PERSONALITY UNIT Who am I? What do we know about why people are they way they are?
How would you describe your personality? What things have made you the way you are? What, would you say, influences personality?
PERSONALITY IS DEFINED AS: One s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.
(Perspectives are like different lenses we can use to look at different phenomena.) -Psychodynamic -Humanistic - Trait - Social-Cognitive
FREUD S VIEW OF PERSONALITY
ID- UNCONSCIOUS DESIRE TO SATISFY BASIC DRIVES. OPERATES ON THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE-SEEKING IMMEDIATE GRATIFICATION EGO- THINKS AHEAD. MAKES CHOICES BASED ON FUTURE OUTCOMES. MEDIATOR BETWEEN ID AND SUPEREGO. SUPEREGO- THE VOICE OF OUR MORAL COMPASS. (CONSCIENCE)
EGO SUPEREGO ID
FREUD S PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES Oral (0-18 months) Pleasure centers on the mouth- sucking, biting, chewing Anal (18-36 months) Pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder elimination ; coping with demands for control Phallic (3-6 years) Pleasure zone is the genitals; coping with incestuous sexual feelings Latency (6 to puberty) Dormant sexual feelings Genital (puberty on) Maturation of sexual interests * Remaining in a stage for too long or passing over it will result in a Fixation
ASSESSING UNCONSCIOUS PROCESSES Projective Tests: Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)- an image portraying a vague scene. The patient will then interpret what they think is going on in the image. Rorschach Inkblot Test- an image of an inkblot. Based on what you see the psychologist will gain insight into your subconscious.
CARL JUNG- NEO-FREUDIAN Believed in a Collective Unconscious - A common reservoir of images derived from our species universal experiences - Explains why, for many people, spiritual concerns are deeply rooted and why people in different cultures share certain myths and legends. - Disagreed with the sexual aspect of Freud s beliefs.
ARGUMENTS WITH FREUD S PHILOSOPHIES Modern research disproves some ideas. The idea of Repression is contended by the fact that children who witnessed a parent s murder or those who survived Nazi death camps retain their unrepressed memories. It offers after the fact explanations of many characteristics. Fails to predict behaviors and traits.
HUMANISTIC THEORY
HUMANISTS BELIEVE: 1. That people are naturally good, but some environments are bad, and that can lead people to make bad choices. 2. That people should be treated with dignity and respect. 3. When the environments people come from are healthy, then people will be free to become their best selves.
A father NOT offering unconditional positive regard
THE HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE There are two main humanistic psychologists whose names you ll need to know:
ABRAHAM MASLOW 1908-1970 "What a man can be, he must be. This need we call self-actualization."
CARL ROGERS When I look at the world I'm pessimistic, but when I look at people I am optimistic. 1902-1987
CARL ROGERS SAID THERE WERE SOME CONDITIONS THAT MUST BE MET IN ORDER FOR US TO GROW INTO OUR TRUE SELVES. (AND THAT THE GOAL OF LIFE IS TO GROW UP TO BECOME THE PERSON YOU REALLY ARE.)
CARL ROGER S CONDITIONS OF A RELATIONSHIP. Condition 1. Genuineness- openness about feelings 2. Acceptanceunconditional positive regard 3. Empathy- sharing and mirroring feelings Example 1. I m fine. Being open with others about how we feel. 2. Parents know our failings, but they love us anyway 3. When a friend feels bad, we feel bad, too.
HUMANISTIC ASSESSMENT: In other words, how do we test personality according to this perspective
NOT EVERYONE BELIEVES IN THE HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE People who criticize this perspective say 1. Too optimistic about basic human nature 2. Concepts are too vague and subjective 3. Could encourage selfish meeting of one s needs while ignoring needs of others 4. Only a picture of qualities Maslow valued
The Trait Theory
A trait is a characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act, as assessed by self report inventories and peer reports. One major trait theorist is Gordon Allport.
He said that a good theory of personality wouldn t be as concerned with explaining why someone acted a certain way, but should instead describe how people actually act. Trait theorists also believe that genetics play a huge part in why we are the way we are.
Basic Personality Dimensions -Eysenck and Eysenck Introversion v Extroversion Stable v Unstable
Personality inventories- Questionnaires covering a wide range of feelings and behaviors Empirically derived- They test a pool of people and only choose questions that show a difference between groups Assessing Traits
Some critics dislike Trait theory for the following reasons: 1. De-humanizing to reduce people to pre-defined categories 2. Overlooks why people act the way they do, which is too important to overlook Evaluating the Trait theory 3. Traits are not always expressed
The Social- Cognitive Perspective (environment matters)
Important Social- Cognitive Psychologists: Albert Bandura Martin Seligman
Reciprocal Determinism: The interacting influences between personality and environmental factors.
Internal vs. External Locus of control: Internal Locus of Control Definition: People control their own fate Personality Results: Higher self esteem, higher achievement, more independent, better health. External Locus of Control Definition: Chance or outside forces beyond one s personal control determine one s fate Personality Results: feelings of helplessness, higher rates for depression.
Learned Helplessness: Learned Helplessness is a passive attitude that happens when people are faced with an unavoidable negative event. This hopelessness makes them unwilling to try to change their situation.
Evaluating the Social- Cognitive Perspective What do critics say about this perspective? Not just environmental factors, most people seem to have consistent personality traits.
Individualistic Cultures Cultures that give priority to one s own goals over the group. Defining one s identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications. Collectivist Cultures Cultures that give priority to the goals of one s group and defining identity accordingly.