Personality Psychology

Personality

characteristic pattern of behaving, thinking, and feeling

Case Study

Psychoanalytical/dynamic, humanistic

Surveys

Trait, social-cognitive

Personality Inventory

Trait

Psychoanalysis

Focuses on the unconscious (Sigmund Freud)

3 Stages of consciousness

Conscious
Preconscious
Unconscious

Unconscious

Primary motivating force of human behavior (Sigmund Freud). We are never aware of it.

Structure of personality

Id
Ego
Superego

Id

- Life and Death Instincts
- Raw Drives (Pleasure Principle)

Ego

- Logical, rational
- (Reality Principle)

Superego

- Moral system
- Conscience and ego ideal

Pleasure Principle

Pleasure seeking part of your personality (Part of Id)

Reality Principle

Keeps your naturalistic instincts (Id) in check

Ego Ideal

Ideal sense of self

List of Defense mechanisms

• Repression

• Regression

• Denial

• Projection

• Displacement

• Reaction Formation

• Rationalization

• Sublimation

Defense Mechanisms

Used by ego to protect from anxiety -> Conflict between the id and superego

Repression

To push something into your consciousness (May resurface again)

Regression

Wanting to go back to previous stages of life as it was easier and they were happier.

Denial

Refusing to engage at all with the conflict.

Projection

When one is frustrated with themselves but you find these same flaws in another person.

Displacement

Showing frustrations to someone else other than the source.(Getting yelled at by a teacher but then yelling at your mom)

Reaction Formation

Unacceptable impulse —> acceptable impulse

Rationalization

Logical explanation to justify behavior

Sumblimation

Substitution; energy spent on a pro-social behavior

Erogenous Zone

Places of the body where one feels pleasure.

Fixation

When conflict is not resolved between the stages of psychosexual stages. Example: (If someone does not resolve weening, then they will have and oral fixation and will need something in their mouth all the time like chewing gum, biting nails, smoking)

List of 5 psychosexual stages of development

Every stage needs to have conflict that is being resolved.
Oral Stage (Birth to 1 year)
Anal Stage (1 to 3 years)
Phallic Stage (3 to 5/6 years)
Latency (5/6 years to puberty)
Genital (Puberty onwards)

Oral Stage (Birth to 1 year)

dependency and passivity OR sarcasm and hostility

Anal Stage (1 to 3 years)

excessive cleanliness/stinginess OR messiness and rebelliousness

Phallic Stage (3 to 5/6 years)

Flirtatiousness/promiscuity OR excessive pride/chastity

Latency (5/6 years to puberty)

Period of sexual calm

Genital (Puberty onwards)

Revival of sexual interests

Electra Complex

Females feel like they need to compete with their mother for their father's love

Oedipus complex

Males feel like they need to compete with their father for their mother's love.

Penis Envy

Females feel that they were already castrated and it gives them anxiety. Makes them want to become more promiscuous.

List of Neo Freudians

Carl Jung (1875 - 1961)
Alfred Adler (1870 - 1937)
Karen Horney (1885 - 1952)

Carl Jung

- Ego
- Personal Unconscious
- Collective unconscious
Jung rejected Freud's sexual instinct and childhood trauma

Ego (Jung)

Conscious component of personality; carries out normal daily activities.

Personal unconscious

Component containing all the individual's memories, thoughts, and feelings that are accessible to consciousness, and all repressed memories wishes, and impulses; similar Freud's preconscious and unconscious.

Collective unconscious

The most inaccessible layer of the unconscious, shared by all people; contains the universal experiences of humankind throughout evolution as well as the archetypes.

Inferiority Complex (Adler)

The drive to overcome inferiority motivates most human behavior.

Karen Horney

Women must overcome need for perfection
-Women's psychological difficulties arise from failure to live up to idealized versions of themselves
-Lead to modern cognitive-behavioral therapy

B. F. Skinner

Control of reinforcement and punishment

Humanistic Theories

Natural Tendency towards growth fullest potential
More optimistic than Freud's theory
Still difficult to test scientifically

Abraham Maslow

Without fundamentals person cannot thrive (self actualization)

Physiological

- First level of Maslow's hierarchy
- Food, Water, Shelter and Warmth

Safety

- Second level of Maslow's hierarchy
- Security, Stability, Freedom from fear

Belonging - Love

- Third level of Maslow's hierarchy
- Friends, Family, Spouse Lover

Self Esteem

- Fourth level of Maslow's hierarchy
- Achievement, Mastery, Recognition and Respect

Self Actualization

- Fifth level of Maslow's hierarchy
- Pursue Inner Talent, Creativity, Fulfillment

Carl Rogers

- Agreed with Maslow
- One basic motive -> self actualization
- "Ideal self" needs to be congruent with actual behavior
- Unconditional Positive regard

Trait Theories

- Personality differences among people
- Personal characteristics that are stable across situations

Cardinal Trait (Allport)

Dominates/shapes behavior
- Related to passions and obsessions (need for money, fame)

Central trait (Allport)

General characteristic
- Shapes most behavior (eg, honesty)

Secondary Trait (Allport)

Seen only in certain circumstances
- Something only certain people know/see

Eysenck

Lowered personality factors to three

Psychoticism (Eysenck)

link to reality

Extraversion (Eysenck)

outgoing to shy

Neuroticism (Eysenck)

emotional stability -> stable to anxious/irritable

The Five Factor Model

- Openness
- Conscientiousness
- Extraversion
- Agreeableness
- Neuroticism
(OCEAN)

Openness

Original, creative, and curious to conventional, uncreative, and narrow interests

Conscientiousness

Reliable, well-organized, and careful to disorganized, negligent, and undependable

Extraversion

Sociable, friendly, and talkative to introverted, reserved, and quiet

Agreeableness

Sympathetic, good-natures, and courteous to critical, rude, and harsh

Neuroticism

Nervous, insecure, and worrying to calm, hardy, and relaxed

Social Cognitive theories

Can situations dictate personality more than traits?

BANDURA'S RECIPROCAL DETERMINISM

Internal, environmental, and behavioral variables interact to influence personality

Bandura created the phrase

self-efficacy

self-efficacy

Person's perception of his/her ability to perform competently whatever is attempted

Narcissism Personality

Someone who feels like the world revolves around them

Borderline

Either with me or against me

Anti Social

Doesn't want to have any social interactions to an abnormal extent

THE MINNESOTA MULTIPHASICPERSONALITY INVENTORY (MMPI-2)

- Most widely used personality inventory
- Screens for/ diagnoses psychiatric disorders
- Contains 550 items
- Including social desirability scale

Projective Test

Tests that are subjective (open to interpretation)

Rorschach Ink Blot Test

Ink blots thrown onto canvas and askes people what they see

THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST (TAT)

Bring people and show them an ambiguous picture. Then ask what is going on in the picture.

Henry Murray

Created the TAT