Chapter 14 Psychology Notes Personality What is Personality Personality theorists are interested in individual differences If social psychologists are interested in how others affects our behavior personality psychologists are interested in what male us unique Approaches to Studying Personality The Idiographic Approach Study the characteristic of an individual The case study approach The nomothetic approach Studying large groups to come up with general laws Personality inventories Sigmund Freud is probably the most famous early modern personality theorist As a young man Freud practiced neurology However he became interested in mental illness 1 The Id Our base animalistic desires 2 The Superego Our conscious The rules imposed upon us by society 3 The ego The conscious mind The part of the mind that is consciously aware Negotiates The History of Personality Theory Neurologist to Psychiatrist The Freudian Psyche between the id and ego Tell Me About Your Mother Freud believed in something called libidinal energy He also believed that at various stages of development pressure centers around different body parts Anal The Anus withholding or expelling feces Phallic The penis or clitoris masturbation Latent Little or no sexual motivation present Oral The mouth sucking swallowing etc Genital The penis or vagina sexual intercourse Freud believed that our personalities developed based on how well we navigated each stage Neurosis developed because people don t successfully navigate a stage The Neo Freudians The Neo Freudians Carl Jung Freud s theories are very hard to test and many of his followers rejected some of his more strange ideas but continued to believe that the unconscious and development affect personality Status of Freud Trait Theory The Big Five Carl Jung gave philosophy the idea of the collective unconscious and archetypes More influential in art and philosophy than psychology The Neo Freudians Alfred Adler The Neo Freudians Karen Horney Adler believed birth order affects personality He gave the world the idea of the inferiority complex She has influenced ideas on how parenting affects development and on how social factors lead to sex differences Freud was wrong but ideas about the role of unconscious thought parenting and our close relationships all still affect how we think about personality and mental illness How Do We Study Personality Today If Freud is considered unscientific how is personality assessed today Trait theory says that personality can be described as a series of traits A trait is a characteristic or quality used to describe someone The Big Five model became popular in the 1980 s It takes the nomothetic approach and argues that people s personalities can be measured by looking at the five big umbrella traits The Big Five seems fairly successful in predicting behavior and other outcomes In addition other cultures seem to have five umbrella traits that are similar to the big five found in western samples The MMPI and MMPI 2 The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory measures people along 10 dimensions 8 of which are associated with mental illness Why do we have the traits we have There are likely several factors that lead to the What Are the Causes of Personality development of one s personality Walter Mischel The Situation Challenged traditional conceptions of traits theories by showing that people s behavior is not consistent across all situations Social Learning Theories Observational Learning Much of what we learn comes from watching others This means that many of the habits behaviors and outlooks that shape our personalities come from role models Social Learning Theories Control Locus of control or amount of perceived control over our lives and environment affects how our personalities develop When people tend to believe that they have a lot of control of what happens in their own lives Associated with better psychological outcomes Life is largely out of one s ability to control is Associated with anxiety and depression Twin studies show that many personality traits are fairly heritable One theory of personality puts everything we talked about together The McAdam s Theory of Internal Locus of Control External Locus of Control Genetics Putting It All Together Personality McAdam s Five Levels of Personality 1 Variations within the human species 2 Dispositional traits 3 Characteristic adaptions 4 Narrative 5 Cultural Context Variations within a Species Dispositional traits These are traits such as the Big Five Characteristic Adaptations This is the genetic component While all of the humanity is related we all genetically vary from each other The genetic variation allows for a diversity of personalities This is where Mischel s concern about the situation comes into play We have goals feelings values strategies etc in response to situations What is your pattern of response to a situation context The Narrative People tend to think about their lives in narrative formats The way we frame and update the story of our lives affects our personalities It can also affect our locus of control The Social Cultural Context This is where social learning comes into play What are the values beliefs and behaviors taught to you by your social influences and the broader culture
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