Personality

personality

an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting

biological theories of personality

view genes, chemicals, and body types as the central determinants of who a person is

theories of personality

psychoanalytic/psychodynamic, humanistic, trait, social-cognitive

psychoanalytic/psychodynamic theories of personality

view personality with focus on unconscious and importance of childhood experiences

psychoanalysis

Freud’s theory of personality (attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts); techniques to treat psychological disorders by trying to expose and interpret unconscious tensions

unconscious

Freud - reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories; contemporary psychologists - information processing we are unaware of

preconscious

outside awareness but accessible

free association

Freud - explores unconscious; person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind

Freud’s personality structure

id, ego, superego

id

unconscious, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives (survive, reproduce, aggress); operates on pleasure principle (instant gratification)

ego

largely conscious, mediates among demands of id, superego, and reality; operates on reality principle (realistically bring pleasure rather than pain)

superego

internalized ideals and standards for judgement (conscience) and future aspirations; how we ought to behave; operates on ideal principle

Freud’s psychosexual stages

id’s pleasure-seeking energies focus on distant pleasure-sensitive areas of body (erogenous zones); oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital

oral psychosexual stage

0-18 months; pleasure centers on mouth (sucking, biting, chewing)

anal psychosexual stage

18-36 months; pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder elimination - coping with demands for control

phallic psychosexual stage

3-6 years; pleasure zone is the genitals - coping with sexual feelings

latency psychosexual stage

6-puberty; phase of dormant sexual feelings

genital psychosexual stage

puberty on; maturation of sexual interests

Oedipus complex

Freud - boy’s sexual desires toward mother and jealousy/hatred toward father

Electra complex

Freud - girl’s sexual desire toward father and jealousy/hatred toward mother

identification

children incorporate parents’ values into their developing superegos

fixation

lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved

defense mechanisms

Freud - ego’s protection; methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality

regression

acting as an earlier age/maturity level than reality

reaction formation

switching unacceptable impulses into their opposites

projection

pushing thoughts/feelings onto someone else

rationalization/intellectualization

trying to explain the why to an action

displacement

using something (someone) else as an emotional outlet for something not released earlier

sublimation

channeling negative energy/emotions into positive actions

denial

refusing to think about/acknowledge something

repression

basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories; underlies all other defense mechanisms

Freudian slips

unconscious seeps through while speaking

Neo-Freudians

pioneering psychoanalysts who adopted Freud’s interviewing techniques and accepted his basic ideas

Alfred Adler

Neo-Freudian - much of behavior is driven by efforts to conquer childhood inferiority feelings that trigger striving for superiority and power (inferiority complex)

Karen Horney

Neo-Freudian - childhood anxiety triggers desire for love and security

Carl Jung

Neo-Freudian - collective unconscious

collective unconscious

Carl Jung - shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces (archetypes) from species’ history

projective test

personality test that provides ambiguous images designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics

TAT (thematic apperception test)

people express their inner feelings and interests through stories they make up about ambiguous scenes

Rorschach inkblot test

set of 10 inkblots - seeks to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots

false consensus effect

tendency to overestimate extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors

terror-management theory

explores people’s emotional and behavioral responses to reminders of their impending death

humanistic theories

view personality with focus on potential for healthy personal growth - ways people strive for self-determination and self-realization

hierarchy of needs

Maslow - pyramid of human needs

self-actualization

Maslow - motivation to achieve one’s full potential

self-transcendence

Maslow - striving for identity, meaning, and purpose beyond the self

person-centered perspective

Carl Rogers - people are basically good and endowed with self-actualizing tendencies; our real self should match our ideal self

components of person-centered perspective

acceptance (unconditional positive regard), genuineness, empathy

acceptance (unconditional positive regard)

caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude - help people develop self-awareness and self-acceptance

genuiness

open with feelings; honest and transparent

empathy

share and mirror others’ feelings and reflect meanings

self-concept

all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves

life story approach

collecting a rich narrative detailing each person’s unique life history - can show more of a person’s complete identity

trait

characteristic pattern of behavior/disposition to feel and act in certain ways - conscious motives

trait theory

people can have similar traits, but the combination/intensity of traits is what makes each person unique

MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator)

sorts people according to Carl Jung’s personality types

factor analysis

statistical procedure that identifies clusters (factors) of test items that tap basic components of a trait; extraversion-introversion and emotional stability-instability

Eysenck personality questionnaire

extraversion and emotional factors emerge as basic personality dimensions - factors are genetically influenced

personality inventory

questionnaire - people respond to items designed to gauge wide range of feelings and behaviors; used to assess selected personality traits

MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory)

most widely researched and clinically used personality test; originally to identify emotional disorders; empirically derived

empirically derived

test created by selecting from a pool of items those that discriminate between groups

Big Five

McCrae and Costa - specifies where you are on 5 dimensions: conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness, extraversion

conscientiousness

wanting to do work well and do the best you can

agreeableness

being friendly and pleasant

neuroticism

emotional stability vs instability

openness

lack of concealment/secrecy; being open to new experiences

extraversion

being outgoing and confident; gaining energy from being with others

self-report inventories

questionnaires that ask people to provide information about themselves

validity

measuring what it claims to measure; is accurate

reliability

returns consistent results

person-situation controversy

behavior is influenced by interaction of inner disposition with environment - people’s average traits are predictable

social-cognitive theory

behavior is influenced by interaction between people’s traits and social context

behavioral approach

focuses on effects of learning on personality development

reciprocal determinism

interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment

gene-environment interaction

genetically influenced traits evoke certain responses from others, which may influence us

self

contemporary psychology - center of personality; organizer of thoughts, feelings, and actions

possible selves

visions of the self you dream of becoming and the self you fear becoming

spotlight effect

overestimating others’ noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunders

self-esteem

feelings of high/low self-worth

defensive self-esteem

fragile - focuses on sustaining itself

secure self-esteem

less fragile - less contingent on external evaluations

self-efficacy

sense of competence and effectiveness

Dunning-Kruger effect

ignorance of one’s own incompetence sustains self-confidence

self-serving bias

readiness to perceive oneself favorably

narcissism

excessive self-love and absorption

individualism

giving priority to one’s own goals/attributes over group goals/identifications

collectivism

giving priority to goals of one’s group and defining identity accordingly

social comparison

contrasting our lives with the lives of others

temperament

person’s emotional style and characteristic way of dealing with the world