psych 1101 module 45 humanistic theories

humanistic theories

• Some personality psychologists have become disoriented with focus on psychodynamic theory and use BF Skinner behaviorism

• Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers offer third force perspective that emphasized our potential for healthy personal growth

• self determination and self realization

humanistic theorists

 theories that view personality with a focus on the potential for healthy personal growth

hierarchy of needs

•  Maslow's pyramid of human needs, beginning at the base with physiological needs that must first be satisfied before people can fulfill their higher- level safety needs and then psychological needs

• We are motivated by this

self actualization

 according to Maslow, one of the ultimate psychological needs that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self esteem is achieved; the motivation to fulfill one's potential

self transcendence

according to Maslow, the striving for identity, meaning, and purpose beyond the self

Abraham Maslow’ self actualizing person

• Meaningful people shared characteristics (self aware, loving, open, spontaneous, caring, deep relationships)

• Moved by spiritual or peak experiences

Carl Rogers’ Person centered perspective

• People are basically good and are endowed with self actualizing tendencies, unless environment inhibits growth, we are filled with growth and fulfillment

• Believed that a growth promoting social climate provides acceptance, empathy, and genuineness

unconditional positive regard

a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude which Carl Rogers believed would help people develop self awareness and self acceptance

self concept

all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, "Who am I?"

• A central feature of personality for both Maslow and Rogers was this

assessing the self

• Questionnaires to assess personality and evaluate self concept

• Ex: ideally vs actual are, if alike then self concept is positive

• Some believe standardized assessment is depolarizing > that interviews and intimate conversations would be better 

• Some researchers believe identity may be revealed using the life story approach

evaluating humanistic behaviors

• Impact has been persuasive

• Influenced counseling, education, child raising and management > laid groundwork for positive psychology

• Is positive self concept the key to happiness and success > yes

• Do acceptance and empathy nurture positive feelings about ourselves > yes

• Good and capable of self improvement > yes

• Critics > concept vague and subjective, or am I living in a way which is deeply satisfying to me and which truly expresses me (ideas of individualism), another one is naïve (fails to appreciate the reality of our human capacity for evil)

• Replied that secure, nondefense self acceptance is actually toward loving others

trait

 a characteristic of a behavior or disposition to feel and act in certain ways, as assessed by self report inventories and peer reports

trait theories

• Personality in terms of stable and enduring behavior patterns

• Shown in interview of Gordon Allport and Sigmund Freud

• Noticed how preoccupied the founder of psychoanalysis was with finding hidden motives, even in Allport's own behavior during the interview

Isabel Briggs Myers

•  used Carl Jung personality types based on their response to 126 questions

• Available in 20 + languages, mostly for counseling, leadership training and work team development

• Feeling types and thinking types

• Most agree with profile, mirrors declared preference, but it outruns the validity as a job performance predictor

exploring traits, there is around

18000 words to describe someone

factor analysis

A statistical procedure that identifies cluster (factor) of test items that tap basic components of a trait

two dimensions are

 extraversion-introversion and emotional stability- instability

eysneck personality questionaire

• extraversion-introversion and emotional stability- instability

biology and personality

• Extraverts seek stimulation because their normal brain arousal is relatively low, frontal lobe in behavior inhibition is less active, dopamine neural activity higher

• Identical twin personality more similar

• Genes influence temperament and behavioral style

• Ex: children shyness > inhibition of autonomic nervous system activity

• Animals have distinctive personalities

• Selective breeding can change personalities

personality inventories

 a questionnaire (often with true or false, or agree or disagree items) on which respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors; used to assess selected personality traits

Minnesota Multi-phasic Personaliy disorder

 the widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests. Originally developed to identify emotional disorders (still considered its most appropriate use), this test is now used for many other screening purposes

empirically derived

 a test (such as the MMPI) created by selecting from a pool of items those that discriminate between groups

MMPI like Binet test as both this

assessing traits using tests

quick exams can assess one trait

• Grouped questions into 10 clinical scales assessing masculinity-femininity, introversion-extroversion

• MMPI2 additional scales assess work attitudes, family problems, and anger

• Personality inventories score objectively, does not guarantee validity

• Projective tests scored subjectively

• Ex: MMPI for employment purposes could give socially desirable answers to give good impression, leads to lie scale, false information about someone, or could pretend to have a disorder

big five factors

• researchers identified five factors > openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism- that describes personality (also called five factor model)

• Can be used to understand both psychological flourishing and dysfunction

big five more explained

• Common currency for personality psychology, has been the most active personality research topic since the early 1990s and is currently best approximation of the basic trait dimensions

• Big five research has explored various questions

How stable are these traits? of big five

 remained stable, most people show signs of maturity principle, more conscientious and agreeable and less neurotic (emotionally stable)

Do self rating on these match others' ratings of big five

rate of family and friends resemble the ratings we give ourselves

Do these traits reflect differing brain structure? big five

the size and thickness of brain tissue correlates with several big five traits (ex: high on conscientious have larger frontal lobes so aid in planning and controlling behavior) or people high in neuroticism (emotional instability) have brains that are wired to experience stress intensely

do these traits reflect birth order? big five

several massive studies failed to find any association between birth order and personality

How well do these traits apply to various cultures? big five

features of personality traits are common to all human groups

Do the big five traits predict our actual behaviors? big five

 predict important life outcomes, conscientious and agreeableness predict workplace, agreeable people tend to be helpful, law-abiding and unprejudiced, predict social media behavior and career paths (extraverts more leaders), also appears in our language patterns like texting

evaluating trait theories

• New situations and major life events an shift personality traits we express

person situation controversy

• Longitudinal studies follow lives through time

• Personality scores are positively correlated with scores obtained 7 years later, and that as people grow older, their personality stabilizes Only small correlation in situations that are specific, makes personality tests weak predictors of behaviors

• Extraverts talk more

• Our personality traits are expressed in our music preference, written communication, online and personal spaces

• Traits hidden when attending to social cues

• Informal situations less constrained more expressive styles are impressively consistent

• Thin slices of photo or video can tell us a lot about person's basic personality traits

• Their remarkable findings: Inexpressive people, even when feigning expressiveness, were less expressive than expressive people acting naturally. Similarly, expressive people, even when trying to seem inhibited, were less inhibited than inexpressive people acting naturally