Personality

Personality

  • Definition of Personality:

    • Personality is the pattern of enduring characteristics that produce consistency and individuality in a person.

    • It encompasses the behaviors that make individuals unique and differentiate them from others.

    • Personality leads individuals to act consistently in different situations and over extended periods of time.

Psychodynamic Approach to Personality

  • Overview:

    • Psychodynamic approaches are based on the idea that personality is primarily unconscious and motivated by inner forces and conflicts about which individuals have little awareness.

    • The pioneer of this approach is Sigmund Freud.

Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory

  • Foundations:

    • Sigmund Freud developed psychoanalytic theory in the 1900s, assuming much of our behavior is driven by unconscious determinants.

    • The unconscious houses memories, knowledge, beliefs, feelings, urges, drives, and instincts of which the individual is unaware.

Structures of Personality

  • Id:

    • The instinctual and unorganized part of personality.

    • It attempts to reduce tension created by primitive drives related to hunger, sex, aggression, and irrational impulses from birth.

  • Ego:

    • The rational and logical part of personality, which aims to balance the desires of the id with realities of the objective outside world.

    • It begins to develop soon after birth.

  • Superego:

    • The last structure to develop in childhood, which judges the morality of behavior.

    • It represents societal right and wrong as taught and modeled by parents, teachers, and significant individuals.

Defense Mechanisms

  • Overview:

    • Freud proposed that defense mechanisms are unconscious strategies used to reduce anxiety by distorting reality and concealing the source of anxiety from oneself.

  • Types of Defense Mechanisms:

    • Repression:

      • Pushing unpleasant impulses out of awareness (e.g., unable to recall trauma).

    • Regression:

      • Behaving as if at an earlier developmental stage (e.g., having a temper tantrum when upset).

    • Displacement:

      • Redirecting emotions from a powerful person to a weaker one (e.g., yelling at a sibling after a bad grade).

    • Rationalization:

      • Providing justifying explanations for behavior rather than actual reasons (e.g., saying a test isn’t important after partying).

    • Denial:

      • Refusing to acknowledge anxiety-inducing information (e.g., denying course failure).

    • Projection:

      • Attributing unwanted feelings to someone else (e.g., an unfaithful person suspecting infidelity).

Critiques of the Psychodynamic Approach

  • Existence of Defense Mechanisms:

    • While defense mechanisms may exist, a critique of Freudian theory involves the overemphasis on sexuality as a motivator in unconscious thought.

Trait Theories

  • Purpose:

    • Trait theories aim to identify basic facets necessary to describe personality.

    • Trait:

      • Enduring, habitual patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving.

Gordon Allport's Fundamental Trait Categories

  • Cardinal Traits:

    • Central, overriding characteristics that motivate a person's behavior.

    • Example: An altruistic individual driven by humanitarian efforts or a power-hungry person seeking control.

  • Central Traits:

    • 5-10 traits that make up an individual’s core personality.

    • Affect, but do not determine behavior (e.g., warmth, honesty).

  • Secondary Traits:

    • Contextual traits affecting behavior in fewer situations (e.g., being generally easygoing but short-tempered under pressure).

Eysenck's Trait Dimensions

  • Dimensions Proposed by Eysenck:

    • Extraversion:

      • Level of sociability; high extraversion correlates with being sociable and sensation-seeking.

    • Neuroticism:

      • Level of emotional instability; high neuroticism correlates with anxiety and low self-esteem.

    • Psychoticism:

      • Degree of reality distortion; high psychoticism correlates with aggression and impulsivity.

The Big Five Model of Personality

  • Overview:

    • The Big Five model proposes five distinct overarching personality traits, each on a continuum.

  • Traits Defined:

    • Openness to Experience:

      • Degree to which individuals seek new experiences and consider alternative perspectives.

      • Higher scores are correlated with creativity, risk-taking, and liberal views.

      • Tends to increase in youth and decrease with age; women score higher than men.

    • Conscientiousness:

      • Degree of organization, discipline, and achievement.

      • Strongest predictor of job performance and academic success.

      • Higher conscientiousness is linked to better health and financial stability.

    • Extraversion:

      • Degree of sociability and interaction with the environment.

      • Higher scores correlate with assertiveness, leadership, and happiness.

      • Women tend to score higher on extraversion.

    • Agreeableness:

      • Degree to which individuals are helpful, trusting, and cooperative.

      • Higher agreeableness correlates with relationship satisfaction and volunteer work; lower levels link to aggression and disorders.

      • Women generally score higher than men.

    • Neuroticism:

      • Degree of experiencing negative emotions; higher scores correlate with anxiety, mood disorders, and lower job commitment.

Criticisms of the Big Five Model

  • Cultural Variability:

    • The Big Five traits show variability across cultures and may not be universal.

    • For example, the model did not replicate in the Tsimane tribe in Bolivia.

  • Reductionism:

    • Critics argue that the model is too reductive, particularly questioning the cohesiveness of the Openness factor.

    • The HEXACO model proposes that Agreeableness should be split into Agreeableness and Honesty-Humility, highlighting the differences between cooperation and honesty.

Finding of the Week: Compassion Fatigue

  • Definition:

    • Compassion fatigue is reduced energy or interest experienced by caregivers due to compassion for patients’ suffering, which can negatively impact well-being and work performance.

  • Methodology:

    • 332 nurses in China (95% women) completed scales assessing compassion fatigue, personality traits, and demographic information.

  • Results:

    • ICU nurses showed the highest levels of burnout and compassion fatigue.

    • Greater neuroticism linked to increased secondary trauma and job burnout, while higher extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness correlated with lower negative job outcomes.

Behaviorist Approaches to Personality

  • Overview:

    • BF Skinner’s behaviorist perspective claims that personality is a collection of learned behavior patterns shaped through reinforcement.

    • Example: An individual may display sociable behaviors due to past reinforcement for such behaviors.

Social Cognitive Approaches to Personality

  • Overview:

    • Emphasizes the influence of cognitions, such as thoughts, feelings, and observations on personality.

    • Albert Bandura's concept of self-efficacy is particularly important.

Self-Efficacy

  • Definition:

    • Self-efficacy is the belief in one's ability to master a situation and produce positive outcomes.

  • Sources of Self-Efficacy:

    • Mastery: Past successful experiences in a similar activity.

    • Modeling: Observing successful actions of others.

    • Persuasion: Encouragement from others.

    • Physiology: Ability to manage emotions and stress.

Self-Esteem

  • Definition:

    • Self-esteem encompasses overall positive and negative evaluations of oneself.

  • Sociometer Theory:

    • Proposes self-esteem is a psychological gauge of perceived social acceptance.

Keys to Healthy Self-Esteem

  • Self-Acceptance and Emotional Stability:

    • Acknowledge imperfections and practice self-forgiveness to reduce self-criticism.

  • Competence and Confidence:

    • Develop skills and trust in one’s judgments to make confident decisions.

  • Healthy Relationships and Boundaries:

    • Set boundaries and prioritize personal needs to foster positive relationships.

  • Self-Care and Daily Habits:

    • Engage in regular physical activity and pursue enjoyable hobbies.

  • Shifting Mindset:

    • Practice self-assertiveness and embody a confident persona to build self-assurance.

Antisocial Personality Traits: The Dark Triad

  • Overview:

    • The Dark Triad consists of antagonistic and malevolent personality traits:

      • Narcissism: Characterized by an inflated sense of self-esteem; can be grandiose or vulnerable.

      • Machiavellianism: Based on manipulativeness and scheming to achieve goals.

      • Psychopathy: Linked to antisocial behavior and low empathy; can manifest in boldness and disinhibition.

      • Sadism: Enjoyment in harming others, associated with higher predictions of violent behavior.

Narcissism

  • Features:

    • Excessive self-esteem can manifest as manipulative, domineering behavior.

    • Two subtypes exist: grandiose (emphasizing extroversion) and vulnerable (focusing on neuroticism).

Machiavellianism

  • Characteristics:

    • Manipulative behavior aimed at treating people merely as means to an end.

    • Named after Niccolò Machiavelli’s writings on scheming in politics.

Psychopathy

  • Characteristics:

    • Enduring antisocial behavior, lack of empathy, and high boldness and risk-taking tendencies.

    • Triarchic Model: Consists of boldness, disinhibition, and meanness.

Sadism

  • Characteristics:

    • Pleasure derived from harming others without instrumental goals.

    • Strong predictor of various forms of aggression and violence.

Temperament

  • Biological and Evolutionary Perspective:

    • Suggests that traits of personality are inherited, similar to genetic influences on height.

  • Infants and Temperament:

    • Temperament represents a characteristic behavioral style.

  • Types of Temperaments (Chess & Thomas):

    • Easy Child: Positive mood and adaptable.

    • Difficult Child: Negative reactions and irregular routines.

    • Slow to Warm Up Child: Low activity level and gradual acceptance of change.

  • Inhibition to the Unknown (Kagan):

    • Inhibited infants may be at risk for developing social anxiety later.

Humanistic Approaches to Personality

  • Overview:

    • These approaches focus on human goodness and the potential for higher functioning.

  • Key Concepts:

    • Self-Actualization: Realizing one’s highest potential.

    • Self-Concept: Set of beliefs about one's abilities, uniquely domain-specific compared to self-esteem.

Personality Assessment Methods

  • MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory):

    • Originally for psychopathology diagnosis, MMPI-3 includes 52 subscales and 335 items, requiring trained professional administration.

  • Big Five Inventory:

    • Comprises 44 items across five factors, replicating across various cultures.

  • Projective Methods:

    • Involve giving ambiguous stimuli to interpret, such as Rorschach Tests.

  • Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI):

    • A pseudoscientific classification into 16 personality types that fails psychometric validation, suggesting discrete categories are misleading.