Week 3

personality is

enduring patterns of thought, feeling, motivation and behaviour that are expressed in different circumstances

aims of personality research

construct general theories that describe the structure of personality, access individual differences in personality

topographical model

theory by Freud suggesting three levels of consciousness - unconscious, preconscious and conscious

unconscious Topographical model

mental processes that are NOT in our conscious/pre-conscious. they are repressed, irrational thoughts, fear, shame and trauma

preconscious Topographical model

not in our conscious but could BECOME conscious at any point i.e. the capital of France

consciousness Tographical model

thoughts we are consciously aware of, goals, rational thought

ambivalence - psychodynamic

conflicting feelings or motives

when does conflict occur according to psychodynamic theory?

when there are opposing motives between different aspects of consciousness - preconscious, conscious and unconscious

compromise formation - psychodynamic theory

solutions that maximise fulfillment of conflicting motives at the same time - required for successful resolution of conflict

drive model - psychodynamic theory

based on darwins work, Freud suggested that human behaviour is motivated by two drives or instincts - aggressive drive and sexual drive

Aggressive drive

power, domination, achieving

sexual (libido) drive

love, friendship, relationships - libido refers to pleasure-seeking, sensuality and love, as well as desire for intercourse

developmental model - psychodynamic

libido follows a developmental course during childhood - stages of psychosexual development, fixed progression of change from stage to stage, notion of fixation at particular libidinal stage, reflect the child’s evolving quest for pleasure and growing realisation of social limitations on this quest

Freuds psychosexual stages

oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital

oral stage of psychosexual development

dependency - breast feeding/tactile exploration via mouths

anal stage of psychosexual development

tantrums, control, and independence, fussy, orderliness

phallic stage of psychosexual theory

Oedipus complex, know what is right and wrong, emergence of a consciousness, identification with parents (especially same-sex) and others

latency stage of psychosexual development

channel sexual impulses into things they are doing, sublimination of sexual and aggressive impulses

genital stage of psychosexual theory

sexual maturity due to puberty, mature relationships

structural model - psychodynamic theory

conflict seen as being three forces - Id, Ego and Superego

Id - structural model

reservoir of sexual and aggressive energy, unconscious and driven by impulses, driven by impulses, primary process thinking, pleasure principles

Superego - structural model

conterbalance to the Id, source of conscience and ideals

ego - structural model

must balance Id and Superego, obeys reality principle, compromise

defence mechanisms - psychodynamic theory

unconscious mental processes that protect a conscious person from unpleasant emotions

repression - defence mechanisms

anxiety-evoking thoughts are kept unconscious - awareness is avoided

denial - defence mechanisms

person refuses to recognise reality - refuse to recognise reality even though it is obvious

projection - defence mechanisms

attribution of own unacceptable impulses to others

react formation - defence mechanisms

person converts an unacceptable impulse into the opposite impulse. Go over the top in the other direction

sublimination - defence mechanism

converting sexual or aggressive impulses into socially acceptable activities

rationalisation - defence mechanism

explaining aways actions in logical manner to avoid uncomfortable feelings. Anxiety inducing to face whats happening

displacement - defence mechanism

directing emotional feelings (anger) towards substitute target

regression - defence mechanism

person reverts back to an earlier stage of psychosexual development

passive aggression - defence mechanism

indirect expression of anger towards others

analytical psychology

developed by Jung, focuses on relationships between the unconscious and the conscious, incorporating what is happening in everyday life

key concepts in analytical psychology

psyche, ego, self, archetypes

psyche - analytical psychology

represents dialogue between different states of consciousness - self-regulating system that strives to maintain balance between internal and external demands

ego - analytical psychology

represents conscious mind (internal command center)

self - analytical psychology

represents central principle providing meaning and purpose to psyche

archetypes - analytical psychology

universal patterns and images that reside in the collective unconscious, shaping human experiences and behaviors

analytical psychology looks at the difference between…

collective unconscious and personal unconscious

personality types developed by Jung

introverted and extroverted

object-relations theory - post Freud

enduring pattens of behaviour in intimate relationships, motivational, cognitive and affective processes that produce those enduring patterns

object-relations theories:

focus on interpersonal disturbances and capacity for relatedness to others

relational theories in object-relations theory post-freud

argue that adaptation is primarily an adaptation to other people. the need for relatedness is a central motive in humans and people will distort their personalities to maintain ties to important people in their lives. Many of the ways adults interact in intimate relationships reflect patterns of relatedness learnt in childhood

assessing unconscoius patterns

may personality processes are unconscious. use methods to determine this core assumption

life history method - assessing unconscious patterns

understand that person in the context of life experiences

projective tests - assessing unconscious patterns

TAT or inkblot test - people will project their own impulses and desires into the description of the stimulus

cognitive-social theories

places emphasis on learnt aspects of personality as well as expectations and beliefs of a person. we are who we are because of what we think or due to unconscious conflict

cognitive-social model of behaviour

stimulus → encoding → personal value → behavioral plan (behaviour-outcome expectancy AND self-efficacy expectancy, self-regulation) → behaviour (competence, self-regulation) → self-regulation (behaviour, behavioral plan)

trait - trait theories of personality

emotional, cognitive and behavioral tendencies that constitute underlying personality dimensions on which individuals can vary - can be measusres by asking the self or another to rate the self

how many traits are there?

18, 000 that can be used to distinguish between persons which was then refined down to 5

OCEAN - 5 factor model

A model summarizing the five major traits of personality: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. total of 30 factors, under each of the 5 - 6 facets.

Eysenck’s theory of personality

tired model with a dominate personality descriptor which breaks down into subsets (type/super-trait → trait → habits → specific behaviours)

BIS

signals of punishment

BAS

signals of reward

BIS and BAS

BIS and BAS interact and individually influence arousal systems which results in a behaviour

6-Factor HXACO model

shares common features with trait model - adds honesty-humility (H). Therefore: Honesty-humility (H), Emotionality (E), Extraversion (X), Agreeableness (A), Conscientiousness (C), Openness to Experiences (O). total of 24 overall factors.

Humanistic theories

emphasise the notion that each person has the potential for creative growth - to reach self-actualisation

Roger’s person-centered approach

humans are good by nature, personality becomes disorientated by interpersonal experiences and phenomenal experiences. each person has 3 true selves: true self - core aspect of being; false self - created by distortions from interpersonal experiences, conditions of worth and ideal self - what the person would like to be

Existentialism

people have no fixed nature and must create themselves

key issues with Existentialism/approach to personality

importance of subjective experience, central quest for meaning of life, danger of losing touch with feelings, danger of conceiving oneself as a thing-like rather than as changing, ever-forming and the creative source of will and action

Existential dread

we all face death and to avoid this anxiety we have cultural values and beliefs which symbolically deny death and allow health in the face of morality.

Heritability of personality and culture

refers to the proportion of variance in a particular trait that is due to genetic influences - most personality variables are 15/20% hereditable

culture approaches to personality

personality, economics and culture mutually influence one another - culture is an organised set of beliefs, rituals and instructions that shape individuals to fit certain patterns.