Personality Theory - Yorktown



Personality Theory

Personality: a person’s enduring, characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving.

The questions are:

Is it changeable? or

Are you born with it?

In the beginning, there was

Sigmund Freud who followed on the heels of Darwin.

Freud believed behavior was rooted in the desires for sex and need for aggression. These desires are hidden in people’s unconsciousness.

Psychoanalysis

Freud develop the system of talk therapy, or psychoanalysis, designed to uncover what is hidden in the unconsciousness.

Freud used

hypnotism,

dream interpretation and

free association to plumb the depths of unconsciousness.

The Freudian Mind

The Id: the bubbling cauldron of sexual desires and aggressive impulses. The id acts on the pleasure principle. Have fun, make babies, take the other guy’s stuff.

The Superego: this is the part of the mind which is socialized to be good. It is the superego that makes us feel guilty and anxious when we act upon the Id’s wishes.

The Freudian Mind

The Ego: The executive of the mind. Its job is to mediate the id and superego. Figures out how to mediate the id’s desires in socially acceptable, conscious ways.

Anxiety is caused when this system is malfunctioning, those thoughts are then repressed

The Freudian Mind

Personality is pretty much set in the first years of life according to Freud as we resolve conflicts in certain psychosexual stages of development. If we do not resolve the conflicts involved in any of the stages we are said to be fixated, causing personality problems.

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Issues in Personality

1. Events that occurred during childhood have no effect on one’s personality in adulthood.

2. Sexual adjustment is easy for most people.

3. Culture and society have evolved as ways to curb human beings’ natural aggressiveness.

4. Little boys should not become too attached to their mothers.

5. It is possible to deliberately “forget” something too painful to remember.

6. People who chronically smoke, eat, or chew gum have some deep psychological problems.

7. Competitive people are no more aggressive than noncompetitive people.

8. Fathers should remain somewhat aloof to their daughters.

9. Toilet training is natural and not traumatic for most children.

10. The phallus is a symbol of power.

11. A man who dates a woman old enough to be his mother has problems.

12. There are some women who are best described as being “castrating bitches.”

13. Dreams merely replay events that occurred during the day and have no deep meaning.

14. There is something wrong with a woman who dates a man who is old enough to be her father.

15. A student who wants to postpone an exam by saying “My grandmother lied . . . er, I mean died,” should

probably be allowed the postponement.

Psychosexual Stages

The oral stage: 0-18 months. This has to do with breast feeding and weaning. If we don’t resolve here, we may become too independent or too dependent. We may become smokers or pencil chewers. We also may disguise our need for dependence by acting super macho.

Psychosexual Stages

The Anal stage: This stage has to do with “potty training.” Unresolved conflicts may create anal expulsiveness or anal retention. The former would be messy and disorganized and the latter obsessive neat and tidy.

Psychosexual Stages

The Phallic stage, 3-6 years old: Here we become obsessed with penis and genitalia. Girls may form penis envy. The Oedipus and Electra complex also occurs, where the child falls in love with their opposite sex parent and secretly resents the same sex one. When resolved the child learns it gender type , what it means to be a man or woman, by imitating the competition. Called Identification

Psychosexual Stages

From 6 to puberty: Latency. Sexuality takes a break.

Genital stage: from puberty on when mature sexual desires are at play.

Freudian Slips

When we make mistakes of language or unconscious mistake are our real thoughts. Experiment with scantily clad interviewer, vs. normally dress one.

Without a telescope I can barely blank the stars.

You tighten the lid you to really………

Defense Mechanisms

Freud believed that if the ego is threatened by the id and conflicts with the superego, that sometimes it will use defense mechanisms to reduce anxiety.

Defense Mechanisms

Repression: the mother of all defense mechanisms. Bury thoughts and desires that create anxiety. All others are rooted with repression.

Regression: to act babyish, to regress to a younger level: like when you fight with your parents.

Reaction Formation: We we believe we feel the opposite of what we do. We might get angry or hate people we unconsciously love.

Projection: when you project your feeling about yourself onto others and then react to them If you think you are selfish, then you see others as being selfish. That teacher hates me. (really you hate him/her)

Displacement: redirect feelings about one target toward another.

Sublimation: redirect our hostile/sexual feelings into more socially acceptable activities.

Defense Mechanisms

Rationalization: offers a slef-justifying explanation in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one’s actions.

Denial:Completely rejecting thoughts and feelings from obvious situations. Alcoholics often deny their problem drinking that is obvious to everyone else.

Key to Defense Mechanisms

1. E 10. A 19. D 28. F

2. A 11. C 20. B 29. C

3. C 12. E 21. E 30. B

4. G 13. G 22. A 31. D

5. F 14. D 23. F 32. G

6. D 15. B 24. G 33. B

7. E 16. F 25. D 34. E

8. F 17. A 26. C 35. A

9. B 18 C 27. G

Freud’s Descendants

Karl Jung: a early follower who fell out with Freud. He believed in a collective unconsciousness, a universal set of knowledge inherited from our primal past, expressed in myths and by archetypes that are universally understood: the wise old man, the earth mother, the young warrior, etc. We try to emulate those archetypes and fall short creating anxiety.

Jung

The Shadow: Jung believed we were 360 degree people, who bury socially unacceptable impulses in our shadow. If we don’t recognize and gain energy from our shadows, the shadow may emerge unconsciously and destroy us. Ask Bill Clinton. You know those thoughts you thought nobody knew you thought, we all have them.

Jung

Persona: According to Jung, we all have masks we put on to show the world. Those personas vary depending upon circumstances. Do you act the same way with friends as grandman?

Other Neo-Freudians

Alfred Adler: agreed with much of Freud’s philosophy, but thought the need for esteem and competence was as important as sex and aggression. Coined the idea of the inferiority complex.

Karen Horney: who thought it was love and belongingness we sought. Thought penis envy was untrue.

Projective Tests: Interpretive

Design to search the unconscious mind.

TAT (Thematic apperception test): vague pictures are shown and the subject creates stories.

Rorschach Test: Ink Blots are shown and the subjects tells what they say to them. Can now be used as a diagnostic test and is scored by computer programs.

Effectiveness of test has some debate.

What’s happening here?

This is a black and white card, often described as looking like a mask or the face of a fox or wolf.

Possible Sexual Imagery: Breasts, primarily the rounded areas at the top of the image.

This is a card with black and red ink, often described as people dancing or touching hands with each other.

Possible Sexual Imagery: Male sex organ at top center or, in some cases, a vagina (at the center near the bottom).

This is a card with black and red ink, frequently visualized as two people facing each other or sometimes a butterfly or moth.

Possible Sexual Imagery: Male sex organs and female breasts, right about where you would expect to find them.

A card with only black ink. This card has a rough "V" shape sometimes described as faces pointing towards one another, "bunny ears", or similar visualizations.

Possible Sexual Imagery: The female sex organs (seen at the bottom of the card where the figures join.

A card with black ink showing an amorphorous "splat" shape. This one can be hard to see anything in. Occasionally described as a foreshortened view of a person with their arms outstretched.

Possible Sexual Imagery: The head of the male sex organ (the portion at the top of the card) or alternately, a female sex organ (middle and bottom part of the card).

Assessment of Freud

Most of Freud’s ideas are not testable or observable.

Repression is generally in doubt, people usually remember traumatic events. There may be hippocampus damage for children with long-term abuse, affecting memory.

We certainly do process information unconsciously. But is the hypothalamus sending messages the same as Freud’s unconsciousness?

Trait’s Perspective

Describes personality in terms of enduring fundamental traits: characteristic behaviors and conscious motives for behaviors.

Looks for behaviors that are associated with basic traits, like extroversion/introversion.

More concerned with describing personality that looking for a cause.

Type A vs. Type B Personality: hard driving v. Easy going. Externally motivated v. internally motivated. Type C: anal and anxious, Type D: eyore and moody.

Myers-Briggs: Jungian Archetypes.

Sensing v. Intuition

Judging v. percieving

thinking v. feeling

Introvert/extrovert.

The Big Five: most accepted personality traits

These traits are recognized cross-culturally and even in Chimps.

The Big Five: Personality traits

Emotional Stability:

calm--------anxious

Secure-----insecure

Self-satisfied-------self pitying

Extraversion

Soicable-------retiring

Fun-loving--------sober

Affectionate---------reserved

Openness

Imaginative--------------practical

Preference for variety---------------Prefer sameness

Independent--------------------conforming

Agreeableness

Soft-hearted-------------ruthless

Trusting-----------------Suspicious

Helpful-----------------------uncooperative

Conscientiousness

Organized-----------disorganized

Careful---------------Careless

Disciplined-----------------impulsive

Myers-Briggs Type Indicators

E: Extrovert vs I: Introvert

S: sensing vs N: iNtuitive

F: Feeling vs T: Thinking

J: Judging vs. P: perceiving

Meyers briggs shorthands

NT: relates to the world of ideas. Thinkers, philosophers, arguers, system creators.

NF: relates to the world of people. Makes people feel good. Process through their feelings,

SJ: relates to organizations and structures. Dislikes change, likes organization and order. Likes clear lines.

SP: Relates to the outside world of doing. Likes to relate to their environment. Taking things apart, building, rolling around in the mud, breaking things.

Inventories

Traits are generally uncovered by using inventories that ask people to self-report preferences.

Factor analysis is then use to analyze clusters of responses that are associated with the basic personality types.

Traits are more consistent the older you get.

Expressiveness as a consistent trait.

Expressiveness is a trait that is consistent. In fact expressive people trying to fake non-expressiveness are more demonstrative than non-expressive people faking expressiveness.

Optimism.

The trait of optimism is associated with feelings of happiness and well-being.

Pessimists are worse students than optimists.

Optimists are healthier, not stressing their immune systems as much.

Optimism.

However, overconfidence can blind us to real danger, and not give us enough eustress (good stress), so that we become complacent.

The moral: enough optimism to believe there is always hope, enough anxiety to realize that if we don’t try, failure is possible.

MMPI

Minnesota Multiphasic Inventory: one of the most researched traits inventories. Designed to find clusters of traits associated with abnormal personalities. Through factor analysis.

Empirically derived: measures levels of traits and correlates them with psychopathologies.

Problems with Traits Theory

Rely on self-reports and people will often guide their responses to the way they’d like to be. Self-serving bias: people see themselves and remember themselves as being better/different than they are/were.

People aren’t consistent in behavior, in respect to traits, in different situation. Think of yourself at dinner with your grandparents and with your friends.

Evaluating Traits

Best predictor of one’s behavior is the behavior in similar circumstances in the past: not a trait that is derived from inventory.

Humanism

Maslow: Self Actualization is goal.

Good self-esteem in nurtured through genuineness acceptance and empathy: unconditional positive regard. With this people will gravitate to self-actualization.

Personality is driven by self-concept.

Humanism

The major goal according to humanists was self-actualization which requires a basis of self-esteem.

The closer your ideal self is to your real self the higher your self esteem will be.

With humanists, individuality and free will determine your ideal self and self-concept.

Traits of those with High Self esteem

Fewer sleepless nights.

Conform less

Less likely to use drugs

persistent at difficult tasks

report being happier

Humanism

Low self-esteem brings unhappiness and depression. So the further apart your ideal self and real self, the unhappier you will be.

In experiments where subjects are made to feel unhappy, they were more likely to disparage other people and express higher degrees of racial prejudice and stereotyping. Suffer more anxiety/depression.

Culture and Self-esteem: What if told by society you are less.

Minorities have no greater incidences of low self-esteem, despite prejudice and stereotyping from general culture.

They value the things at which they excel.

They attribute problems to prejudice.

They compare themselves to others in their group-relative deprivation theory.

Evaluating Humanistic Perspective

Self concept is key to happiness.

People are innately good and capable of self-improvement.

In 1930s only 9% agreed with those concepts, while in 1989 85% did, indicating the strength of humanists effect on American culture.

Emphasis meshes well with American cultural values of independence and self-reliance.

Evaluating Humanistic Perspective

However, Humanism is criticized from being vague and subjective.

Ideals may promote selfishness, self-indulgence and lack of restraint.

Fails to appreciate humans capacity for evil.

Self-Serving Bias

One problem with traits inventories and self-reports of esteem is the pervasiveness of self-serving bias: the tendency for people to belief good things about themselves and to blame external events or others for bad thins.

Self-Serving Bias

People accept more responsibility for good deeds than for bad. “The devil made me do it.”

Most people rate themselves as better than average.

Our memories tend to build ourselves up. “The older I get, the better I was.”

We overestimate our behaviors in hypothetical situations.

Self-Serving Bias

We readily believe positive descriptions of ourselves: horoscopes, Meyers-Briggs types. Barnum effect.

Underlies “other blaming” in marital discord and ethnic snobbery.

However, self-affirming is generally adaptive keeping our self-esteem up, optimism and happiness.

Where would you rather be?

At a sporting event with friends, or participating in one?

At home reading a book, watching t.v., surfing the net?

At the mall with friends hanging out or shopping.

Sitting in Wheeler’s class learning.

Social Cognitive Approach

That personality is formed by a combination of learned experiences (operantly,classically, socially), mixed with thought processes (cognition).

Focuses on how we respond to different stimuli in our environment.

Reciprocal determinism

“Behavior, internal personal factors and environmental influences all operate as interlocking determents of each other”-Bandura

Past learned behaviors, influence new choices of environment which determines future behavior. Personality dispositions lead us to the choices of environment.

Reciprocal determinism

Different people choose different environments: what classes you take, what outside of school activities you are attracted to, what social events you attend are cognitive choices, influenced by personality characteristics. Your success/failures in these determine future choices of environment, which in turn interact and influence traits that you express.

Reciprocal determinism

In addition your personality influences the environment. If you act aggressive or passive, interested/disinterested, happy/moody all influence how others respond to you. Final behavior emerges from the interplay of your expressed personality traits, your choice of environment (cognition), and learning (previous experiences, reinforced or not)

Reciprocal Determinism

More Socio-cognitive explanation of personality

Indicate the extent to which each of the following statements applies to you. Use the following scale:

1 = disagree strongly

2 = disagree

3 = disagree slightly

4 = neither agree nor disagree

5 = agree slightly

6 = agree

7 = agree strongly

1. When I get what I want, it’s usually because I worked hard for it.

2. When I make plans, I am almost certain to make them work.

3. I prefer games involving some luck over games requiring pure skill.

4. I can learn almost anything if I set my mind to it.

5. My major accomplishments are entirely due to my hard work and ability.

6. I usually don’t set goals because I have a hard time following through on them.

7. Competition discourages excellence.

8. Often people get ahead just by being lucky.

9. On any sort of exam or competition, I like to know how well I do relative to everyone else.

10. It’s pointless to keep working on something that’s too difficult for me.

Personal Control

Our sense of personal control is a great influence on our personality and behavior.

Internal locus of control: we feel we can determine/influence our environment and mood.

External locus of control: we are reactive and have little to say about which way our lives go.

Personal Control

Internals achieve more in school, feel less depressed, act more independently, .

Learned helplessness: extreme feel of external locus of control results in giving up, allowing the world to beat us down, depression.

People thrive when given control: people in democracy, even poor ones, are happier than in totalitarian countries.

External locus and learned helplessness

Terror Management Theory

Humans are innately terrified of death.

Death anxiety motivates hatred of others and esteem for our own group.

In a threatening world: cling to love ones, embrace a world view that explains life meaning (religion)

Modern Unconsciousness

Processing at unconscious levels

Targets you can’t see but know where they are.

Schemas that control our reactions and interpretations

Parallel processing

Emotions that occur before cognition.

Implicit memories.

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