Personality and Social Psychology
Unit Five
Psychology 12
Personality: Some Terms
Personality: a person’s internally based characteristic way of
acting and thinking
Character: Personal characteristics that have been judged or
evaluated
Temperament: Hereditary aspects of personality, including
sensitivity, moods, irritability, and distractibility
Personality Trait: Stable qualities that a person shows in most
situations
Personality Type: People who have several traits in common
Types of Personality Theories
Trait Theories: Attempt to learn what traits make up personality
and how they relate to actual behavior
Psychodynamic Theories: Focus on the inner workings of
personality, especially internal conflicts and struggles
Humanistic Theories: Focus on private, subjective experience
and personal growth
Social-Cognitive Theories: Attribute difference in personality to
socialization, expectations, and mental processes
Personality Theory: System of concepts, assumptions, ideas,
and principles proposed to explain personality.
Jung’s Theory of Two Types
Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist who was a Freudian disciple,
believed that we are one of two personality types:
• Introvert: Shy, self-centered person whose attention is
focused inward
• Extrovert: Bold, outgoing person whose attention is directed
outward
Eysenck’s Three Factor Theory
Hans Eysenck, English psychologist, believed that there are
three fundamental factors in personality:
• Introversion versus Extroversion
• Emotionally Stable versus Unstable (neurotic)
• Impulse Control versus Psychotic
Eysenck’s Theory, continued
The first two factors create 4 combinations, related to the four
basic temperaments recognized by ancient Greeks:
• Melancholic (introverted + unstable): sad, gloomy
• Choleric (extroverted + unstable): hot-tempered, irritable
• Phlegmatic (introverted + stable): sluggish, calm
• Sanguine (extroverted + stable): cheerful, hopeful
Show Video
http://www.learner.org/series/disc
overingpsychology/16/e16expand.
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Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Sigmund Freud, M.D.,a Viennese physician who thought his
patients’ problems were more emotional than physical.
Freud began his work by using hypnosis and eventually
switched to psychoanalysis.
Freud had many followers: Jung and Adler, to name a few.
More than 100 years later, his work is still influential and very
controversial
The Id, Ego, and Superego
Id: Innate biological instincts and urges; self-serving &
irrational
• Totally unconscious
• Works on Pleasure Principle: Wishes to have its desires
(pleasurable) satisfied NOW, without waiting and regardless
of the consequences
Ego: Executive; directs id energies
• Partially conscious and partially unconscious
• Works on Reality Principle: Delays action until it is practical
and/or appropriate
The Id, Ego, and Superego,
continued
Superego: Judge or censor for thoughts and actions of the
ego
• Superego comes from our parents or caregivers; guilt
comes from the superego
• Two parts
- Conscience: Reflects actions for which a person has
been punished (e.g., what we shouldn’t do or be)
- Ego Ideal: Second part of the superego; reflects
behavior one’s parents approved of or rewarded (e.g.,
what we should do or be)
Levels of Awareness
Conscious: Everything you are aware of at a given moment
Preconscious: Material that can easily be brought into awareness
Unconscious: Holds repressed memories and emotions and the id’s
instinctual drives
Cause of Anxiety
Ego is always caught in the middle of battles between superego’s
desires for moral behavior and the id’s desires for immediate
gratification
Neurotic Anxiety: Caused by id impulses that the ego can
barely control
Moral Anxiety: Comes from threats of punishment from the
superego
Defense mechanism: a process used by the ego to distort
reality and protect a person from anxiety
Examples of Defense Mechanisms
Regression: Ego seeks the security of an earlier developmental
period in the face of stress.
Displacement: Ego shifts unacceptable feelings from one object to
another, more acceptable object.
Sublimation: Ego replaces an unacceptable impulse with a
socially acceptable one
Reaction Formation: Ego transforms an unacceptable motive or
feeling into its opposite.
Projection: Ego attributes personal shortcomings, problems, and
faults to others.
Rationalization: Ego justifies an unacceptable motive by giving a
false acceptable (but false) reason for behavior
Personality Development
According to Freud, personality develops in stages; everyone
goes through same stages in same order. Majority of
personality is formed before age 6
Erogenous Zone: Area on body capable of producing
pleasure
Fixation: Unresolved conflict or emotional hang-up caused by
overindulgence or frustration
Stages of
Personality Development
Oral Stage: Ages 0-1. Most of infant’s pleasure comes from stimulation
of the mouth. If a child is overfed or frustrated, oral traits will develop.
• Oral Dependent Personality: Gullible, passive, and need lots of
attention. Fixations create oral-aggressive adults who like to argue
and exploit others.
• Erogenous zone: mouth (oral)
Anal Stage: Ages 1-3. Attention turns to process of elimination. Child
can gain approval or express aggression by letting go or holding on. Ego
develops. Harsh or lenient toilet training can make a child either:
• Anal Retentive: Stubborn, stingy, orderly, and compulsively clean
• Anal Expulsive: Disorderly, messy, destructive, or cruel
• Erogenous zone: anus
Stages of Personality
Development, continued
Phallic Stage: Ages 3-6. Child now notices and is physically attracted
to opposite sex parent. Can lead to:
• Oedipus Conflict: For boys only. Boy feels rivalry with his father for
his mother’s affection. Boy may feel threatened by father (castration
anxiety). To resolve, boy must identify with his father (i.e., become
more like him and adopt his heterosexual beliefs).
• Electra Conflict: Girl loves her father and competes with her
mother. Girl identifies with her mother more slowly because she
already feels castrated.
Erogenous zone: phallus
Stages of Personality
Development, continued
Latency: Ages 6-Puberty. Psychosexual development is dormant.
Same sex friendships and play occur here.
Genital Stage: Puberty-on. Realization of full adult sexuality occurs
here; sexual urges re-awaken.
Evaluation of
Psychoanalytic Theory
• Freud overemphasized sexuality and placed little emphasis
on other aspects of the child’s experience.
• Freud’s theory is largely untestable. Particularly, the
concept of the unconscious is unprovable.
• According to Freud, the only way that people in
psychological distress can get relief is to undergo length
therapy, to identify unresolved conflicts from infancy and
childhood.
• Freud’s view of people is overly negative and pessimistic.
Bandura’s Theory
Self-system: the set of cognitive processes by which a person
observes, evaluates, and regulates his/her behavior. Bandura
proposed that what we think of as personality is a product of this
self-system.
Children observe behavior of models (such as parents) in their
social environment. Particularly if they are reinforced, children
will imitate these behaviors, incorporating them into personality.
Bandura also proposed that people observe their own behavior
and judge its effectiveness. Self-efficacy: a judgment of one’s
effectiveness in dealing with particular situations.
Show Video
http://www.learner.org/series/disc
overingpsychology/15/e15glossar
y.html
Rotter’s Theory of
Locus of Control
Julian Rotter: American psychologist, began as a Freudian!
His personality theory combines learning principles, modeling,
cognition, and the effects of social relationships
External locus of control: perception that chance or
external forces beyond personal control determine one’s fate
Internal locus of control: perception that you control your
own fate.
Learned Helplessness: a sense of hopelessness in which a
person thinks that he/she is unable to prevent aversive events
Evaluation of
Social-Cognitive Theories
• Social-cognitive theories tend to be overly-mechanical.
• Overemphasizes environmental influences; gives little or no
consideration to the possibility of innate personality
differences or the effects of genetics.
• Does not recognize internal human qualities such as hope,
aspiration, love, self-sacrifice
Humanism
Humanism: Approach that focuses on human experience,
problems, potentials, and ideals
Human Nature: Traits, qualities, potentials, and behavior
patterns most characteristic of humans
Free Choice: Ability to choose that is NOT controlled by
genetics, learning, or unconscious forces
Subjective Experience: Private perceptions of reality
Maslow’s Theory
• Abraham Maslow is considered father of the humanistic
movement. He observed the lives of (purportedly) healthy and
creative people to develop is theory.
• Hierarchy of needs: the motivational component of Maslow’s
theory, in which our innate needs, which motivate our actions,
are hierarchically arranged.
• Self-actualization: the fullest realization of a person’s
potential
Graphic: Hierarchy of Needs
Carl Roger’s Self Theory
Carl Rogers: American psychologist; believed that personality
formed as a result of our strivings to reach our full human
potential.
Fully Functioning Person: Lives in harmony with his/her deepest
feelings and impulses
Self-Image: Total subjective perception of your body and
personality
Conditions of Worth: behaviors and attitudes for which other
people, starting with our parents, will give us positive regard.
Unconditional Positive Regard: Unshakable love and approval
Positive Self-Regard: Thinking of oneself as a good, lovable,
worthwhile person
Evaluation of Humanistic Theories
• Many of the Humanists’ claims are untestable.
• Humanists may have an overly-positive, rosy view of
humankind. They do not look at the “dark side.”
• For the Humanists, the cause of all our problems lies not in
ourselves, but in others.
• Maslow’s characterization of self-actualized individuals is
very biased toward a certain philosophical position.
• Most of the people Maslow identified as self-actualized had
rather serious psychological problems.
Persuasion
The process by which a message induces change in
feelings, attitudes, or behaviours.
How do we get people to feel, believe, and do what we
want them to feel, believe, and do?
Elaboration Likelihood Model
• Persuasion via the Central Route:
–
A focus on the actual content of the arguments that
stimulates thinking about the new attitude (also
known as systematic processing)
• Persuasion via the Peripheral Route:
–
Acceptance is triggered by incidental cues (e.g.,
attractiveness of the speaker) without much thinking
(also known as heuristic-based processing)
Increasing Minimum Wage
Central Route
Great arguments.
I’m convinced!
Peripheral Route
He sounds smart.
I’m convinced!
Central Route
Peripheral Route
Motivation x Ability
Motivation to process the arguments
Factors related to motivation that influence the
likelihood that you will elaborate on the issues
– Personal relevance
– Responsibility for evaluating message
– Need for cognition/Need for Closure
– Incongruent information
Motivation x Ability
Ability to process the arguments
Factors related to ability that influence if you can
process the information in the arguments
– Message clarity
– Repeating the message
– Distraction/time pressure
– Channel of communication (print)
– Individual differences in intelligence
Argument quality is important
to the Central Route:
• Strong arguments – make you more favourable
toward the object/issue
• Weak arguments – make you less favourable toward
the object/issue
Attitudes changed via the Central
Route are:
• longer lasting
• more predictive of behavior
• more resistant to change
Argument quality is less
important to the Peripheral
Route:
• Strong arguments and weak arguments can have the
same effect.
• Weak arguments are less damaging.
Attitudes changed via the
Peripheral Route are:
• less longer lasting; more temporary
• less predictive of behaviour
• less resistant to other people trying to influence our
attitudes
Communicator
• Credibility
–
Expertise
– Trustworthiness/Self-Interest
– Likeability
• Attractiveness
– Physical Appeal
– Similarity
Message
• Two-sided versus one-sided arguments
– Two-sided are better if you can refute the other side
• Emotion
– positive feelings (peripheral processing)
– fear (motivating especially if have plan)
• Discrepancy
– Credibility of communicator
– Involvement of audience
• Primacy versus recency
– Primacy normally better
Message – Primacy/Recency
Primacy Effects: Information presented first has the most influence
Message1…Message2…………….….Response
Recency Effects: Information presented last has the most influence
Message 1…………………Message2…Response
Audience
•
What are they thinking?
–
The ability and motivation to counter-argue is the key to whether
persuasion works (via the central route)
•
Forewarned
•
Distraction
•
Involvement
•
Need for Cognition/Need for Closure
•
Innoculation
Six Persuasion Principles
Robert Cialdini (2001)
1.
Consistency
– foot-in-the door
– bait and switch
– low-ball
– legitimizing paltry favors
– how are you feeling technique
Foot-in-door
•
Presented with a small request (that almost
everyone would agree to), followed by a larger
request
•
Operates due to the consistency principle (if I
act in a certain way initially, I have to continue
to act in a similar way)
Six Persuasion Principles
Robert Cialdini (2001)
2.
Social Validation
– List technique
– Littering studies (Cialdini, Reno & Kallgren, 1990)
•
Norms
•
Salience of norms (whether notice norms or not)
Six Persuasion Principles
Robert Cialdini (2001)
3.
Reciprocity
– Reciprocation of favours
•
Name stickers, flower seeds,
– Reciprocation of concessions
•
Door in face
•
Delinquent kids study (Cialdini, Vincent, Lewis, Catalan,
Wheeler, & Darby, 1975)
Door-in-the-face
•
Presented with a LARGE request (expected to
refuse), followed by a smaller, more reasonable
request (expected to accept)
•
Operates due to the reciprocity norm (if I do
something nice for you, you should do
something nice for me)
•
Not to be confused with foot-in-the-door
Six Persuasion Principles
Robert Cialdini (2001)
4. Friendship/Liking
– Tupperware and Lingerie Parties
– Neighbourhood Breast Cancer Garage Sale
– Save the Children Campaign
Six Persuasion Principles
Robert Cialdini (2001)
5.
Scarcity – limit on products, time, etc
– Dwaze Dagen/Boxing Day
– Only This Weekend!
– Gone is gone
Six Persuasion Principles
Robert Cialdini (2001)
6.
Authority
•
Milgram Studies next week, military, etc
Six Persuasion Principles
Robert Cialdini (2001)
If you wanted to get some money from your parents,
would you first:
a) ask for $20 and then ask for $100 (start small)
or would you
b) ask for $100 and then ask for $20 (start big)
Principle of reciprocity of concessions
Six Persuasion Principles
Robert Cialdini (2001)
If you want to get someone to help you move, would you
first:
a) tell them that you only have a little bit of stuff and then
later tell them that you have a lot of stuff? (start small)
or would you
b) tell them that you have a lot of stuff and then later tell
them that you don’t have too much stuff? (start big)
Show Videos
• http://www.learner.org/series
/discoveringpsychology/19/e
19expand.html
• http://www.learner.org/series
/discoveringpsychology/11/e
11expand.html
Is Conformity Good or Bad?
• Due to our upbringing in North American
culture, individuality has a certain allure
• But
– Another word for individualist is deviant
– Another word for conformist is team player
• Obviously, there are times where conformity,
and obedience, are crucial
• Despite Hollywood’s depiction, research
(Schacter; Kruglanski) shows that the
conformist is liked more
Why Conform?
• Our sanity depends to
some degree on the belief
that everyone sees the
same world that we see
• If this belief is challenged,
we’d rather change what
we see (or what we say we
see) than admit to
ourselves (or others) that
we see a different world
Definitions
• Conformity: a change in attitude
or behavior due to the real or
imagined presence of others.
• Compliance: a change in behavior, but not attitude, due to the
results of social pressure.
• Acceptance: a change in both behavior and attitude.
Asch Line Judgment Experiments
Stimulus
A
B
C
Solomon Asch
• Asch (1951;1956) completed two studies that
demonstrate how easily conformity occurs
• Naïve subject is brought into lab with 6-8
confederates
• Asked to make a judgment about line length
• Subject is seated next to last
• In 12 of 18 trials confederates provide the
wrong answer – DV is whether subject follows
• Ordinarily subjects make mistakes 1% of the
time, in this experiment 36.8% of the time
You cannot be serious!
Asch
• Results:
• 33% went along with the group on a majority of the trials
• 25% remained completely independent
• 75% conformed at least once
• When tested alone (no confederates), subjects got
more than 98% of the judgments correct
• When tested with confederates, they only got 66%
of the judgments correct
Why conform?
• Confusion
• Informational pressure
• Embarrassment
• Normative pressure
• 2 more versions of the experiment
• Compliance, NOT internalization
Influences on Conformity in Asch
• Size of group: as group size increases to 3 others,
conformity increases. After that, little change
• Presence of one dissenter decreases conformity
immensely
• If dissenter disagrees with both it still reduces
conformity
• The more wrong the majority was, the less influence
• The greater the privacy, the less conformity
– Accuracy versus approval issue
– Also known as informational vs. normative influence.
Videos
• Asch Conformity (~6:00)
• Dangerous Conformity (~8:00)
• Marry a Stranger (~5:00)
• Obeying a man in uniform (~4:30)
• Fast Food Strip Seach (~8:00)
• Millgram Study (~6:00)
http://heroicimagination.org/public-resources/video-library/
What and Why of Emotions
• A subjective sensation experienced as a type of psychophysiological arousal
• Result from the interaction of
– perception of environmental stimuli
– neural & hormonal responses to perceptions (feelings)
– a cognitive appraisal of the situation arousing the state
– an outward expression of the state
What is the Value of Emotion?
Emotions
–
determine personal viability
–
prepare us for action
–
shape our behavior (emotions are reinforcing)
–
regulate social interaction
–
facilitate communication nonverbally
–
facilitate adult-child relations and thus development
–
make life worth living by adding value to experience
–
allow us to respond flexibly to our environment
(approaching good, avoiding bad)
What is the Value of Emotion?
Emotions
–
largely a conscious phenomena
–
involve more bodily manifestations than other
conscious states
–
vary along a number of dimensions: intensity, type,
origin, arousal, value, self-regulation, etc.
–
are reputed to be “antagonists of rationality.”
–
have a central place in moral education and moral
life through conscience, empathy, and many
specific moral emotions such as shame, guilt, and
remorse; inextrictably linked to moral virtues
Theories of Emotions
• Theories of emotion
– James-Lange theory of emotion
• The theory that emotional feelings result when an
individual becomes aware of a physiological response to
an emotion-provoking stimulus
• Requires separate and distinct physiological activity for
each emotion
Theories of Emotions
• Theories of emotion
– Cannon-Bard theory of emotion
• The theory that an emotion-provoking stimulus is
transmitted simultaneously to the cortex, providing the
feeling of emotion, and to the sympathetic nervous
system, causing the physiological arousal
• Cognitive labeling and action would follow
consciousness of feeling and physiological arousal
Theories of Emotions
• Theories of emotion
– Schachter-Singer theory of emotion
• A two-stage theory stating that for an emotion to occur,
there must be (1) physiological arousal and (2) an
explanation for the arousal
• Accounts for subjective interpretation
• Does not account for specific physiological states
associated with some emotions
Theories of Emotions
• Theories of emotion
– Lazarus theory of emotion
• The theory that an emotion-provoking stimulus triggers a
cognitive appraisal, which is followed by the emotion and
the physiological arousal
• Three aspects of appraisal
– Primary (relevance)
– Secondary (options)
– Reappraisal (anything changed)
Videos
• Brown Eyes vs Blue Eyes (~9:00)
• Halo Effect (~5:00)
• Group Identity (~5:00)
http://heroicimagination.org/public-resources/video-library/
Three Ways to Measure Emotion
• Body/Physical
– blood pressure
– heart rate
– adrenaline levels
– muscle activity when smiling, frowning, etc.
– neural images
– posture
– tears,
– perspiration
– lie detector readings
Three Ways to Measure Emotion
• Thoughts (observed indirectly through)
– spoken and written words on rating scales
– answers to open-ended questions on surveys and during
interviews
– responses to projective instruments, sentence stems, etc.
– self-assessments or perceptions regarding the behavior
and intentions of others
– other cognitive operations such as rational/logical
thinking
Three Ways to Measure Emotion
• Behavior
– facial expressions
– aggression
– activity level
– approach/avoidance
– alertness
– attention/distraction
– screaming
– insomnia
– laughing
– anhedonia
– smiling
Emotion and the Brain
• Emotion associated with
the limbic system
• The brain structure most
closely associated with
fear is the amygdala
• When the emotion of fear
first materializes, much of
the brain’s processing is
nonconscious
Basic Emotions
• Paul Ekman and Carroll Izard
– Insist that there are a limited number of basic emotions
• Basic emotions
– Emotions that are found in all cultures, that are reflected in the
same facial expressions across cultures, and that emerge in
children according to their biological timetable
• Ekman
– Suggested considering emotions as families
– The anger family might range from annoyed to irritated, angry,
livid, and, finally, enraged
– If perceived as a family, anger should also include various
forms of its expression
Plutchik
Three-dimensional Circumplex
Model
Protypical Behavior
Expression of Emotion
• Range of emotion
– Ekman and Friesen
• Claim there are subtle distinctions in the facial expression
of a single emotion that convey its intensity
• Development of facial expressions
– Like the motor skills of crawling and walking, facial
expressions of emotions develop according to a
biological timetable of maturation
– Consistency of emotional development across
individual infants and across cultures supports the
idea that emotional expression is inborn
Expression of Emotion
• Universality of facial expressions
– Charles Darwin
• First to study the relationship between emotions and facial
expressions
• Believed that the facial expression of emotion was an aid to
survival because it enabled people to communicate their
internal states and react to emergencies before they
developed language
• Maintained that most emotions, and the facial expressions
that convey them, are genetically inherited and
characteristic of the entire human species
• Concluded that facial expressions were similar across
cultures
Expression of Emotion
• Universality of facial expressions
– Scherer and Wallbott
• Found very extensive overlap in the patterns of emotional
experiences reported across cultures in 37 different
counties on 5 continents
• Also found important cultural differences in the ways
emotions are elicited and regulated and in how they are
shared socially
Expression of Emotion
• Cultural rules for displaying emotion
– Display rule
• Cultural rules that dictate how emotions should be
expressed and when and where their expression is
appropriate
– Often, a society’s display rules require people to
give evidence of certain emotions that they may not
actually feel or to disguise their true feelings
– Cole
• Found that 3-year-old girls, when given an unattractive gift,
smiled nevertheless
• They had already learned a display rule and signaled an
emotion they very likely did not feel
Experiencing Emotion
• Facial-feedback hypothesis
– Sylvan Tomkins
• Claimed that the facial expression itself – that is, the
movement of the facial muscles producing the expression –
triggers both the physiological arousal and the conscious
feeling associated with the emotion
– Facial-feedback hypothesis
• The idea that the muscular movements involved in certain
facial expressions trigger the corresponding emotions
Experiencing Emotion
• Facial-feedback hypothesis
– Ekman and colleagues
• Documented the effects of facial expressions on
physiological indicators of emotion using 16 participants
• Reported that a distinctive physiological response pattern
emerged for the emotions of fear, sadness, anger, and
disgust, whether the participants relived one of their
emotional experiences or simply made the corresponding
facial expression
• Researcher found that both anger and fear accelerate
heart rate, but fear produces colder fingers than does
anger
Experiencing Emotion
• Facial-feedback hypothesis
– Izard
• Believes that learning to self-regulate emotional expression
can help in controlling emotions
• Proposes that this approach to the regulation of emotion
might be a useful adjunct to psychotherapy
• Gender differences in experiencing emotion
– David Buss
• Has reported that women are far more likely to feel anger
when their partner is sexually aggressive
• Men experience greater anger than women when their
partner withholds sex
Experiencing Emotion
• Gender differences in experiencing emotion
– Research by evolutionary psychologists also
suggests clear and consistent differences between
the sexes concerning feelings of jealousy
• Men, more than women, experience jealousy over
evidence or suspicions of sexual infidelity
• A women is more likely than a man to be jealous of her
partner’s emotional attachment and commitment to another
and over the attention, time, and resources diverted from
the relationship
Experiencing Emotion
• Emotion and cognition
– Emotion allows us to detect risk more quickly than
we could with rational thought alone
– It is possible that the anger-optimism link arises
from confidence, whether justified or not, in concrete
measures directed towards people who are
perceived as potentially threatening
Fostering Emotional Functioning
• Emotional understanding
– discern one’s own emotional states
– discern other’s emotional states
– properly use emotional vocabulary.
Fostering Emotional Functioning
•
Emotional expression
– use of gestures to display emotional messages nonverbally
– demonstrate empathy by connecting one’s emotions to those of
others
– display both self-conscious as well as complex social emotions
– Distinguishing between experiencing an emotion and action
•
Emotional regulation and management
– coping with both pleasurable and aversive/distressing emotions
– regulation of those situations that elicit emotions
– ability to use an experience to strategically organize the
experience in terms of setting goals and learning to motivate
oneself and others
Triangular Theory of Love
• Robert Sternberg’s theory that three
components – intimacy, passion, and
decision/commitment – singly and in various
combinations produce seven different kinds of
love:
1. Liking (I)
2. Infatuated love (P)
3. Empty love (C)
4. Romantic love (I, P)
5. Fatuous love (C, P)
6. Companionate love (C, I)
7. Consummate love (I, C, P)