Personality and the Self Why study self and personality To better understand yourself 08 01 2012 o Why do you do the things you do o Why do you think believe the things you do o Can I change who I am To know why other people think the things they do and behave the way they do What is personality Latin root persona or mask o The unique and relatively enduring set of behaviors feelings thoughts and motives that characterizes an individual Includes motivation thoughts self concept and emotions Personality is what makes us all unique o E g individual differences Personality is STABLE over time context Traits Personality trait a dispositional tendency to act in a particular way over time context STABLE Normally distributed Traits Individual differences o Each person is different from every other person No two personalities are exactly alike Traits are connected to behavior o They lower BEHAVIORAL THRESHOLDS The point at which a person moves from not having a particular response to having one o LOW THRESHOLD likely to exhibit a particular behavior o HIGH THRESHOLD unlikely to exhibit a particular behavior Personality is shaped by BOTH nature and nurture Evolution Genetics Temperament Culture Psychoanalytic theories Freud Psychoanalysis o The unconscious o Emphasizes the unconscious forces of personality E g wishes motives etc and how these influence behavior INSTINCTS Mental representations that arise from a biological or physical need Self is a part of personality Main idea o People seek pleasure and avoid pain Unconscious consists of drives urges or instincts that we are not consciously aware of but can motivate thoughts and behaviors o Eg Freudian slips Freud Defense Mechanisms o Defense mechanisms unconscious strategies that the mind uses to protect itself from distress Again avoid pain gain pleasure o Likened to the immune system o Always share 2 main qualities They are unconscious They deny distort reality Freud Defense Mechanisms Denial Repression o Refusing to acknowledge unpleasant thoughts feelings etc o Keeps threatening information out of consciousness o Sex and aggression most likely to be repressed o Freudian slips When you say one thing and mean another o Turns an unpleasant thought feeling or impulse and turns it Reaction formation into its opposite Projection o Thoughts feelings impulses are projected onto others Because that s what you wanna see so imagine they do the same E g if you like someone when you talk to them you naturally perceive them to be flirting back with you Sublimation o Turning a socially unacceptable impulse or idea into something that is socially acceptable desirable Example romantic feelings for someone you can channel into a poem or something Sex and aggression o Coming up with a logical reason for unacceptable behavior Rationalization Oh if he did it I can Displacement o Shifting attention of emotion from one thing to another Bad day at class come home and take it out on your dog or something Alfred Adler Broke away from Freud after disagreement Major assumption o People have an inherent drive to overcome inferiorities Striving for superiority o People compensate for feelings of inferiority as they strive Compensation toward growth Inferiority complex o Unhealthy need to dominate others to compensate for feelings of inferiority Birth order o First born Strong feelings of superiority because they are older o Second born middle child Motivated and cooperative to overcome o Youngest Spoiled depended on others Carl Rogers Person centered approach to personality o Emphasized people s personal understandings o Highlights importance of parents treatment of children on children s personality Unconditional positive regard o Accepting and loving another person regardless of behavior Trait Theories REMEMBER traits are defined as behavioral dispositions that endure across time and contexts The trait approach assesses the extent to which people differ in these personality dispositions FIVE FACTOR THEORY AKA The Big Five An organizational tool provides a common descriptive framework for personality Emerges across cultures children adults self other ratings Trait Theories The Big Five OPENNESS TO EXPERIENCE o Imaginative vs down to earth o Variety vs routine o Independent vs conforming CONSCIENTIOUSNESS o Organized vs disorganized o Careful vs careless o Self disciplined vs weak willed EXTRAVERSION o Social vs retiring o Fun loving vs sober o Affectionate vs reserved AGREEABLENESS o Soft hearted vs ruthless o Trusting vs suspicion o Helpful vs uncooperative NEUROTICISM o Worried vs calm o Insecure vs security o Self pity vs self satisfy Biological Theories Hans Eysenck Hans Eysenck o Individual differences in personality are based on biological differences E g genetics hormones and neurotransmitters o Individual differences in people s DNA create different levels of arousal and sensitivity to stimulation Hierarchical model of personality how something becomes a habit o Superordinate level Trait level Habitual response level Specific response level The self Who am i o Our knowledge about who we are i e the content of the self Self concept Self awareness o The act of thinking about the self Self concept self awareness Identity Why does the self matter The self organizes information about the social world Self schemas o Mental structures that help us organize knowledge about ourselves o People view others through self schemas E g student athlete If you re a student and meet another person that is a student and does many other things you will primarily remember them as a student o Organizational tool how you categorize people o People remember information better if they can relate it to their self Why does the self matter o Self regulation The self regulates people s behavior choices and planning o Other words self control Self regulatory resource model o Self control is a limited resource Like a muscle sometimes needs rest Ex very stress using self control to not break so it takes away from control of not smoking if you re a big smoker Cultural differences in the self o Self construal refers to the way that an individual defines the self in relation to others How do we know ourselves Self knowledge is o Very subjective One method introspection Introspection o Looking inward to examine thoughts feelings and behavioral This is NOT always a reliable source of self knowledge o People don t spend a lot of time really thinking about motives themselves o Even when