PSYC 221 Introduction to General Psychology

Transcription

1 PSYC 221 Introduction to General Psychology Session 8 Psychology of Personality Lecturer: Dr. Joana Salifu Yendork, Psychology Department Contact Information: jyendork@ug.edu.gh College of Education School of Continuing and Distance Education 2014/ /2017

2 Session Overview Although you, your parents and sibling share genetic materials, you can identify some distinct features that make each of you different from each other. Psychology of personality is the field of psychology that specializes in understanding individual s enduring characteristics, pattern of thinking, feeling and acting. Our personality makes us unique and differentiates us from others. In this session, we will focus on theories that explain personality, how personality is assessed and the types of personality assessment measures. Slide 2

3 Session Outline The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows: General overview Psychodynamic/psychoanalitic theories Humanistic perspective Trait perspective Social-cognitive perspective Exploring the self Slide 3

4 Reading List Chapter 10 of Feldman (2007), Essentials of understanding psychology; Chapter 12 of Myers (2008), Exploring psychology; Chapter 16 of Akotia and Mate-Kole (2014), Contemporary psychology. Slide 4

5 Topic One GENERAL OVERVIEW Slide 5

6 General overview Personality: the distinctive pattern of behavior, mannerisms, thoughts, and emotions that characterizes an individual over time and across situations Several theories/models exist for explaining how personality develops, how individuals differ and commonalities in individuls personality Freudian/Psychodynamic views of the Unconscious parts of the self Humanistic view of the Self-Actualizing Person Examining Traits, including the Big Five Factors/Dimensions Social and Cognitive Influences on Personality Self-Esteem and Self-Serving Bias Slide 6

7 Topic Two PSYCHODYNAMIC/PSYCHOANALITIC THEORIES Slide 7

8 Psychodynamic/psychoanalitic theories The psychodynamic theories human personality focus on the inner forces that interact to make us who we are. To help and understand people, these theories focus on bringing out unconscious thoughts, feelings, conflicts, including those rooted in childhood. In this view: behavior, as well as human emotions and personality, develop in a dynamic (interacting, changing) interplay between conscious and unconscious processes, including various motives and inner conflicts. Sigmund Freud ( ) propounded the theory Slide 8

9 Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud ( ) started his career as a Vienna physician. He decided to explore how mental and physical symptoms could be caused by purely psychological factors. He saw patients with unusual symptoms, such as recurring blindness or paralysis only of the hand, that did not seem to have physical causes. He became aware that many powerful mental processes operate in the unconscious, without our awareness. Furthermore, he sought to understand how the different parts of the human personality interacted, including the hidden, unconscious parts. This insight grew into a theory of the structure of human personality and its development. Freud labeled his theory and therapeutic technique as psychoanalysis. Slide 9

10 Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis Freud developed techniques for revealing the unconscious mind Initially, Freud thought hypnosis might unlock the door to the unconscious, but patients displayed an uneven capacity for hypnosis He used free association by encouraging his patients to speak whatever comes to mind, then the therapist verbally traces a flow of thoughts into the past and into the unconscious. Freud viewed jokes as expressions of repressed sexual and aggressive tendencies, and dreams as the royal road to the unconscious. He also suggested meanings for slips of the tongue and for the latent content of dreams. Slide 10

11 Freud s structure of the mind According to Freud, the mind is mostly below the surface of conscious awareness The unconscious is a reservoir of thoughts, wishes, feelings, memories, that are hidden from awareness because they feel unacceptable. Freud s idea of the mind s structure Slide 11

12 Personality structure Personality develops from the efforts of our ego (our rational self) to resolve tension between our id (based in biological drives) and the superego (society s rules and constraints). id contains a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives. The id operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification. Present at birth ego the largely conscious, executive part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality. The ego operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id s desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain. Develops in toddlerhood. superego the part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals from parents and society and provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations. The superego operates on the morality principle and develops around 4 or 5 years Slide 12

13 Personality development Freud believed that personality forms during the first few years of life and that personality develops through a series of psychosexual stages At each stage, the id s pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct pleasure-sensitive areas of the body called erogenous zones People feel shame about these needs and can get fixated at one stage, never resolve how to manage the needs of that zone s needs. Slide 13

14 Psychosexual stages of personality Slide 14

15 Developmental issues Freud believed that as boys in the phallic stage seek genital stimulation, they begin to develop unconscious sexual desires for their mothers and hate their fathers as a rival, feeling guilt and fearing punishment by castration. He named these feelings the Oedipus complex, after a story from Greek mythology Some psychoanalysts in Freud s era believed that girls experienced a parallel Electra complex. Children eventually cope with the conflict through repression and identification with the rival parent Identification with same-sex parent and early childhood relations with parents, caregiver help in identity formation (the individual s sense of being a male or female) Slide 15

16 Defending Against Anxiety Freud believed that individuals get anxious about their unacceptable wishes and impulses, and repress this anxiety with the help of the strategies below.

17 Neo-Freudian and Psychodynamic Theorists Carl Jung Alfred Adler Highlighted universal themes in the unconscious as a source of creativity and insight. Found opportunities for personal growth by finding meaning in moments of coincidence. Focused on the fight against feelings of inferiority as a theme at the core of personality, although he may have been projecting from his own experience. Karen Horney Criticized the Freudian portrayal of women as weak and subordinate to men. She highlighted the need to feel secure in relationships.

18 Neo-Freudian and Psychodynamic Theorists Psychodynamic theorists, such as Adler, Horney, and Jung, accepted Freud s ideas about: The importance of the unconscious and childhood relationships in shaping personality The id/ego/superego structure of personality The role of defense mechanisms in reducing anxiety about uncomfortable ideas Psychodynamic theorists differed from Freud in a few ways: Adler and Horney believed that anxiety and personality are a function of social, not sexual tensions in childhood Jung believed that we have a collective unconscious, containing images from our species experiences, not just personal repressed memories and wishes

19 Assessing the unconscious processes Freud used free association and dream analysis to get the unconscious theme to be projected into the conscious world Projective tests are a structured, systematic exposure to a standardized set of ambiguous prompts, designed to reveal inner dynamics. Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) presents individuals with ambiguous pictures and require them to make up stories about the ambiguous pictures Slide 19

20 Assessing the unconscious processes Rorschach test is the most widely used what do you see in these inkblots? Problem: Results don t link well to traits (low validity) and different raters get different results (low reliability). Slide 20

21 Evaluation of the psychoanalytic theory Development appears to be lifelong, not set in stone by childhood. Infant neural networks are not mature enough to create a lifelong impact of childhood trauma. Peers have more influence on personality, and parents less, than Freud assumed. Dreams, as well as slips of the tongue, have many possible origins, less likely to reveal deep unconscious conflicts and wishes. We may ignore threatening information, but traumatic memories are usually intensely remembered, not repressed. Still, sexual abuse stories are more likely to be fact, less likely to be wish fulfillment, than Freud thought. Gender and sexual identity seems to be more a function of genetics than Oedipus conflicts and relationships with parents. Slide 21

22 Post facto explanations (hindsight bias) rather than predictions: Whether or not a situation makes you anxious or not, you could either be fixated or repressing. Unfalsifiability: He developed theories that are hard to prove or disprove: can we test to see if there is an id? Unrepresentative sampling: Flaws in Freud s scientific method Biased observations: He based theories on his patients, which may give him an incentive to see them as unwell before his treatment. He did not build his theories on a broad sample of observations; he described all of humanity based on people with unusual psychological problems.

23 Freud s legacy Freud benefitted psychology, giving us ideas about: the impact of childhood on adulthood, and human irrationality, sexuality, evil, defenses, anxiety, and the tension between our biological selves and our socialized/civilized selves. Most colleges have courses related to psychoanalysis outside of psychology departments! Freud gave us specific concepts we still use often, such as ego, projection, regression, rationalization, dream interpretation, inferiority complex, oral fixation, sibling rivalry, and Freudian slips. Slide 23

24 Topic Three THE HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE Slide 24

25 Humanistic Theories of Personality Abraham Maslow Carl Rogers In the 1960 s, some psychologists began to reject: the dehumanizing ideas in Behaviorism, and the dysfunctional view of people in Psychodynamic thought. Maslow and Rogers sought to offer a Third Force in psychology: The Humanistic Perspective. They studied healthy people rather than people with mental health problems. Humanism: focusing on the conditions that support healthy personal growth.

26 Maslow: The Self-Actualizing Person In Maslow s view, people are motivated to keep moving up a hierarchy of needs, growing beyond getting basic needs met. At the top of this hierarchy is self-actualization, i.e. fulfilling one s potential, and self-transcendence. In this ideal state, a personality includes being self-aware, selfaccepting, open, ethical, spontaneous, loving, caring, focusing on a greater mission than social acceptance.

27 Rogers Person-Centered Perspective Rogers agreed that people have natural tendencies to grow, become healthy, move toward selfactualization The 3 conditions that facilitate growth: Genuineness: Being honest, direct, not using a façade. Acceptance (Unconditional Positive Regard): acknowledging feelings, even problems, without passing judgment; honoring, not devaluing. Empathy: tuning into the feelings of others, showing your efforts to understand, listening well (NOT sympathy: people need to be heard, not to be pitied)

28 Assessing the Self in Humanistic Psychology: Ideal Self vs. Actual Self In the humanistic perspective, the core of personality is the selfconcept, our sense of our nature and identity People are happiest with a self-concept that matches their ideal self Thus, it is important to ask people to describe themselves as they are and as they ideally would like to be. Questionnaires can be used, but some prefer open interview. Questions about actual self: How do you see yourself? What are you like? What do you value? What are you capable of? If the answers do not match the ideal, self-acceptance may be needed, not just self-change

29 Contributions of the humanistic perspective Their ideas have influenced counseling, education, childrearing, and management. They also promoted positive self thought in humans. Concepts of optimism, hope, happiness and success were advanced by the humanistic perspective Slide 29

30 Critiquing the Humanist Perspective Critiques argue that Rogers did not appreciate the human capacity for evil. Rogers saw evil as a social phenomenon, not an individual trait: When I look at the world I m pessimistic, but when I look at people I am optimistic. Rogers Humanist response: Self-acceptance is not the end; it then allows us to move on from defending our own needs to loving and caring for others. Some critiques argue that the pursuit of self-concept, an accepting ideal self, and self-actualization encouraged not selftranscendence but self-indulgence and self-centeredness. Humanist response: The therapist using this approach should not encourage selfishness, and should keep in mind that positive regard means acceptance, not praise.

31 Topic Four THE TRAIT PERSPECTIVE Slide 31

32 The trait perspective Gordon Allport argued that Freud was overly preoccupied with hidden/unconscious motives and undervalued our real, observable personality styles/traits. i.e. people s characteristic behaviors and conscious motives. Allport came to define personality in terms of identifiable behavior patterns emphasizing more on describing rather than explaining behavior patterns Myers and Briggs aimed to study individual behaviors and statements to find how people differed in personality: having different traits. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a questionnaire categorizing people by traits. Slide 32

33 The trait theory of personality Trait: An enduring quality that makes a person tend to act a certain way. Examples: honest. shy. hard-working. MBTI traits come in pairs: Judging vs. Perceiving. Thinking vs. Feeling. Trait theory of personality: That we are made up of a collection of traits, behavioral predispositions that can be identified and measured, traits that differ from person to person. Slide 33

34 Factor Analysis and the Eysencks Personality Dimensions Factor analysis procedures are used to identify factors that tend to cluster together when exploring traits. Using this method, Hans and Sybil Eysenck found that many personality traits actually are a function of two basic dimensions along which we all vary. i.e. extraversionintroversion and emotional stability-instability Cross-cultural research has shown that indeed Eysencks dimensions of the extraversion and emotionality factors emerged as basic personality dimension. Research supports their idea that these variations are linked to genetics.

35 Slide 35

36 The Big Five Personality Factors The Eysencks argued that people varied along two dimensions Current cross-cultural trait research and theory supports the expansion from two dimensions to five factors: Conscientiousness: self-discipline, careful pursuit of delayed goals Agreeableness: helpful, trusting, friendliness Neuroticism: anxiety, insecurity, emotional instability Openness: flexibility, nonconformity, variety Extraversion: Drawing energy from others, sociability

37 Biology and personality traits Evidence of biological influences on personality traits can be found from studies on the brain, body and genes Brain: Extraverts tend to have low levels of brain activity, making it hard to suppress impulses, and leading them to seek stimulation. Body: The trait of shyness appears to be related to high autonomic system reactivity, an easily triggered alarm system. Genes: Selective breeding of animals seems to create lifelong differences in traits such as aggression, sociability, or calmness, suggesting genetic roots for these traits. Other species (e.g. dogs, birds) show evidence that individuals have distinct, differing, and enduring personality traits. Slide 37

38 Evaluation of the trait theory Trait theory assumes that we have traits that are a function of personality, not situation. There is evidence that some traits are linked to roles and to personas we use in different cultures, environments The question is also asked whether or not traits remain stable over time and across situations The evidence shows that it takes time for personality to stabilize. Traits do change, but less and less so over time. We change less, become more consistent. Slide 38

39 Topic Five SOCIAL COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE Slide 39

40 Social-cognitive perspective Albert Bandura (1986, 2001, 2005) proposed that personality is the result of an interaction that takes place between a person and their social context, involving how we think about ourselves and our situations. Social-cognitive theorists believe we learn many of our behaviors either through conditioning or by observing others and modeling our behavior after theirs They focus on how we and our environment interact: How do we interpret and respond to external events? How do our schemas, our memories, and our expectations influence our behavior patterns? Slide 40

41 Reciprocal influences Bandura (1986) called the process of interacting with our environment reciprocal determinism. The interacting influences between personality and environmental factors. Three specific ways in which individuals and environments interact: Different people choose different environments. Our personalities shape how we interpret and react to events. Our personalities help create situations to which we react. Slide 41

42 Slide 42

43 Biopsychosocial Approaches to Personality

44 External vs. Internal Locus of Control Locus of control: Our perception of where the seat of power over our lives is located. Internal locus of control: we feel that we are in charge of ourselves and our circumstances. External locus of control: we picture that a force outside of ourselves controls our fate. Too much internal locus of control: We blame ourselves for bad events, or have the illusion that we have the power to prevent bad events. Too much external locus of control: We lose initiative, lose motivation to achieve, have more anxiety about what might happen to us, don t bother developing willpower

45 Self-control: resource, skill, trait The ability to control impulses and delay gratification, sometimes called willpower This is a finite resource, an expenditure of brain energy, which is replenished but can be depleted short-term: People asked to resist eating cookies later gave up sooner on a tedious task With practice, we can improve our self-control There seem to be individual differences in this trait in childhood The Marshmallow study: Kids who resisted the temptation to eat marshmallows later had more success in school and socially Slide 45

46 Experiment by Martin Seligman: Give a dog no chance of escape from repeated shocks. Result: It will give up on trying to escape pain, even when it later has the option to do so. Learned Helplessness vs. Personal Control Learned Helplessness: Declining to help oneself after repeated attempts to do so have failed. Normally, most creatures try to escape or end a painful situation. But experience can make us lose hope. Personal Control: When people are given some choices (not too many), they thrive

47 Optimism vs. Pessimism We can be optimistic or pessimistic in various ways: Prediction: We can expect the best or the worst. At the extremes, we can get ourselves overconfident or simply depressed or anxious about the future. Focus of attention: We can focus on what we have (half full) or what we don t have (empty). Attribution of intent: We can assume that people meant to hurt us or that they were having a bad day. Valuation: We can assume that we or others are useless, or that we are lovable, valuable. Potential for change: We can assume that bad things can t be changed, or have hope.

48 A More Positive Psychology Martin Seligman, who earlier kept dogs from escaping his shocks until they developed learned helplessness. Developed Positive Psychology, the scientific study of optimal human functioning, finding ways to help people thrive. Focus: building strengths, virtue, emotional well-being, resilience, optimism, sense of meaning. Three pillars of Positive Psychology: 1. Emotions, e.g. engagement 2. Character, e.g. courage 3. Groups, Culture, Institutions

49 Evaluating the Social-Cognitive Perspective The social-cognitive perspective on personality helps us focus on the interaction of behaviors, thoughts, and social situations. This focus, though, may distract us from noticing an individual s feelings, emotions, inner qualities. Critics note that traits may be more a function of genetics and upbringing, not just situation. Example of two people with different reactions in the same situation: Two lottery winners sharing a jackpot; one sobbed, the other slept.

50 Evaluating the Social-Cognitive Perspective The social-cognitive perspective on personality helps us focus on the interaction of behaviors, thoughts, and social situations. This focus, though, may distract us from noticing an individual s feelings, emotions, inner qualities. Critics note that traits may be more a function of genetics and upbringing, not just situation. Example of two people with different reactions in the same situation: Two lottery winners sharing a jackpot; one sobbed, the other slept.

51 The concept of personality in Ghana Read Chapter 16 of Akotia and Mate-Kole (2014), Contemporary psychology for an overview of how personality is constructed in the Ghanaian culture. Slide 51

52 Topic Six EXPLORING THE SELF Slide 52

53 Exploring the Self, Viewing the Self Research in personality includes the topic of a person s sense of self. Topics of research include self-talk, self-esteem, selfawareness, self-monitoring, self-control. The field has refined a definition of self as the core of personality, the organizer and reservoir of our thoughts, feelings, actions, choices, attitudes. self is the consciously aware (and self-aware) part of our personality.

54 Self-Esteem: High and Low, Good and Bad People who have normal or high self-esteem, feeling confident and valuable, get some benefits: Increased resistance to conformity pressure Decreased harm from bullying Increased resilience and efforts to improve their own mood But maybe this high selfesteem is really realistic, and is a result, not a cause, of these successes. Low self-esteem, even temporarily lowered by insults, leads to problems: prejudice, being critical of others

55 Self-Focus and Narcissism Since 1980, song lyrics have become more focused on the self, both gratification and self-praise. Empathy scores and skills are decreasing, being lost; people increasingly don t bother trying to see things from the perspective of others. There is a rise in narcissism (self-absorption, self-gratification, inflated but fragile self-worth). Narcissists see themselves as having a special place in the world. Danger, especially in narcissism: When self-esteem is threatened, it can trigger defensive aggression. Preventing this aggressive defense of self-esteem: not raising self-esteem, but reinforcing it, having people state their own values and qualities

56 Self-Disparagement, Self-Acceptance Left behind in the supposed increase in egotism: those who feel worthless, unlovable. Some people have a habit of self-disparaging self-talk: I m no good. I m going to fail. Sometimes such remarks are a sign of depression or at least feeling inferior. Sometimes such remarks may elicit pity, or prepare us for possible bad events, or help us learn from mistakes (people are more critical of their past selves). Moving from defensive to secure self-esteem requires realistic expectations and self-acceptance. Slide 56

57 Sample Question What did humanistic psychologists view as the central feature of personality, and what was their goal in studying personality? What was Freud s view of human personality and its development and dynamics? In the view of social-cognitive psychologists, what mutual influences shape an individual s personality? Slide 57

58 References Slide 58