personality

AP Psychology - Personality Overview

  • Introduction

    • Title at the top: "AP Psych!!"

    • Playful references: "The glass is half full!" vs. "The glass is half empty."

    • Mention of craving for a cheeseburger.

Personality Definition and Characteristics

  • Definition of Personality:

    • Personality is defined as a pattern of enduring, distinctive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that characterize how an individual adapts to the world.

    • Characteristics of Personality:

    • Each individual is simultaneously like all other people, like some other people, and like no other person who has lived or will live in the future.

    • Personality Behaviors:

    • Reflect individual personality traits.

    • Components of identity include perceived internal cause and perceived organization and structure.

Four Different Approaches to Personality

  1. Psychodynamic Approach

    • Notion that personality is characterized by unconscious processes.

    • Development occurs in stages, with childhood experiences significantly impacting adult personality.

  2. Humanistic Approach

    • Focuses on innate motives to grow and actualize the self.

    • Emphasizes the potential negative influence of social pressures on healthy tendencies.

  3. Social Cognitive Approach

    • Conceptualizes personality as the coherence in a person’s interactions with their environment.

    • Beliefs and expectations are central, rather than overarching traits.

  4. Trait Approach

    • Suggests that personality is characterized by a set of five stable traits that people use in daily language to describe themselves and others.

Approaches Summary

  • Assumptions about Personality:

    1. Psychodynamic: Key aspects are unconscious.

    2. Humanistic: Human nature is fundamentally good; understanding personal desires is crucial for happiness.

    3. Social Cognitive: Behavior changes based on different situations; meaning derived from each situation is essential.

    4. Trait: Traits tend to be stable over time and predict behavior.

Typical Methods Used in Approaches

  • Psychodynamic:

    • Methods include case studies and projective techniques.

  • Humanistic:

    • Utilizes questionnaires, interviews, and observations.

  • Social Cognitive:

    • Involves multiple observations across different situations, including videotape analysis rated by coders and questionnaires.

  • Trait:

    • Primarily questionnaires and observer reports are used.

Sample Research Questions by Approach

  • Psychodynamic: How do unconscious conflicts lead to dysfunctional behavior?

  • Humanistic: Can situations be altered to better support organismic values and well-being?

  • Social Cognitive: When and why do individuals respond to challenges with fear versus excitement?

  • Trait: Are the five personality factors universal across different cultures?

Psychodynamic Perspective

  • Main Idea: The unconscious significantly impacts personality.

    • Early experiences with parents shape personality.

    • Understanding personality involves exploring symbols and unconscious behavior meanings.

Freud's Contributions

  • Background: Freud (1856-1939) was a pioneer in psychodynamic theory.

  • Key Concepts:

    • Ego, Id, Superego:

    • Id: Represents basic impulses and seeks immediate gratification, operates on an unconscious level.

    • Ego: Mediates reality; interacts and balances the Id and Superego, operates mainly at the conscious level.

    • Superego: Embodies ideals; becomes a person's conscience and strives for perfection, primarily operates at the preconscious level.

Freud's Psychosexual Stages

  1. Oral Stage (0-18 Months)

    • Focus: Mouth; fixation can occur here.

  2. Anal Stage (18-36 Months)

    • Development of the ego; dealing with reality crises.

  3. Phallic Stage (3-6 Years)

    • Formation of the superego influenced by complex dynamics, including the Oedipus complex and castration anxiety in boys, Electra complex, and penis envy in girls.

  4. Latency Stage (6 Years - Puberty)

    • Sexual interests are repressed; personality is now fixed.

  5. Genital Stage (Adolescence and Adulthood)

    • Should develop normal functioning relationships, rooted in earlier healthy stages.

Defense Mechanisms in Personality

  • Definition: Ego defense mechanisms protect the ego unconsciously from threats.

  • Types of Defense Mechanisms:

    1. Repression: Master defense mechanism, pushing unacceptable impulses into the unconscious.

    • Example: A woman cannot recall being abused as a child.

    1. Rationalization: Replacing unacceptable motives with acceptable ones; Example: Justifying trying harder after not getting into a specific fraternity.

    2. Displacement: Shifting feelings about an unacceptable object to a more acceptable object; Example: Taking anger out on a spouse after conflict at work.

    3. Sublimation: Replacing unacceptable impulses with socially acceptable actions; Example: An artist painting nudes to express sexual urges.

    4. Projection: Attributing one’s own unacceptable motives or feelings to others; Example: Accusing a spouse of unfaithfulness when having extramarital urges.

    5. Reaction Formation: Transforming an unacceptable motive into its opposite; Example: A person develops a strong zeal for a religion to counteract fears about their urges.

    6. Denial: Refusal to accept anxiety-producing realities; Example: Someone refuses to acknowledge illness despite a diagnosis.

    7. Regression: Seeking the security of an earlier developmental period; Example: Return home to parents after marital stress.