Personality Development
Dr Ros Weston
Psychology
Definition:
Child (1968)
“More or less stable, internal factors that make one person’s behaviour consistent
from one time to another, and different from the behaviour other people would
manifest in comparable situations”
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Stable
Internal
Consistent
Different
Personality is ‘INTERNAL’
Freud’s theories on Personality Development
Change and development are the key words : internal process + past experiences
The dynamics of behaviour which is what distinguishes this theory from the cognitive
(Glassman, 1995)
Innate drives + early experiences
id ego super ego
Defence Mechanisms
1
Repression
2
Displacement
3
Projection
4
Denial
5
Intellectualisation
pleasure principle
defence mechanisms
Anna Freud
“defence against instinct”
The child learns
defensive behaviours to
control id
Psycho - sexual Development
Energy - libido
&
Eros & Thanatos
•Oral
•Anal
•Phallic (Oedipus & Electra complexes)
•Latency
•Genital
Other Defence Mechanisms
• Fixation
Affective strategies in personality development
•
Regression
Case studies:
Anna O
Little Hans
Myers & Brewin (1994) Childhood Memories
Williams (1994) Sexual Abuse
McGunnies (1949) Perception defence
“things are likely to be ignored if they are unpleasant or
emotionally threatening”
Levinger & Clarke (1961) supported this using emotionally
provoking words. (they recalled the words that had neutral
associations)
(Evaluatory comment on each of these and on Freud’s theory of personality
development)
Neo - Freudians
Erikson (1959)
Conflict
WAR
Parents
friends
natural processes
of maturation
expectations of
society
teachers
employers
norms &
values
Chart of Eight Stages
Evaluatory Comments
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Used clinical evidence (therapist case studies using Freud’s clinical method)
• theory imprecise & anecdotal
• experimental research provides indirect support for Erikson
(Ainsworth & Bell: 1970) (Bowlby, 1952)
• Stage 4 has been supported by work of Damon & Hart (1988)
(older children used more internal psychological terms. Younger children
focused on concrete & tangible )
• Strengths : - focuses on social process & ego development
- the facing of developmental tension / conflicts
- most of the conflicts lie with the family (Freud also said : When
you are looking at a ‘sick’ (mentally) or disturbed person you often
don’t have to look far for a cause. (that does not mean the parents
are to blame. It is the conflict that is problematic)
• Does not give detail of how you move from one stage to another
• Dwaretzky (1996) feels there is little convincing evidence for E theory
• Hard to test this theory
• The evidence is correlational
It gives a very tidy account of development
Social Learning Theory
Key term : Significant others
Social Modelling
• Attention
• Retention
• Reproduction
• Motivation
• Conditioning
Vicarious
reinforcement
This is exact
opposite of learned
helplessness
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Bandura’s work
Classical
Operant
Observation &
internalisation
Reciprocal determination
Self efficacy (self image & belief in self
What would help a child learn self - efficacy?
-?
-?
-?
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Continue…………
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Evidence
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Evaluatory Comment
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Bobo doll
Harter & Monsour (1992)
Bandura & Cervone (1983)
More than one self? (Baars, 1997)
Not a development theory
Situationalism
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Bandura suggested that personality is not a stable trait of an individual
Mischel & Peake’s theory (1982) suggest a consistency paradox. Research
failed to show consistency
Behavioural specificity (M & P, 1982)
We think it is a stable trait because we see people in similar situations
Individual differences (M & P, 1993)
Person variables
Cognitive & behavioural
Encoding & personal constructs
Expectancy
Subjective stimulus value
self - regulatory systems & plans
Evidence
• Context - dependent learning research (Abernety, 1940)
• Generalising learning
• Lack of fragmentation
What is gender?
(as part of personality)
Sex
Gender
Sexual identity
Gender identity
Behaviour
Situation (upbrining &
social context)
Gender role
Gender stereo types
See : - Debates and all the work we did on real and perceived differences
- Psychoanalytical theory
- Social learning
- Cognitive (Kohlberg)
- Behaviourist
- Humanistic (Carl Rogers : Erikson)
Kohlbergs (1966) Cognitive - developmental theory (1966)
“The child actively constructs his own experiences and they are not products of
social
training”
• Basic - gender identity (2-3½)
• Gender stability (3½ - 4½)
• Gender consistency (4½ - 7yrs)
(fits with Piaget’s notion of conservation)
Evidence
• Munroe, Shimmin & Munroe (1984)
These stages are cross - cultural.
Slaby & Frey (1975) - attending to some sex models.
Ruble, Balabon & Cooper (1981) Adverts & gender consistency.
Evaluatory Comments
• Cross cultural
• interactivity
• gender identity - increases gender role
• How they interact in the world requires gender identity
• Criticism : gender role behaviour - depends on gender consistency
• Contradictions
• Individualistic (not social context)
Gender Schema Theory
An organised set of beliefs about the sexes (Martin et al, 1987)
• in group, out group schema
• our gender schema
• children are not passive
• gender - schema’s help them pay attention to ………… & interpret the world &
what they remember
• gender schemas structure experience
Evidence : (Martin et al, 1987)
(Bradbard et al, 1986)
(Masters et al, (1979)
Evaluatory Comment
• seems to explain & fit with other theories of child development specially
cognitive
• individualistic
• schemas are overaggerated
• should be able to change schemas. As Durkin (1995) found: it is easier to
change concepts
Continued……...
Now :
Compare social learning theory yourself using biological; social
biological theory by explaining
• Theory (giving)
• evidence (including)
• evaluatory comment
Theories of Adolescent Development
The Isle of Wight Study
(1976) Rutter’s large scale
study.
Relationship with parents
Relationship with peers Cultural
differences
What evidence
is there that
these are
important
Marcia’s theory (1966-1980)
What factors cause
disturbance in young people?
-Alternatives to choose from
Delinquency
-Have fun commitment been made
Four possible identity statuses
What is the problem of
retrospective data?
-Identity diffusion
-Foreclosure
-Moratorium
Erikson’s theory (1902, 1994)
-Identity diffusion
-Identity crisis
-Counter evidence
-Support evidence
-Identity achievement
Intimacy
Diffusion
Diffusion
of
industry
Negative
identity
Gender &
individual
differences
alpha & beta
bias
Evidence to support : Meilman
(1979)
Evidence against : (Munroe &
Adams (1977)
Coleman’s focal theory
(1974)
‘Storm & Stress’