The Study of Personality (ch 1)
personality psychology
addresses the way people feel, think, and behave (the ‘psychological triad’)
of particular interest to psychologists when they conflict with each other
produces cognitive dissonance
can you think of a time when your behaviour was out of sync with your beliefs or feelings?
or had two conflicting thoughts?
situations can have powerful influences on people’s behaviour
Kurt Lewin:
B = f (p, e)
behaviour is a function of a person and their environment
we can best understand behaviour in terms of an interaction between ‘nature’ and ‘nurture’
eg. reactions to the pandemic in 2020
some responded prosocially
supporting first responders and health care workers
people would play a concert from their balcony for others to enjoy
some would buy groceries for elderly neighbours
some responded antisocially
panic buying
protests and refusal of ppe
anti Asian prejudice
rises in domestic violence
to what extent do these reactions reflect people’s ‘true selves’?
eg. Ahmed El-Ahmed acted altruistically to subdue mass shooter…
has he acted similarly in other situations?
personality
an individual’s characteristic (typical) patterns of thought, emotion, and behaviour, together with the psychological mechanisms behind those patterns
we often think of other people’s characters in black and white terms
‘mission: impossible’…
people are complex (and sometimes contradictory)
you can’t understand everything about a person at once
individual differences abound
personality psychology appreciates the uniqueness of each individual
basic approaches to personality
trait approach
conceptualization of individual differences
explanation (of aggression)
focuses on individual differences and the stability of aggressive behaviour
aggressive children are most likely to become aggressive adults
biological approach
how anatomy, physiology, genetics, and evolution influence personality
explanation (of aggression)
genetic predisposition towards aggression
evolutionary theory
psychoanalytic approach
personality as a product of unconscious mind
explanation (of aggression)
people possess an unconscious desire to self destruct
self-destructive impulses are expressed against others in the form of aggression
aggression occurs when people are blocked from reaching their goals
phenomenological approach
focus on conscious awareness and experience (humanistic)
explanation (of aggression)
people are basically good
aggression arises when something interferes with natural growth process
inadequate basic needs, poor self-image
cultural differences
learning/cognitive approach
how people change their behaviour as a result of rewards and punishments (and observing others)
behavioural/social approach’s explanation (of aggression)
people learn to be aggressive (eg. through imitation)
aggressive behaviour that is rewarded will be repeated
differences in how people perceive and process social information / construe situations
cognitive explanation (of aggression)
certain cues in the environment trigger a network of aggressive thoughts and emotions
some people have a hostile bias as well, where they perceive things automatically as hostile acts rather than benign
which one is right?
no one theory alone is able to explain everything about human nature
best to view them as complementary
ie. each approach is good at explaining certain topics, and not so good at explaining others
unique strengths / weaknesses
eg.
behaviourism
highly effective at changing behaviour
doesn’t explain much else (eg. striving to reach one’s potential in life)
measuring personality
phrenology
the study of the shape and size of the cranium in an attempt to discover relationships between size of specific brain areas and personality types
popular in the 1800s
pseudoscientific
what are some techniques we might use to learn about someone’s personality?
there are no ‘perfect’ indicators of personality, there are only clues
a personality psychologist is like a detective & needs to gather as many clues as possible
four kinds of clues
ask the person directly
aka ‘S’ data (self-judgments)
eg. on a Likert scale
‘I pay attention to details’ (1-5)
‘I often miss the deadline for important assignments’ (1-5)
or true/false
‘I usually dominate the discussions I have with others’ (true-false)
by far the most common
eg. informal quizzes
eg. structured questionnaires (Big Five, Myers-Briggs)
advantages
quick, easy, and cheap
access to thoughts, feelings, and intentions
disadvantages
people are not always willing to honestly report feelings and beliefs
might not be able to tell you everything / selective memories
‘fish and water’ effect
loss of sense of distinctiveness of consisten behaviours
ask someone who knows
aka ‘I’ data (I = Informant)
judgments by knowledgeable informants (eg. friends, family members) about an individual’s personality
advantages
easy to obtain
can get multiple judgments of the same person
portrait of one’s reputation
takes place in the real world
disadvantages
limited behavioural information (people often see you in one context but not others)
error and bias (biased sample of behaviour)
life outcomes
aka ‘L’ data (L = Life)
archival records
eg. tax returns, hospital or police records, transcripts
the ‘residue’ of personality
your personal space
and online activity
advantages
objective and verifiable
intrinsic importance (to many professions)
disadvantages
multidetermination (of life outcomes)
and psychological factors only contribute to a small degree
observe what the person does
aka ‘B’ data (B = Behaviour)
either natural (in a real life setting) or contrived (in an experiment)
eg. diary and experience sampling methods
eg. reactions to contrived lab situations (staged emergency)
advantages
range of contexts
direct observation
disadvantages
uncertain interpretations
eg. did the person help for unselfish motives or selfish motives? or a combo of both?
remember no measure of personality is perfect
when different types of data point to the same conclusion, we can be more confident the data is valid
psychoanalytic approach
Eliot Spitzer
governor of New York in 2000s
took a hard stance against prostitution
but then cheated on his wife WITH a prostitute
what was going on in his mind
Feud discovers the unconscious
studies in Hysteria, published by Freud and Breuer (1895)
case of Anna O. and use of hypnosis in treating hysteria
free association
discription of hidden material by patients, that seemed related to the causes and cure of hysterical symptoms
early childhood experiences influence one’s adult behaviour/personality/pathologies
Freud’s structural model
personality is formed by needs, strivings, and desires, largely operating outside of awareness (ie. unconsciously)
behaviour is never accidental (but reasons are often hidden)
structure of personality
Id (unconscious, instinctual; pleasure principle)
Ego (partly conscious, rational; practical; reality principle)
Superego (conscious, moral - formed from internalization of culture and parental standards)
Liibido and Thanatos
Triebe - strong internal forces that motivates human behaviour
drives or instincts
categories of instincts
libido
life or sexual instinct (only a finite amount available at any moment)
thanatos
death or aggressive instinct
most human behaviour is attributed to the libido instinct
includes action aimed at receiving pleasure
death instinct is turned outward and expressed as aggression agiast others
wish to die remains unconscious
defense mechanisms
unconscious coping mechanisms used by the ego that reduce anxiety generated by threats from unacceptable impulses
formally recognized by Anna Freud (daughter of Sigmund)
rationalization
creating false but plausible excuses to justify bad behaviour
eg. stealing from work; ‘everybody does it; the company doesn’t need the money’
denial
keeping distressing thoughts buried (in the unconscious)
eg. you learn your partner is having an affair and you deny, deny, deny, and repress
projection
attributing one’s own threatening thoughts, feelings, or motives to another person
eg. lust -
displacement
diverting anger from original source to a neutral or less threatening alternative
sublimation
transforming trauma or forbidden impulses into contructive behaviours
eg. art, constructive work
reaction formation
behaving in the opposite way of one’s true feelings
eg. a person who realizes he is gay, lives in a family that is intolerant toward LGBTQ+ people
reacts by bullying other gay teens
regression
a reversion to immature patterns of behaviour
eg. adult having a ‘temper tantrum’
getting at unconscious material
strong id impulses do not disappear when they are pushed out of consciousness
expressed in an altered form
unconscious thoughts can be noticed by observing innocent behaviours
dreams
provide id impulses with a stage for expression
manifest content is a symbolic version of its latent content
trained psychoanalysts can identify common dream symbols
free association
used temporarily bypass the censoring mechanism employed by ego
exposes strange, uncensored ideas
Freudian slips
unintended misstatements or slips of the tongue
aka parapraxes
eg. calling your current partner by your ex’s name
may represent unconscious associations
hypnosis
allows the hypnotist to bypass the ego and get directly to unconscious material
drawback - not everyone is responsive
accidents
intentional actions stemming from unconscious impulses
resistance - deliberate effort by the unconscious mind to cover threatening unconscious material
symbolic behaviour
daily behaviours can be interpreted as symbolic representations of unconscious desires
poses no threat to the ego
projective tests
assesses unconscious material by asking test takers to respond to ambiguous stimuli
identifying objects, telling a story, or drawing a picture
thematic apperception test (TAT)
tell a story about scene
who are these people?
what is happening?
what led them to this moment?
what will happen next?
rorschach inkblot test
responses to ambiguous stimuli
human figure drawing test
used as an indicator of psychological problems in children
criticisms
responses open to sujective interpretation of the test scorer
mixed evidence for being valid/relaiable predictor of behaviour
psychosexual stages of development
sequence of development made up of stages characterized by primary erogenous zones and sexual desires
different focal points for psychic energy
each stage has a specific influence on the adult personality
fixation
stagnation of psychic energy
results when a child is unable to move through a particular stage
oral stage
first 18 months of life
primary erogenous zones
mouth, lips, and tongue
feeding problems can result in fixation and development of an ‘oral’ personality (in adulthood)
characterized by
trust/dependency issues
smoking, drinking, and excessive eating
anal stage
18 months to 3 years
primary erogenous zone - anal region
children are toilet trained
theme: learn self-control and obedience
traumatic toilet training (parents too harsh or too lenient) can result in fixation and development of an ‘anal’ personality
characterized by control issues