13 Personality Personality The characteristic thoughts emotional responses and behaviors that are relatively stable in an individual over time and across circumstances Personality trait A characteristic a dispositional tendency to act in a certain way over time and across circumstances HOW HAVE PSYCHOLOGISTS STUDIES PERSONALITY Gordon Allport on personality the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his characteristic behavior and thought Personality is not just a list of traits but a coherent whole It is goal seeking sensitive to context and adaptive to environment It arises from basic biological process It causes people to have characteristic behaviors and thoughts Psychodynamic Theories Emphasize Unconscious and Dynamic Processes Psychodynamic theory Freudian theory that unconscious forces such as wishes and motives influence behavior Instincts mental representations arising out of biological or physical need People satisfy the life instinct by following the pleasure principle which directs people to seek pleasure and to avoid pain Libido the energy that drives the pleasure principle the energy that promotes pleasure seeking A topographical model of mind o Freud most of the conflict between psychological forces occurs below the level of conscious awareness o Topographical model Conscious level People are aware of their thoughts Preconscious level Contents that are not currently in awareness but can be brought to awareness a k a long term memory Unconscious level Material that the mind cannot easily retrieve o Freudian slip a person accidentally reveals a hidden motive Development of sexual instincts o Early childhood experiences have a major impact on the development of personality o According to Freud children go through developmental stages corresponding to their pursuit of satisfaction of libidinal urges o Psychosexual stage According to Freud the developmental stages that correspond to the pursuit of satisfaction of libidinal urges libido is focused on one of the erogenous zones such as mouth anus genitals Oral stage birth to 18 months Pleasure is sought through the mouth Infants associate pleasure with sucking Anal phase 2 to 3 years Learning to control the bowels toilet training Phallic stage 3 to 5 years Direct their libidinal energies toward the genitals 13 Personality Structural model of personality Oedipus complex children desire an exclusive relationship with the opposite sex parent Libidinal urges are suppressed or channeled into doing schoolwork or building friendships Latency stage Genital stage Adolescents and adults attain mature attitudes about sexuality and adulthood o Fixation occurs when a child receives excessive parental restriction or indulgence during one of the stages Oral personalities Needy Continues to seek pleasure through the mouth Anal retentive personalities Stubborn and highly regulating o Id In psychodynamic theory the component of personality that is completely submerged in the unconscious and operates according to the pleasure principle innate driving forces sex and aggression o Ego In psychodynamic theory the component of personality that tries to satisfy the wishes of the id while being responsive to the dictates of the superego Defense mechanisms Unconscious mental strategies the mind uses to protect itself from conflict and distress Rationalization blaming situational factors over which they have little control Reaction formation it occurs when a person wards off an uncomfortable thought about the self by embracing the opposite thought o Superego In psychodynamic theory the internalization of societal and parental standards of conduct Psychodynamic theory since Freud o Neo Freudian Carl Jung Alfred Adler Karen Horney o Object relations theory the object of attachment is another person such as a parent or spouse o Psychological scientists largely have abandoned psychodynamic theories because Freud s central premises cannot be examined through accepted scientific methods Humanistic Approaches Emphasize Integrated Personal Experience Humanistic approaches Approaches to studying personality that emphasize personal experience and belief systems they propose that people seek personal growth to fulfill their human potential self actualization It focuses on phenomenology subjective human experience It views each person as inherently good Person centered approach Carl Roger s approach to personality that advocated the importance of people s personal understandings or phenomenology It highlights the importance of how parents show affection for their children and how parental treatment affects personality development 13 Personality Unconditional positive regard children are accepted loved and prized no matter how they behave According to Rogers this will lead children to become fully functioning people Subjective well being degree of happiness Broaden and build theory positive emotions prompt people to consider novel solutions to their problems Type and Trait Approaches Describe Behavioral Dispositions Personality types Discrete categories based on global personality characteristics Implicit personality theory we have a tendency to assume that certain personality characteristics go together and therefore to make predictions about people based on minimal evidence Trait approach An approach to studying personality that focuses on the extent to which individuals differ in personality dispositions Raymond Cattell identified 16 basic dimensions of personality Eysenck s hierarchical model o Superordinate level Introversion extraversion refers to the extent to which people are shy reserved and quiet versus sociable outgoing and bold Emotional stability refers to the extent to which people s moods and emotions change Psychoticism mix of aggression impulse control and empathy o Trait level o Habitual response level o Specific response level The big five Neuroticism Personality Agreeableness Extraversion Conscientiousness Openness to experience o The theory is valuable as an organizational structure for the vast number of traits that describe personality PersonalityNeuroticismExtraversionOpenness to experienceConscientiousnessAgreeableness 13 Personality Personality Reflects Learning and Cognition Personal constructs personal theories of how the world works People with Internal locus of control believe they bring about their own rewards External locus of control believe that rewards result from forces