Chapter 14: Personality
Personality – pattern of psychological and behavioral characteristics that can be used to compare and contrast individuals
 can be seen in applying for jobs – direct and indirectly measured - used to assess people and predict future behaviors every day - generally enduring, but can and does change over
 the lifespan combinations of different areas of psychology complete your personality - A+B+C =
Personality
1.
Psychodynamic Approach
Basic Idea – unconscious processes determine A, B, and C, and desires arise from basic impulses
Structure -
Id
–
Ego
–
Superego
–
Conflict between these three is what forms personality -> our ego helps us avoid negative feelings like guilty and anxiety through the use of defense mechanisms
Eight Defense Mechanisms (pg 543) - repression – rationalization – projection – reaction formation – sublimation
– displacement – denial – compensation –
Development Theory – Psychosexual Stages where conflict is centered around a pleasure center and must be resolved to avoid issues due to “fixation”

Oral – first year
Anal – second year
Phallic – 3-5 years
Latency – 5-adolescence
Genital –
Various Takes on Freud
Jung and analytic psychology –
Adler and striving for superiority
–
Horney and womb-envy -
Evaluation –
2.
Trait Approach
Basic Idea – focuses on characteristics that direct behavior, such as caring, selfish, childish, etc.
Structure - 3 assumptions
A.
B.
C.
Personality traits are not the same as personality types –
Development of Trait Theories
A. Allport's Trait Theory – all people have unique traits, but there are thousands of words we can use to describe them that all mean the same thing – boiled it down to about 7 labels; traits

can be: central traits – secondary traits
–
B. The Big-Five Model of Personality (pg 550) – factor analysis grouped traits into five factors
O penness to experience –
C onscientousness –
E xtraversion
–
A greeableness –
N euroticism
–
-these factors found to exists cross-culturally, and reliably replicated
C. Biological Trait Theories – why do we develop different personalities the way we do?
Eysenck's Biological Theory – narrowed it down to two factors that come from differences in our nervous systems: introversion-extraversion and emotionality-stability (basically neuroticism)
Differences:
Gray's Approach – Inhibition Theory – same two factors with a different explanation
Behavioral Activation System (BAS)
–
Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) –
Are Personality Traits Inherited?
Evaluation –
3.
Social-Cognitive Approach
Basic Idea – looks at conscious thoughts, emotions, and social learning in determining what guides our behavior
Structure – learned patterns of behavior are key functional analysis –
A. Rotter's Expectancy Theory – learning creates cognitions (expectancies) that guide behavior
People engage behavior based on two factors
1.)
2.)

Research identified two kinds of people
1.) Internals –
2.) Externals
–
Some consistencies in research on internals/externals:
B. Bandura's Reciprocal Determinism – personality shaped by thoughts, behaviors, and environment self-efficacy –
C. Mischell's Cognitive/Affective Theory – learned beliefs, feelings, and expectancies make people feel unique; these are called cognitive person variables
Important CPVs a. encodings – b. expectancies – c. affects – d. goals and values – e. competencies and self-regulatory plans –
Person + Environment = signature behavior (learned behavior for that situation) will be played
Similarities to Reciprocal Determinism:
Evaluation –
4.
Humanistic Approach
Basic Idea – we have an innate drive towards personal growth, and capabilities that set us apart from others and allow us to work towards that drive like self-awareness, creativity, and decision-making
Structure – focuses on self-actualization, motivation towards growth in all individuals
A. Roger's Self Theory – actualizing tendency is an innate inclination toward growth – personality is expression of that tendency self-concept –

conditions of worth –
B. Maslow's Growth Theory – personality still an expression of actualization tendencies – but actualization is a need rather than just a tendency deficiency orientation – growth orientation
–
Evaluation –
So what about culture and development?
Individualistic cultures = independent self systems
–
Collectivist cultures = interdependent self systems –