(3) Theories of Personality (manual)

personality

unique way in which each individual thinks, acts, and feels throughout life

character

value judgments made about a person’s morals or ethical behavior

temperament

the biologically innate and enduring characteristics with which each person is born (irritability or adaptability)

Psychodynamic Perspectives: Sigmund Freud

raised in Europe (Victorian Age) = Sexual Repression

Freudian

there were layers of consciousness in the mind

Freudian: The mind was divided into three part

1. preconscious

2. conscious

3. unconscious

preconscious mind

memories, information, and events of which one can easily become aware

conscious mind

one’s current awareness

unconscious mind

Divisions of the Personality

Id, Ego, Superego

Id

completely unconscious, pleasure-seeking, amoral part of the personality that exists at birth

contains all the basic biological drives

pleasure principle

“if it feels good, do it”

Ego

“I”

part of the personality that develops out of need to deal with reality (conscious, rational, logical)

Superego

“over the self”

moral center of personality (conscience)

How do the three parts of the personality work together?

id: makes demands

superego: puts restrictions on how to meet demands

ego: come up with plan that quiets id and satisfies superego

defmech: denial

refusal to recognize threatening situation

defmech: repression

pushing threatening situations out of conscious memory

defmech: rationalization

making up acceptable excuses for unacceptable behavior

defmech: projection

placing one’s own unacceptable thoughts onto others

defmech: reaction formation

forming an emotional reaction opposite from actual thought

defmech: displacement

expressing feeling to a substitute target instead of the real target

defmech: regression

childlike pattern

defmech: identification

trying to become like someone else

defmech: compensation

make up for areas lacking by being superior in other areas

defmech: sublimation

turn socially acceptable to socially acceptable

stages of personality development

oral stage

first 18 months

erogenous zone: mouth

conflict: weaning

overeating

anal stage

18-36 mos

erogenous zone: anus

conflict: toilet training

anal expulsive: destructive and hostile

anal retentive: stingy, stubborn, excessively neat

phallic

3-6 yrs

erogenous zone: genitals

conflict: awakening sexual feelings

Oedipus/Electra Complex: child develops a sexual attraction to the opposite-sex parent and jealousy of the same-sex parent

latency

6yrs to puberty

children grow and develop intellectually, physically, and socially but not sexually

genital

puberty onwards

represented the final process in Freud’s personality theory, as well as the entry into adult social and sexual behavior

neo-freudian

focus on the impact of the social environment

Carl Justav Jung

disagreed with Freud about the nature of the unconscious mind

Archetypes

1. anima/animus

2. shadow

3. persona

anima/animus

feminine man, masculine woman

shadow

dark side of personality “devil”

persona

personality shown to the world

Alfred Adler

people all develop feelings of inferiority when comparing themselves to the more powerful, superior adults in their world

firstborn children

overachievers

feel inferior once those younger siblings get all the attention

middle children

feel superior over the dethroned older child while dominating younger siblings

younger children

feel inferior because they are not allowed the freedom and responsibility of the older children

Karen Honey

“womb envy” — men felt the need to compensate for their lack of child-bearing ability by striving for success in other areas

Erik Erikson

emphasis on the social relationships that are important at every stage of life

Personality (behaviorist lens)

nothing more than a set of learned responses or habits

social cognitive learning theorists

emphasize on the importance of both the influences of other people’s behavior and of a person’s own expectancies on learning

social cognitive view

learning theory that includes cognitive processes such as anticipating, judging, memory, and imitation of models

Reciprocal Determinism

1. Environment

2. Behavior

3. Personal/Cognitive

Self-efficacy

a person’s expectancy of how effective his or her efforts to accomplish a goal will be in any particular circumstance (not the same concept as self-esteem, which is the positive values a person places on his or her sense of worth)

high self-efficacy

more persistent, expect to succeed

low self-efficacy

tend to avoid challenges, expect to fail

Julian Rotter

concept of locus of control, the tendency for people to assume that they either have control or do not have control over events and consequences in their lives

Internal in locus of control

people who assume that their own actions and decisions directly affect the consequences they experience

External in locus of control

people who assume that their lives are more controlled by powerful others, luck, or fate

2 factors influencing a person’s decision to act in a certain way

1. expectancy

2. reinforcement value

expectancy

person’s subjective feeling that a particular behavior will lead to a reinforcing consequence

reinforcement value

individual’s preference for a particular reinforcer over all other possible reinforcing consequences