Chapter 11
PersonalityPersonality
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Defining Personality and Traits.
• Personality– Distinctive and relatively stable pattern of
behaviors, thoughts, motives, and emotions that characterizes an individual
– Trait, Temperament– Person-situation controversy
Psychodynamic Theories
• Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
• Carl Jung: Extending the Unconscious
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
(Drives and instincts)
ErosEros
Thanatos
Sexual, life-giving, and creative drive
(energy = libido)
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Drives and instincts
Eros
ThanatosThanatos
Aggressive and destructive drive
(“death” instinct)
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Freudian slip – “Accidental” speech or behavior that reveals an unconscious desire
Psychic determinism – Freud’s assumption that all mental and behavioral reactions are caused by earlier life experiences
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Early childhood experiences
• Oedipus complex• Penis envy• Fixation (stage of development)
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Personality structure
IdId
Superego
Ego
Primitive, unconscious (basic drives and repressed memories)
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Personality structure
Id
SuperegoSuperego
Ego
(values, moral attitudes learned from parents and society)
-conscience
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Personality structure
Id
Superego
EgoEgo
Conscious, rational part of personality, keeps peace between superego and id
Defense Mechanisms
• Repression• Projection• Displacement• Sublimation• Regression• Denial
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Projective tests –
Personality assessment instruments
• Rorschach inkblot technique• Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
The Rorschach Inkblot Test
Thematic Apperception Test
Collective unconscious – Involves a reservoir for instinctive “memories” (the archetypes)
Personal unconscious – Portion of the unconscious corresponding roughly to Freud’s id
Carl Jung: Extending the Unconscious
Carl Jung: Extending the Unconscious
Principle of opposites –
Portrays each personality as a balance between opposing pairs of unconscious tendencies, such as introversion and extroversion
• Three scientific failings.– Violating the principle of falsifiability.– Drawing universal principles from the
experiences of a few atypical patients.– Basing theories of personality development
on retrospective accounts and the fallible memories of patients.
Evaluating Psychodynamic Theories
Humanistic Theories
• Abraham Maslow and the Healthy Personality
• Rollo May: existentialism-dangers of free will
• Carl Roger’s
Phenomenal field – Our psychological reality, composed of perceptions
Carl Rogers’s Fully Functioning Person
Unconditional positive regard –
Love or caring without conditions attached
Incongruence- a sense of being out of touch with your feelings
(neuroticism)
Evaluating Humanistic Theories
Positive psychology –
Focus on the desirable aspects of human functioning
(Psychodynamic = Abnormal functioning)
Personality as a Composite of Traits
Traits –
Stable personality characteristics
-individual difference
-measurement
-little role for ‘theory’
Patterns in Personality
The “Big Five” traits
– Extraversion
– Agreeableness
– Neuroticism
– Openness to experience
– Conscientiousness
Assessing Traits
• NEO-PI (Big Five Inventory)
• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2)
Objective Personality Scales
• Answer a series of question about self– ‘I am easily embarrassed’ T or F – ‘I like to go to parties’ T or F
• Assumes that you can accurately report
• There are no right or wrong answers
• From responses, develop a picture of you called a ‘personality profile’
Social Learning and Personality
Reciprocal determinism Process in which the person, behavior and environment mutually influence each other
Personality Assessment
1. Personal Interview: structured vs. open
2. Observation: interpretation, real-world
3. Objective tests: atheoretical, measurement, objective(?)
4. Projective tests: Inkblot, T.A.T.
