Who are you?
What makes “you”?
Your behavior is common to other but it is also distinctive
Personality: Distinctive and relatively enduring ways to thinking, feeling, acting
That characterizes a person’s response to situations
Freud’s Bio
- Born in 1856
- Lived most of his life in Vienna
- Medical school, neurology, received a grant to study psychiatry
- Set up practice in neuropsy
- Psychnoanalysis
- Id, Ego ,Superego
- Freudian slip
- Psychosexual stages of Development
- Oedipal Complex
- Defence Mechanisms
- Interpretation of Dreams
- Penis Envy
- Influence on laer psychologists
- Cocaine
Psychic Energy: generated by instinctual drives
Mental Events: Conscious, Preconscious, Unconscious
Psychoanalysis
- Hysterical women in Vienne
- The “talking cure”
- Anna O: the beginning of psychoanalysis
- Catharsis= explosive release of pent up emotions
- Hypnosis and free association
Id
- Unconscious
- No direct contact with reality
- Only structure present at birth
- Operates according to pleasure principle
Ego
- Conscious level (primarily)
- Operates according to ‘reality principle’ (meet id’s needs in realistic way)
Superego
- Morality aspects of personality (right or wrong)
Defence Mechanisms
- Repression: placing uncomfortable thoughts & wishes in the unconscious mind
- Revealed in slips of the tongue, dreams (e.g childbirth pain, childhood abuses)
- Sublimation: unacceptable impulses are presented as socially desirable behavior (mask true feelings, wishes)
- Denial: Refusal to acknowledge situation; blocking external events from awareness (death, alcoholism, pregnancy during affairs)
- Displacement: Finding a ‘safe target’
- Projection: An unacceptable impulse is repressed and then projected onto another person
- Rationalization” You construct a false, but reasonable, explanation for an event that already occurred
Freund: Psychoseuxal Development
Series of stages
- Focuses on specific pleasure-sensitive areas of body
- Adult personality is a function of progressing through these stages
Fixation
- Arrested development where instincts focused on particular area
- Long term effects on our character
Oral Stage
- 0-2 years
- Focus of pleasure on the mouth
- Fixation= self-indulgence; dependency
Anal Stage
- 2-3 stages
- Fixation= compulsive, cleanliness, rigid rules
Phallic
- 4-6 years
- Focus of pleasure on genitalia
- Conflicts may result in homosexuality, authority problems
- Oedipal crisis for boy
- Penis Envy for women
Latency
- 7- puberty
- Period of dormant sexuality
Genital
- Puberty +
- Formation of social & sexual relationships
Praise for Freud
- most influential psychologist ever
- psychoanalysis has been very popular
- huge impact on pop culture recognized importance of
- unconscious influences on behaviour
- recognized importance of early development on adult behaviour
Neoanalysts
- Psychoanalysts who disagreed with Freud
- Felt Freud failed to recognize social & cultural factors
- Overemphasized infantile sexuality
- Personality develops throughout life span
- Childhood experiences were important but not sole determinants
Neoanalytic Approaches
Alfred Adler
- Humans are motivated by social interest
- Place social welfare above personal interests
- Striving for superiority compensate for real or imagined defects
- (inferiority complex) become more competent
Neoanalytic Approaches
Carl Jung
- Analytic psychology
- Personal unconscious (your life)
- + Collective unconscious (human race)
Archetypes
- reflect collective unconscious
- Numerous cultures
- Common: symbols, good, evil, gero
- Superiority complex
- Social Interest
Humanistic Approach
Reaction to Freud
- Positive view that emphasizes goodness of humankind
- Emphasis on role of (conscious/ self-actualization)
- Maslow’s hierarchy of Needs
- Become self-actualized when he gives back all the decoration and presents
Carl Rogers Self Theory
Self-concept: central concept
Organized, consistent set of perception & beliefs about oneself
Once established- tendency to maintain it
Congruence: consistency between self-perceptions & experiences
What happens when your experience does not “match” your self-concept?
Threat
- Arises when experience is inconsistent with selfconcept
- “Why is he making that face? I’m a good cook.”
Healthy Adjustment
- Individuals modify self-concept
- “Not all people find me a good cook.”
Maladjustment
- Individuals distort reality
- “They are just not clever enough to see that I am a good cook.”
- Can lead to ‘problems in living’/ Not flexible in their perception of themselves
Need for Positive Regard
- Innate need for acceptance, sympathy, love, essential for healthy development
Unconditional Positive Regard
- Independent of behaviour
Conditional Positive Regard
- Dependent upon behaviour
- Creates ‘conditions of worth’
Self-esteem
How positively or negatively we feel about ourselves
High self-esteem
- Less susceptible to social pressure
- Fewer interpersonal problems
- Achieve at higher level
Poor self-esteem
- Anxiety and depression
- Poor social relationships
- Underachievement
Self-verification
- Motivated to confirm self-concept
- Seek out self confirming relationships
- “Want people to see you like how you see yourself”
Roger’s Self Theory
- He experienced Unconditional Positive Regard when the “whos” accepted him even though he had tried to take away Christmas
Social Cognitive Theories: Rotter
- Locus of Control: How much control do you have in your life?
Internal (move successful in life)
- Events under personal control
- Sense of personal effectiveness
External
- Luck, chance, powerful others
- Give into ‘powerful’ others
Self-Efficacy (Bandura)
- Beliefs about your ability to perform a task
- High efficacy will do better, persist longer, seek out feedback
What influences self-efficacy?
Performance attainments
- Previous successes or failures
Observational learning
- Observing others
Verbal persuasion
- Positive or negative messages from others
Emotional arousal
- Arousal that can inhibit or enhance performance
Barnum Effect
- Simple Horoscope:
- Barum effect: statement taken from a newsstand astrology book
- On a scale of 0 (poor) to 5 (perfect) students rated a 4.5
- People accept very general or vague characterization of themselves and take them as accurate
Cattell’s trait Theory
- How can we decide what fundamental traits are?
- Dictionary identifies 18,000 personality descriptors
- Cattell narrowed this down to 170 descriptors
- Had subject rate themselves on each one and used factor analysis to group them
- Cattell derived 16 source traits
Traits approach
- Reflect a basic dimension or traits
- Each dimension reflect a “continuum’ of behavior (extrovert à introvert)
- Each of us can be placed at some point on the continuum
Extraversion- stability Model
- Both traits are present in every person, in different degrees
Extroverted- Introverted
- Eq. sociable, take risks, inhibited, cautious
Stable- Unstable
- Eg. Emotionally stable, poised excessive worry, moodiness
Ability to “ignore things” that extroverts are distracted by or reactive to is a strong characteristic for success in introversion
Eysenck’s Two Factors
Extroversion (+) vs. Introversion
- Do you like mixing with people? (+)
- Do you like plenty of bustle and excitement around you? (+)
- Are you rather lively? (+)
Stable vs. Unstable (+) (= Neuroticism)
- Do you often feel lonely? (+)
- Does your mood often go up and down? (+)
Extraversion- Stability Model
- Knowing how Extraverted a person is tells us nothing about his level of emotional stability
- 2 “super traits” combine to form more specific traits
5 Factor Model
Variation on these 5 factors create enormous diversity in personalities…adequate to describe important features of personality
Openness (O)
- Tolerance for new ideas and new ways of doing things
Conscientiousness (C)
- Degree of organization, preference for goaloriented activity
Extraversion (E)
- Preference for social interaction, activity for activity’s sake
Agreeableness (A)
- Orientation toward compassion and caring about others
Neuroticism (N)
- Tendency toward negative emotionality, instability, inability to cope
Effects of Age
- Less open to experience
- More conscientious
- Less extroverted
- More agreeable
- Less neurotic
Consistency Paradox
Walter Mischel
- Little consistency in traits such as honesty
- Little consistency across situations
How can this be?
- We behave differently in different situations
- Trait descriptions overemphasize consistency
- Our intuition expects to see consistency; empirical evidence does not support this
Stability of Personality Traits
Can you predict behaviour from personality traits?
Difficult because:
- Traits interact with other traits
- Importance’ of trait influences consistency
- Variation in ‘self-monitoring’
Self-monitors
- High = attentive to situational cues
- Low = attentive to internal beliefs
Are you a high self-monitor?
High Self-monitors
- People who modify their behavior based on the situation
Low Self-monitors
- People who behave in a consistent manner regardless of the situation
Four Temperaments
- Sanguine– Blood (cheerful, even tempered)
- Choleric– Yellow Bile (Quick tempered, easily initiated)
- Melancholic– Black Bile (sad, Resigned)
- Phlegmatic– Phlegm (Dull, indifferent)
Biological Perspective
Extraversion – Introversion
- Brains of extreme extroverts = under-aroused
- Seek to maximize stimulation
- Brains of extreme introverts = over-aroused (try to minimize stimulation)
Introverts (vs. Extroverts)
- Respond more strongly to stimuli
- More sensitive to pain of electric shocks
- Salivate more when tasting lemon juice
- Show more arousal to a sudden noise
- Perform worse in noisy settings are impaired by caffeine ( vs. extroverts who are enhanced)
- Have more activation in frontal lobes
Personality Assessment
Interviews
- Structured set of standardized questions
- note other behaviours – appearance, speech patterns, facial expressions etc.
Behavioural Assessment
- Need explicit coding system
- specific behavior, frequency, under what conditions
- Interjudge reliability
Personality Scales
Objective measures: use standard questions & agreed upon scoring key
2 Types
Rational:
- Based on theoretical conception of trait
- Item seems ‘relevant’ to the trait
- Big 5 personality traits
Empirical
- Items were answered differently by differing groups
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
- Based on responses by ‘normals’ and psychiatric patients
- M: 1,138 F: 1,462
- Ages 18-80
- Vulnerable to faking
MMPI-2
- 10 clinical scales
- 3 validity scales
- (L) lie
- (F) frequency (exaggerates complaints)
- (K) correction (denies problems)
- Configuration pattern of scales
- Measures severe personality deviations
- Screening device in industrial, military
- Settings
New occupation-specific mean profiles present targeted information to help provide strong support for hiring decisions.
Projective tests
- Presented with ambiguous stimulus
- Interpretation = projection of inner needs, feelings, ways of viewing the world
2 main tests
- Rorshach Inkblots
- Thematic Apperception Test
Rorschach Inkblots
- 10 inkblots
- Categorized according to ‘types’ of objects seen
- Different examiners – different interpretations?
- Test is always used in conjunction with other tests
Thematic Apperception Test
- Ambiguous illustrations/ photos
Who uses what tools?
- Psychodynamic = projective techniques
- Humanistic = self-report measures
- Social-cognitive = behavioural assessments
- Biological = physiological measurements
- Trait theorists = inventories (MMPI, NEO-PI)
