copyright © houghton mifflin company. all rights reserved. 12–1 chapter twelve personality

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 12–1

Chapter Twelve

Personality


Did You Know That…

• According to the originator of psychodynamic theory, Sigmund Freud, slips of the tongue may reveal hidden motives and wishes of which we are unaware?

• According to Carl Gustav Jung, another psychodynamic theorist, we inherit a shared unconscious mind containing images that can be traced to ancestral times?


Did You Know That… (cont.)

• According to a leading personality theorist, extraverted people may require more stimulating activities than introverted people to maintain an optimal level of arousal?

• The “Big Five” is not the name of a new NCAA basketball conference but the label used to describe the leading trait theory of personality today?


Did You Know That… (cont.)

• A leading humanistic theorist, Carl Rogers, believed that children should receive love and approval unconditionally from their parents regardless of their behavior at any particular point in time?

• According to a widely held view in the 19th century, you can learn about a person’s character and mental abilities by examining the pattern of bumps on the person’s head?


Module 12.1

The Psychodynamic Perspective


Module 12.1 Preview Questions

• What is personality?• What three levels of consciousness did Freud

believe comprise the human mind?• What are the structures of personality in

Freud’s theory?• What are psychological defense

mechanisms?


Module 12.1 Preview Questions (cont.)

• What are the five states of psychosexual development in Freud’s theory?

• What are some of the major contributions of other psychodynamic theorists?


What Is “Personality”?

• The relatively stable set of psychological characteristics and behavior patterns that account for our individuality and consistency over time.


Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

• Freud’s meeting with Jean Martin Charcot.

• Importance of instincts:– Sexual instinct– Aggressive instinct

• Instincts must be balanced with social acceptability.

• Importance of early childhood experiences.

Figure 12.1: Levels of Consciousness


Psychoanalytic Theory: Structure of Personality

• Id– Unconscious drives and instincts– Follows the pleasure principle, instant gratification

• Ego– Follows the reality principle– Balancing id’s demands with social approval

• Superego– Moral guardian, conscience– May impose self-punishment, guilt, shame


Psychoanalytic Theory: Defense Mechanisms

• Repression• Denial• Reaction formation• Rationalization• Projection• Sublimation• Regression• Displacement


Psychoanalytic Theory: Personality Development

• Psychosexual stages of development– Characterized by changes in libido, shifting

location of erogenous zones.– Activities pleasurable because essential to

survival.

• Conflicts emerge during each psychosexual stage.– Conflicts can lead to development of fixations.


Psychosexual Stages of Development

• Oral Stage: birth to 12-18 months old– Erogenous zone is the mouth.– Pleasure through sucking, mouthing, chewing.

• Anal Stage: 18-36 months– Erogenous zone is the anal cavity.– Sexual pleasure through the ability to control

elimination.– Conflict arises from issue of toilet training.– Anal-retentive vs. anal-expulsive personality


Psychosexual Stages of Development (cont.)

• Phallic Stage: ages 3-6– Erogenous zone is the phallic region.– Core conflict is the Oedipus complex.– Freud’s followers called female version of conflict

the Electra complex.– Boys develop castration anxiety.– Girls experience penis envy.


Psychosexual Stages of Development (cont.)

• Latent Stage: ages 6-12– Sexual impulses remain dormant.

• Genital Stage: puberty to adulthood– Attraction to opposite gender.– Sexual energies expressed through sexual

intercourse, marriage, child bearing.


Other Psychodynamic Approaches

• Beyond Sigmund Freud: neo-Freudians• Less emphasis on sex and aggression• Greater emphasis on social relationships,

ego, concept of self


Carl Jung’s Analytical Psychology

• Also believed in role of unconscious conflicts on behavior.

• Greater emphasis on present experiences.• Personal unconscious consists of repressed

memories and impulses.• Collective unconscious contains archetypes.


Alfred Adler’s Individual Psychology

• Emphasis on unique potential of each individual.

• Conscious experience plays important role in personality.– Role of the creative self.

• Inferiority complex and the drive for superiority


Karen Horney

• Critic of Freud’s view of female development.

• Emphasized role of social and cultural forces.

• Importance of parent-child relationships.– Basic anxiety– Basic hostility


Evaluating the Psychodynamic Perspective

• Contributions– Detailed and comprehensive theory of personality– Awareness of unconscious drives, impulses

• Criticisms– Overimportance of sexual and aggressive drives– Too little emphasis on social relationships– Lack of evidence and questions of validity– Untestable hypotheses, unscientific


Module 12.2

The Trait Perspective



• What are the three types of traits in Allport’s trait model?

• What was Cattell’s view on the organization of traits?

• What three traits are represented in Eysenck’s model of personality?

• What is the “Big Five” trait model of personality?

• What role do genes play in personality?


Trait Perspective

• Personality consists of relatively enduring personal characteristics called traits.

• Trait theorists focus on:– How people differ in traits.– How traits can be measured. – How traits are organized.


Gordon Allport

• Personality traits are physical entities embedded in the brain.– Inherited but influenced by experience

• Hierarchy of traits– Cardinal traits– Central traits– Secondary traits


Raymond Cattell

• Surface Traits: Characteristics of personality inferred from observations of behavior.

• Source Traits: More general traits of personality.


Figure 12.2: Cattell’s 16PF


Hans Eysenck

• Described personality using three major traits:– Introversion-extraversion– Neuroticism– Psychoticism

• Biological differences responsible for individual variations in personality traits.


Figure 12.3: Eysenck’s Personality Types


Five Factor Model (FFM)

• “Big Five” personality factors:– Neuroticism– Extraversion– Openness– Agreeableness– Conscientiousness


Genetic Basis of Traits

• Heredity plays important role in shaping personality.

• Focus is on the interactions of biology and environment.


Evaluating the Trait Perspective

• Contributions– Has intuitive appeal.– Led to development of personality tests.

• Drawbacks– Labels rather than explain behavior. – Behavior may not be so stable across time and

situations as assumed by trait theorists.

• Emerging view is that behavior involves an interaction between traits and situational factors.


Module 12.3

The Social-Cognitive Perspective



• What are expectancies and subjective values?

• What is reciprocal determinism?• What are situation and person variables?


Traditional Behavioral View

• Personality is shaped by environmental influences.– Personality consists of the sum total of an

individual’s learned behavior.

• All behavior is learned on the basis of classical and operant conditioning.


Social-Cognitive Theory

• Adopts a broader view of learning• To explain behavior, must take into account:

– Cognitive aspects of behavior such as expectancies.

– Social aspects of behavior such as imitation.


Julian Rotter

• Explaining, predicting behavior depends on knowing individual’s:– Reinforcement history– Expectancies– Subjective values– Locus of control

• External versus internal


Figure 12.4: Bandura’s Model of Reciprocal Determinism


Albert Bandura

• Emphasized role of observational learning.• Two types of expectancies:

– Outcome expectations– Efficacy expectations


Walter Mischel

• Situational variables• Person variables

– Expectancies– Subjective values– Competencies– Encoding strategies– Self-regulatory systems and plans


Evaluating the Social-Cognitive Perspective

• Contributions– Improved understanding of relationship between

behavior and environmental factors.– Broadening of learning theory to include cognitive

influences.

• Criticisms– Fails to include unconscious influences, heredity.– Little focus on subjective experience.


Module 12.4

The Humanistic Perspective



• What is self-theory?• How do collectivistic and individualistic

cultures view the concept of self?


Carl Rogers

• Inner drive to strive toward self-actualization.

• Personality expressed through the conscious experience of directing self towards fulfilling our unique potential.


Roger’s Self-Theory

• Self as center of the human experience• Development of self-esteem

– Unconditional positive regard– Conditional positive regard

• Self-esteem and self-ideals• Development of client-centered therapy


Abraham Maslow

• The innate drive toward self-actualization shapes our personality.

• Drive motivates us to develop our unique potentials as human beings.


Culture and Self-Identity

• Collectivistic Cultures: Emphasis on people’s social roles and obligations.– Value group goals over individual goals.– Emphasis on communal values.

• Individualistic Cultures: Emphasis on individual identity and personal accomplishments.– Idealize independence and self-sufficiency


Evaluating the Humanistic Perspective

• Contributions– Profound impact on society.– Focused attention on need to understand

subjective or conscious experience of individuals.– Influence of client-centered therapy.– Helped restore concept of self to psychology.


Evaluating the Humanistic Perspective

• Criticisms– Difficult to scientifically study conscious

experience.– Possible negative consequences from emphasis

on self-fulfillment.– Does drive for self-actualization really exist?


Module 12.5

Personality Tests



• What are self-report personality inventories?• What are projective tests of personality?


Measuring Personality

• Historical Attempts– Examination of facial

features– Phrenology

• Modern Strategies– Self-report personality

inventories– Projective tests


Self-Report Personality Inventories

• Objective tests– Limited response options.– Construction based on research.

• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)– Constructed to help diagnose mental disorders.– Raw scores converted into standard scores.


Figure 12.5: Sample MMPI-2 Profiles


Evaluation of Self-Report Personality Tests

• Criticisms– Susceptible to potential response biases.

• Benefits– Relatively inexpensive to administer and score.– People may be more willing to disclose personal

information.– May be used in prediction of behavior.


Projective Tests

• Unstructured or ambiguous stimuli to be interpreted.

• Assumption that people “project” needs, drives, motives through their responses.

• Responses must be interpreted.

Figure 12.6: Rorschach Inkblot


Figure 12.7: TAT Drawing


Evaluation of Projective Tests

• Drawbacks– Scoring of responses based on subjective

impressions.– Problem of stimulus pull.– Questions about overall validity and utility.

• Contributions– Tests can yield valuable information about

personality unobtainable through self-report tests or interviews.


Figure 12.8: Validity Coefficients of Psychological and Medical Tests


Figure 12.8: Validity Coefficients of Psychological and Medical Tests (cont.)


Module 12.6

Application: Building Self-Esteem


Module 12.6 Preview Question

• What are some ways of building self-esteem?


Building Self-Esteem

• Acquire competencies

• Set realistic, achievable goals

• Enhance self-efficacy expectations

• Create a sense of meaningfulness in your life

• Challenge perfectionistic expectations

• Challenge need for constant approval

copyright © houghton mifflin company. all rights reserved. 12–1 chapter twelve personality

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