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EXPLORINGPSYCHOLOGY(8th Edition)David Myers
PowerPoint Slides
Aneeq Ahmad
Henderson State University
Worth Publishers, © 2011
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PersonalityChapter 12
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Personality
The Psychoanalytic Perspective
Exploring the Unconscious
The Neo-Freudian andPsychodynamic Theories
Assessing Unconscious Processes
Evaluating the PsychoanalyticPerspective
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The Humanistic Perspective
Abraham Maslow’s Self-ActualizingPerson
Carl Roger’s Person-CenteredPerspective
Assessing the Self
Evaluating the HumanisticPerspective
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The Trait Perspective
Exploring Traits
Assessing Traits
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT:How to Be a “Successful” Astrologeror Palm Reader
The Big Five Factors
Evaluating the Trait Perspective
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The Social-Cognitive Perspective
Reciprocal Influences
Personal Control
CLOSE UP: Toward a More PositivePschology
Assessing Behavior in Situations
Evaluating the Social-CognitivePerspective
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Exploring the Self
The Benefits of Self-Esteem
Self-Serving Bias
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Personality
An individual’s characteristic pattern ofthinking, feeling, and acting.
Each dwarf has a distinct personality.
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Psychoanalytic Perspective
In his clinical practice,Freud encounteredpatients suffering fromnervous disorders.Their complaintscould not be explainedin terms of purelyphysical causes.
Sigmund Freud
(1856-1939)
Culver Pictures
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Psychodynamic Perspective
Freud’s clinicalexperience led him todevelop the firstcomprehensive theoryof personality, whichincluded theunconscious mind,psychosexual stages,and defensemechanisms.
Sigmund Freud
(1856-1939)
Culver Pictures
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Exploring the Unconscious
A reservoir (unconscious mind) of mostlyunacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, andmemories. Freud asked patients to say whatevercame to their minds (free association) in order totap the unconscious.
http://www.english.upenn.edu
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Dream Analysis
Another method to analyze the unconsciousmind is through interpreting manifest andlatent contents of dreams.
The Nightmare, Henry Fuseli (1791)
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Psychoanalysis
The process of freeassociation (chain ofthoughts) leads topainful, embarrassingunconscious memories.Once these memoriesare retrieved andreleased (treatment:psychoanalysis) thepatient feels better.
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Model of Mind
The mind is like an iceberg. It is mostly hidden,and below the surface lies the unconsciousmind. The preconscious stores temporarymemories.
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Personality Structure
Personality develops as a result of our efforts toresolve conflicts between our biological impulses(id) and social restraints (superego).
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Id, Ego and Superego
The Id unconsciously strives to satisfy basicsexual and aggressive drives, operating on thepleasure principle, demanding immediategratification.
The ego functions as the “executive” andmediates the demands of the id and superego.
The superego provides standards for judgment(the conscience) and for future aspirations.
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Personality Development
Freud believed that personality formed duringthe first few years of life divided intopsychosexual stages. During these stages theid’s pleasure-seeking energies focus on pleasuresensitive body areas called erogenous zones.
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Psychosexual Stages
Freud divided the development of personalityinto five psychosexual stages.
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Oedipus Complex
A boy’s sexual desire for his mother andfeelings of jealousy and hatred for the rivalfather. A girl’s desire for her father is called theElectra complex.
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Identification
Children cope withthreatening feelings byrepressing them andby identifying with therival parent. Throughthis process ofidentification, theirsuperego gainsstrength thatincorporates theirparents’ values.
From the K. Vandervelde private collection
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Defense Mechanisms
The ego’s protective methods of reducinganxiety by unconsciously distorting reality.
1.Repression banishes anxiety-arousingthoughts, feelings, and memories fromconsciousness.
2.Regression leads an individual faced withanxiety to retreat to a more infantilepsychosexual stage.
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Defense Mechanisms
3.Reaction Formation causes the ego tounconsciously switch unacceptableimpulses into their opposites. People mayexpress feelings of purity when they may besuffering anxiety from unconscious feelingsabout sex.
4.Projection leads people to disguise theirown threatening impulses by attributingthem to others.
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Defense Mechanisms
5.Rationalization offers self-justifyingexplanations in place of the real, morethreatening, unconscious reasons for one’sactions.
6.Displacement shifts sexual or aggressiveimpulses toward a more acceptable or lessthreatening object or person, redirectinganger toward a safer outlet.
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The Neo-Freudians
Like Freud, Adlerbelieved in childhoodtensions. However, thesetensions were social innature and not sexual. Achild struggles with aninferiority complexduring growth andstrives for superiorityand power.
Alfred Adler (1870-1937)
National Library of Medicine
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The Neo-Freudians
Like Adler, Horneybelieved in the socialaspects of childhoodgrowth anddevelopment. Shecountered Freud’sassumption thatwomen have weaksuperegos and sufferfrom “penis envy.”
Karen Horney (1885-1952)
The Bettmann Archive/ Corbis
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The Neo-Freudians
Jung believed in thecollective unconscious,which contained acommon reservoir ofimages derived from ourspecies’ past. This is whymany cultures sharecertain myths and imagessuch as the mother beinga symbol of nurturance.
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
Archive of the History of American Psychology/ University of Akron
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Assessing Unconscious Processes
Evaluating personality from an unconsciousmind’s perspective would require apsychological instrument (projective tests) thatwould reveal the hidden unconscious mind.
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Thematic Apperception Test(TAT)
Developed by Henry Murray, the TAT is aprojective test in which people express their innerfeelings and interests through the stories they makeup about ambiguous scenes.
Lew Merrim/ Photo Researcher, Inc.
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Rorschach Inkblot Test
The most widely used projective test uses a setof 10 inkblots and was designed by HermannRorschach. It seeks to identify people’s innerfeelings by analyzing their interpretations of theblots.
Lew Merrim/ Photo Researcher, Inc.
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Projective Tests: Criticisms
Critics argue that projective tests lack bothreliability (consistency of results) and validity(predicting what it is supposed to).
1.When evaluating the same patient, eventrained raters come up with differentinterpretations (reliability).
2.Projective tests may misdiagnose a normalindividual as pathological (validity).
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Evaluating the PsychoanalyticPerspective
1.Personality develops throughout life and isnot fixed in childhood.
2.Freud underemphasized peer influence onthe individual, which may be as powerfulas parental influence.
3.Gender identity may develop before 5-6years of age.
Modern Research
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Evaluating the PsychoanalyticPerspective
4.There may be other reasons for dreamsbesides wish fulfillment.
5.Verbal slips can be explained on the basis ofcognitive processing of verbal choices.
6.Suppressed sexuality leads to psychologicaldisorders. Sexual inhibition has decreased,but psychological disorders have not.
Modern Research
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Evaluating the PsychoanalyticPerspective
Freud's psychoanalytic theory rests on therepression of painful experiences into theunconscious mind.
The majority of children, death camp survivors,and battle-scarred veterans are unable torepress painful experiences into theirunconscious mind.
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The Modern Unconscious Mind
Modern research shows the existence of non-conscious information processing. This involves:
1.schemas that automatically control perceptions andinterpretations
2.the right-hemisphere activity that enables the split-brain patient’s left hand to carry out an instruction thepatient cannot verbalize
3.parallel processing during vision and thinking
4.implicit memories
5.emotions that activate instantly without consciousness
6.self-concept and stereotypes that unconsciouslyinfluence us
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Evaluating the PsychoanalyticPerspective
The scientific merits of Freud’s theory havebeen criticized. Psychoanalysis is meagerlytestable. Most of its concepts arise out of clinicalpractice, which are the after-the-factexplanation.
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Humanistic Perspective
By the 1960s, psychologists became discontentwith Freud’s negativity and the mechanisticpsychology of the behaviorists.
Abraham Maslow
(1908-1970)
Carl Rogers
(1902-1987)
http://www.ship.edu
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Self-Actualizing Person
Maslow proposed that we as individuals aremotivated by a hierarchy of needs. Beginningwith physiological needs, we try to reach thestate of self-actualization—fulfilling ourpotential.
http://www.ship.edu
Ted Polumbaum/ Time Pix/ Getty Images
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Person-Centered Perspective
Carl Rogers also believed in an individual's self-actualization tendencies. He said thatUnconditional Positive Regard is an attitude ofacceptance of others despite their failings.
Michael Rougier/ Life Magazine © Time Warner, Inc.
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Assessing the Self
All of our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in ananswer to the question, “Who am I?” refers to Self-Concept.
In an effort to assess personality, Rogers askedpeople to describe themselves as they would liketo be (ideal) and as they actually are (real). If thetwo descriptions were close the individual had apositive self-concept.
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Evaluating the HumanisticPerspective
Humanistic psychology has a pervasiveimpact on counseling, education, child-rearing, and management with itsemphasis on a positive self-concept,empathy, and the thought that people arebasically good and can improve.
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Evaluating the HumanisticPerspective
1.Concepts in humanistic psychology are vague andsubjective and lack scientific basis.
2.The individualism encouraged can lead to self-indulgence, selfishness, and an erosion of moralrestraints.
3.Humanistic psychology fails to appreciate thereality of our human capacity for evil. It lacksadequate balance between realistic optimism anddespair.
Criticisms
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The Trait Perspective
An individual’s unique constellation of durabledispositions and consistent ways of behaving(traits) constitutes his or her personality.
Examples of Traits
Honest
Dependable
Moody
Impulsive
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Exploring Traits
One way to condense the immense list ofpersonality traits is through factor analysis, astatistical approach used to describe and relatepersonality traits.
Each personality is uniquely made up ofmultiple traits.
Allport & Odbert (1936), identified almost18,000 words representing traits.
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Factor Analysis
Hans and Sybil Eysenck suggested thatpersonality could be reduced down to twopolar dimensions, extraversion-introversionand emotional stability-instability.
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Biology and Personality
Personality dimensions are influenced by genes.
1.Brain-imaging procedures show that extravertsseek stimulation because their normal brainarousal is relatively low.
2.Genes also influence our temperament andbehavioral style. Differences in children’s shynessand inhibition may be attributed to autonomicnervous system reactivity.
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Assessing Traits
Personality inventories are questionnaires(often with true-false or agree-disagree items)designed to gauge a wide range of feelings andbehaviors assessing several traits at once.
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MMPI
The Minnesota Multiphasic PersonalityInventory (MMPI) is the most widelyresearched and clinically used of all personalitytests. It was originally developed to identifyemotional disorders.
The MMPI was developed by empiricallytesting a pool of items and then selecting thosethat discriminated between diagnostic groups.
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MMPI Test Profile
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The Big Five Factors
Today’s trait researchers believe that earlier traitdimensions, such as Eysencks’ personality dimensions,fail to tell the whole story. So, an expanded range (fivefactors) of traits does a better job of assessment.
Conscientiousness
Agreeableness
Neuroticism
Openness
Extraversion
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Endpoints
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Questions about the Big Five
These traits are common acrosscultures.
3. How about other cultures?
Fifty percent or so for eachtrait.
2. How heritable are they?
Quite stable in adulthood.However, they change overdevelopment.
1. How stable are these traits?
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Evaluating the Trait Perspective
The Person-Situation Controversy
Walter Mischel (1968, 1984, 2004) points out thattraits may be enduring, but the resultingbehavior in various situations is different.Therefore, traits are not good predictors ofbehavior.
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The Person-Situation Controversy
Trait theorists argue that behaviors from asituation may be different, but average behaviorremains the same. Therefore, traits matter.
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The Person-Situation Controversy
Traits are socially significant and influence ourhealth, thinking, and performance(Gosling et al., 2000).
Samuel Gosling
John Langford Photography
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Consistency of Expressive Style
Expressive styles in speaking and gesturesdemonstrate trait consistency.
Observers are able to judge people’s behaviorand feelings in as little as 30 seconds and in oneparticular case as little as 2 seconds.
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Social-Cognitive Perspective
Bandura (1986, 2001,2005) believes thatpersonality is theresult of an interactionthat takes placebetween a person andtheir social context.
Albert Bandura
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Individuals & Environments
How we view and treat peopleinfluences how they treat us.
Our personalities shapesituations.
Anxious people react tosituations differently thanrelaxed people.
Our personalities shape howwe react to events.
The school you attend and themusic you listen to are partlybased on your dispositions.
Different people choosedifferent environments.
Specific ways in which individuals andenvironments interact
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Behavior
Behavior emerges from an interplay of externaland internal influences.
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Personal Control
External locus of control refers to the perceptionthat chance or outside forces beyond ourpersonal control determine our fate.
Internal locus of control refers to the perceptionthat we can control our own fate.
Social-cognitive psychologists emphasize oursense of personal control, whether we controlthe environment or the environment controlsus.
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Learned Helplessness
When unable to avoid repeated adverse eventsan animal or human learns helplessness.
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Optimism vs. Pessimism
An optimistic or pessimistic attributional style isyour way of explaining positive or negativeevents.
Positive psychology aims to discover andpromote conditions that enable individuals andcommunities to thrive.
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Positive Psychology and HumanisticPsychology
Positive psychology, such as humanisticpsychology, attempts to foster humanfulfillment. Positive psychology, in addition,seeks positive subjective well-being, positivecharacter, and positive social groups.
Martin Seligman
Courtesy of Martin E.P. Seligman, PhD Director,
Positive Psychology Center/ University of Pennsylvania
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Assessing Behavior in Situations
Social-cognitive psychologists observe people inrealistic and simulated situations because theyfind that it is the best way to predict the behaviorof others in similar situations.
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Evaluating the Social-CognitivePerspective
Critics say that social-cognitive psychologistspay a lot of attention to the situation and payless attention to the individual, his unconsciousmind, his emotions, and his genetics.
The social-cognitive perspective on personalitysensitizes researchers to the effects of situations onand by individuals. It builds on learning andcognition research.
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Exploring the Self
Research on the self has a long history because theself organizes thinking, feelings, and actions and is acritical part of our personality.
1.Research focuses on the different selves wepossess. Some we dream and others we dread.
2.Research studies how we overestimate ourconcern that others evaluate our appearance,performance, and blunders (spotlight effect).
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Benefits of Self-Esteem
Maslow and Rogers argued that a successfullife results from a healthy self-image (self-esteem). The following are two reasons whylow self-esteem results in personal problems.
1.When self-esteem is deflated, we viewourselves and others critically.
2.Low self-esteem reflects reality, our failure inmeeting challenges, or surmountingdifficulties.
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Culture & Self-Esteem
People maintain their self-esteem even with a low statusby valuing things they achieve and comparingthemselves to people with similar positions.
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Self-Serving Bias
We accept responsibility for good deeds andsuccesses more than for bad deeds andfailures. Defensive self-esteem is fragile andegotistic whereas secure self-esteem is lessfragile and less dependent on externalevaluation.