Psych 257: Personality

Transcription

1 Psych 257: Personality Dr. Kimberley Clow Outline A Brief Look at the Course Outline Textbook Evaluation Lecture Schedule Personality Psychology What is Personality? Some Interesting Historical Approaches Major Themes Please Read Your Outline! Antirequisites Psychology 150, 251E, 254G, 255a/b Textbook Hergenhahn, Olson, & Cramer. (2003). An Introduction to Theories of Personality: Canadian Edition. Evaluation 2 Exams Christmas & Final Exams Not Cumulative 40% each 1 Essay Review a Personality Theory & Create a Measure 20%

2 Date Topic Chapter September 4 Introduction 1 September 11 Research Methods N/A September 18 Research Methods N/A September 25 Psychoanalytic Approach 2 October 2 Neo-Psychoanalytic Approach 3, 4, 5, 6 October 9 Neo-Psychoanalytic Approach 3, 4, 5, 6 October 16 Neo-Psychoanalytic Approach 3, 4, 5, 6 October 23 Neo-Psychoanalytic Approach 3, 4, 5, 6 October 30 Neo-Psychoanalytic Approach 3, 4, 5, 6 November 6 Dispositional Theories 7, 8 November 13 Dispositional Theories 7, 8 November 20 Trait Approach N/A November 27 Trait Approach N/A December 5-17 Midterm Exam January 8 Behaviour & Learning Theories 9, 10, 11 January 15 Behaviour & Learning Theories 9, 10, 11 January 22 Behaviour & Learning Theories 9, 10, 11 January 29 Biology, Genetics, & Evolution 12 February 5 Biology, Genetics, & Evolution 12 February 12 Cognitive Theories 13 February 19 Cognitive Theories 13 February 26 No Class Reading Week N/A March 4 Humanism 14, 15 March 11 Humanism 14, 15 March 18 Existentialism 16 March 25 Non-Western Approaches N/A April 1 Gender & Age Differences N/A April 8 Essay Due -- Personality Disorders N/A April Final Exam Who Are You? I am Who Are You? I am My answers are... short a teacher a daydreamer weird talkative Identity consists of Physical Characteristics Social Categories/Roles Personality

3 Personality Psychology Attempts to investigate these types of questions Why are we different from each other? Where do these differences come from? How can we best measure and organize these differences? How does our environments influence who we are? How would I be different if I had grown up in a different culture? How would I be different if I had grown up with a different gender, race, or social class? What is Personality? Origin Persona = Mask Typical uses He has a good personality social skills She has a lot of personality social impact He has a neurotic personality strongest quality Theorists Defining Personality Sigmund Freud Personality is largely unconscious, hidden, and unknown Freud Rogers Carl Rogers Personality is an organized, consistent pattern of perception of the I or me that lies a the heart of an individual s experiences

4 Allport Gordon Allport Personality is something real within an individual that leads to characteristic behaviour and thought Skinner B.F. Skinner Personality is an unnecessary construct An Example Jane and Alex both receive a D on their first exam Jane seems distressed and upset she talks to the instructor about the grade sweats as she talks her hands shake she whispers an apology she is at the edge of tears she spends the rest of the day alone Alex rushes out of the classroom starts joking about the course and the instructor he continues to do his normal activities for the day lunch with his friends soccer practice doesn t think about the class or the grade much later he decides to drop the class

5 Dynamic means active Not static and unchanging Organization means it is systematic Not random Not simply an accumulation of characteristics Psycho-physiological means that we are dealing with both mental and physiological phenomena

6 Determine indicates that personality is a causal force It influences what we do Characteristic suggests that personality is unique and typical It is particular to you It s not irregular or unusual Pattern means that it is a consistent style Not individual events in isolation

7 Personality stems from our behaviour, It s multidimensional Some Interesting Historical Approaches to Personality The Four Humours Humour Blood Phlegm Yellow bile Black bile Temperament Sanguine Phlegmatic Choleric Melancholic Phrenology Bumps in the skull indicate overdeveloped brain regions Can understand someone s personality from these bumps Localized brain regions for behaviour & personality

8 Eugenics Sir Francis Galton The study of improving the human race by controlled selective breeding Assumes that personality characteristics are heritable Intelligence Somatotypes Endomorphs Endomorphs Tolerant & Relaxed Sociable Need for Affection Mesomorphs Mesomorphs Assertive & Dominant Adventurous Competitive Ectomorphs Ectomorphs Self-conscious & Anxious Artistic Introverted & Intense Tarot Cards Temperment Sorter...Courage, Security, Heart, and Brains: the four wishes of the Wizard of Oz characters reflect the nature of the four temperaments -- the four very different patterns of personality that have been described in mankind over and over again, for more than two thousand years.

9 Major Themes Nature vs. Nurture Nativism vs. Empiricism Stability vs. Change Personality vs. Self Conscious vs. Unconscious Free Will vs. Determinism Uniqueness vs. Commonality Idiographic vs. Nomothetic Research Internal vs. External Control