Notes on Personality Theories
(page numbers reflect 2011 updates; pages we use in class correlate with Test Study
Guide and Test Powerpoint review)
Lord of the Rings: Frodo’s friend Sam Gamgee: he is ever faithful and supportive of
Frodo; this distinctiveness and consistency as seen through the book/movie series
exemplifies Sam’s personality.
Personality: your characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, acting
I. Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic perspective 480
Freud was to the history of psychology what Elvis Presley was to rock music. (And, Elvis
was the King.)
A. Psychoanalysis: a technique for exposing and interpreting unconscious tensions
Dreams are the royal road to unconsciousness
1. Free association: saying what comes to mind to explore the unconscious
2. Unconscious
Origin of mostly undesirable thoughts, feelings; we temporarily store material in our
preconscious area.
Freud searched for people’s inner conflicts in their dreams. He told patients the story line
of their dream was the manifest content, but the really important meaning was the latent,
or symbolic content. These were issues that people were afraid to deal with consciously
and they were presented in dreams in symbolic form.
3. Freud’s tripartite personality structure 481
a. Id
Source of unconscious psychic energy
Operates on the pleasure principle
b. Ego
Mediates between Id and superego
Operates on the reality principle
c. Superego
Represents internal ideals; standards for judging
B. Personality Development: Psychosexual stages 482
Conflicts arise between our biology and social constraints
1. Terms:
a. Oedipus complex
Boy desires mother; jealous feelings toward father (phallic stage)
b. Identification
Incorporating your parents’ values into your superego
c. Fixate
Focusing energies at an earlier stage where you have an unresolved conflict
d. Gender identity:
One’s sense of being male or female
2. Stages:
a. Oral
0-18 mos. Pleasure centers around the mouth
b. Anal
18-36 mos. Pleasure centers on bowel movements
c. Phallic
3-6 yrs. Pleasure in genital zones; sexual feelings for parent
d. Latency
6 to puberty Genital feelings are dormant
e. Genital
Puberty onward maturation of sexual feelings
Defense mechanisms 483
How did Freud think people defended themselves against anxiety?
These mechanisms are used by ego for reducing anxiety by distorting reality
Repression: banishing thoughts
Regression: you retreat to a psychosexual stage with fixated psychic energy
Reaction formation: you express feelings opposite to your anxiety producing unconscious
feelings
Projection disguising your impulses by projecting onto others
Rationalization offering self-justifying explanations so the real, threatening ones aren’t
exposed
Displacement shifting aggressive or sexual impulses toward a less threatening object or
person
Sublimation defense mechanism by which the ego unconsciously protects itself by
expressing impulses through socially acceptable activities.
Denial facts are rejected because they are too painful to accept
The Neo Freudian and Psychodynamic Theorists 484
Which of Freud’s ideas did his followers accept or reject?
1. Adler: focused on the importance of childhood tension
a. Inferiority complex a cluster of repressed fears, based on physical inferiority.
It describes feelings of inferiority and the overcompensation that often ensues.
2. Horney: emphasized feminine; suggested counterpart to Freud’s penis envy: womb
envy; Self-analysis: minor neurotic problems could be addressed by self
3. Both felt Freud overemphasized sex and aggression and should focus on childhood
social tensions.
Carl Jung and the collective unconscious: inherited memory traces that contained a
common reservoir of images derived from our species’ past. This is why many cultures
share certain myths and images such as the mother being a symbol of nurturance.
Inherited experience is rejected today, but universal dispositions are due to our
evolutionary history.
Other archetypes besides mother: the hero, the quest, the scapegoat, the witch, the
princess. There are many more.
Freud’s valid ideas have been incorporated into the Psychodynamic approach of today.
Assessing Unconscious Processes 485
What are projective tests, and how are they used?
Freud never used these preferring dream study and free association.
Projective tests: give you ambiguous stimuli toward which to project your inner
dynamics
a. Projective tests may misdiagnose a normal individual as pathological
(validity).
b. Henry Murray developed the Thematic Apperception Test with subjects
telling stories about ambiguous photos.
c. TAT: a projective test in which people express their inner feelings and
interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes; you
project part of yourself in completing an ambiguous story
d. When evaluating the same patient, even trained raters come up with
different interpretations (reliability).
Rorschach inkblots Henry Rorschach developed; 10 blots identify your inner feelings by
analyzing your interpretations
Evaluating the Psychoanalytic Perspective 487
How do contemporary psychologists view Freud and the unconscious?
Freud overestimated parental influence.
His views on childhood sexuality were colored by his unwarranted skepticism of the
sexual abuse suffered by his patients.
We use defense mechanisms, but not to disguise sexual and aggressive impulses.
Is Repression a Myth? 487
The majority of children, death camp survivors, and battle-scarred veterans
are unable to repress painful experiences into their unconscious mind.
The Modern Unconscious mind 488
Freud was right about the unconscious mind being important but not for the
reasons he thought. Modern research shows the existence of non-conscious
information processing, a kind of implicit learning occurs.
1.Schemas that automatically control perceptions and interpretations (Unit 4)
2.Parallel processing during vision and thinking (Units 4 and 7B)
3.Implicit memories (Unit 7B)
4.Emotions that activate instantly without consciousness (Unit 8B)
One concept Freud called projection---viewing our attitudes in others---we now
see at the false consensus effect, overestimating the degree to which others share our
beliefs.
C Terror management theory Protecting from fear of death and anxiety by faith in
worldview and pursuit of self-esteem, leading to prejudice against others (Greenberg,
Solomon and Pyszczynski, 1997)
Freud’s Idea’s as Scientific Theory 489
Some evidence for defense mechanisms.
E It’s hard to test his ideas to determine their validity
Crews: what is original about Freud is not good and what is good is not original (1998).
Evaluating the Psychoanalytic Perspective
1.Personality develops throughout life and is not fixed in childhood.
2.Freud underemphasized peer influence on the individual, which may be as
powerful as parental influence.
3.Gender identity may develop before 5-6 years of age.
4.There may be other reasons for dreams besides wish fulfillment.
5.Verbal slips can be explained on the basis of cognitive processing of verbal
choices.
6.Suppressed sexuality leads to psychological disorders. Sexual inhibition has
decreased, but psychological disorders have not.
II. Humanistic perspective 490
In contrast to Freud’s negative focus, these theorists emphasized the ways healthy people
strive for self-determination. Humanism became the “third force” in psychology (after
psychoanalysis and behaviorism).
A. Maslow’s self actualization
Studied famous people as they self-actualize (fulfill potential) and self-transcend
(meaning and purpose beyond self)
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
I.
Carl Roger’s Person-Centered Perspective 491
A. *Genuineness dropping the façade and being open
B. *Acceptance: offering unconditional positive regard
*Empathy: nurturing our growth by mirroring and understanding our feelings
* Self-concept central to personalit
Assessing the Self 492
Questionnaires are used rather than standardized tests to assess personality
Standardization is depersonalizing in this perspective.
Each person is unique.
Evaluating the Humanistic Perspective 492
How has the humanistic perspective influence psychology? What criticisms has it faced?
1. Its concepts are vague
2. Lack of concern for others
3. Capacity for evil is ignored because it emphasizes healthy ind.
4. Has affected child rearing, management, etc.
5. Underestimated the value of social influence
6. They criticize standardized testing of personality
III. Trait Theory 493
How do psychologists use traits to describe personality?
Traits: a characteristic pattern of behavior
Emphasis in on describing rather than explaining behavior
Gordon Allport had a meeting with Freud which didn’t go well, leading to his
effort to better describe personality.
Isabel Briggs Myers sorted out Carl Jung’s personality types in a testing
format that assigns four letters representing four different types. (MyersBriggs Type Indicator). For example, a feeling type personality is
sympathetic, appreciative, and tactful.
Gordon Allport
Cardinal traits: so strong they affect all behavior
Central traits: 5 to 10 major characteristics
Proprium: our “self” as we experience life
W.H. Sheldon: Body Type=Personality
Endomorph Wide hips and narrow shoulders, a lot of body fat spread across the body
Sociable, Fun-loving, Love of food, Tolerant, Even-tempered, Good humored
Ectomorph
Narrow shoulders and hips, very little body fat, Self-conscious,
Private, Introverted, Inhibited, Socially anxious, Artistic
Mesomorph broad shoulders and narrow waist, Muscular body,
Very little body fat, Adventurous, Courageous,
Assertive/bold, Zest for physical activity, Competitive
Exploring Traits 494
How to narrow down 18,000 traits to a manageable number for research?
2. Factor analysis and Raymond Cattell: a statistical procedure that identifies
clusters of related items and recognized as a trait.
3. Cattell used this approach to develop a 16 Personality Factor (16PF)
inventory. According to his research, human personality traits could be
summarized by 16 personality factors (PF) or main traits.
4. He described these 16 traits on a continuum. In other words, everybody has some
degree of every trait.
5. Hans and Sybil Eysenck’s Two Personality factors can be reduced to two polar
dimensions:
i. Introversion-extraversion; emotionality-stability (see fig.
10.4)
Biology and Personality 495
Extraversion may occur because the brain is normally low in arousal; and an area of the
brain that inhibits is less active.
Jerome Kagan, in his temperament studies found that shyness is related to autonomic
nervous system reactivity.
Dogs and other higher level creatures have personalities as well. So, for example,
selective breeding can change birds’ personalities.
Assessing Traits 496
What are personality inventories, and what are their strengths and weaknesses as traitassessment tools?
1. Personality inventories Gather information by self-reports
2. Astrology and palm reading
a. Barnum effect: accepting favorable descriptions attributable to
anyone. (Thinking Critically About, pp. 498-499)
3. MMPI, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (Starke Hathaway,
1960)
a. Most widely used
b. Developed for emotional illness
Empirical and objective: researchers take a large number of items, search for
differences between groups, finally creating 10 clinical scales (masculinefeminine, introvert-extravert, etc.); projective tests are score subjectively
while these are scored objectively.
The Big Five Factors 497
For those who believe that Eysencks’ personality dimensions are too narrow and
Cattell’s 16PF too large, a middle range (five factors) of traits is more useful.
McCrae and Costa have an approach which is the best approximation of basic human
traits.
How stable are these traits? In adulthood, quite stable.
How heritable are they? 50 percent.
Do they predict other personality attributes? Affirmative. Conscientious
people are morning types and evening types tend to be extraverted.
Evaluating the Trait Perspective 500
Does research support the consistency of personality traits over time and across
situations?
The Person-Situation Controversy
As we age our personalities become more stable (fig. 10.5, p. 500)
Walter Mischel (1968, 1984, 2004) points out that traits may be enduring, but the
resulting behavior in various situations is different. Therefore, traits are not good
predictors of behavior. You might score high on extraversion but be shy in the shopping
mall.
Traits are actually “responses” to your “experience.”
Abilities, perceiving style, expectations, values, and rules all affect your responses to the
environment
Mischel is an “interactionist”.
Trait theorists respond that behaviors from a situation may be different, but average
behavior remains the same. Averaging behavior across situations seems to indicate that
people do have distinct personality traits Therefore, traits matter.
Situational influences on behavior are important to consider.
People can fake desirable responses on self-report measures of personality.
Consistency of behavior across situations is overestimated
Samuel Gosling finds evidence for traits in our musical preferences, personal space
organization, social media presentations, and email communication.
IV. Social Cognitive perspective
503
In the view of social-cognitive psychologists, what mutual influences shape an
individual’s personality?
Reciprocal Influences 503
A. Reciprocal determinism of Albert Bandura says our traits interact with
our situations.
The interaction of the personal
behaviors, internal personal factors
and the environment
Ex: bad academics and feelings of
academic inferiority
Example: different people choose
different environments.
Example: Our personalities shape how we interpret events.
Example: Our personalities create situations to which we
react.
This theory reinforces the biopsychosocial level of analysis.
Personal Control 505
What are the causes and consequences of personal control?
Julian Rotter’s theory. Personal control: do you see yourself as controlling or being
controlled.
Our sense of controlling the environment v. being helpless
Internal: you feel you control your own fate
External: chance or outside forces determine your fate
Internals deal better with stress
Benefits of Personal Control 506
Learned helplessness (Martin Seligman)
The sense that outside forces determine your fate so you give up; become apathetic or
pessimistic Ex: dogs getting shocked
Judith Rodin’s and Elinor Langer’s nursing home experiment: when elderly were given
more control they were more active, alert and happy (1983)
Too much choice leads to tyranny of choice and people are less satisfied, according to
Sheena Iyengar’s research (2000).
Barry Schwartz (2000) argues that too much choice leads to depression, paralysis and
decreasing satisfaction.
Optimism Versus Pessimism 507
Your attributional style: how do you explain events? Positively? Negatively?
There are three components to pessimism which optimists avoid in their thinking:
Permanence: you believe bad events are permanent, and will never change
Pervasiveness: bad results affect everything, rather than just this one thing
Personal: poor experiences are the result of something inside of you, not circumstances
Your health benefits from basic optimism.
Excessive optimism blinds you to real risks.
Blindness to one’s own incompetence.
Caputo and Dunning (2005): ignorant people are blind to their own incompetence.
Positive psychology Martin Seligman Close Up: 508
A scientific approach to optimal living; attempts to foster human fulfillment.
The components are: optimism, flow, well-being, satisfaction and hope.
1. Assessing behavior
Your past behavior is best at predicting your future
2. Evaluating the social-cognitive perspective
Critics say that social-cognitive psychologists pay a lot of attention to the
situation and pay less attention to the individual, his unconscious mind, his
emotions, and his genetics.
1. Fails to consider unconscious motivation
2. Perhaps the predominant approach today
3. Focuses too little on the inner traits
Assessing behavior in Situations 509
What underlying principle guides social-cognitive psychologists in their assessment of
people’s behavior and beliefs?
The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior in similar, realistic situations.
Evaluating the social-cognitive perspective 510
What has the social-cognitive perspective contributed to the study of personality, and
what criticisms has this perspective faced?
1. Researchers are more sensitive to the person-situation interaction effects.
2. Learning and cognition have helped in this theoretical approach (see Bandura’s
obvervational learning theory)
3. Focus on the situation can lead to overlooking personality traits and unconscious
processes.
Exploring the self 510
Are we helped or hindered by high self-esteem?
Self-organizer of thoughts, feelings, and actions as the center of personality
A. possible selves and Hazel Markus (1986, 1991) 1.Research focuses on the different
selves we possess. Some we dream and others we dread.
b. the spotlight effect Research studies how we overestimate our
concern that others evaluate our appearance, performance, and
blunders (Thomas Gilovich, 1996).
The benefits of high self-esteem 512
Self-esteem our feelings of self-worth.
1. When self-esteem is deflated, we view ourselves and others critically.
Low self-esteem reflects reality, our failure in meeting challenges, or surmounting
difficulties.
*More positive about others *Less prone to drug abuse *Suffer less insomnia
*More persistent at difficult tasks
Self-serving bias 513
You perceive yourself more favorably than others
*Research: most people DO view themselves favorably compared to others
*Ex: athletes blaming refs
We accept responsibility for good deeds and successes more than for bad deeds and
failures.
Most people see themselves as better than average.
Jean Twenge: today’s Me Generation expresses more narcissism (2006, 2008).
Defensive self-esteem is fragile and egotistic whereas secure self-esteem is less fragile
and less dependent on external evaluation.
Cultural and the Self 516
How do individualist and collectivist cultural influences affect people?
Culture: your behavior, attitudes, and traditions that are passed down
1. Norms
Rules for acceptable behavior
2. personal space
The area within which you’re not comfortable when persons invade
North Americans prefer more personal space than do Latin Americans
3. memes
Self-replicating ideas, fashions and innovations
Crime, the prison population, depression, divorce and hours of work per week
are all increasing since the 1960s
Memes create our minds and our culture.
4. Individualism v. collectivism 516
a. individualistic cultures emphasize personal achievement,
romance, improving careers
b. collective cultures emphasize group, social harmony, social responsibility
and are less competitive
In discussing an Olympic success and American swimmer from an
individualistic culture said, “It was time to show the world what I could do.”
A Japanese runner from a collectivist culture said, “All of these people who
support me…were getting together and became a gold medal.”
Ethnocentrism
The belief in the inherent superiority of one's own ethnic group or culture; a tendency to
view alien groups or cultures from the perspective of one's own.
Key terms: 520 (see study guide)
AP Quiz: 520-521