Chapter 12: Personality
Page 1: Personality Introduction
Page 2: Pause & Reflect
Who are you?
I am….?
How do you know what type of person you are?
Page 3: Understanding Personality
Definition: Personality consists of characteristic thoughts, emotional responses, and behaviors that are stable over time and circumstances.
Numerous conceptualizations and operationalizations of personality exist.
Page 4: Ways to Assess Personality
Approaches to Assessment
Idiographic Approaches:
Person-centered, focusing on individual lives.
Examples: Narrative approach; humanistic perspective.
Nomothetic Approaches:
Focus on common traits and unique combinations.
Includes projective measures like Rorschach inkblot and Thematic Apperception Test (TAT).
Page 5: Rorschach Inkblot Test
Page 6: Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
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Page 9: Additional Ways to Assess Personality
Idiographic Approaches: Person-centered, individual life focus.
Nomothetic Approaches:
Common traits and unique combinations.
Projective measures: Rorschach inkblot, TAT.
Objective measures: Self-reports, informant ratings.
Page 10: Historical & Contemporary Approaches to Personality
Psychodynamic: Freudian, Neo-Freudian.
Humanistic: Maslow, Rogers.
Social-Cognitive: Bandura, Mischel.
Trait Approaches: e.g., the Big Five.
Page 11: Freud’s Psychodynamic Theory
Principles:
Pleasure principle
Reality principle
Moral principles
Defense mechanisms: Unconscious mental strategies to protect the mind.
Page 12: Defense Mechanisms
Repression: Forcing distressing memories into the unconscious (e.g., memory loss from trauma).
Reaction Formation: Behavioral expression of unacceptable desires (e.g., anti-homosexual advocacy while having same-sex fantasies).
Projection: Attributing one's unacceptable thoughts to others (e.g., believing others cheat as justification).
Regression: Responding to threats with behaviors from earlier development (e.g., tantrums).
Sublimation: Channeling impulses into acceptable expressions (e.g., studying deviant behavior).
Denial: Refusal to acknowledge painful realities (e.g., alcoholism).
Rationalization: Creating false but plausible excuses (e.g., theft justified as salary compensation).
Displacement: Redirecting emotions to safer targets (e.g., yelling at a child instead of a boss).
Page 13: Neo-Freudian Approaches
Carl Jung: Analytical psychology; concepts of personal and collective unconscious, personality types.
Karen Horney: Emphasis on cultural and social conditions shaping personality.
Page 14: Humanistic Approaches
Focus on personal experience and belief systems.
Propose that individuals seek personal growth and self-actualization (e.g., Maslow).
Page 15: Carl Roger's Approach
Key Concepts:
Phenomenology
Subjective human experience
Empathy
Congruence
Unconditional positive regard.
Page 16: Self-Concept in Humanistic Approaches
Definition: Organized, consistent perceptions and beliefs about oneself (Carl Rogers).
Self-actualization: The realization of one's potential.
Self-discrepancies: Discrepancies between self-perceptions and reality.
Page 18: Understanding the Self
Self: Totality of the individual, including conscious and unconscious attributes.
Self-concept: Description of characteristics (psychological and physical).
Self-construal: Self-definition—independently or interdependently with others.
Page 19: Cultural Differences in Self-Concept
Western Cultures: Independent self-construals.
Non-Western Cultures: Interdependent self-construals.
Page 20: Co-existence of Self-Construals
Individuals can possess both independent and interdependent self-construals.
Page 22: Social-Cognitive Approaches
Major proponent: Albert Bandura.
Reciprocal determinism: Interaction among personal factors, behaviors, and environmental factors.
Page 23: Self-Efficacy
Influenced by:
Social persuasion (coaching)
Vicarious experiences (observed success)
Physical emotional states (sensations).
Page 24: Locus of Control
Developed by Julian Rotter.
Definition: Belief in control over life events, either internal (personal control) or external (external forces).
Page 25: Types of Locus of Control
Internal: Belief that personal efforts influence outcomes.
External: Belief that fate, luck, or religion dictate outcomes.
These represent opposing ends of a continuum.
Page 26: Self-Regulation
Concept: Altering behaviors to achieve personal goals.
Self-control: Balancing short-term temptations against long-term goals.
Page 27: Delay of Gratification
The Marshmallow Test by Walter Mischel: Studied children's self-control.
Page 28: Strategies for Delay of Gratification
Techniques:
Reframing "hot" cognitions to "cold" cognitions.
Ignoring distractions.
Recent studies challenging previous links between self-control in childhood and later outcomes.
Page 29: Personality as "If-Then" Profiles
Focus on interaction between situation and individual behavior:
Behavior may vary depending on the situation.
Page 31: Trait Approaches to Personality
Personality Trait: Persistent disposition to behave in a certain way.
Personality Type: Classifications based on trait configurations.
Page 33: Trait Frequency Query
Discussions surrounding the number of distinct personality traits: 4,500? 555? 16? 5? 35? 3?
Page 34: Factor Analysis
A method to identify underlying dimensions in observed behaviors.
Page 35: Big Five Personality Theory - Domain Descriptions
Openness:
Traits include imagination, creativity, and curiosity.
Conscientiousness:
Traits include self-discipline and goal-orientation.
Extraversion:
Traits encompass sociability and assertiveness.
Agreeableness:
Traits involve altruism and cooperativeness.
Neuroticism:
Traits include emotional instability and anxiety.
Page 36: Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI)
Self-assessment tool for evaluating personality traits.
Rating scale from highly disagree to highly agree for pairs of traits.
Page 37: Sample TIPI Results
Example personality trait scores for self and informant reports.
Page 38: Patterns Among Big Five Traits
Classification of personality types based on combinations of traits: Average, Self-centered, etc.
Page 39: Continuum of Personality Traits
Most individuals do not fall into extremes; they exist along a continuum (e.g., Extraversion).
Importance of recognizing the complex nature of personality beyond binary classifications in assessments like MBTI.