Lecture Overview Trait Theories PsychoanalyticPsychodynamic Theories Humanistic Theories

Lecture Overview • • • Trait Theories Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic Theories Humanistic Theories Social-Cognitive Theories Biological Theories Personality Assessment ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Key Definition • Personality: unique & relatively stable pattern of thoughts, feelings, & actions ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Trait Theories • Trait: relatively stable personal characteristic used to describe someone • Key Figures: – Early Trait Theorists: Allport, Cattell, Eysenck – Modern Trait Theorists: Mc. Crae & Costa-Five-Factor Model (FFM) ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Five Factor Model • • • Openness Conscientiousness Extroversion Agreeableness Neuroticism OCEAN ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Pause & Reflect: Psychology at Work Measuring Personality Traits Goes both ways! Conscientiousness can reflect a hard-working person or someone with OCD. ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Evaluating Trait Theories • Pro: – Five-factor model (FFM) helps describe & organize personality characteristics using the fewest number of traits. – Evolutionary, cross-cultural, & cross-species studies support five-factor model (FFM). • Con: • Dan Mc. Adams: “The Psychology of a Stranger” – Lacks explanation – Ignores situational effects; doesn’t predict behavior ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic Theories • Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic Theories: examine how unconscious mental forces interplay with thoughts, feelings, & actions. Accounts for inner conflict • Early Key Figures: – Founding Father--Freud – Neo-Freudians--Adler, Jung, Horney ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic Theories: Levels of Consciousness • Conscious: thoughts or motives person is currently aware of or remembering • Preconscious: thoughts, motives, or memories that can be voluntarily brought to mind • Unconscious: thoughts, motives, or memories blocked from normal awareness ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic Theories: Personality Structures • Id: instinctual energy (pleasure principle) • Ego: rational part of psyche (reality principle) • Superego: the conscience (morality principle) ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic Theories: Defense Mechanisms • Defense mechanisms: ego’s protective method of reducing anxiety by distorting reality EGO ID ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010 SUPER EGO

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Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic Theories: Psychosexual Stages of Development • Psychosexual Stages: Freudian idea of five developmental periods key to personality development – Oral Stage: birth-18 months – Anal Stage: 18 months-3 yrs – Phallic Stage: 3 -6 yrs – Latency Stage: 6 yrs-puberty – Genital Stage: puberty-adulthood ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

• Freud believed all children pass through five psychosexual stages. At each stage the id’s pleasure seeking energies focus on specific pleasure areas of the body (erogenous zones). ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic Theories: Neo-Freudian Theorists • Adler: suggested that most people experience an inferiority complex, which later results in a “will-topower” that can be either positive or negative ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic Theories: Neo-Freudian Theorists • Jung: proposed an inherited collective unconscious consisting of archetypes ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic Theories: Neo-Freudian Theorists • Horney: believed some adults experience basic anxiety due to childhood feelings of helplessness and isolation ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Evaluation? • Pro: • Con: – Emphasis on unconscious, – Difficult to test intra-psychic conflicts – Overemphasizes drive reduction & unconscious – Modern psychodynamic theories have moved away forces from psychosexual analysis – Inadequate evidence for theory and focus on relationships – Sexism “Object Relations” ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Personality Development: Erikson’s Eight Psychosocial Stages • Erikson identified 8 psychosocial stages of development—each marked by a “psychosocial” crisis or conflict related to a specific developmental task. ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Humanists • Emphasis: – Personality develops from internal experiences (feelings & thoughts) & individual feelings of basic worth. – People are innately good (or, at worst, neutral) with a positive drive toward self-fulfillment. • Key Figures: Rogers & Maslow ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Humanistic Theories: • Key component of personality = the self, what a person defines as “I” or “me” • Mental health is related to the degree of congruence between the self-concept & life experiences. ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010 cepts

Humanistic Theories: Rogers’s Key Terms (Continued) • Unconditional Positive Regard: love & acceptance with no contingencies attached ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Humanistic Theories: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs • Hierarchy of Needs: Maslow’s proposal that basic physical necessities must be satisfied before higher-growth needs • Self-Actualization: Maslow’s term for the inborn drive to develop all one’s talents & capabilities ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Evaluating Humanistic Theories • Pro: – Many concepts incorporated into successful therapy • Con: – Naive assumptions – Poor testability & inadequate evidence – Narrowness ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Social-Cognitive Theories • Social Cognitive Theories Personality reflects: – individual’s interactions environment – how people think about world & interpret to them – Key Figures: Rotter ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010 with the what happens Bandura &

Social-Cognitive Theories: Bandura’s Key Terms • Self-Efficacy: person’s learned expectation of success • Reciprocal Determinism: cognitions, behaviors, & the environment interact to produce personality ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Social-Cognitive Theories: Rotter’s Key Terms • Cognitive Expectancies: what people expect to happen • Reinforcement Value: degree to which people prefer one reinforcer over another • Locus of Control: what people consider the source of life’s rewards & punishments (internal or external locus of control) ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Evaluating Social-Cognitive Theories • Pro: • Con: – Emphasizes how – Narrow focus environment affects – Ignores & is affected by unconscious & individuals emotional aspects – Easy to measure in of personality psychology experiments ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Biology • Three major biological contributors to personality: • Brain Structures • Neurochemistry • Genetic Factors ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Integrating the Perspectives • Biopsychosocial model suggests multiple theories provide different insights & contribute different proportions to personality. ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Personality Assessment • • • Four methods to measure personality: Interviews Observations Objective Tests (MMPI) Projective Tests (Rorschach, TAT) ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010

Two Key Criteria for Test Assessment • Reliability: Measure of the consistency & reproducibility of a test’s scores when test is given again • Validity: Ability of a test to measure what it was designed measure ©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010