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.