Slide 1Slide 2AllportMore Freud…Personality DevelopmentDefense MechanismsSlide 7Slide 8Slide 9Slide 10Skinner’s view of personalityHumanistic PerspectiveCarl Rogers’ Personality TheoryTraitsBig 5 personality testExtroversionAgreeablenessConscientiousnessNeuroticismOpennessSlide 21Type and Trait Approaches Describe Behavioral DispositionsPersonality Reflects Learning and Cognitive ProcessesPersonality Refers to Both Unique and Common CharacteristicsWe Can Use Objective and Projective Methods to Assess PersonalityAssessing the UnconsciousThematic Apperception TestSlide 28Slide 29Personality Is Rooted in GeneticsPersonality Is Rooted in Genetics: Twin StudiesCortical Arousal DifferencesEysenck Arousal ExplanationWhy are there personality differences?Personality TestPersonalityPersonalityCharacteristic patterns of emotional responses, thoughts, and behaviors that are relatively stable over time and across situations.Need to consider enduring aspects of behavior…“not one time at bat in baseball but the season’s hitting average, not a evening’s flirtation or adventure but marriage or an enduring relationship.” (A. H. Buss, 1989, University of Texas)• Thinking• Feeling• BehavingAllport•Personality is…•The dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his characteristic behavior and thoughtMore Freud…Personality Development•Psychosexual stages of developmentStages Physical focusPsychological themeAdult characterOral stage: Birth - 18 mos. Mouth, suckingdependency Dependent/ independentAnal Stage: 18 mos. - 3.5 yrs Anus (elimination)self-control Uptight vs impulsivePhallic Stage: 3.5 - 6 yrs. Penis morality and sexuality identification Amoral vs very rigid moralsLatency Stage: 6 yrs. to puberty Period of relative calm Genital stage: post puberty Genitals Maturity and creation/enhancement of lifeBalance of love and workDefense MechanismsRegression defense mechanism in which an individual faced with anxiety retreats to a more infantile psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixatedReaction Formation defense mechanism in which the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their oppositespeople may express feelings that are the opposite of their anxiety-arousing unconscious feelingsProjection defense mechanism by which people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to othersRationalization defense mechanism that offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one’s actionsDisplacementdefense mechanism that shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward another object or personSublimationChanneling unacceptable impulses into constructive behaviorsSkinner’s view of personality•Skinner showed us that reinforcement contingencies could influence behavior. In fact, Skinner thought personality was essentially the product of a person’s history of reinforcementHumanistic PerspectiveCarl Rogers (1902-1987)focused on growth and fulfillment of individualsgenuinenessacceptanceempathyI love you IF…Carl Rogers’ Personality Theory Love the sinner, hate the sinTraits•Gordon Allport wrote the influential book, “Personality” in 1937. He developed his ideas about “traits” viewing these as the basic structural elements of personality. •Traits were defined as a predisposition to respond in a particular way to a broad range of situations. So an even-tempered person remains calm across a broad range of situations. The situations or stimuli are rendered “functionally equivalent” - opportunities to exercise restraint. Each person has a certain expressive and adaptive style that they bring to the situation.Big 5 personality testExtroversionExtroverted people•Energetic •Enthusiastic •Dominant •Sociable•TalkativeIntroverted people•Shy•Retiring•Submissive•QuietAgreeablenessHigh Agreeableness•Friendly•Cooperative•Trusting•WarmLow Agreeableness•Cold•QuarrelsomeConscientiousnessConscientious•Cautious•Dependable•Organized•ResponsibleImpulsive•Careless•Disorderly•UndependableNeuroticismEmotionally unstable•Nervous•High-strung•Tense•WorryingEmotionally stable•Calm•ContentedOpennessHigh on Openness•Imaginative•Witty•Original•ArtisticLow on Openness•Down to earth•Conventional•Conformist•SimpleBig Five personality dimensions Openness to Experience(intellect, imagination, curiosity, creativity) Conscientiousness(order, duty, deliberation, self-discipline) Extraversion(sociability, assertiveness, activity, positive emotions) Agreeableness(trust, nurturance, kindness, cooperation) Neuroticism(anxiety, depression, moodiness,vulnerability to stress)Type and Trait Approaches Describe Behavioral Dispositions•“Personality Types” are discrete categories into which we place people•Personality “traits” are dispositional: they predispose persons to behave, think, and feel in enduring patterns across situations•Type and trait approaches describe but do not explain patternsPersonality Reflects Learning and Cognitive Processes•Cognitive perspectives include:–Personal constructs:–Expectancies and value:– Beliefs in “locus of control”Personality Refers to Both Unique and Common Characteristics•Gordon Allport distinguished two approaches:–Idiographic approaches are “person centered”–Nomothetic approaches examine characteristics common to all persons, but on which people vary, and focus on differences between personsWe Can Use Objective and Projective Methods to Assess Personality•Assessment methods often vary with theoretical preferences–Psychodynamic theorists like projective methods more than Trait theorists, who use objective methods•Objective methods use self-reports•Projective methods purport to tap the unconscious using ambiguous stimuliAssessing the UnconsciousThematic Apperception Test•Projective Test –Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) –Based on Freud’s defense mechanisms (repression, projection)Animals do have personality & it can be assessedPersonality Is Rooted in Genetics•Adoption Studies show:–Adopted siblings are no more alike in personality than randomly selected persons are–Personalities of adopted children are largely unrelated to their adoptive parents•Are there specific genes for personality?Personality Is Rooted in Genetics: Twin
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