Personality Psychology

PERSONALITY

  • Introduction to the concept of personality shaped by unique traits and patterns affecting behavior, emotions, and thoughts.

  • Query posed: "What makes two individuals have different personalities?"

WHAT IS PERSONALITY?

  • Personality defined as the long-standing traits and patterns that drive individual behavior and thought processes.

    • Origin: From the Latin word 'persona', meaning "mask" worn by actors in theatrical plays, symbolizing different traits.

    • Traits often discussed include:

    • Happy

    • Sad

    • Impatient

    • Shy

    • Fearful

    • Curious

    • Helpful

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

Hippocrates (370 BCE)

  • Proposed that personality characteristics are linked to four distinct temperaments:

    1. Choleric – associated with yellow bile from the liver; characterized as passionate, ambitious, and bold.

    2. Melancholic – connected with black bile from the kidneys; characterized as reserved, anxious, and unhappy.

    3. Sanguine – red blood from the heart; described as joyful, eager, and optimistic.

    4. Phlegmatic – white phlegm from the lungs; characterized as calm, reliable, and thoughtful.

  • Galen expanded Hippocrates' theory, emphasizing the influence of bodily humors on health and personality.

Phrenology

  • Franz Gall (1780): Proposed that skull bump distances could reveal personality traits; discredited due to lack of scientific evidence. Gall created a chart linking specific parts of the skull to personality traits.

Immanuel Kant (18th Century)

  • Agreed with Galen on the categorization of individuals into temperaments, adding a list of traits for each.

Wilhelm Wundt (19th Century)

  • Suggested two axes to describe personality:

    1. Emotional/Non-Emotional: Distinguishing strong emotions (choleric, melancholic) from weak emotions (phlegmatic, sanguine).

    2. Changeable/Unchangeable: Differentiating changeable temperaments (choleric, sanguine) from unchangeable (melancholic, phlegmatic).

PSYCHODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVES (20th century)

Sigmund Freud:

  • Developed the first comprehensive theory of personality encompassing normal and abnormal behavior.

  • Emphasized unconscious drives stemming from sexuality and aggression, shaped by childhood experiences.

Neo-Freudians:

  • Agreed on childhood experiences but shifted focus away from sexual influences to social interactions and cultural effects on personality.

FREUD: PSYCHODYNAMIC PERSPECTIVE

LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

  • Unconscious: A large portion of mental activity remains hidden and affects behavior, unbeknownst to the individual.

    • Repression as a defense mechanism to keep undesirable urges hidden.

    • Example of 'Freudian slip': Unintentional verbal mistakes reflecting unconscious desires.

ID, EGO & SUPEREGO

  • Personality consists of the ongoing battle between:

    1. Id:

    • Contains primitive urges and operates on the "pleasure principle" seeking immediate gratification.

    1. Superego:

    • Morality and social rules that develop through social interactions; strives for perfection.

    1. Ego:

    • Balances id and superego; operates under the "reality principle" managing realistic gratifications.

Effects on Personality

  • Balanced interplay leads to a healthy personality.

  • Imbalance can lead to neurosis or emotional instability.

DEFENSE MECHANISMS

  • Unconscious behaviors aimed at reducing anxiety and maintaining balance between id and superego; overuse can be problematic.

STAGES OF PSYCHOSEXUAL DEVELOPMENT

  • Freud proposed five stages where pleasure-seeking urges focus on specific body zones:

    1. Oral Stage (Birth – 1 year):

    • Erogenous zone: Mouth

    • Conflicts from weaning; fixation may lead to smoking or overeating.

    1. Anal Stage (1-3 years):

    • Erogenous zone: Anus

    • Conflicts from toilet training; fixation leads to anal-retentive (orderly) or anal-expulsive (messy) personalities.

    1. Phallic Stage (3-6 years):

    • Erogenous zone: Genitals; conflicts arise from desires for opposite-sex parent leading to Oedipus and Electra complexes.

    1. Latency Stage (6-12 years):

    • Sexual feelings are dormant as focus shifts to social interactions.

    1. Genital Stage (12+):

    • Sexuality reawakens redirected towards socially acceptable relationships.

NEOFREUDIANS

ALFRED ADLER:

  • Focused on compensation for inferiority feelings; introduced the inferiority complex.

  • Emphasized social interactions in development — identified three core tasks:

    1. Occupational tasks: Careers.

    2. Societal tasks: Friendships.

    3. Love tasks: Finding intimate partners.

ERIK ERIKSON:

  • Proposed psychosocial development theory highlighting healthy personality and social dependence through eight life stages.

CARL JUNG:

  • Analyzed personality by balancing conscious/unconscious thoughts; introduced 'collective unconscious' and 'archetypes'.

KAREN HORNEY:

  • Postulated that personality differences are culturally based and focused on coping with anxiety through three styles:

    1. Affiliation: Seeking love and acceptance.

    2. Aggression: Assertion and exploitation of others.

    3. Detachment: Withdrawal and isolation from social interactions.

LEARNING APPROACHES

THE BEHAVIORAL PERSPECTIVE

  • Focuses on observable, measurable behaviors; Skinner highlighted personality shaping through reinforcements.

THE SOCIAL-COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE

  • Bandura introduced key concepts:

    • Reciprocal Determinism: The interaction of cognition, behavior, and environmental context affects personality.

    • Observational Learning: Learning behaviors through observing others.

    • Self-Efficacy: Confidence in abilities impacts challenge approach.

RECIPROCAL DETERMINISM

  • Bandura acknowledged behavior, cognitive processes, and situational context influence each other mutually.

JULIAN ROTTER: LOCUS OF CONTROL

  • Refers to beliefs about personal control over life outcomes:

    • Internal locus: Results stem from personal actions, leading to better performance and independence.

    • External locus: View outcomes as dictated by external forces like luck or others.

WALTER MISCHEL: PERSON-SITUATION DEBATE

  • Found that behavior varies across situations but consistency within specific contexts.

  • Marshmallow Study: Assessed self-control and its impact on future success outcomes.

HUMANISTIC APPROACHES

ABRAHAM MASLOW:

  • Studied creative, productive individuals, identifying shared traits.

CARL ROGERS:

  • Linked personality with self-concept, differentiating between ideal self and real self; high congruence correlates with self-worth.

BIOLOGICAL APPROACHES

  • Explains personality through inherited traits and biological processes.

Heritable Traits

  • Twin studies suggest strong heritability of certain traits, indicating shared personality traits in identical twins.

Temperament

  • Infants categorized as easy, difficult, or slow to warm; reactivity and self-regulation affect personality.

SOMATOTYPES

  • William H. Sheldon correlated body types with personality most notably:

    1. Endomorphs: Sociable and good-humored.

    2. Mesomorphs: Adventurous and assertive.

    3. Ectomorphs: Anxious and thoughtful.

TRAIT THEORISTS

Gordon Allport:

  • Categorized traits into cardinal, central, and secondary traits.

Raymond Cattell:

  • Narrowed Allport's findings to 16 dimensions of personality on a continuum.

HANS & SYBIL EYSENCK:

  • Introduced dimensions of extroversion/introversion and neuroticism/stability influencing personality traits.

FIVE FACTOR MODEL

  • Identifies five traits (OCEAN); each exists on a spectrum:

    1. Openness to Experience

    2. Conscientiousness

    3. Extroversion

    4. Agreeableness

    5. Neuroticism

CULTURAL UNDERSTANDINGS OF PERSONALITY

REGIONAL DIFFERENCES

  • Identified distinct personality clusters across U.S. regions based on behavioral patterns.

INDIVIDUALIST vs COLLECTIVIST CULTURES

  • Individualist cultures focus on personal achievement and independence; collectivist cultures emphasize social harmony and group needs over personal ones.

PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT

SELF-REPORT INVENTORIES

  • Utilized in various contexts such as employment testing or psychological assessment. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is a widely used self-report tool.

PROJECTIVE TESTS

  • Assess unconscious processes through methods such as:

    • Rorschach Inkblot Test

    • Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

    • Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank (RISB)