Unit X Personality How do different personalities develop

Unit X Personality How do different personalities develop?

Issues in Personality? ▪ How did you come to accept or reject the statements given? ▪ What kinds of evidence should be used to evaluate the truth or falsehood of the statements? ▪ Do your responses indicate a double standard of acceptable behavior for men and women? Mothers and fathers? Sons and daughters?

Personality ▪ An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting…explain what makes us unique – The two foremost theories on personality come from Freud's psychoanalytic theory and the humanistic approach by Rodgers and Maslow ▪ Sigmund Freud was the first to focus clinical attention on the unconscious mind – He tried to determine if neurological issues had a psychological cause – By observing patients with neurological issues he was able to “discover” the unconscious mind, where he believed most of our neurological issues began

What role does the unconscious play in personality development?

Exploring the Unconscious ▪ Parts of the mind – Conscious – Preconscious Below the level of immediate awareness, but can be recalled – Unconscious Contains repressed information that we are unaware of ▪ To explore the unconscious Freud turned to free association – Patients talk about whatever comes to mind – “How does that make you feel”…nothing is accidental ▪ Freud believed we often repressed information ▪ This theory of analysis was known as Psychoanalysis

Exploring the Unconscious ▪ Personality arises from a conflict between impulse and restraint, and it develops from the solution of this conflict ▪ Freud proposed three interacting systems – Id Devil ▪ Strives to satisfy basic needs, and operates on the pleasure principle seeking immediate gratification ▪ Freudian Slips – Ego You ▪ Seeks to gratify impulses realistically, and bring long-term pleasure – Superego Angel ▪ The voice of our moral principle-trying to achieve the ideal scenario ▪ Often is in conflict with the Id

Exploring the Unconscious ▪ Psychosexual stages- Freud believed that personality formed during the early years of life, where the id focused solely on pleasure seeking behavior – Oral – Anal – Phallic – Latency – Genital

How did Freud believe the psychosexual stages influenced us?

Exploring the Unconscious ▪ During the phallic and latency stages of unconscious sexual desires, Freud believed the Oedipus complex began to develop – A boys sexual desire for his mother/hatred for the rival father – This idea is eventually repressed and replaced with a child’s identification, or the mirroring of traits ▪ If any of these stages were not properly resolved a developing child could begin to fixate and over/under indulge ▪ Freud believed that the ego protected itself with Defense Mechanisms(see graph) these were tactics used to distort reality a curb anxiety

Evaluating Freud's Approach ▪ Today psychologists give Freud credit for drawing attention to the unconscious, and the sexual conflict between biology and environment ▪ Freud's concept of repression, and views of the unconscious have not been able to survive science – Freud most offered after-the-fact explanations with little to no scientific backing ▪ Ideas were controversial, have been mostly disproved/ignored but are crucial to understand as part of psychological history

Neo-Freudian Theorist ▪ Though controversial Freud's writing attracted a small following known as Neo-Freudians – Accepted his thoughts on personality structure/the importance of the unconscious – But placed more emphasis on the conscious mind and doubted sex and aggression were the only motivators ▪ Alfred Adler’s inferiority complex ▪ Karen Horney’s sense of helplessness Childhood anxiety is caused by a child’s sense of helplessness ▪ Jung’s collective unconscious A shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species history

Assessing Unconscious Processes ▪ Personality assessment tools are useful to study personality or provide therapy ▪ Projective Test Goals is a “psychological Xray” – Provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics – Rorschach Inkblot Test ▪ Most widely used test, a set of 10 inkblots seeks to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots – Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) ▪ A projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes

How did Freud change the understanding of personality development? Personality An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting…explain what makes us unique

The Modern Unconscious ▪ Freud was correct in thinking we only have access to some of our mind ▪ The modern unconscious mind – Our lives are often guided by and off-screen, out of sight unconscious information processing center ▪ Freud’s ideas as scientific theory – Fails to predict, often uses after the fact explanations – When we stand on Freud’s shoulders we are often looking in the wrong direction

Humanistic Theories Prior to 1960 psychology was divided into 2 camps, behaviorists and psychoanalyst, humanistic psychologist were like a breathe of fresh air.

Maslow’s Self-Actualizing Person ▪ Humanistic Theories focused on the ways people strive for self-determination/self-realization – Study people through their self reported experiences and feelings – Led by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers – Opposed Freud's view that the motives of people were “sick” ▪ Abraham Maslow proposed we are motivated by a hierarchy of needs – Self-actualization ▪ Arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met – Self-transcendence ▪ The meaning and purpose beyond one’s self

Carl Rogers ▪ Roger’s agreed with much of what Maslow said on the well-being of an individual – Believed in the good of people ▪ Carl Rogers developed the Person-Centered Therapy where the “growth promoting climate” had three requirements – Genuineness individuals are open with their feelings – Acceptance an attitude of total acceptance toward others ▪ Unconditional positive regard therapists must be empathetic and non-judgmental – Empathy the sharing and mirroring of others feelings

Assessing the Self ▪ To both Maslow and Roger’s a central feature of personality is Self-concept – All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, “Who am I? ” – If out self-concept is positive we have a far more positive outlook on the world ▪ Ideal versus actual self – When the ideal self and the actual self match is when someone's self concept is positive – Many humanist psychologist don’t like tests because it depersonalizes, prefer interviews and deep conversations

Evaluating Humanistic Theories ▪ Renewed interest in self-concept – Influenced pop psychology today – 9 out of 10 individuals rate self-esteem as very important for motivating themselves and others ▪ Criticisms – Vague, subjective, and often only Maslow and Roger’s values and ideas – Individualistic and Western biased ▪ What is more important you or the community?

Trait Perspective Psychoanalysis dives to deep where as behaviorism and humanism does not dive deep enough

Traits ▪ Instead of focusing on the unconscious or how we grow emotionally, some began to try and define personality in terms of a stable pattern of behavior ▪ Trait Theory- Gordon Allport – Worried less on explaining and more on describing traits – Came to define personality in terms of identifiable behavior patterns ▪ This approach is focused more on differences between individuals ▪ Must understand motivation before the subconscious ▪ Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) – An introspective self-report “test” – Goal indicating differing psychological preferences in how people perceive the world around them and make decisions

Exploring Traits ▪ By placing several different traits to individuals psychologists can describe countless different personality variations – Allport believed there were close to 18, 000 different traits ▪ Factor Analysis – A technique used to limit the overlap of traits, by finding major trends in large amounts of data – It was believed most traits fall under 2 -3 dimensions, Eysenck Personality Questionnaire ▪ Extroversion versus introversion ▪ Emotional stability versus instability

Personality Test ▪ Go to my website ▪ Helpful resources-AP Psychology ▪ Chapter 10 click on Trait Theory link ▪ Once you take the test write down your name, results and if you believe they were accurate along with why/why not

Assessing Traits ▪ Personality inventory – A questionnaire (often true-false or agree-disagree items) on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors – Used to assess selected personality traits ▪ The classic personality inventory is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) – Was originally used to determine mental disorders, often they would be the most honest – MMPI-2 567 questions in 60 -90 minutes often used in job screening

How has modern trait theory changed? • Trait Theory- Allport 18 K traits • Eysenck Personality Questionnaire- 2 traits • O. C. E. A. N. -5 traits

The Big Five Factors ▪ Todays trait research believed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire do not truly tell the whole story ▪ Created an expanded set of factors…the Big Five – Conscientiousness Thought vs Impulsivity – Agreeableness Considerate vs Selfishness – Neuroticism Emotional stability vs instability – Openness to experience Opened vs closed thinking – Extraversion Energy level

Questions on The Big Five ▪ How stable are the traits? – As you get older these traits relatively the same, and some even strengthen ▪ How heritable are the traits? – About 50% ▪ Do the traits predict our actual behavior? – Somewhat…shy introverts are more likely to prefer communicating by email than face to face

Evaluating the Trait Perspective ▪ Our traits are stable but are they enduring? Or does our behavior depend on environment? ▪ Person-situation controversy – Although our traits may be stable, the consistency of our behavior is different ▪ Are you different in class than your are in the hallway why? ▪ Group behavior is easier to predict than individual ▪ Individuals behavior in a given situation is extremely difficult to predict

Personality Test ▪ Go to my website ▪ Helpful resources-AP Psychology ▪ Chapter 10 click on the Big Five link ▪ Once you take the test write down your name, results and if you believe they were accurate along with why/why not

Social-Cognitive Perspective

Theories ▪ Social-cognitive perspective- Albert Bandura – Emphasizes the interaction of our traits with our situation, as nature and nurture work together ▪ Social-behavioral approach ▪ We learn most of our behavior through conditioning and or observation situation affects our behavior ▪ Bobo Doll Aggression Study ▪ Instead of focusing solely on how our environment controls us(behaviorists) focus on how we interact with our environment

Reciprocal Determinism ▪ Our personalities are shaped by the interacting of behavior, internal personal factor, and environment – If a student is a shy(int. factor), and enters a room full of students she does not know(env. ) the student may try to slip into the back of the class to avoid attention (behav) ▪ Ways individuals and the environment interact – Different people choose different environments – Our personalities shape how we interpret and react to events – The way we treat other affects the way they treat us

Social-Cognitive Effects ▪ Researchers tend to believe the proper way to predict behavior in a given situation is to observe that person in similar situations – Student-teaching/World War II spies ▪ Individualism vs Collectivism – Individualism promotes being independent from others, and defining yourself based on your personal traits and achievements – Collectivism promotes a connection with others, and defining themselves in terms of relationships with others and the success of the overall group/team

Exploring the Self ▪ Self the center of personality – One example of thinking about self is the concept of possible selves ▪ They self you hope to become ▪ They self you fear to become ▪ They self you think you are with your friends/at school ▪ They self you think you are with your family ▪ The Spotlight effect is an example of how self-focus can let us down – Overestimating other’s noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunders

Exploring the Self ▪ How we feel about ourselves(self-esteem) is important – Many believe that self-esteem is an indication of reality ▪ Self-serving bias(Rate your performance) – People accept responsibility for good deeds not for bad – “All of us have inferiority complexes, those who seem not to have one are only pretending” ▪ In the past 20 years narcissism has been on the rise, associated with “Generation Me” – Tolerant, confident, open-minded, and ambitious but also disengaged, narcissistic, distrustful, and anxious

Review