Personality

Personality

A person’s distinctive and stable way of thinking, feeling, and behaving

Psychodynamic Theory of Personality

An explanation of personality, based on the ideas of Sigmund Freud, that emphasizes unconscious forces and early childhood experiences

The Four Key Concepts of Psychodynamic Theory of Personality

Levels of consciousness, personality structure, defense mechanisms, psychosexual stages of personality development

Ego

You leave the wallet in a hidden place and text the GroupMe letting the class know someone left their wallet

Superego

Wants to have a search party to help the person find their wallet

Id

Seeing a wallet open in an empty room and wanting to steal the cash inside

Unconscious

Underneath the surface. Like an iceberg, the deepest part is the Id

Preconsciousness

An unconscious storage unit of information in your brain

Consciousness

What’s going through your head right now

Defense mechanism

A protective behavior that reduces anxiety. Helps us channel potentially self-destructive or painful psychic energy into more constructive or manageable behaviors

Psychosexual stages

Freud was interested in how development personality would deal with sexual impulses of Id. Proposed five psychosexual stages of personality development: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. Personality is the product of conflict during these psychosexual stages

Displacement

Taking frustrations or anxiety out on something else (slashing tires)

Sublimation

Finding a healthier route for taking your feelings out (writing a song to avoid the anxiety)

Projection

Pushing your thoughts onto other people

Reaction formation

The opposite

Denial

Blocked from consciousness because they’re too threatening

Regression

Fetal position

Repression

Hides your Id in the unconscious to keep you unaware of it

Abraham Maslow and Carol Rogers on the Healthy Personality

Emphasizes our inherent tendencies toward healthy, positive growth and self-fulfillment. Self-actualizing personalities. Healthy individuals who are able to become who they want to be.

Abraham Maslow and Self-Actualization

The more basic needs must be secured before a person attempts to self-actualize. We experience more peak experiences the closer we get to self-actualization. Described as harmony or a sense of purpose.

Self Actualization

Fully becoming the person you have the potential to be requires positive regard (acceptance, love, etc.) Problems arise when conditions are imposed

Incongruence

Mismatch between real self and ideal self. Leads to unhappiness and mental illness

Congruence

Match between real self and ideal self. The root of mental wellness.

Trait Theory of Personality

Emphasizes the discovery and description of the basic components of personality (what vs why)

Traits

Stable elements of personality that influence thoughts, feelings, and behavior across most situations

Openness

curious, unconventional, and imaginative. Those low in this quality prefer the familiar

Conscientiousness

Incorporates competence, order, dutifulness, achievement striving, self-discipline and deliberation

Extroversion

Warmth, gregariousness, assertiveness. Can be insensitive or overbearing. Other end of the spectrum is introversion, characterized by coolness, reserve, passivity, and caution.

Agreeableness

Includes trust, straightforwardness, altruism, compliance, modesty and tender mindedness. Being low in this trait is characterized as cynical, uncooperative, and rude

Neuroticism

Combines anxiety, angry hostility, depression, self-consciousness, impulsivity, and vulnerability. Opposite trait indicates emotional stability

Multimethod assessment

An approach to personality assessment that emphasizes the use of multiple methods rather than only one method

Cultural competence

The ability to work sensitively and expertly with members of a culturally diverse society

Clinical interviews

A method of personality assessment in which the psychologist engages in conversation with the client

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2)

Widely used and respected objective personality test that emphasizes mental disorders

NEO-Personality Inventory-3 (NEO-PI-3)

An objective personality test that measures the Big Five personality factors

Projective personality tests

Clients respond to ambigous stimuli in a free-form way (inkblot tests)

Thematic Apperception Test

The client creates stories in response to cards that show people in undefined situations