What is Personality? An individual's unique psychological qualities
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What is Personality? An individual’s unique psychological qualities that bring distinction and continuity to their behavior in different situations and at different times Psychological qualities = patterns of feeling, acting and thinking The word ‘personality’ derives from the Latin word ‘persona’ which means ‘mask’. There are outward personas that people project and display and inner personas which are parts of the psychological experience we collectively call our ‘self What do Personality Researchers Study? Personality emerges from an interplay of external and internal influences. Personality Theories Psychoanalytic Perspective Unconscious motives and conflicts Humanistic Perspective Positive growth motives and development of potential Social - Cognitive Perspective Learning how to think about, act on, and respond to environment The Psychoanalytic Perspective The Psychoanalytic Perspective Who is Sigmund Freud? Unconscious motives influence personality Personality structure is made up of three interacting and conflicting systems Personality develops during psychosexual stages Defense mechanisms help relieve anxiety arising from personality conflicts The Psychoanalytic Perspective Unconscious The mind is like an iceberg, mostly hidden Conscious experience is like the part of the iceberg that floats above the surface Below the surface is the larger unconscious Unconscious contains thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories The Psychoanalytic Perspective Psychic determinism – Assumption that mental and behavioral problems are caused by unconscious traumas, desires, or conflicts from earlier experiences. In other words all acts are determined by motives, not by chance Exploring the Unconscious Free Association – follow chain of thought to the unconscious Dream Analysis – latent vs. manifest content Jokes, Slips of the tongue Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory: Freudisms Freudian Slip An attractive waitress at a Mexican restaurant asks Raul what kind of beer he would like. Instead of saying “Dos Equis,” he says “Dos Sexy” …an accidental slip of tongue? Freudian slips are believed to reveal unconscious conflicts or desires. The Psychoanalytic Perspective Psychoanalysis Freud’s theory of personality Freud’s treatment techniques Psychodynamics Conflict between aggressive, pleasure seeking biological urges and internalized social controls over these urges Personality arises from this basic conflict between impulse and restraint Three interacting personality structures The Psychoanalytic Perspective Personality Structure Id - Pleasure Principle Primitive, unconscious portion of the personality, houses most basic drives and stores repressed memories, seeks immediate gratification Superego – “The Ideal” Mind’s storehouse of values, moral attitudes learned from parents and society, same as common notion of conscience Ego - Reality Principle Mostly conscious, rational part of personality, charged with keeping peace between superego and id Freud’s Personality Structures and Levels of Consciousness The Psychoanalytic Perspective Infancy and Childhood Identification The process by which children incorporate their parents’ values into their developing superegos Id, ego, and superego conflicts are taking place Id focuses on specific pleasures during “psychosexual” development stages Successive, instinctive patterns of associating pleasure with stimulations of specific body areas Personality develops in terms of how we satisfy our id instincts during these stages The Psychoanalytic Perspective Adulthood Adult personality patterns profoundly effected by childhood experiences Adult conflicts are results of unresolved issues during psychosexual stages Fixation Personality development halted at a stage due to unresolved conflicts Results in an immature and lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies more typical of an earlier psychosexual stage The Psychoanalytic Perspective “Ego” Defense Mechanisms Largely unconscious mental strategies employed to reduce the experience of conflict or anxiety Distort reality The Psychoanalytic Perspective – Defense Mechanisms Repression banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness Regression an individual retreats, when faced with anxiety, to a more infantile psychosexual stage where some psychic energy remains fixated Reaction Formation the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites people may express feelings that are the opposite of their anxiety-arousing unconscious feelings Projection people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others (false consensus effect?) Rationalization offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one’s actions Displacement shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person as when redirecting anger toward a safer outlet Sublimation defense mechanism by which people rechannel their unacceptable impulses into socially approved activities Denial Protects person from painful events by…….? Neo-Freudians Psychodynamic Theories Continued to emphasize the importance of unconscious mental forces childhood influences personality structures/inner conflicts dynamics of anxiety More emphasis on Conscious mind Interpreting experiences Coping with the environment Positive Motives (not just sex and aggression) Reject Sex (pleasure) as basis of personality Neo-Freudian and Psychodynamic Theories Carl Jung developed Analytical Psychology Collective Unconscious-a common memory derived from our species universal experiences Archetypes – ‘emotionally charged images and thoughts that have universal meaning may be manifested in a culture's symbols, art, religion, etc.’ Note: “Contemporary psychologist discount the idea of inherited experiences. Many do believe our shared evolutionary history may have shaped some universal dispositions” (Myers p601) Neo-Freudian and Psychodynamic Theories Alfred Adler developed Individual Psychology De-emphasized the importance of sexual motivation and focused on socially based motives Stressed that adults are motivated by striving for superiority or overcoming feelings of inferiority. Karen Horney “Proposed that many adult characteristics are produced by attempts to deal with basic anxiety, a feeling of being isolated and helpless in a potentially hostile world. Horney was also a pioneer in the study of psychology of women. She suggested that outside the family, women experience harmful effects because society places a greater value on being male, an attitude that contributes to women's feeling of inferiority and lack of self-esteem.” Horney’s Neurotic Needs Need for affection and approval Need for a partner and dread of being left alone Need to restrict one’s life and remain inconspicuous Need for power and control over others Need to exploit others Need for recognition or prestige Need for personal admiration Need for person achievement Need for self sufficiency and independence Need for perfection and unassailability Assessing the Unconscious Projective Test a personality test, such as the Rorschach or TAT, that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics Thematic Apperception Test Rorshcach Inkblot Test the most widely used projective test a set of 10 inkblots designed by Hermann Rorschach seeks to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots Evaluating Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory The Humanistic Perspective Grand Theories of Personality The Humanistic Perspectives People are basically good and strive toward higher levels of functioning. A central feature of personality is one’s self-concept. Abraham Maslow Self Actualization Innate need for personal growth Motivates human beings to fulfill their potential and become what they are inherently capable of becoming Find meaning and purpose beyond the self (self- transcendence) Arises after basic and physical needs are met and self Grand Theories of Personality Carl Rogers Like Maslow, believed that people are basically good and endowed with selfactualizing tendencies Fully functioning person An individual whose self concept resembles his/her inborn potential and experience Term for a self-actualizing individual who has a self-concept that is both positive and congruent with reality Grand Theories of Personality Carl Rogers Person Centered Perspective Focus on personal growth and creation of environments for becoming a fully functioning person Genuineness- being open with feelings, dropping facades, selfdisclosure Acceptance –free to be ourselves without fear of losing others esteem - Unconditional Positive Regard- An attitude that values us even knowing our failings Empathy – sharing and mirroring feelings and reflecting meanings Self-Concept Collection of beliefs about one’s own nature, unique qualities, and typical behaviors All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in an answer to the question, “Who am I?’ (I am….) Incongruence Degree of disparity between one's self concept and one’s actual experience. Too much undermines well being Development of Personality (Self) Experiences of congruence or incongruence? Conditional vs. unconditional regard Benefits of Self-Esteem Maslow and Rogers argued that a successful life results from a healthy self-image (self-esteem). The following are two reasons why low self-esteem results in personal problems. The Humanistic Perspective Evaluating the Humanistic Perspective Humanistic psychology has a pervasive impact on counseling, education, child-rearing, and management. In the past , the humanistic approach has been criticized as being difficult to test objectively. Problems with concept of self esteem being crucial for good mental health because studies show that bullies and drug addicts have high self esteem… Naïve optimism? The social-Cognitive Perspective A contemporary perspective… Applies principles of learning, cognition, and social behavior to the understanding of personality The Social-Cognitive Perspective Social – “We learn many of our behaviors either through conditioning or by observing others and modeling our behavior after theirs”. Cognitive*-“What we think about our situations affects our behavior”. (Myers, p623) Theory based on experimental research Behavior is viewed as the product of the interaction of cognition, learning and past experiences, and the immediate environment *Expectations The Social-cognitive Perspective Reciprocal Determinism Process in which the person, situation and environment mutually influence each other The Social-cognitive Perspective Personal Control In examining our interactions with our environment, social-cognitive psychologists emphasize our sense of personal control whether we control the environment or the environment controls us. The Social-cognitive Perspective Internal Locus of Control The perception that one controls one’s own fate Achieve more in school Enjoy better health More independent Less depressed Better at delayed gratification Better at coping with stressors Self-Control predicts: Good adjustment Better grades Social success The Social-cognitive Perspective External Locus of Control The perception that chance or outside forces beyond one’s personal control determine one’s fate The Social-cognitive Perspective Learned Helplessness the hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events The Social-cognitive Perspective External Locus of Control Attributional Style Our way of explaining positive and negative events Reveal how effective or helpless we feel Ex: Students who attribute poor performance to their lack of ability or to situations beyond their control are more likely to continue to get low grades than are students with a more optimistic attitude that believe effort and self disciple can make a difference Optimists also outlive pessimists Optimists have fewer illnesses Positive psychology The scientific study of optimal human functioning Aims to discover and promote conditions that enable individuals and communities to thrive The Social-cognitive Perspective Social-cognitive psychologists observe people in realistic and simulated situations because they find that it is the best way to predict the behavior of others in similar situations Observe how people’s behaviors and beliefs both affect and are affected by their situations.
