Personality

Personality

Unique pattern of enduring thoughts, feelings and actions that characterise a person

What is the big 5? (OCEAN)

1. Openness

2. Conscientiousness

3. Extraversion

4. Agreeableness

5. Neuroticism

Big 5: openness

Imagination, curiosity, creativity

High in openness: enjoy art, new ideas, exploring different cultures

Low in openness: routine or familiar experiences

Big 5: conscientiousness

How organised, dependable and goal orientated you are

High conscientiousness: good planner, meets deadlines, thorough in work

Low conscientiousness: spontaneous, less organised

Big 5: extraversion

Sociability, assertiveness, energy.

High extraversion: love parties and meeting new people

Low extraversion: quiet, alone time or few close friends

Big 5: agreeableness

Kindness, trust, cooperativeness

High agreeableness: kind, cooperative, trusting

Low agreeableness: competitive or skeptical

Big 5: neuroticism

Emotional instability, anxiety, moodiness

High neuroticism: more easily stressed

Low neuroticism: highly resilient to stress

Interactionism

Personality is best understood by combining multiple theories

Who founded the psychoanalytic approach?

Signmund Freud

Levels of consciousness

1. Conscious (what you are aware of now e.g. thoughts and perceptions)

2. Preconscious (memories or knowledge you can bring to mind easily e.g. phone number)

3. Unconscious (wishes, fears and memories outside awareness that still influence behaviour)

4 components of Freudian theory

1. Levels of consciousness (where do thoughts come from)

2. Id, ego, superego (what forces drive behaviour)

3. Defence mechanisms (how do people cope with conflict)

4. Psychosexual stages (how does personality develop over childhood)

What is Id, ego and superego?

Id: Instinctual desires

Ego: mediator, reality principle

Superego: internalised morals and rules

Ego manages conflicts between Id and superego.

Defence mechanisms

Unconscious strategies that reduce anxiety by distorting reality

Common examples of defence mechanisms

• Repression

• Projection

• Sublimation

• Rationalism

• Reaction formation

• Displacement

• Denial

• Compensation

Repression

Pushing distressing memories out of awareness

Projection

Attributing your own unacceptable feelings to others

Sublimation

Channeling impulses into socially acceptable activities

e.g. art

Rationalism

Attempting to make actions/mistakes seem reasonable

Reaction formation

Acting opposite to true impulses (because they are unacceptable)

Displacement

Deflecting an impulse from its original target to a less threatening one

Denial

Discounting the existence of threatening impulses

Compensation

Striving to make up for unconscious impulses or fears

Key contribution of psychoanalytic theory

Highlighted unconscious processes and early experiences

Key limitation of psychoanalytic theory

Untestable, culturally biased, limited scientific evidence

Humanistic approach

Single, coherent perspective that emphasises free will, personal experience and growth. Focuses on person’s subjective experience

Actualising tendency

Innate drive towards growth and fulfilment.

Rogers’ growth conditions

Genuineness, empathy and unconditional acceptance

Conditions of worth

Social expectations that block authentic growth and distort self concept. Makes people only value themselves when they meet certain standards

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

1. Physiological

2. Safety

3. Love

4. Esteem

5. Self-actualisation

Limitation of Maslow

Hard to test, cultural differences, people don’t always follow the order

Limitations of humanistic approach

Concepts (free will, self actualisation) are vague. Hard to test. Underplays biology and situation. Sometimes overly idealistic

Contributions of humanistic approach

Highlighted positive human potential. Influenced therapy (person centered). Emphasised subjective experience. Introduced ideas like self actualisation

Trait approach

Focuses on identifying and describing your personal characteristics. Like “tell me about yourself”

Traits

Stable features that help classify people into types

e.g. shy, outgoing

Trait theory assumptions

• Traits are stable

• Consistent across situations

• Predicts behaviour

Contributions of trait theory

Scientifically measurable. Predicts behaviour and life outcomes

Limitation of trait theory

Describes but doesn’t explain personality. Weak at predicting specific behaviours. Relies heavily on what people say about themselves

Type A vs Type B

Type A: very driven, competitive and feels a strong sense of urgency. Often wants to achieve a lot and can be impatient

Type B: people who are more relaxed, easygoing, less focused on competition or strict deadlines

Locus of control

Whether you believe you control your fate (internal) or external forces do (external)

Internal locus of control

Believing outcomes depend on own actions

External locus of control

Believing outcomes depend on luck/fate

Reciprocal determinism

Behaviour, environment and personal factors all influence each other.

• Behavioural: physical and verbal experiences

• Environmental: observational learning

• Personal: cognitive processes, attitudes and beliefs

Contributions of social cognitive theory

Evidence based. Explains how situations shape behaviour. Basis for CBT

Limitation of social cognitive theory

Downplays role of unconscious motives and stable traits. Not able to fully capture complexity and uniqueness of personality

Social cognitive approach

Suggests that personality is learned patterns of thinking and behaving. Involves classic and operant conditioning. Emphasises how situation also drives behaviour

Self efficacy

Belief in your own ability to succeed. Predicts motivation and behaviour