other approaches to Personality

A series of vocabulary flashcards summarizing key concepts from the lecture on different psychological approaches to personality.

Behavioral Approach

Focuses on observable behavioral output and rejects the study of the mind as a 'black box'.

• Personality is a set of response tendencies shaped by contingencies in the environment.

• People learn to behave in particular ways in certain situations due to differing contingencies (past rewards/punishments)

 

 Learning is the basis of personality

• Personal= constant to apply between environmental demands and the way the individual processes information about the self in the world

• People’s actions reflect the scheme as they used to understand the world, their expectations Of what will happen if they act in a particular way and the degree to which they believe they can attain the goal

• Learning mechanism: behaviors are learned because they are rewarded or punished in specific situations.

  • Rewarded behaviors tend to be repeated because they feel good and are reinforced by outcomes.

  • Punished or punished outcomes (e.g., losing privileges) make a behavior less likely to occur again.

 

Personality is result of Environmental determinism:

All our actions are products of causal influences in the environment

Example: telling jokes at a party and receiving laughter, attention, and compliments reinforces joking behavior; may contribute to adopting a ‘funny’ personality.

LIMITATIONS Behavioral

• Evidence base dependent on animal studies, human language and higher-level thinking are difficult to model with traditional behavioural experiments.

• dehumanizing - people as passive/ mechanical responders to stimuli

• (Ignores internal processes happening in the mind (the “black box”).

LASTING CONTRIBUTIONS

• we do Learning

• Conditioning (classical, operant)

• Environmental contingencies EG jokes…

Introduced the idea of conditioning and the role of environmental contingencies in shaping behaviour.

• The way people behave reflect the expectations and skills to have developed which are encoded in memory and activated by particular situations 

• Objective/scientific measurement for the way we study the mind instead of subjective measures 

Environmental Determinism

Theory that all actions are products of causal influences in the environment.

Conditioning

A learning process where behaviors are learned through rewards (operant conditioning) or associations (classical conditioning).

Cognitive Approach

Argues that cognition processes mediate actions and the mind should be studied as a processing organ, similar to a computer.

Reciprocal Determinism

The interaction of behavioral, cognitive, and environmental factors to produce personality.

importing aspects of personality cognitive approach

• cognitive factors (perceptions, values, goals/ plans, expectancies, attributions, etc.)

 

• social factors (learning, modeling= copying behavior , social reinforcement)

Modelling (Bandura): learning by observing others and then copying their behaviours (e.g., Bobo Doll experiment).

 

Social reinforcement: cues and feedback from others that support personality development.

Reciprocal determinism: cognitive perspective

Behavioural, cognitive, and environmental factors interact to produce personality

Bidirectional and interrelated to produce personality

Takeaway: one factor can influence another, but the reverse can also occur; they are interrelated in producing personality.

 

 

Social Reinforcement

Feedback and cues from others that support personality development.

LIMITATIONS Cognitive

• Focus on rationality, underestimate emotional

• Fragmented view of personality - explains discrete responses, but not the integrated whole so the structure of personality

• Assumes conscious thought processes, rahter than processes outside our awareness

•  Computer-like view may overlook emotional responses and irrationalities.

True Self

The genuine self that an individual strives to align actions with, considered innately good in humanistic psychology.

LASTING CONTRIBUTIONS

• Learning & modeling

• Introduction of reciprocal influences and cognitive dimensions (expectancies, information processing styles).

• Cognitive dimensions of personality (e.g. differing expectancies, information processing styles)

False Self

The self developed in response to external conditions, often resulting in incongruence with the true self.

Humanistic approach

optimistic and growth-oriented; views humans as innately good with a drive toward their full potential (true self).

• psychology should try to understand individuals phenomenal experience= the way they can see for reality and experience themselves in the world

 Stresses the dignity, uniqueness, and integrity of human beings

• Optimistic view of human nature

• Emphasises positive aspects of people (e.g., capacity for personal growth)

Why do we develop bad personality characteristics? Humanistic

Theory of development of the self proposed :

1. that we seek approval, affection, positive regard, but those around us are not always giving us that, because we don’t act the way they want us to act, approval becomes conditional

2. others withhold regard, give it "conditionally"

3. we incorporate these conditions of worth and adjust behaviour to meet others' expectations -> drives us further form our true self , the further we deviate form true self the further we are divine by these conditions of worth = we develop false self

4. incongruence may develop between our true self and how we are forced to behave (false self)

Congruence

State where true self and false self align, leading to a fully functioning and confident person.

fully-functioning

confident, realistic, non-defensive

Best version of personality

• When barriers are removed and there is no conditional worth, true self and false self align.

• Congruence leads to a fully functioning person who is confident, realistic, and non-defensive.

 Congruence brought about by unconditional love + positive regard (no conditions of worth/ absences of conditions of worth )

Limitation humanistic

• Vague - concepts difficult to test empirically

• Limited research support

• Lacks comprehensive theory of personality, doesn’t account for all facet as of personity

• Cannot account for origins of personality

• Overly optimistic and idealistic, is everyone innately positive and  is that a good thing ?

• Does not offer comprehensive theory of personality in the same way that psychodynamic cognitive social theories do

• Does not over general theory of cognition of motion behaviour and psychological disorders

• No substantial body of test hypothesis and research for example how do you test personal growth?

LASTING CONTRIBUTIONS humanistic

• Positive psychology= propose strategies that allow us to be mentally healthy

• Self-concept influenced by humanistic approach

Conditions of Worth

Standards individuals believe they must meet to receive love and positive regard from others.

• True self vs false self:

• True self: innate good, genuine self to which we strive to align our actions.

• False self: self-for-others; developed when external conditions push us away from our true self.

Self-Concept

An organized pattern of thought and perception about oneself, which develops in relation to conditions of worth.

Modeling

Learning by observing and imitating the behaviors of others.

Humanistic Approach

Focuses on personal growth and the belief that humans are inherently good, striving for their full potential.

Incongruence Between sale and true self

The discrepancy between an individual's true self and false self, often leading to psychological distress.

• Distress, anxiety
  People become defensive, mean-spirited, selfish

• They are trapped by convention

• Can have negative effect on personality