Personality
Chapter 12
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Personality
•An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking,
feeling, and acting.
•How assess? Case Studies vs Surveys
Each dwarf has a distinct personality.
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Types of Personalities
Type A
• Feel time pressure.
• Easily angered.
• Competitive and
ambitious.
• Work hard and play
hard.
• More prone to heart
disease than rest of
population.
Type B
• Relaxed and easygoing.
• But some people fit in
neither type.
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Biological Theories of Personality
• What % of
personality is
inherited –
heritability?
• We are not sure
BUT temperaments
do seem to be stable
from infants to old
age.
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Somatotype Theory
• A biological Theory
by William Sheldon.
• Endomorphs (Fat)
tend to be friendly
and outgoing.
• Mesomorphs
(muscular) tend to
be more aggressive.
• Ectomorphs (thin)
tend to be more shy
and secretive.
• Study has not been
replicated.
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Culture & Self-Concept
•
Individualistic Cultures vs Collectivist Cultures
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Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality
• Fathered by Sigmund
Freud.
• 1st comprehensive theory
of personality
• Used Case Studies of the
Mentally Ill to develop
theory
• Unconscious Mind
• Defense Mechanisms
• Psychosexual Stages -Idea of the Libido moving
to different parts of our
body (id’s pleasureseeking energies focus on
erogenous zones).
Sigmund Freud
(1856-1939)
What’s on the human mind?
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Stages of Psycho-Sexual Development
1.Oral (fixation)
2.Anal (retentive vs
expulsive)
3.Phallic (identity -Oedipus & Electra
Complexes)
4.Latent (Libido
hidden – cooties &
fixation = sexual
issues
5.Genital (fixation =
normal)
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Mind = Iceberg
• Conscious- things we
are aware of.
• Preconscious- things
we can be aware of if
we think of them
(temporary memories).
• Unconscious- deep
hidden reservoir that
holds the true “us”.
All of our desires and
fears.
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Unconscious Mind & Psychoanalysis
Treatment
•Reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes,
feelings, and memories.
•Freud used free association – whatever comes to
mind (retrieve & release embarrassing memories)
• Dream Analysis – Manifest vs Latent Content
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Personality (Psyche)
•Develops as a result of our efforts to resolve
conflicts between our biological impulses (id) and
social restraints (superego).
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Id
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfP9AIJA72E
• Exists entirely in the
unconscious (so we are
never aware of it).
• Our hidden true
animalistic wants and
desires.
• Works on the
Pleasure Principle
• Avoid Pain and receive
Instant Gratification.
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Ego
If you want to be with someone. Your id says just take
them, but your ego does not want to end up in jail. So you
ask her out and just “mac” it hard.
• Develops after the Id
• Works on the Reality
Principle
• Negotiates between
the Id and the
environment.
• In our conscious and
unconscious minds.
• It is what everyone
sees as our
personality.
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Superego
• Develops last at
about the age of 5
• Ideal Principle
• It is our conscience
(what we think the
difference is
between right and
wrong)
• The Ego often
mediates between
the superego and id.
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Defense Mechanisms
Movies
• The ego has a pretty
important job…and
that is to protect us
from threatening
thoughts in our
unconscious minds.
• One way it protects
us is through defense
mechanisms.
• You are usually
unaware that they are
even occurring.
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Scenario
Quarterback of the high school football team, Brandon, is
dating Jasmine.
Jasmine dumps Brandon and starts dating Drew, president
of the chess club.
Drew
Brandon
Jasmine
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Repression
• Pushing thoughts out of
our conscious mind and
back into our
unconscious.
• When asked about
Jasmine, Brandon may
say “Who?, I have not
thought about her for
awhile.”
• Why don’t we remember
our Oedipus and Electra
complexes?
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Denial
• Not accepting the
ego-threatening
truth.
• Brandon may act
like he is still
together with
Jasmine. He may
hang out by her
locker and plan
dates with her.
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Projection
• Believing that the
feelings one has
toward someone else
are actually held by the
other person and
directed at oneself.
• Brandon insists that
Jasmine still cares for
him.
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Reaction Formation
• Expressing the
opposite of how
one truly feels.
• Cootie stage in
Freud’s Latent
Development.
• Brandon claims he
hates Jasmine.
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Regression
• Returning to an
earlier, comforting
form of behavior.
• Brandon begins to
sleep with his favorite
childhood stuffed
animal, Mr. Snuggles.
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Rationalization
• Coming up with a
beneficial result of an
undesirable outcome.
• Brandon thinks he
will find a better
girlfriend. “Jasmine
was not all that
anyway!”
• I really did not want
to go to ……..anyway,
it was too ……
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Intellectualization
• Undertaking an
academic,
unemotional study
of a topic.
• Brandon starts
doing a research
paper on failed
teenage romances.
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Displacement
• Redirecting one’s
feelings toward
another person or
object.
• Often displaced on
less threatening
things.
• Brandon may take his
anger out on another
kid by bullying.
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Sublimation
• Channeling one’s
frustration toward a
different goal.
• Sometimes a healthy
defense mechanism.
• Brandon starts to
learn how to play
the guitar and
writing songs (or
maybe starts to
body build).
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Criticisms of Freud
• It is not all about SEX!
• His results are not
empirically verifiable
(really hard to test).
• No predictive power.
• Limited sample – he
really only studied
wealthy individuals in
Austria.
• Karen Horney said he
was sexist with the
“penis envy” and there
is an actual “womb
envy”.
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Criticisms of Freud
• Horney argued that there was a need for
security, not sex, and that this need was the
prime motive in human existence.
• Horney argued that previous research about
how women function was limited by the fact
that those that described women were men.
Neo-Freudians: Psychodynamics
•Alfred Adler
•Childhood Tensions
•Social tensions not sexual
•EGO = Inferiority vs
Superiority & Power
•Inferiority Complex
•Birth Order & Personality
Alfred Adler (1870-1937)
•https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zw8_SQLZ-A
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Adler’s Individual Psychology
According to Adler, individual psychology is
when people are motivated by purposes and
goals. It is perfection, not pleasure, that is the
key motivator.
He believed that social factors were more
important than sexual motivation in shaping
personality.
Neo-Freudians: Psychodynamics
•Erik Erikson
•Social Development not
Sexual development
•8 Stages of psychosocial
development
Erik Erikson (1902-1994)
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Jung’s Analytical Theory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLNShGOgqWQ
• The collective unconscious is the impersonal, deepest
layer of the unconscious mind.
• Archetypes are emotionally laden ideas and images
that have a rich and symbolic meaning for people.
Two of the main archetypes are the anima, which is a
woman, and the animus, which is a man.
Psychodynamics Today
• Hypnosis
• Dream
Interpretation
• Free Association
• Projective Tests
(tests that delve into
and reveal the
unconscious mind).
• Examples are TAT
and Inkblot Tests.
• Reliability &
Validity of Projective
Tests?
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TAT Test
Thematic Apperception Test
• Henry Murray
• Giving the subject a picture that is ambiguous (can
have several meanings) and ask them what is
occurring.
• Their answers reveal the manifest content.
• Therapist can then discover the Latent Content.
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Rorschach Inkblot Test
• Hermann Rorschach
• The most widely used projective test
• A set of ten inkblots designed to identify
people’s feelings when they are asked to
interpret what they see in the inkblots.
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Psychoanalysis
• Projective Tests
Reliable?
Valid?
Evaluating the Psychodynamic
Perspectives
• Some of the psychodynamic theories in place
today still share some of the same principles of
Freud. Personality is determined both by current
experiences and those experienced earlier in life.
Personality can be better understood by looking
at it developmentally. People mentally transform
their experiences. The mind is not all
consciousness. An individual’s inner world conflicts
with the outer demands of reality. Personality and
judgment are rightful and important topics of
psychological inquiry.
Behaviorist Theory of Personality
• The way most people
think of personality is
meaningless.
• Personality is Learned!
• Personality changes
according to the
environment
(reinforcers and
punishments).
• Contingencies of
Reinforcement
• If you change
environment then you
change the personality.
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Humanistic Theory of Personality
• Popular by 1960s
• Do not believe in
Determinism (your
actions are dictated by
your past).
• They believe that
humans have free will
(our ability to choose
your own destiny).
• We are innately good
and as long as our selfesteem and selfconcept are positive we
will be happy.
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Humanism & Self-Concept
•Abraham Maslow
• Motivated by a Hierarchy of Needs
•Self-Esteem
•Self-Actualization—fulfilling our potential
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Carl Rogers & Humanism
• The object of humans is to
become self-actualized.
• Ideal Self vs Real Self
(facebook)
• We are like Acorns
• What do Acorns need to
grow?
• Water sun and soil.
Except to grow into healthy
humans we need:
• Genuineness
• Acceptance (Unconditional
Positive Regard)
• Empathy
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Trait Theories of Personality
• They believe that we can
describe people’s
personalities by specifying
their main characteristics
(traits).
• Traits like honestly,
laziness, ambition,
outgoing are thought to be
stable over the course of
your lives.
• Personality Inventories
& Factor Analysis
(score clusters)
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Gordon Allport & Cardinal Trait
– Cardinal Disposition = 1
dominant trait
– Central traits = Makes us
predictable in most
situations.
– Secondary traits = Least
important and have less
consistent influence on us
– Ex: preferences in food
and music
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Raymond Cattell:
Sixteen Trait Theory
• 16 Source Traits – Core of Personality
• Also 46 Surface Traits
Eysenck’s Personality Table
•Hans and Sybil Eysenck
• Personality = 2 polar dimensions
• Extraversion versus Introversion
• Emotional stability versus Instability.
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BIG FIVE TRAIT THEORY
• McCrae & Costa
• BIG FIVE
personality traits:
1. Extraversion
2.Agreeableness
3.Conscientiousness
4.Openness to
experience
5.Neuroticism
(Emotional Stability)
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Big 5 Inventory
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Be careful of the Barnum Effect!!!
• People have the
tendency to see
themselves in
vague, stock
descriptions of
personality.
• Horoscopes,
astrologers and
psychics all use
this concept.
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Trait Theory Criticism
• Do NOT take into
account the importance
of the situation.
• Walter Mischel -traits
may be enduring, but
the resulting behavior in
various situations is
different.
• Person-Situation
Controversy
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Assessing Personality
• Most common way is selfreport inventories.
• MMPI - Minnesota
Multiphasic Personality
Inventory
(most researched & used)
Test must be
• Reliable- does it yield the
same results over time.
• Valid- does it measure
what it is supposed to
measure.
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Sample MMPI Questions
True/ False
•
1.I like mechanics magazines
2.I have a good appetite
3.I wake up fresh & rested most mornings
4.I think I would like the work of a librarian
5.I am easily awakened by noise
6.I like to read newspaper articles on crime
7.My hands and feet are usually warm enough
8.My daily life is full of things that keep me interested
9.I am about as able to work as I ever was
10.There seems to be a lump in my throat much of the time
11.A person should try to understand his dreams and be guided by or take warning from them
12.I enjoy detective or mystery stories
13.I work under a great deal of tension
14.I have diarrhea once a month or more
15.Once in a while I think of things too bad to talk about
16.I am sure I get a raw deal from life
17.My father was a good man
18.I am very seldom troubled by constipation
19.When I take a new, I like to be tipped off on whom should be gotten next to
20.My sex life is satisfactory
21.At times I have very much wanted to leave home
22.At times I have fits of laughing & crying that I cannot control
23.I am troubled by attacks of nausea and vomiting
24.No one seems to understand me
25.I would like to be a singer
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MMPI Test Profile
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Cognitive Theories on Personality
• Optimism vs Pessimism
• Internal Locus of
Control versus
External Locus of
Control
• External Locus can
lead to a state of
learned helplessness
(unable to avoid
repeated adverse events
an animal or human
learns helplessness)
control
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Social-Cognitive Theory on
Personality
Triadic
Reciprocality
• Focus on how we
interact with our
culture and
environment
• Albert Bandura is
back!!! (social learning)
• Reciprocal
Determinism
(cognition,
environment, and
behavior all interact
and influence each
other.)
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Positive Psychology
•Martin Seligman
•https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faT8jw17RHE
•Attempts to foster human fulfillment
•Seeks positive subjective well-being, positive
character, and positive social groups.
Martin Seligman
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