego
unconsciously protects itself against unpleasant
impulses or circumstances.
Rationalization
Repression
Denial
Projection
Reaction Formation
Regression
Displacement
Sublimation
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Get into groups of three or four people
Each group will be assigned a defense
mechanism
Write out a skit illustrating the defense
mechanism in action.
You will present your skit to the class.
After each group presents we will discuss as a
group the positive and negative effects of the
defense mechanism for the characters involved.
EVERYONE MUST PARTICIPATE!!!
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Freud’s associate
Disagreed with Freud on two points
 Jung ( Young) took a positive view of human nature, people develop
their potential as well as handle their instinctual urges. Introduced
analytic psychology ( mysticism and religion play a major role)
 He also distinguished between the personal unconscious and the
collective unconscious.
Collective unconscious- primitive concepts called archetypes.
The part of the mind that contains inherited instincts , urges, and
memories common to all people. Ex: evil witch, young hero,
nurturing mother. All cultures have these archetypes.
 Every person conscious sense of self integrates four functionsthinking, feeling, intuition, and sensation. He called the
integrating process individuation.
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Believed that the diving force in people’s lives
is a desire to overcome their feelings of
inferiority.
Everyone struggles with inferiority according
to Adler.
Inferiority complex- a pattern of avoiding
feelings of inadequacy rather than trying to
overcome their source.
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Erich Fromm- theory centered around the
need to belong and the loneliness that
freedom can bring.
Karen Horney-stressed the importance of
basic anxiety, which a child feels because she
is helpless, and basic hostility, a resentment
of one’s parents that generally accompanies
this anxiety
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Erik Erikson- outlined eight psychosocial
stages that every person goes through from
birth to old age and that describe the
importance of interacting with others.
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A trait is an aspect of personality that is reasonably
stable.
Main features of the trait approach states that traits are
consistent and unchanging.
Hippocrates: Greek physician believed that traits came
from biological combinations of body fluids.
Gordon Allport: 1930’s described traits as physical,
behavioral, and inherited. Combination of traits dictates
a person’s personality.
Hans Eysenck: focused on two dimensions of
personality
 Extroversion vs. Introversion and emotional stability-instability.
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Trait-a tendency to react to a situation in a
way that remains stable over time.
 Ex. Nice, smart, and arrogant.
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Trait theorists make two basic assumptions
 Every trait applies to all people
 These descriptions can be quantified
▪ Establishing a scale on which an extremely dependent
person scores 1 while a very independent person scores
10.
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Allport defined common traits as those that
apply to everyone and individual traits as
those that apply more to a specific person.
Three kinds of individual traits
 Cardinal trait-a characteristic or feature that is so
enveloping the person is almost identified with it
 Central trait-makes us predictable in most
situations
 Secondary trait-least important and have less
consistent influence
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Surface traits- a stable characteristic that can
be observed in certain situations
He came up with 46 surface traits.
Then he came up with 16 source traits
Source trait- a stable characteristic that can
be considered to be at the core of personality.
He believed that measuring those traits,
psychologists could predict people’s behavior
in certain situations.
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Extroverts: are sociable, outgoing, active,
lively people. They enjoy parties and seek
excitement.
Introverts: more thoughtful, reserved,
passive, unsociable, and quiet.
Five traits appear repeatedly in different
research studies. OCEAN
 Openness – (inventive/curious vs.
consistent/cautious). Appreciation for art,
emotion, adventure, unusual ideas, curiosity,
and variety of experience.
 Conscientiousness – (efficient/organized vs.
easy-going/careless). A tendency to show selfdiscipline, act dutifully, and aim for
achievement; planned rather than spontaneous
behavior.
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Extraversion – (outgoing/energetic vs.
solitary/reserved). Energy, positive emotions,
and the tendency to seek stimulation in the
company of others.
Agreeableness – (friendly/compassionate vs.
cold/unkind). A tendency to be compassionate
and cooperative rather than suspicious and
antagonistic towards others.
Neuroticism – (sensitive/nervous vs.
secure/confident). A tendency to experience
unpleasant emotions easily, such as anger,
anxiety, depression, or vulnerability.
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Work in pairs to complete your study guide.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsAShp
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbEGSDIk
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