Module 25 & 26

Theories of Personality

Personality

A person’s broad, long-lasting patterns of behavior

Psychoanalytic Theory

A theory that personality is based on impulses and needs in the unconscious (hidden forces)

Sigmund Freud

• Core of ones personality appears within the first five or six years of life and is more or less fixed by that age.

• Unconscious: according to psychoanalytic belief, the part of the mind that is beyond consciousness. Although we are unaware of its contents, they strongly affect our behavior

• Talking Cure: Talking to someone about a subject for a longtime.

• Free Association: Freudian process in which a person says everything that appears in his or her mind, even if the ideas or images seem unconnected.

• Repression: the process of pushing the needs and desires that cause guild into the unconscious.

• Limbido: Freudian term for internal forces that continuously seek discharge.

Freud’s Map of the Mind

Id:

• Freudian Psychological unit containing basic needs and drives– Major energy forces(limbido)– Unconscious– Unconcerned about anything but own desires– Without it we could not survive

• Sexual and aggressive impulses• Note eat when hungry• Defend ourselves if attacked

Superego:

• Freudian psychological unit roughly synonymous with the conscience– Feel guilt for bad and pride for good– Develops from punishments and rewards

we receive from parents– Needed but needs to be kept in check

because it only exists for what it wants and would lets us die rather than break a rule

Ego:

• Freudian psychological unit that is based in reality; the “self” that allows controlled it expressions within the boundaries set by the superego– Pays attention to reality and monitors what

is going on in the environment– Controller of balance

Freud’s Stages of Development

• Oral Stage: Birth to 1 1/2– Feeding and weaning are the child main issues

• Anal Stage: 1 1/2 to 2 1/2– Toilet training is the child’s major concern

• Phallic Stage: 2 1/2 to 5 or 6– Child experiences romantic interest in the opposite-sex parent

and hostility toward the same-sex parent (Oedipus Complex)

• Latency Stage: 6 to Preadolescence– Child’s earlier conflicts are hidden or go below the surface

• Genital Stage: Adolescence Onward– Individual seeks an appropriate marital partner and earlier

conflicts reappear

Carl Jung

• The unconscious is a well of mystical and religious beliefs that controls our behavior

• Archetypes: Jung’s term for inherited universal human concepts

• Collective Unconscious: Jung’s term for the portion of a person that contains ideas or archetypes shared by the whole human race

• Persona: Jung’s term for a “mask” people wear to hide what they really are or feel

Social Psychoanalytic Theories

Neo-Freudians: those psychoanalysts who broke away

for Freud to emphasize social forces in the unconscious

Assessment of Neo-Freudians

• Social forces not just biological drives

• Erikson’s theory is especially helpful in suggesting the possibility that we all have a chance to “repair” ourselves as we go along in life and are not stuck with something from childhood.

Behaviorism

A personality theory that focuses on overt acts or behaviors

Assessment of Behaviorism

• Skinner short changes the human’s ability to think

• We learn many behaviors just because they have been reinforced by positive consequences and associations

Humanistic Theories

A personality theory that emphasizes the positive potential

of the person

Carl Rogers(1902-1987)

• Believed we are all basically good not sinful• He said the biggest problem we have is living

up to what he called the ideal self.– Ideal Self: the goal of each person’s

development; the self each person would like to be

• When we have united what we should be with what we are we have become a fully functioning individual

Abraham Maslow(1908-1970)

• Self-actualized: state of having brought to life the full potential of our skills

Assessment of Humanism

• Humanism is very up beat; it make us feel good, positively encourages people to take charge of their own fate in a reasonable fashion.

• Critics argue it goes to far in a positive direction. Too vague and simple.

Trait Theories

Personality Traits: more or less permanent personality

characteristics

Gordon Allport1897-1967

• Cardinal traits: very strong personality characteristics that affect most of what a person does

• Central traits: personality traits that are highly characteristic of a person

• Secondary traits: weak personality traits that appear only on occasions

Raymond Cattell1905-1998

• Surface traits: characteristics that can be easily observed by others

• Source traits: personality traits that underlie surface behavior

Hans Eysenck1916-1997

• Extraversion: personality dimension of being outgoing and sociable

• Emotional Stability: Personality dimension that concerns how much a person is affected by feelings

Examining Personality Traits

Major Permanent Traits

• Set by early 20s

• The Five-Factor Model– Extraversion: how out going a person is– Agreeableness– Conscientiousness: will to achieve– Emotional Stability– Openness to experience

Characteristics that Stay the Same

• Degree of friendliness

• How eager people are to do different things

• How comfortable or anxious they feel

50% of the Total Personality is Controlled by Heredity