Chapter 14 Personality

Psycho-dynamic theory

• relates personality to the interplay of conflicting forces, including unconscious ones, within the individual

 Catharsis

a release of pent-up tension (we can not tell for sure if it is helpful or causes more damage)

Psychoanalysis

a method of explaining and dealing with personality, based on the interplay of conscious and unconscious 

Galen’s Theory of the Four Temperaments

If you have a balance of fluids, then you have good health. When you get sick your fluids are out of whack

• Blood: cheerful, sanguine, warm-hearted, volatile

• Black bile: sad, melancholic

• Yellow bile: fiery, quick-tempered, person of action

• Phlegm: slow-moving, cautious, phlegmatic

When are traits good predictors of behavior?

• When they are specific and limited

• When an individual is extreme on that trait

• Predict general behavior over time better than single instances

• More specific a situation is, the better the personality trait is as a predictor

Meta Trait Hypothesis

• Personalities of different individuals contain different clusters of traits

The Big Five Personality Traits

• Neuroticism , Extraverted, Agreeable (the tendency to be compassionate towards others), Openness to Experience,  Conscientious (Will to achieve)

MMPI

• (true/false statements) (measures clinical problems)

Specific Measure of Personality

Locus of Control

NEO PI-R

 measures the big 5 personality traits (measures normal personality)

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

•  test of normal personality, loosely based on Carl Jung

Projective Measures of Personality

• Rorschach test (inkblot test), Thematic Apperception Test (ambiguous pictures with people in it, write a short story about the picture), handwriting

Barnum Statement

so vague and true about everybody some of the time, yet it’s very compelling and convincing people 

Standardized Tests

administered according to rule that specify how to interpret the results

Psychosexual pleasure

all enjoyment arising from body stimulation

Pleasure Principle

We are driven to action by instincts

Eros

The Sex Instinct (positive force, like building companies, athletic achievements)

Libido

 Psychic energy associated with the sex instinct

Thanatos

The Death Instinct

Psychic Determinism

Nothing happens by chance

The unconscious

The part that is completely inaccessible to the person

Freud’s Model of Personality

Consists of the Id, Ego, and Super Ego

Id

• Entirely unconscious, irrational, impulsive, selfish

• No concept of reality or morality

• Primary Process Thought

Ego

• Develops around 6-8 months

• Sane and rational: the reality principle

• Secondary process thought

• Anxiety is the response to threats

Super Ego

• Morality: internalizes the rules, sense of right and wrong

• Ego ideal: what a person would like to be

• Punishes with guilt

Oral Stage (lasts for first 12-18 months)

• Nursing is sexual to the child

  • Fixation occurs: if the child is overindulged or deprived - turns you into an Oral person (over indulged: excessively dependent on gratification, enjoy oral pleasures like foods and smokes. Under indulged: oppressive, gotta take what you want, sarcastic)

Anal stage (1-1.5 years through age 3)

• First time kid can control something that people really care about

• Battle on toilet training

• Fixation (Anal-retentive (obsessed with neatness, stingy, uptight) or anal-expulsive (don’t worry about deadlines, sloppy, generous with possessions)

Phallic Stage (about 3-6 years)

Oedipus Complex, Castration Anxiety, Penis Envy

Fixation: male-become a showoff and reckless, penis is overvalued. Female: compete with men and become CEO and outdo men or they become super feminine and lure men into relationships and crush them (castrating female))

Psychosexual Stages of Development

Latency Stage (6 until puberty)

Genital Stage (puberty through adulthood)

Sublimation

rechanneled impulses to creative, socially acceptable behavior

Reaction formation

behave in a way that is opposite of impulses

Karen Horney Neo-Freudian

penis envy in women was no more likely than womb envy in men. Emphasized the detrimental effects a child might feel from parental neglect or indifference

Psychoanalysis

• Seek insight into the unconscious, achieve catharsis and release from tension

• Uses hypnosis, free association, analysis of dreams

Carl Jung

Psychic energy is still an outcome of conflict between opposing forces in personality, but it is not all about sex. Emphasized people’s search for spiritual meaning in life

Carl Jung’s Theory on Personal and Collective Unconscious

• Instincts and Archetypes

• The Persona

• The Shadow

• The Animus and Anima

Collective Unconscious

the cumulative experience of preceding generations

Alfred Alder Theory

Individual Psychology

• Organ inferiority

• Masculine Protest

• Inferiority Complex

Social Interest

• an interest in the welfare of society, not necessarily the interest ot socialize

Alderian’s Belief

• Early Childhood Experiences are Critical for Development

• Goals of Psychotherapy: to promote a socially interested style of life and overcome feelings of inferiority

Humanistic Psychology

•  People are innately good; We strive to actualize our inner potential

Existential Psychology

• We need to create meaning in our life and “take charge”

Third Force Psychology

• A reaction against determinism of Behaviorism and Psychoanalysis

  • Human behavior is NOT determined

  • Humans are free to choose their own existence

Abraham Maslow

 psychopathology means you have failed to satisfy a certain need. His hierarchy of needs

Carl Rogers

• Person-Centered Therapy

• We have to actualize our inner potential

• Have a pervasive need for warmth and acceptance “Positive Regard”

Rogerian therapists

•  tries to help you bridge that gap from ideal to real self

• “Conditions of worth” - “unconditional positive regard”: complete, unqualified acceptance of another person as they are

Nomothetic approach

seeks general principles of personality based on studies of groups of people

Idiographic approach

 intensive studies of individuals, looking for what makes someone special

Trait

a consistent tendency in behavior

State

a temporary activation of a particular behavior

Trait approach to personality

 people have reasonably consistent behavioral characteristics