Theories of Personality - Departmental Exam

Personality

Originated from the word persona

Persona

= mask

Personality

A pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that give both consistency and individuality to a person's behavior

Personality

An individual's unique variation on the general evolutionary design for human nature, expressed as a developing pattern of dispositional traits, characteristic adaptations, and integrative life stories complexly and differentially situated in culture

Theory

A scientific theory is a set of related assumptions that allows scientists to used logical deductive reasoning to formulate testable hypotheses

Theory

An explanation for a phenomenon

1. Generates research

2. Is falsifiable

3. Organizes data

4. Guides action

5. Is internally consistent

6. Is parsimonious

What makes a theory useful?

Theories of Personality

A theory of personality is an organized attempt to describe and explain how personalities develop and why personalities differ

Theories of Personality

Are attempts at explaining, predicting and "manipulating" a person's pattern of traits and behaviors

1. Determinism vs. Free Choice

2. Pessimism vs. Optimism

3. Causality vs. Teleology

4. Conscious vs. Unconscious

5. Biological vs. Social

6. Uniqueness vs. Similarities

Dimensions for concept of humanity:

Determinism vs Free Choice

Are peoples behaviors determined by forces over which they have no control? Or can people choose to be what they wish to be?

Pessimism vs Optimism

Are people doomed to live miserable, conflicted and troubled lives? Or can they change and grow into psychologically healthy, happy, fully functioning human beings?

Causality vs Teleology

Is behavior a function of past experiences? Or can behavior be explained in terms of future goals or purposes?

Conscious vs Unconscious

Are people ordinarily aware of what they are doing and why are they doing it? Or do unconscious forces impinge on them and drive them to act without awareness of these underlying forces?

Biological vs Social

Nature vs Nurture

Uniqueness vs Similarities

Is the salient feature of people their individuality? Or their common characteristics?

Humours Theory of Hippocrates

Extended by gales associating humors with temperaments

Humours Theory of Hippocrates

Health prevails when the four humours of the body are in balance, disease where there is an imbalance

Humours Theory of Hippocrates

Galen then associated the four humors of the body with four temperaments. This created a rudimentary theory of personality

1. Yellow Bile (Choleric)

2. Black Bile/Gall (Melancholic)

3. Blood (Sanguine)

4. Phlegm (Phlegmatic)

Four character types based on the predominant fluid in their bodies according to Hippocrates:

Blood

= Cheerful

= Optimistic

= Courageous

= Amorous

Mucus

= Sluggish

= Thoughtful

= Reasonable

= Calm

= Lazy

= Apathetic

Yellow Bile

= Quick tempered

= Ambitious

= Easily angered

= Passionate

= Aggressive

Black Bile

= Sad

= Melancholy

= Depressed

= Quiet

= Analytical

= Serious

Liver

Organ in the yellow bile:

Arteries, veins, liver, and heart

Organs in the blood:

Spleen

Organs in the black bile/gall:

Brain

Organs in the phlegm:

Phrenology

Proposed that the distances between bumps on the skull reveal a person's personality traits, character, and mental abilities

Franz Gall

Who proposed phrenology?

Phrenology

Provided information to determine whether a person was friendly, prideful, murderous, kind, good with languages, etc.

Psychoanalysis

Freud believed that events in our childhood greatly influence our adult life, shaping our personality (e.g. anxiety from childhood trauma)

Psychoanalysis

Our present behavior is explained by our past experiences

Psychoanalysis

Sexual pleasure is the primary motivation

Psychoanalysis

Arguably the most controversial theory - then and now

Sigmund Freud

He was close to his mother when he was young

Sigmund Freud

He was a medical doctor and is fond of the drug cocaine

Sigmund Freud

He was not successful in the field of medicine

Sigmund Freud

Helped Josef Breuer in treating Anna O. of her Hysteria through "Talk Therapy"

Sigmund Freud

Analyzes the "psyche" of the person

1. Conscious Mind

2. Preconscious Mind

3. Unconscious Mind

Levels of mental life:

Conscious Mind

The small amount of mental activity we know about

Preconscious mind

Things we could be aware of if we wanted or tried

Unconscious mind

Things we are unaware of and can not become aware of

1. Ego

2. Superego

3. Id

Provinces of the mind:

Id

The pleasure principle

Id

Derived from the impersonal pronoun "the it" , or the not yet owned component of personality

Id

Has no contact with reality

Id

Strives constantly to reduce tension by satisfying basic desires

Id

Illogical, primitive, chaotic, inaccessible

Ego

The reality principle

Ego

The only region in the mind in contact with reality

Ego

Reconciles the blind, irrational claims of id

Ego

The great reconciler of id and ego, the diplomat & employs defense mechanisms

Superego

The moralistic principle

Superego

Represents the moral and ideal aspects of personality

Superego

Basically unrealistic, its demands for perfection has no contact with reality

1. Conscience

2. Ego-ideal

Subsystem of superego:

Conscious

What we should NOT do

- If not met: Guilt

Ego-ideal

What we should do

- If not met: Feelings of inferiority

1. Drives

2. Aggression

3. Anxiety

Dynamics of personality:

Drives

An internal stimulus that operated as a constant motivational force

Drives

Cannot be avoided through flight

Sexual Drive or Eros

Freud believed that the entire body is invested with libido

Sexual Drive or Eros

Ultimate aim: reduction of sexual tension

Drives

Expressed through narcissism, love, sadism, and masochism

Aggression

The aim of the destructive drive is to return the organism to an inorganic state: DEATH

Aggression

Thus, final aim: SELF-DESTRUCTION

Aggression

Expressed through teasing, gossip, sarcasm, humiliation, humor and enjoyment of other people's suffering

Thanatos

Death drive

Anxiety

The center of the Freudian Dynamic Theory

Anxiety

A felt, affective, unpleasant state accompanied by a physical sensation that warns us against impending danger

Anxiety

Ego-preserving and self-regulating

1. Neurotic Anxiety

2. Moral Anxiety

3. Realistic Anxiety

Types of anxiety:

Neurotic Anxiety

Apprehension about an unknown danger

Moral Anxiety

Stems form the conflict between ego and superego

Realistic Anxiety

Closely related to fear, possible danger

Defense Mechanism

Helps the ego avoid dealing directly with sexual & aggressive impulses & helps defend itself against anxiety

Defense Mechanism

The ego uses these techniques to avoid breaking down

Defense Mechanism

Mechanisms or patterns of thought that the ego uses to satisfy the demands of id & superego

Defense Mechanism

The more defensive we are, the less energy we have to satisfy id impulses

Defense Mechanism

Weak ego, weaker control & personality

1.Repression

2.Reaction Formation

3.Displacement

4.Fixation

5.Regression

6.Projection

7.Introjection

8.Sublimation

9.Rationalization

10.Denial

Common defense mechanisms:

Repression

Is an unconscious mechanism employed by the ego to keep disturbing or threatening thoughts from becoming conscious

Denial

Involves blocking external events from awareness. If some situation is just too much to handle, the person just refuses to experience it

Projection

This involves individuals attributing their own unacceptable thoughts, feeling and motives to another person

Displacement

Satisfying an impulse (e.g., aggression) with a substitute object

Regression

This is a movement back in psychological time when one is faced with stress

Sublimation

Satisfying an impulse (e.g., aggression) with a substitute object. In a socially acceptable way

Oral stage

Erogenous zone: mouth

Anal Stage

Erogenous zone: bowel and bladder control

Phallic Stage

Erogenous zone: genitals

Latent Stage

Libido inactive

Genital Stage

Maturing sexual interest

Oral passive

Trusting, dependency

Oral Aggressive

Aggressive, dominating

Anal Retentive

Tidiness, obsessiveness, mean, stubborn

Anal Expulsive

Untidiness, generosity

Phallic Stage

A time when the genital area become the leading erogenous zone, marked for the first time by a dichotomy between male and female development

Psychoanalytic Therapy

The primary goal of Freud's later psychoanalytic theory was to uncover repressed memories through Free Association and Dream Analysis