Personality!

Q--Who am I and how did I get here?

Personality Assessments!

• How do psychologists figure out what kind of personality you have?– Projective Tests• TAT• Rorschach• House-tree-person

– Self Report Inventories• MMPI-2• Myers Briggs

Projective Tests

• Make a Rorschach Ink blot and then use it to do research on others to see if you can figure out their personality.

• Take the House-Tree-Person Test• What type of psychologist would be most

likely to use a projective test?• Are these reliable? Are they valid?– Barnum Effect

Self Report Inventories

• Most psychologists use self reporting inventories to test personality.

• Are they reliable? Are they valid?• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

(MMPI-2)—widely used• Myers-Briggs

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp– Take by 2/17!

Personality

• Personality—the unique abilities, behaviors, and emotions that characterize a person

• Describe your personality

Psychoanalytic Theory--Personality

• Freudian Theory—– Based on the discontinuous psychosexual stages of

development– Girls suffer from penis envy and boys suffer from

castration anxiety– Boys use the defense mechanism of Identification

to emulate a male figure that threatens them. They break away from mom and identify with Dad.• What if their mother is the one who threatens them

and emasculates them?

Psychoanalytic Theory--Personality

• Fixation in one of the psychosexual stages is the key to your personality

• If your libido, pscyhic energy, gets stuck in one of the stages then that is where you will continue to pour all your energy and efforts

• Your personality is mostly unconscious—you are not aware of what you do and why you do it.

Psychoanalytic Theory--Personality

Psychoanalytic Theory--Personality

• Freud said there are 3 parts to personality—id, ego, and superego

• Id—all id at birth— pleasure principle, instincts, and psychic energy dedicated to Eros and Thanatos– Libido directs life instincts to Eros for things such

as sex– Thanatos directs energy to aggression

Psychoanalytic Theory--Personality• Ego—The Reality Principle: Negotiate with the ID

and the reality of the situation– Ego protects the conscious mind from threatening

thoughts—uses defense mechanisms • Repression vs. Suppression—ex.• Denial—ex.• Displacement—ex.• Projection—ex.• Reaction Formation—ex.• Regression—ex.• Rationalization—ex.• Intellectualization—ex.• Sublimation—ex.

Psychoanalytic Theory--Personality

• Super Ego—begins to develop @ 5 yrs. Kids develop a conscience and begin to think about what is right and wrong—driven by guilt and shoulds

PsychoanalyticFreudian Personality Pie

ID EGO

Super Ego

Make you own pie for your per-sonality!

Criticisms of Freud• Feminists, such as Karen Horney, say there is no

such thing as Penis Envy, but if so then men suffer from Womb Envy.

• Karen Horney said children suffer from Basic Anxiety if parent is non-responsive and this leads to Basic Hostility

• Never directed at parent.• Effects—Moving Toward,

Moving Away, Moving Against• Can we mitigated with

consistent LOVE!

Psychodynamic Theory on Personality

• Psychodynamic or Neo-Freudian means:• Carl Jung—– Individuation—individual, unified whole—

complete person– Personal Unconscious vs. Collective Unconscious• Personal Unconscious—Complexes—Do you show signs

of a Complex?• Collective Unconscious—Passed down—Archetypes

– The Shadow– The Persona

» Do you self monitor—discuss with a neighbor!

Psychodynamic Theory on Personality• Alfred Adler—– Conscious is more important than unconscious– People are motivated by a fear of failure--he called

this inferiority– They are also motivated by a desire to achieve—

called drive for superiority• Great examples???

– Inferiority Complex can be crippling– Discussed Birth Order significance• Have you neighbor guess your birth order

Trait Theorists

• Describe people’s personalities by specifying their main characteristics or TRAITS

• These characteristics are STABLE• Nomothetic approach—all people can be

characterized by similar categories– Eyesenck: Introvert vs. Extrovert and Stable vs.

Unstable• What are you? Discuss with your neighbor!

X marks your spot!

Trait Theorists

• Cattell—16 PF (personality factor)-16 basic traits can describe in all people

• Big Five—– C—Conscientousness– A—Agreeableness– N—Neuroticism– O—Openness– E—Extraversion

Trait Theorists

• Factor Analysis—statistical technique to correlate traits into groups so that we have 16 basic traits for most humans– Ex.—What traits go along with neatness?

• Idiographic—no way people can be described with the same traits– Need to see people in terms of their individual traits– Stand Up--Do you agree with Nomothetic or

Idiographic?

Trait Theorists

• Allport—– Cardinal Disposition—pivotal role in everything we

do– Central Disposition—dominant traits but not as

significant as cardinal– Secondary Disposition—lesser seen traits that

might only come up in certain situations– Write down examples for your self for each

Trait Theorists

• Criticisms of Trait Theorists?

The Biology of Personality

• What is the likelihood of heritability of traits?– Discuss with neighbor

• Nature: Much evidence suggests that genes play a role in temperament—which is defined as the emotional style of the person and the way they deal with the world.

Biology of Personality• Hippocrates 4 Humors

Sanguine or Blood--amorous, happy, generous, optimistic, irresponsibleCholeric or Yellow Bile--violent, vengeful, short-tempered, ambitiousMelancholic or Black Bile--Introspective, sentimental, gluttonousPhlegmatic or Phlegm--Sluggish, pallid, cowardly

• Levels of fluids determine personality

• Not found to be reliable or valid—why?

Biology of Personality

• William Sheldon’s Somatotype Theory– Endomorphs—Fat—friendly and outgoing– Mesomorphs—Muscular—confident and assertive– Ectomorphs—Thin—shy and secretive

• Which are you?

– Research not replicated– Methodology questioned– Only correlational– Would it be reliable? Valid?

Humanistic Theory

• Maslow’s Holistic Dynamic Theory–Personality moves toward Self

Actualization–Society sometimes pushes us away

from self actualization–Self Actualizers are creative,

democratic, independent, and are not self focused

Humanistic Theory

• Carl Rogers Self Theory– Idea of Self—organized, consistent idea about

ourselves which develops due to experience– Need for Unconditional Positive Regard– Fully Functioning (Self Actualized)• Accept yourself

– Real Self vs. Ideal Self• Incongruence vs. Congruence• Are you happy when you look in the mirror?

Behaviorists

• How would strict Behaviorists like Skinner and Watson view personality?

Social Learning Theories on Personality

• Cognitive and Social Cognitive Theorists look at how both thinking and behavior influence personality

• George Kelly—Personal Construct Theory– Make sense of our world through constructs• Such as Happy/Unhappy, Energetic/Inactive,

Selfish/Generous, etc.• What are some of your personal constructs?

Social Learning Theories on Personality

• Albert Bandura—We learn through observing– Reciprocal Determinism– Personality is determined by our characteristics, our

behavior, and the environment– Ex.—We are fun loving, so our behavior is fun, and we tend

to pick environments that our fun, and so people think we are fun which in turn makes us more fun.

– Ex.—We are closed off from others, so our behavior is closed, and we tend to choose to be alone, so people think we are offish and therefore don’t approach us—so we think people don’t like us, which then causes us to be more closed off and alone

Social Learning Theories on Personality

• Bandura—– Collective Self Efficacy--Collectivism• Our group will attain its outcome

– Collective Societies--Asia

– Self Efficacy--Individualism• Belief that we can perform necessary behaviors and

that we are competent• We are confident about our ability in academics, but

not in sports, therefore we perform better in school than sports

Social Learning Theories

• Julian Rotter—Locus of Control– Is life in our hands or is it up to fate?– External Locus of Control—Luck– Internal Locus of Control—You are in charge– Stand up—are you internal or external?

Social Learning Theories

• Walter Mischel’s—CAPS– Cognitive Affective Personality System– Develop unique Behavioral Signatures– Consistent ways of dealing with people– What is your signature?

• Discuss Criticisms of Social Learning Theories