Chapter 14 – Personality Comprehensive Notes

LEARNING OUTCOMES

• 14.1 Define personality

• 14.2 Describe basic assumptions of psychodynamic theories

• 14.3 Discuss basic principles of cognitive-social theories

• 14.4 Compare & contrast major trait theories

• 14.5 Describe basic principles of humanistic theories

• 14.6 Explain links between genetics, personality & culture

CONCEPT MAP / BIG PICTURE

• Personality = enduring patterns of thought, feeling, motivation & behaviour expressed across situations

• Five broad theoretical families

  • Psychodynamic

  • Cognitive-social

  • Trait (incl. FFM, HEXACO, etc.)

  • Humanistic / Existential

  • Genetic–cultural interactionist

NATURE OF PERSONALITY

• Two central missions of personality psychology

  • Build structure theories (how components are organised)

  • Study individual differences (why people differ)

• Personality lies at intersection of cognition, emotion & behaviour → a psychological “finger-print”

• Key stability questions

  • Which elements endure?

  • How stable across time / situations?

PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORIES

Core Assumptions

• Behaviour = product of unconscious wishes, fears, intentions

• Mind = dynamic system of conflicting forces → ambivalence & compromise formations

Freud’s Models

1. Topographic Model

• Conscious / Pre-conscious / Unconscious

• Unconscious = irrational, associative, repressed

• Dreams: manifest vs latent content

2. Drive (Instinct) Model

• Two basic drives: Sex (libido) & Aggression

• Drives seek expression but face social restraint → conflict

3. Developmental (Psychosexual) Model

• Fixation = lingering conflict; Regression = return under stress

4. Structural Model

• Id (pleasure principle; primary process)

• Ego (reality principle; secondary process)

• Superego (moral ideals)

• Ego mediates → compromises (e.g., jealous lawyer gives poor evaluation but frames it morally)

Defence Mechanisms (sample)

• Repression, Denial, Projection, Reaction formation, Sublimation, Rationalisation, Displacement, Regression, Passive aggression

• Neither abnormal nor inherently unhealthy; moderate distortion can be adaptive

Neo-Freudian Expansions

Jung – Analytical Psychology

• Psyche = Ego (conscious) + Personal Unconscious + Collective Unconscious (archetypes)

• Key archetypes: Self, Shadow, Anima/Animus, Persona

• Goal = Individuation (wholeness)

• Introduced Introversion / Extroversion, 4 functions (Thinking, Feeling, Sensation, Intuition)

Object Relations / Relational Theories

• Focus on mental representations of self & others; capacity for relatedness

• Early caregiver patterns → adult intimacy patterns; maladaptive early patterns → borderline, etc.

Assessment of the Unconscious

• Life-history / case-study methods

• Projective tests

  • Rorschach Inkblot

  • Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

• Critiques: scorer subjectivity, mixed validity; still useful for implicit processes

Contributions & Limitations

• Unconscious processes, early childhood, meaning of behaviour

  − Weak empirical base, sexism, over-sexualised, difficult to falsify

COGNITIVE-SOCIAL THEORIES

Key Components (Bandura, Mischel et al.)

1. Encoding / personal constructs (G. Kelly repertory grid)

2. Personal value / life tasks (Cantor & Kihlstrom)

3. Expectancies

   • Behaviour-outcome expectancy

   • Self-efficacy expectancy

4. Competences (skills)

5. Self-regulation (goal-setting, feedback loops)

Behaviour Generation Flow

Encoding → Value → Expectancy → Plan / Competence → Behaviour → Self-regulation feedback

Empirical Illustration

• Bandura & Wood (1989) managerial simulation: believing ability is acquirable ↑ self-efficacy, goals & performance vs “fixed ability”

Strengths & Limits

• Emphasises learning, thought, testable; informs health interventions

  − Underplays emotion & unconscious; assumes clear self-knowledge

TRAIT THEORIES

Core Idea

• Traits = underlying emotional-cognitive-behavioural tendencies inferred from habitual acts

• Measurement: observation, informant reports, self-report inventories (e.g., MMPI, 16PF)

Major Models

Eysenck’s 3 Super-Traits

1. Extroversion (E)

2. Neuroticism (N)

3. Psychoticism (P)

• Biological basis: ARAS cortical arousal; Gray’s BAS/BIS refinement

Five-Factor Model (FFM / OCEAN)

• Openness (fantasy, aesthetics …)

• Conscientiousness (order, discipline …)

• Extroversion (warmth, assertiveness …)

• Agreeableness (trust, altruism …)

• Neuroticism (anxiety, vulnerability …)

• Cross-cultural robustness (56-nation BFI study; McCrae & Terracciano)

HEXACO (Ashton & Lee)

• Adds Honesty-Humility; each factor has 4 facets + Altruism blend

• Ongoing debate re: universality & incremental validity

Consistency Debates

• Mischel (1968): behaviour driven by situations

• Epstein aggregation: traits predict averaged acts

• If–Then signatures (Mischel & Shoda) integrate person × situation

Temporal Stability

• Longitudinal findings (Dunedin, ATP, NZAVS) show trait rank-order stability, yet mean-level trends (↑A & C, ↓N with age)

Pros & Cons

• Measurable, heritability estimates, common language

  − Heavy self-report dependence, factor-analytic subjectivity, largely descriptive, cultural nuance

HUMANISTIC / EXISTENTIAL THEORIES

Carl Rogers – Person-Centred

• Phenomenal field understood via empathy

• True self vs False self (conditions of worth)

• Self-concept vs Ideal self incongruence → distress

• Actualising tendency drives growth

Existential Themes (Sartre, May, Frankl)

• Humans must create meaning in a meaningless, mortal world

• Existential dread / death anxiety → cling to cultural world-views (Terror Management Theory)

• Experimental mortality-salience: judges set higher bonds, ↑charity attitudes, seek relationships

Evaluation

• Highlights subjective meaning, authenticity, positive growth

  − Sparse testable hypotheses, idealistic, limited comprehensive models

GENETICS, PERSONALITY & CULTURE

Behavioural Genetics Findings

• Twin studies → heritability h^2 is approximately 0.15-0.50 for most traits

• MZ twins reared apart correlations is approximately MZ together (Tellegen et al.)

• DZ & adoptive siblings low correlations → shared family environment weaker than non-shared

• Traits differ: Openness highly heritable; A & C more environmental (Swedish data)

• Gene x environment cascades (aggressive child → punitive reactions → adult outcomes)

Culture & Personality

• Universals: anxiety, self-esteem threats, need for inclusion

• Culture-pattern view: culture sculpts personality (Benedict)

• Interactionist view: multidirectional causality—personality, economy & rituals co-create

• Examples

  • Aboriginal Dreaming: personality embedded in spiritual-landscape identity

  • Collectivist vs individualist trait salience differences

APPLICATION EXAMPLES & ETHICS

• Twin cases (DeCinque, Griffiths, Herbert triplets) illustrate gene–environment interplay

• Law-firm partner scenario shows structural model compromise

• Sport-specific projective testing (Athlete Apperception Technique) enriches athlete coaching

• Ethical data-gathering: informed consent & confidentiality when studying TV violence & children

SUMMARY OF MAJOR TAKE-AWAYS

• Personality = multi-level system: biological dispositions, learnt expectancies, conscious goals, cultural meanings

• Stability exists, but is context-conditional; traits predict aggregated behaviour; if–then patterns add nuance

• Genes matter, but non-shared environments & cultural narratives play equally vital roles

• Different theories answer different questions—integrative understanding requires appreciating strengths & limits of each