1. Criticisms of Freud 1. Freudian theory 1. little empirical evidence supports it 2. proving it is impossible 3. overestimates the importance of early childhood and of sex 4. has little predictive power 5. able to interpret both positive and negative reactions to the theory as support 2. Feminists 1. Freudian theory is objectionable 2. penis envy 1. grew from the assumption that men are superior to women 2. if women were jealous of men, it was probably due to the advantages men had in society 3. ex. Karen Horney and Nancy Chodorow 3. womb envy 1. men’s jealousy of women’s reproductive abilities 2. Karen Horney 4. men don’t have stronger superegos 2. Impact of Freudian Theory 1. Impact on culture greater than impact on contemporary psychology 2. Terms used in our language 1. ego, penis envy, denial, unconscious 3. Arts 1. Salvador Dali 1. paintings depict the unconscious 2. Woody Allen 1. films often feature a character undergoing psychoanalysis and playing out a Freudian drama 2. Psychodynamic Theories 1. NeoFreudian (Psychodynamic) Approaches 1. offshoots of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory 2. Carl Jung 3. Alfred Adler 2. Carl Jung 1. The unconscious has two parts: 1. collective 2. personal 2. Personal unconscious 1. contains complexes 1. the painful/threatening thoughts and memories that you don’t want to confront 3. Collective unconscious 1. passed down through the species 2. explains certain similarities between cultures 3. contains archetypes 1. universal concepts we all share as part of the human species 2. ex. shadow represents the evil side of personality 3. → persona is people’s creation of a public image 4. evidence: fear of dark, importance of circle 3. Alfred Adler 1. Ego psychologist 1. downplayed the importance of the unconscious 2. focused on the ego 2. People are motivated by: 1. inferiority 1. the fear of failure 2. superiority 1. the desire to achieve 3. Known for work on the importance of birth order in shaping personality 3. Trait Theories 1. Trait Theorists 1. Believe we can describe people’s personalities by specifying their main traits 1. these traits are stable and motivate behavior 2. Nomothetic Approach 1. Belief that the same basic set of traits can be used to describe all people’s personalities 1. Hans Eyesenck 1. introversionextroversion and stableunstable scale can fully describe personality 2. The big five personality traits 1. extraversion 2. agreeableness 1. how easy to get along with 3. conscientiousness 1. high = hardworking, responsible, organized 4. openness to experience 5. emotional stability (neuroticism) 1. how consistent your mood is 3. Factor Analysis 1. Allows researchers to use correlations between traits to see which traits cluster together as factors 2. Example: 1. factor conscientiousness 2. traits punctuality, diligence, neatness 1. strongly correlate 4. Idiographic Theorists 1. Using the same set of terms to classify all people is impossible 2. People need to be seen in the few terms that best characterize them 5. Gordon Allport 1. Common traits are useful 1. but a full understanding of someone is impossible without looking at their personal traits 2. Types of personal traits 1. cardinal dispositions 1. play a pivotal role in everything you do 2. central dispositions 3. secondary dispositions 1. less apparent 2. describe less significant traits 6. Criticism of Trait Theories 1. Underestimate the importance of the situation 4. Biological Theories 1. Heritability 1. A measure of the percentage of a trait that is inherited 2. Little evidence exists for specific personality traits 2. Temperament 1. Emotional style and characteristic way of dealing with the world 2. Infants seem to differ immediately at birth 1. thought to be born with different temperaments 1. these influence personality development 3. Hippocrates 1. Believed personality was determined by the relative levels of four humors in the body 2. The four humors (fluids) 1. blood 2. yellow bile 3. black bile 4. phlegm 3. One of the first people to recognize that biology impacts personality 4. Somatotype Personality 1. William Sheldon 2. Three body types: 1. endomorphs (fat) 2. mesomorphs (muscular) 3. ectomorphs (thin) 3. Certain personality traits are associated with each of the body types 4. Showed correlation, but not causation 5. Behaviorist Theories 1. Principles 1. Personality is determined by the environment 1. reinforcement contingencies create personality 2. We can alter personalities by changing the environment 2. Criticism 1. Fail to recognize the importance of cognition 6. Social Cognitive Theories 1. Albert Bandura 1. Personality is created by an interaction between: 1. the person (traits) 2. the environment 3. the person’s behavior 2. This is based on triadic reciprocality (reciprocal determinism) 1. each of these three factors influence both of the other two in a constant loop like fashion 3. Also believed that personality is determined by selfefficacy 1. high = optimistic about their ability to get things done 2. low = feel a sense of powerlessness 3. affects actions