Chapter 11 and 12
Personality: an individual's unique or distinctive set of consistent behavioral traits
Unique
Consistency: we behave consistently across situations
Trait: a tendency to behave in a certain way
Behavioral disposition
EX: honest, moody, friendly, anxious
“The Big 5” Fundamental Traits: 5 traits that in theory can sum up someone's personality based on if they score high or low in each trait.
Extroversion
Low Scorer: Loner, quiet,reserved
High Scorer: Talkative, active, affectionate
Agreeableness
Low Scorer: Suspicious, critical, ruthless
High Scorer: Trusting, soft-hearted
Conscientiousness
Low Scorers: Lazy, disorganized, late
High Scorers: hard-working, organized
Neuroticism/Anxiousness
Low Scorers: calm, even-tempered, comfortable
High Scorers: worried, self-conscious
Openness to experience
Low Scorers: Down-to-earth, conventional, uncreative
High Scorers: Creative, curious
Psychodynamic Perspectives
Main Themes
The unconscious is an important driver of behavior
Early childhood experiences are critical in molding us
Sex & aggression (Freud) as motivating behavior
Freud - Psychoanalysis
Structure of Personality
“Personality is like an iceberg”
3 major elements
Id: selfish and instinctive self; express to primary instincts, sex (life force) and aggression (death force). Id is selfish, our most selfish selfs.
Superego: our sense of what's right and what's wrong; develops around age 4 or 5. Fights back at Id to get us to do what is right.
Ego: negotiator between Id and superego; in Freud’s view it's good to have a strong ego to be able to negotiate within your inner thoughts.
Which element dominates is a key influence on adult personality
Defense Mechanisms: lies we tell ourselves to make us feel better; Freud said that the most important defense mechanism is repression and he also claimed that the healthiest personality doesn’t use defense mechanisms very often
Repression: when we intentionally forget about something because it is unpleasant
Projection: when we project our own feelings onto someone else
Displacement: when we take out our emotions on the wrong thing
Regression: acting like a child
Denial: refusing to admit something unpleasant
5 Stage Theory of Development: each stage has a task that the child needs to complete to move on in healthy development and if they don’t complete the tasks then development stalls
Oral (0-1): Key Task: Weaning
Anal (2-3): Key Task: Toilet Training
Phallic (4-5): Key Task: Oedipal Complex
Latency (6-12): Key Task: Expanding Social Contacts, Making Friends
Genital (13+): Key Tasks: Establishing Sexual, Intimate Relationships
Oedipal Complex: desire opposite-sex parent and resents the same-sex parent for being in the way. Resolution: the child gives up on the opposite-sex parent and begins to identify with the same-sex parent as a role model.
If Something Goes Wrong at One of The 5 Stages of Development…
Oral: dependence; bad mouth-related habits
Anal:
retentive - really picky
Expulsive - sloppy
Phallic: undeveloped conscience
Freud & Personality Summary
Adult Personality Depends On:
Stage progression
Defense Mechanisms
Ego Balance
Carl Jung
Archetypes - Cross cultural ideas
Can be a physical object that means the same thing throughout the different cultures, EX: mandalas
These cultures were not communicating or copying one another, they just happened to have the same ideas.
Collective Unconscious: just by being born human, we all come into the world with a set of assumptions or beliefs. Universal knowledge.
Adler
The thing that drives us and molds our behavior is a striving for superiority
We strive to master our challenges, we all want to be good at what we do
The first person to write about the idea that birth order affects behavior
Evaluating Psychodynamics
Pros
Unconscious: brought out the idea of the unconscious and today we agree that sometimes we do things for reasons we don’t know
Early Childhood: gave recognition to the effect that early childhood experiences have on adult personality
Cons
The psychodynamics theories are hard to test; How do you measure or identify unconscious motivations?
Weak evidence
Sexist, only really focused on male development
Behavioral Perspectives
What should be studied is outward behavior; science needs to look at measurable things
The primary influence of behavior is the environment
BF Skinner - Operant conditioning
BF Skinner
Did not like the word “traits” because he argued that behavior was influenced by external causes and experience
He wanted to call traits response tendencies because they arise from experience
Mechanical - no cognition - thinking of humans as very robotic and calculated
Bandura’s Social-Cognitive Theory
Adds cognitive influence
Self-efficacy, expectations, beliefs
Personal cognitive factors
Self-efficacy: being confident about your abilities in one domain of your life
EX: high self-efficacy in math but low in music
Evaluating Behavioral Perspectives
Pros
Supported by rigorous research
Brought attention to learning & environmental factors
Cons
Animal research, not human
Dehumanizing views
Humanistic Psychology
Humans are unique and much different than animals
We have a innate need for personal growth and freedom
Control one's own life
Most optimistic view
Carl Rogers - Person-Centered Theory
Self-concept: the key structure in human personality, how an individual views themselves
Congruence: harmony between self-concept and reality
We know ourselves and we have congruence in our self-concept
Incongruence
They don’t really understand themselves and they are trying to be someone they're not
Unconditional positive regard: we need someone who is important to us to communicate to us that they accept us for who we are
This contributes to your self-concept and self acceptance
Abraham Maslow
Personality development is a progression towards achieving our potential AKA self-actualization
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Physiological: food, sleep, water
Safety: need to feel safe in our environment
Belongingness: friends, social aspects
Esteem: feeling good about yourself
Self-actualization:fulfillment
Self Actualized person
Realistic view of reality, world, themselves
Spontaneous
On a mission, does not have to be grand or unusual, raising children.
Act independently, but democratic
Only a few close friends
Tend to have more peak experiences, or special moments.
Evaluating Humanist theories
Pros
Self concept / subject view
The healthy personality
Cons
Too optimistic
Lack of research
Biological Perspective
Hans Eysenck
Genes influence “Conditionability” Ex flight or flight due to genes
High conditionability Introvert - Tend to prefer activities alone
Heredity and Traits
Heritability
How much of a trait is in Genes?
Personality traits
Heritability ~ 50%
ie, Genetics ~ 50%
Environment ~ 50%
Shared Family Environment
Very little impact on behavior
Influence of peers are much greater than family
Evaluating Biological Perspectives
Pros
Strong evidence
Cons
Inconsistent heritability estimates
Can’t separate nature and nurture
Culture
Behavior doesn't always reflect internal tendency
Independent self-system - a way of understanding oneself as separate and distinct from others, emphasizing personal attributes, values, and goals
Interdependent self-system - a psychological concept where a person defines their identity largely through their connections and relationships with others
Assessment tools
Two basic types
Self-report test: Ask subject things about themselves and report on themselves, MMPI
Projective tests - subject is presenting with something ambiguous like a picture and interpreting it.
Chapter 12
Video - “Power of the situation”
Line length study - Asch’s Conformity Study
People in a room say the wrong choice then the subject answers 75% of the time the subject went along
Collectivist culture , try to fit into the group
Similarity
Larger group
Shock study
65 percent went always down to 450 volt
Less Obedience if
Experimenter left
Conflicting orders “you have to go on”
Ordinary man
Peer disobeys
Conclusion
Obedience - situation more than personality
Ordinary people can commit atrocities (Nazis)
Prison study - Zimbardo
Fundamental attribution error
Others behavior
Overestimate internal factors
Underestimate external factors
Factors in attraction
Physical attractiveness
Similarity - find more people similar to use more attractive
Reciprocity - tend to like people who like us
Sternberg 3 components of love
Long term relationships - tend to have high commitment and intimacy
Hazan and Shaver - love as attachment
Secure - adults to find it easy to get close to a person, healthy relationships, highest self esteem
Anxious ambivalent - adults who are being preoccupied by their partner, expect abandonment, jealousy extreme highs and lows.
Avoidents - find it hard to find a relationship, lacks intimacy or real bond
Evolutionary view of attraction
Men want youth and beauty
Health and fertility
Women want ambition, financial prospects
Attitudes
Implicit vs explicit
Implicit association test - racial bias
Theories of attitudes formation and change
Learning theory - behaviors or good outcomes repeat. behaviors that are bad with bad outcomes done tend to repeat
Dissonance theory
Cognitive dissonance: State of tension, inconsistent attitudes
Reduce tension by altering attitude
Festinger and Carlsmith, 1959: if people were ensued to lie for a dollar they change there attitude was no longer a lie
Elaboration theory
Central route:
- Based on content and logic of message
- high elaboration of the message
- more durable attitude change
Peripheral route:
- Based on attractiveness, credibility, emotion
- low elaboration or the message
- less durable attitude change
Behavior in group
Diffusion of responsibility
Social loafing: Reduced motivation and effort in work
Bystander effect: a psychological phenomenon that describes how people are less likely to help someone in need when others are present
- Darley And Latane, 1968
- Intercom study:
Decision making in a group
Group polarization
Tendency of moving further to the extreme in a group conversation
Group Think
Tends to happen in close-knit groups the tendency for all member to outwardly concur and to suppress disagreement for the sake of harmony