Comprehensive Psychology of Self and Personality: Theories, Traits, and Biological Influences

Self-Concept

What you know and believe about yourself.

Value of Self

People differ in how they value themselves.

Positive Sense of Self

You try to create a positive sense of self.

Cultural Factors

Your sense of self is influenced by cultural factors.

Psychodynamic Theory

Emphasizes unconscious conflicts.

Humanistic Approaches

Emphasize goodness in people.

Social Cognitive Approaches

Focus on how thoughts shape personality.

Trait Approaches

Describe characteristics.

Biological Basis of Personality

Personality has a biological basis.

Influence of Genes

Personality is influenced by genes.

Innate Temperament

Temperament is innate.

Personality Stability

Influenced by biology and situation.

Methods to Assess Personality

Several methods are used to assess personality.

Behavior Influence

Behavior is influenced by personality and situation.

Personality

A person's typical thoughts, emotional responses, and behaviors that are relatively stable over time and across circumstances.

Self-schema

An integrated set of memories, beliefs, and generalizations about the self.

Working self-concept

The immediate experience of the self in the here and now.

Self-esteem

How you feel about your sense of self; many theories propose that self-esteem is based on how we believe others perceive us.

Reflected appraisal

The view that self-esteem is based on how we believe others perceive us.

Self-compassion

Refers to treating oneself with care, acceptance, and kindness during difficult times; it was found to be a good predictor of better mental health during the first year of college.

Self-esteem and life outcomes

Evidence from psychology indicates that self-esteem may be less important than is commonly believed.

Narcissism

A personality trait characterized by inflated self-esteem; an analysis found increasing narcissism among American college students between 1979 and 2006.

Adolescence and self-esteem

There is a tendency for self-esteem to fall during adolescence and be at its lowest for people, especially young women, aged 18 to 22 years.

Interpersonal style

Refers to characteristics such as being shy or friendly that contribute to an individual's sense of self.

Personal characteristics

Traits such as being moody or optimistic that are part of an individual's self-concept.

Body image

An individual's perception of their physical appearance, which can be positive or negative.

Age

A factor that typically influences a college student's sense of self.

Student status

A factor that typically influences a college student's sense of self.

Research on self-processing

Researchers typically observe activity in the middle of the frontal lobes of the brain when people process information about themselves.

Features of self-concept

Research respondents are especially likely to mention features such as ethnicity, gender, or age if they differ in these respects from others around them.

Happiness and self-esteem

Although people with high self-esteem report being much happier than others, self-esteem is weakly related to objective life outcomes.

Mental health predictor

Self-compassion was found to be a good predictor of better mental health during the first year of college.

Dark triad

Describe three negative personality traits including narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism.

Psychopathy

Revolves around a general lack of caring for the welfare of others.

Machiavellianism

Describes traits of those who manipulate others for their own gain and who lack conventional morality.

Better-than-average effect

Statistically, it is impossible for everyone to be above average. People with high self-esteem are especially likely to exhibit this effect.

Positive illusions

Most people have positive illusions—that is, overly favorable and unrealistic beliefs—in at least three areas.

Downward comparisons

Comparing oneself with another person who is seen as less competent or in a worse situation, which tends to protect a person's high self-esteem.

Temporal comparison

In which people view their current selves as better than their former selves.

Upward comparisons

Comparing oneself with another person who is seen as more competent or in a better situation, which tends to confirm a person's low self-esteem.

Self-serving bias

The tendency for people to take personal credit for success but blame failure on external factors.

Collectivist cultures

Emphasize connections to family, social groups, and ethnic groups, and conformity to societal norms.

Individualist cultures

Emphasize rights and freedoms, self-expression, and diversity.

Freud's conscious level

Consists of the thoughts that we are aware of.

Freud's preconscious level

Consists of content that is not currently in our awareness but that could be brought to awareness.

Freud's unconscious level

Contains material that the mind cannot easily retrieve.

Id

In psychodynamic theory, the component of personality that is completely submerged in the unconscious and operates according to the pleasure principle.

Libido

Freud called the force that drives the pleasure principle.

Superego

In psychodynamic theory, the component of personality that reflects the internalization of societal and parental standards of conduct.

Ego

In psychodynamic theory, the component of personality that tries to satisfy the wishes of the id while being responsive to the superego.

Reality principle

The principle according to which the ego operates, involving rational thought and problem solving.

Defense mechanisms

In psychodynamic theory, unconscious mental strategies that the mind uses to protect itself from distress.

Object relations theory

A theory suggesting that our mind and sense of self develop in relation to others ('objects') in our environment, shaping our personality.

Person-centered approach

Carl Rogers's approach to understanding personality and human relationships, emphasizing the importance of people's treatment by others.

Conditions of worth

The evaluations of others that shape personality.

Unconditional positive regard

An important concept in Rogers's theory, referring to accepting and valuing a person without conditions.

Expectancy theory

A theory explaining how personality is learned, recognizing the influence of how people think.

Anxiety

A feeling that arises from conflicts between the id and the superego.

Neo-Freudians

Contemporary psychologists who focus on social interactions and have largely abandoned traditional psychodynamic theories.

Self-actualization

The process of realizing one's potential and seeking personal growth.

Rationalization

A defense mechanism where a person justifies their behavior by blaming the situation.

Internalization

The process of integrating societal and parental standards into one's own values.

Self-understanding

The awareness of one's own personality, including thoughts, feelings, and motivations.

Influence of others

The impact that interpersonal relationships have on personality development.

Locus of Control

Locus of control refers to people's perception of whether they control the rewards and punishments they experience (internal locus of control) or not (external locus of control).

Reciprocal Determinism

Reciprocal determinism explains personality based on three factors: a person's environment, person factors (including characteristics, self-confidence, and expectations), and behavior itself.

Continuum of Traits

Traits exist on a continuum, with most people falling somewhere in the middle and relatively few at the extremes.

Eysenck's Trait Theory

Eysenck developed the biological trait theory, proposing that personality traits had two major dimensions: how outgoing people were and whether their emotions tended to be stable or unstable.

Introversion

Introversion refers to how shy, reserved, and quiet a person is.

Extraversion

Extraversion refers to how sociable, outgoing, and bold a person is.

Psychoticism

Psychoticism reflects a mix of aggression, poor impulse control, self-centeredness, and/or a lack of empathy, and is now called constraint.

Five-Factor Trait Theory

The five-factor trait theory identifies five basic personality traits, with considerable evidence supporting its validity across cultures and among adults and children.

Personality Similarity

Carli and colleagues (1991) found that personality similarity between roommates was positively correlated with both relationship satisfaction and intent to live together the following year.

Roommate Conflict

Ogletree and colleagues (2005) found that a third of the college-age people in their study reported experiencing roommate conflict related to the cleanliness of their living space.

Biology and Personality

How Does Biology Affect Personality?

Personality Has a Biological Basis

Research on the neurobiological underpinnings of personality has explored the dimension of extraversion and introversion.

Reticular activating system (RAS)

A system involved in the regulation of arousal and consciousness, linked to personality traits.

Personality Is Influenced by Genes

Research has shown that certain genes can be linked with some personality traits.

Identical twins

Numerous studies have shown that identical twins are more similar than non-identical twins in personality traits described by the five-factor theory.

Adoption studies

Further evidence for the genetic basis of personality comes from adoption studies.

Temperament

Biologically based tendency to feel or act in certain ways.

Innate biological structures of personality

Life experiences may alter personality traits, but temperaments represent the innate biological structures of personality.

Three aspects of temperament

Three personality characteristics can be considered temperaments: Activity level, Emotionality, Sociability.

Long-term effects of temperament

Early childhood temperament appears to influence behavior and personality significantly throughout a person's development.

Personality Stability Is Influenced by Biology and Situation

Genetic makeup may predispose people to have certain personality traits or characteristics.

Fixed or changeable personality

Whether personality is fixed or changeable depends largely on how we define the essential features of personality.

Stability of personality traits

Personality traits are generally stable over time.

Cross-cultural findings

Suggest that age-related changes in personality occur independently of environmental influences.

Basic tendencies

Personality traits that are largely determined by biology and are stable over time.

Characteristic adaptations

Changes in behavioral expression of basic tendencies based on the demands of specific situations.

Situational causes of personality change

Life's circumstances generally produce changes in personality, especially during emerging adulthood.

Job satisfaction and neuroticism

Greater job satisfaction can decrease neuroticism over time.

Age-related roles and personality change

Personality changes occur as a result of the expectations and experiences associated with age-related roles.

Committed relationship and neuroticism

Becoming involved in a committed relationship is associated with decreased neuroticism.

How can understanding people's personalities become a career?

A question regarding the application of personality understanding in professional contexts.

How Can Personality Be Assessed?

A question regarding the methods and tools used to evaluate personality.

Projective measures

Personality tests that examine unconscious processes by having people interpret ambiguous stimuli.

Rorschach inkblot test

A projective test that uses inkblots to assess personality and emotional functioning.

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

A projective test that involves storytelling about ambiguous images to reveal underlying motives and concerns.

Self-report measures

Personality tests that use questionnaires to let people respond to items that reveal traits and behaviors.