Personality

PERSONALITY OVERVIEW

  • Definition of Personality

    • The unique characteristics that account for enduring patterns of inner experience and outward behavior.

    • A collection of stable states and characteristics that varies from one individual to another.

PERSONALITY EXERCISE

  • Activity: Show and Tell

    • Group Size: 4-5 participants.

    • Requirements: Bring an item that represents your personality and share with the group.

    • Questions to address:

      • What is the item?

      • Why does it represent your personality?

      • Sum up your personality in 3-5 words.

THEORIES OF PERSONALITY

  • Types of Theories

    • Type Theories

    • Early theories suggest a limited number of "personality types" related to biological influences.

    • Psychodynamic Theories

    • Emphasize the influence of the unconscious mind on personality (Freud's Id, Ego, Superego).

    • Humanist Theories

    • Focus on free will and individual experience.

    • Trait Theories

    • Consider personality as the result of internal characteristics that are genetically based.

    • Situationist and Interactionist Approaches

    • Suggest personality results from interactions between the individual and the environment.

PSYCHODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE

  • Levels of Consciousness

    • Conscious: Thoughts and feelings we are aware of at any moment.

    • Preconscious: Holds thoughts, memories, and ideas that can be made aware.

    • Unconscious: Contains thoughts that we cannot become aware of without special circumstances.

FREUD'S STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITY

  • Id

    • Represents basic instinctual drives (e.g., eating, sleeping, sex, comfort).

    • Present from birth and largely unconscious, operates on the pleasure principle.

  • Ego

    • Develops due to learning; rational, problem-solving force mediating between the id and superego.

    • Works both consciously and unconsciously.

  • Superego

    • Represents the values and morals of society as learned from parents and others.

    • Regulates behavior by internalizing societal standards and judgments of right and wrong.

OTHER PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORIES

  • Alfred Adler

    • Social needs and conscious thoughts are critical for behavior development.

    • Feelings of inferiority motivate individuals to pursue superiority.

  • Carl Jung

    • Distinguished between personal unconscious (formed by individual experiences) and collective unconscious (inherited memories; known as archetypes).

  • Karen Horney

    • Basic anxiety can arise in children experiencing extreme feelings of helplessness, potentially leading to neurosis.

    • Emphasizes the role of culture in personality development.

HUMANIST THEORIES

  • Abraham Maslow

    • Believes humans are inherently good and strive for growth and fulfillment.

    • Describes a hierarchy of needs culminating in self-actualization.

  • Carl Rogers

    • Argued that humans strive for self-actualization and the importance of self-concept.

    • Introduced the concept of unconditional positive regard in therapy to facilitate personal growth.

TRAIT THEORIES

  • Definition

    • Personality traits delineate tendencies to behave consistently across various situations.

  • Key Models

    • Gordon Allport: Reduced 18,000 traits to about 4,500 trait-like words; organized into cardinal, central, and secondary traits.

    • Raymond Cattell: Used factor analysis to identify and measure 16 personality traits.

    • Hans Eysenck: Proposed three superfactors: extroversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism.

MEASURING PERSONALITY

  • Personality Inventory

    • A questionnaire assesses various personality aspects.

  • Five-Factor Model (Big Five)

    • Dimensions assessed:

    • Agreeableness vs Disagreeableness

    • Extroversion vs Introversion

    • Neuroticism vs Stability

    • Conscientiousness vs Irresponsibility

    • Openness to Experience vs Unimaginativeness

MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR (MBTI)

  • Origins

    • Developed by Katharine Briggs and Isabel Myers in 1943, based on Jung’s theory of psychological types.

    • Designed to classify individuals into one of 16 personality types based on four dichotomies:

    1. Extraversion vs Introversion (E vs I)

      • E: Gains energy from external interactions.

      • I: Gains energy from internal reflection.

    2. Sensing vs Intuition (S vs N)

      • S: Prefers concrete experiences and physical senses.

      • N: Seeks deeper understanding and meanings.

    3. Thinking vs Feeling (T vs F)

      • T: Objective, goal-focused decision-making.

      • F: Accepting, accommodating decision-making.

    4. Judging vs Perceiving (J vs P)

      • J: Organized and structured lifestyle.

      • P: Flexible, spontaneous lifestyle.

  • Criticism of MBTI

    • The MBTI has been criticized for its lack of reliability; studies show 50% of individuals are reclassified in retests.

    • Limited effectiveness in predicting job success according to several studies.

OCEAN MODEL

  • Big Five Personality Traits

    • Identified broad categories that capture individual personality differences through factor analysis.

PROJECTIVE PERSONALITY TESTS

  • Definition

    • Personality assessments designed to uncover unconscious aspects by presenting ambiguous stimuli.

  • Examples:

    • Rorschach Inkblot Test

    • Consists of inkblots and assesses mental illness through interpretation.

    • Developed by Hermann Rorschach.

    • Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

    • Developed by Morgan and Murray, it consists of 30 cards with ambiguous scenes.

    • Based on the theory of primary and secondary needs.

  • Sentence Completion Tasks

    • Involves completing sentence stems spontaneously, revealing aspects of personality.

    • Example: Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank (RISB) developed by Julian Rotter.

VIA CHARACTER STRENGTHS

  • Overview

    • Developed by Martin Seligman and Christopher Peterson; identifies and classifies positive personality aspects.

    • Six core virtues identified:

    1. Wisdom

    2. Courage

    3. Humanity

    4. Justice

    5. Temperance

    6. Transcendence

DISCUSSION & WORKSHEETS

  • Guidelines for Discussion Groups

    • Discuss top and bottom strengths.

    • Evaluate both overall results and personal agreements.

    • Plan for utilizing strengths effectively.

SITUATIONIST AND INTERACTIONIST

  • Situationism

    • Proposes personality responses are driven by social situations rather than fixed traits.

  • Interactionism

    • Stresses the relationship between inherent personality traits and situational factors

BIOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF PERSONALITY

  • Twin Studies

    • Used to differentiate between genetic and environmental factors.

    • Suggests that genetic factors significantly influence temperament and traits, as well as behavioral tendencies and addictions.

  • Heritability of Big-Five Traits

    • Studies show a strong genetic basis for the big-five traits when comparing identical and fraternal twins.

NEUROANATOMY & PERSONAILTY

  • Phrenology

    • Early theory to assess mental and moral qualities via skull shape by Franz Joseph Gall; demonstrated inaccuracies but influenced future neuroscience.

  • Amygdala

    • Involved in emotional processing, especially negative stimuli; may correlate with behaviors like fear and shyness.

  • Cerebral Hemispheres

    • Dominance in right or left hemispheres may correlate with emotional traits and personality (e.g., right leads to negative emotions, left to positive).

  • Neurotransmitters

    • Dopamine activity in reward systems associated with positive emotions; cortisol levels linked to personality traits.

PERSONALITY DISORDERS

  • Definition

    • Personality disorders stem from failure to manage key life tasks, such as:

    1. Forming coherent self and other representations.

    2. Developing intimacy in relationships.

    3. Engaging in cooperative societal behaviors.

  • Clusters of Personality Disorders

    • Cluster A: (Odd/Eccentric)

    • Paranoid Personality Disorder, Schizoid Personality Disorder, Schizotypal Personality Disorder.

    • Cluster B: (Dramatic/Emotional)

    • Antisocial Personality Disorder, Histrionic Personality Disorder, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder.

    • Cluster C: (Anxious/Fearful)

    • Avoidant Personality Disorder, Obsessive-compulsive Personality Disorder, Dependent Personality Disorder.