Personality Chapter 12
What is Personality? Pattern of enduring, distinctive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that characterize the way an individual adapts to the world
What is Personality? 4 Main Theoretical Perspectives Psychodynamic Behavioral & Social Cognitive Humanistic Trait
Psychodynamic Perspectives Unconscious Occurring in Stages Emphasize that early experiences
with parents sculpt personality
Sigmund Freud With his mom in Vienna in 1926
Sigmund Freud Unconscious mind = key to understanding behavior Freudian slips Dreams Personality à Iceberg
(1856-1939)
Conscious
Ego Superego Id
Unconscious
Ego Defense Mechanisms Repression
Pushes unacceptable impulses out of awareness
Rationalization
Replaces a less acceptable motive with a more acceptable one
Displacement
Shifts feelings toward an unacceptable object to another more acceptable
Sublimation
Replaces an unacceptable impulse with socially acceptable
Projection Reaction Formation
Attributes personal shortcomings to others
Denial
Refuses to acknowledge anxiety producing realities
Regression
Seeks security of an earlier developmental period in the face of stress
Transforms an unacceptable motive into opposite
5 Stages of Personality Development •
Oral
•
Anal
•
Phallic
•
Latency
•
Genital
5 Stages of Personality Development Oral (first 18 months of age) Infant’s pleasure centers on the mouth. Chewing, sucking, and biting are main sources of pleasure that reduce tension
5 Stages of Personality Development Anal (18-36 months) Child’s greatest pleasure involves the anus or functions associated with it. Exercising anal muscles reduces tension
5 Stages of Personality Development Phallic (3 – 6 years) Pleasure focuses on the genitals as the child discovers that self-stimulation is enjoyable. Oedipus Complex: the child’s development of an intense desire to replace the parent of the same sex and enjoy the affections of the opposite-sex parents. At 5 -6 child recognizes that their same-sex parent might punish them, so they identify with them to reduce conflict.
5 Stages of Personality Development Latency (6 - puberty) Child represses all interest in sexuality and develops social and intellectual skills
5 Stages of Personality Development Genital (adolescence and adulthood) Time of sexual reawakening; source of sexual pleasure now becomes someone outside of family. Believed that unresolved conflicts with parents reemerged during adolescence. But one resolved, the individual becomes capable of developing a mature love relationship and functioning independently as an adult
Stage
Adult Extensions (Fixations)
Sublimations
Reaction Formations
Oral
Smoking, eating, Kissing, oral hygiene, drinking, chewing gum
Seeking knowledge, humor, wit, sarcasm, being a food or wine expert
Speech purist, food faddist, prohibitionist, dislike of milk
Anal
Notable interest in one’s bowel movements, love of bathroom humor, extreme messiness
Interest in painting or sculpture, being overly giving, great interest in statistics
Extreme disgust with feces, fear of dirt, prudishness, irritability
Phallic
Heavy reliance on masturbation, flirtatiousness, expressing of virility
Interest in poetry, love of love, interest in acting, striving for success
Puritanical attitude toward sex, excessive modesty
Karen Horney (1885-1952)
Need for security, not sex or aggression = prime motive in human existence.
Personality is not simply biology, social experiences and culture also shape personality
3 Strategies To Cope With Anxiety 1. move toward 2. move away 3. move against
Behavioral & Social Cognitive Perspectives . . . Behavior, environment, and person/cognitive factors are important in understanding personality
Skinner’s Behaviorism Personality is learned Personality can be changed
Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory Social Cognitive Theory . . . behavior, environment, and cognitive factors are important in understanding personality
Observational Learning We acquire a wide range of behaviors, thoughts and feelings through observing others’ behavior
Humanistic Perspectives . . . Person’s capacity for personal growth, freedom to choose one’s own destiny, & positive human qualities.
Maslow’s Approach Self-actualization highest form of motivation Humanistic approach = “third force” in psychology
The Big 5 Personality Factors “Supertraits� that are thought to describe the main dimensions of personality: OCEAN
Trait-Situation Interaction Both trait (person) and situation need to be taken into account to understand personality Consistency in personality depends on the kind of persons, situations, and behaviors
Personality Assessment Projective Tests Self-Report Tests Assessment in the Selection of Employees
Projective Test . . . assessment tool that presents individuals with an ambiguous stimulus and then asks them to describe it or tell a story about   Rorschach Inkblot Test   Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Graphology Handwriting analysis to determine an individuals personality
Self-Report Test . . . they directly ask people whether items (usually true/false or agree/disagree) describe their personality traits or not   Empirically keyed test   Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
(MMPI)