Unit Six: Personality Development

Motive

A stimulus that moves a person to behave in ways designed to accomplish a goal - ex. goals, avoiding failure, etc.

Need

A condition in which we require something we lack (food, water, air)

Drive

Forces that motivate an organism to take action - often stress due to a lack of comfort (ex. starvation, coldness)

Intrinsic Motivation

The doing of an activity for inherent satisfaction (ex. pride)

Extrinsic Motivation

The doing of an activity for an external reward (ex. a good grade)

Instinct

Behaviors passed from generation to generation - research has shown in certain situations we are born to act in certain ways (ex. fighting fish in isolation are still aggressive)

Instinct Theory of Motivation

This theory states that people are motivated by these instincts to survive and be social - critics argue there is too much variation in our behavior for instinct to be the primary motivator

Drive-Reduction Theory of Motivation

People and animals experience a drive arising from a need as an unpleasant stress -over time, we’ve learned to do whatever it takes to reduce that stress - this applies to a lot of biological drives like hunger - critics say that often we act in ways that intentionally increase stress (ex. procrastination)

Humanistic Theory of Motivation

People are also motivated by the conscious desire for personal growth and fulfillment - sometimes our drive to fulfill outweighs our desire to meet basic needs - self-actualization

Self-Actualization

The need to become what one believes they are capable of - Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs ranks needs in order of importance in order to self-actualize (physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization)

Sociocultural Theory of Motivation

Cultural factors and experiences influence how we satisfy basic needs - ex. certain foods and the way they are prepared vary in acceptability from country to country

Personality

Patterns of feelings, motives, and behaviors that set people apart from one another

Trait

Aspect of personality that is considered to be reasonably stable (based on behavior)

Hippocrated

Ancient Greek physician who believed the body contained fluids or “humors” and that traits were a result of them mixing - diseases were a result of an imbalance in “humors”

• Yellow Bile - quick temper

• Blood - warm and cheerful

• Phlegm - sluggish

• Black Bile - thoughtful

Gordon Allport (1897-1967)

Believed traits can be inherited - traits are building blocks of personality - behavior is the product of the combination of traits a person has (including both physical and psychological traits)

Hans J. Eysenck (1916-1997)

Focused on relationships - introversion/extroversion correlated with emotional stability/instability - believed introverts were imaginative and look inward - believed extroverts were active, self-expressive, and social - dimensions were similar to Hippocrates (traits can balance each other out)

Personality Inventories

Questionnaires covering a wide range of feelings and behaviors

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

Most widely used personality test - developed to identify emotional disorders - now used for other screening purposes - empirically driven

Five-Factor Model

Common way psychologists view traits - links to anxiety, mental illnesses like schizophrenia, relationships with friends and family

1. Extroversion

2. Agreeableness

3. Conscientiousness

4. Emotional Stability

5. Openness to Experience

Criticizing the Trait Approach

Describes traits rather than explaining origins or how people can change - has practical applications in evaluating abilities and interests - limited yet objective measurement of traits

Freud’s Beliefs of the Unconscious

The majority of the mind is hidden, with only the conscious mind being visible - used Free Association to get a better understanding of the individual’s unconscious mind - we can block unacceptable thoughts and memories to keep our conscious mind safe - even though we may be unaware of the unconscious, it heavily impacts our decision making

Three Parts of Freud’s Personality Structure

1. Id

2. Ego

3. Superego

Id

Unconscious desires that look to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives

Ego

Conscious part of personality which works to satisfy the demands of the id, superego, and reality

Superego

Internalized ideals, standards of judgment, future aspirations, and morality

Freud Psychosexual Stages of Development

1. Oral Stage

2. Anal Stage

3. Phallic Stage

4. Latency Stage

5. Genital Stage

Freud Oral Stage

0-18 months - pleasure and exploration centers on the mouth - can lead to oral fixation

Freud Anal Stage

18-36 months - pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder elimination - can lead to anal retentive traits, self-control issues

Freud Phallic Stage

3-6 years old - pleasure zone is in the genitals - Oedipus complex

Freud Latency Stage

Dormant sexual feelings, repressed emotions - impulses/emotions can remain hidden

Freud Genital Phase

Puberty+ - maturation of sexual interests - no new conflicts, conflicts from earlier stages can resurface

Repression

Banishing anxiety-arousing thoughts

Regression

Retreating to more infantile behaviors

Reaction Formation

Unconscious switching of unacceptable impulses into opposites

Projection

Disguising inadequacies by attributing them to others

Rationalization

Self-justifying explanations in place of confronting one’s own actions

Displacement

Shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward more acceptable targets

Sublimation

Rechanneling unacceptable impulses into socially-approved activities

Denial

Refusing to believe in painful realities

Archetypes

Created by Carl Jung - Basic primitive concepts that make up the collective unconscious - self, shadow, animal, persona

Four Types of Archetypes

• Self: total unity of conscious and unconscious

• Shadow: darker side of human nature

• Anima/Animus: qualities of the opposite sex in a person’s personalities

• Persona: public self shown to the world

Collective Unconscious

Human concepts shared by all people across cultures (ex. fear of spiders) - these are broken into archetypes

Carl Jung

Created archetypes and collective unconscious - believed self-awareness is an important part of personality (persona aligns with self)

Inferiority Complex

Coined by Alfred Adler - people are basically motivated to overcome feelings of inferiority - ex. physical traits (size/shape), sibling rivalry

Alfred Adler

Inferiority complex - self awareness is an important part of personality - the creative self is out capability for free will

Karen Horney

Believed social relationships play the biggest role on personality (ex. parent-child) - coined basic anxiety

Basic Anxiety

Insecurity of children caused by being treated harshly or indifferent by parents - genuine care can relieve effects from painful childhoods - coined by Karen Horney

Thematic Apperception Test

Projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes - used to assess the unconscious

Rorschach Inkblot Test

Seeks to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots - pop psychology way to assess the unconscious

Social-Cognitive Perspective of Psychology

View behavior as influenced by the interaction between people’s traits and their social context - Alfred Bandura is the main guy

Reciprocal Determinism

Interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment - different people choose different environments - our personalities shape how we interpret and react to events - our personalities help create situations to which we react

Personal Control

The extent to which people have control over their environment - internal or external locus

External Locus of Control

Perception that chance or outside forces beyond your control determine fate

Internal Locus of Control

Perception that you control your fate

Self-Control

The ability to control impulses and delay gratification can help predict the ability to adjust, succeed academically, and be social - exercise can help with self-control - self-control varies throughout life - weaker after using it for long periods of time, stronger with rest

Optimism Pros and Cons

Tends to have positive effects on performance and health - excessive optimism can be blinding, realism helps to ground - overconfidence and incompetence are correlated

Assessing Behavior

Real-world situations are best - ex. the best predictor of future job performance is past job performance

Criticism of Social-Cognitive Perspective

Heavily influenced by learning theories and cognition - too much focus on situations, not enough on the individual