Chapter 14: Personality
Allport's Trait Theory
Gordon Allport believed that an individual's personality could be captured using 7 trait labels. His theory was that the set of labels could be chosen to describe a particular person's central traits, or characteristics that are usually obvious to others and that organize and control behavior in many different situations. (Ex: reliable, honest) Allport also believed that people possess secondary traits--characteristics that are more specific to certain situations and control far less behavior. (Ex: "Dislikes crowds")
A guy at burger king pushes to the front of the line to get his order taken, which part of the personality is he satisfying? The Id, ego or superego? And which principle is being operated here?
Id and the pleasure principle.
Denial
Simply discounting the existence of threatening impulses. Ex: Denying physician's diagnosis of cancer is correct and seeking a second opinion.
Compensation
Striving to make up for unconscious impulses or fears. Ex: You fear that people will think of you as timid, so you act overly aggressive or tough to compensate for your lack of feeling confident.
What are the 3 main parts of personality according to Freud?
The Id, the Ego, and the Superego. Note: Conflicts between these three parts yield the name of Freud's approach, psychodynamic conflict or (intra-psychic).
Superego
The component of personality that tells people what they should and should not do.
The same guy at burger king in a different situation, decides to wait in line and think about what to order rather than risk punishment by pushing ahead. Which part of the personality is he satisfying? The Id, ego or superego? And which principle is being operated here.
The ego and the reality principle.
Oral stage
The first of Freud's psychosexual stages of personality development, in which the mouth is the center of pleasure and conflict. Fixation results in: "Biting" and overeating.
Latency period
The fourth of Freud's psychosexual stages of personality development, in which sexual impulses lie dormant.
Pleasure principle
The id's operating principle, which guides people toward whatever feels good.
Thantos
"Death instincts" responsible for aggression and destructiveness.
Eros (Libido)
"Life instincts" that promote positive, constructive behavior and reflect a source of energy. This source of energy that was sometimes called psychic energy is also known as libido.
Oedipal complex
A pattern described by Freud in which a boy has sexual desire for his mother and wants to eliminate his father's competition for her attention.
Electra complex
A pattern described by Freud in which a young girl develops an attachment to her father and competes with her mother for his attention.
What are the Three trait models to the trait approach?
1. Allport 2. Big Five Model 3. Biological Models
What are the Four main approaches to personality?
1. Psychodynamic (Sigmund Freud) 2. Trait 3. Social-Cognitive 4. Humanistic
What are the ego defense mechanisms; check to see if you have all of them memorized by looking at the list.
1. Repression 2. Rationalization 3. Projection 4. Reaction formation 5. Sublimation 6. Displacement 7. Denial 8. Compensation
Projective personality test
A test made up of unstructured stimuli that can be perceived and responded to in many ways. It's a subjective interpretation of answers that reveal aspects of a person's personality. Advantages: Correct answers are not obvious, It is designed to tap into unconscious impulses, it's flexible. Disadvantages: It's reliability and validity is lower than those of objective tests. Ex: Rorschach ink-blot test.
Five-factor personality model (Big Five model) (Also known as OCEAN)
A view based on factor-analytic studies suggesting the existence of five basic components of human personality: 1. openness to experience: Artistic, curious 2. conscientiousness: Organized, reliable 3. extraversion: Assertive, outgoing, talkative 4. agreeableness: Appreciative, generous, kind 5. neuroticism: Anxious, emotionally unstable, impulsive. Note the five-factor model takes uses factor analysis; people scoring high on a descriptor in one dimension often score high on others.(ex: For openness dimension: A "Curious" person also artistic, imaginative.)
Deficiency motivation
According to Abraham Maslow, a preoccupation with perceived needs for things a person does not have.
Growth motivation
According to Abraham Maslow, a tendency to draw satisfaction from what is available in life, rather than to focus on what is missing.
Self-efficacy
According to Albert Bandura, learned expectations about the probability of success in given situations.
Actualizing tendency
According to Carl Rogers, an innate inclination toward growth that motivates all people.
Conditions of worth
According to Carl Rogers, the feelings an individual experiences when an evaluation is applied to the person rather than to the person's behavior.
Sublimation
Converting unacceptable impulses into socially acceptable actions. Ex: Going to the gym when angry or anxious.
Displacement
An impulse from its original target to a less threatening one. Ex: Yelling at your husband after an argument with your boss.
Functional analysis
Analyzing behavior by studying what responses occur under what conditions of operant reward and punishment. Note: Behaviorists used this approach, such as B.F. Skinner and John B. Watson.
Reaction Formation
Defending against unacceptable impulses by acting opposite to them. Ex: Middle school student's do this a lot with their romantic interests, they tend to treat their crushes badly as a way to protect themselves from "falling in love".
What are the two driving instincts called that Freud believed resided in the Id?
Eros and Thantos
Eysenck Biological Trait
Eysenck argued that the variations in personality characteristics that we see among individuals can be traced to inherited differences in their nervous system. He suggested that most people's traits could be described using two main dimensions: introversion-extraversion and emotionality-stability. Introversion-Extraversion: Introverts--have over aroused nervous system and they try to avoid excitement Extroverts--they have an under aroused nervous system and try to seek out excitement. Emotionality-Stability: Emotional--nervous system reacts strongly to stress Stable--nervous system is relatively insensitive to stress.
Maslow's Growth Theory
For Abraham Maslow, self-actualization (SA) is not just a growth, but a human need, but most people are distracted from seeking it because of "unfulfilled" lower needs. According to Maslow, most people are controlled by a deficiency orientation (a focus on what they don't have instead of what they do have.) Most people come to see life as a meaningless exercise. People with a growth orientation do not focus on what is missing, but draw satisfaction from what they have or can do. (This orientation leads to possibility of having peak experiences; in which they feel intense joy at the mere fact of being alive.)
Psychodynamic approach
Freud's view that personality is based on the interplay of unconscious mental processes. Freud believed that two forces were at play to shape our personality: Basic drives and Past Psychological Events. Personality results with how we deal with satisfying these urges. His Theory: "Personality is based on unconscious, psychodynamic conflicts."
Objective personality test
It gives a quantitative measure of a personality characteristic, questions are asked directly. Advantages: Efficiency, and standardization. Disadvantages: Subject to deliberate distortion (people can cheat or lie). Ex: Minnesota Multi-phasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2), it is a multiple choice question test, used to diagnose psychological disorders.
Gray's Approach-Inhibition Theory
Jeffery Gray, like Eysenck, believed in two traits: Introversion-Extraversion and Emotionality-Stability. However, he saw them both as stemming from two different brain systems: Behavioral Approach System (BAS) and Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS). Behavioral Approach System (BAS): sensitivity to rewards and motivation to seek them--"go system." Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS): sensitivity to punishment and motivation to avoid it--"stop system." Note: Gray's approach is more widely accepted than Eysenck's approach partly because there is research to back it up.
Non-projective personality measures
Paper-and-pencil tests containing direct, unambiguous items relating to the personality of the individual being assessed.
Psychosexual development
Periods of personality development in which, according to Freud, conflicts focus on particular psychosexual issues. Oral Stage: 1st year Anal Stage: 2nd year Phallic Stage: 3-5years Latency Period: throughout childhood Genital Stage: adolescence through adulthood Note: If you get fixated at any stage it has impact on your personality.
Projective personality measures
Personality assessments made up of ambiguous stimuli that can be perceived and responded to in many different ways.
Defense mechanisms
Psychological responses that help protect a person from anxiety and guilt.
Genital stage
The last of Freud's psychosexual stages of personality development, which begins during adolescence, when sexual impulses appear at the conscious level. Genitals are again the focus of sexual pleasure.
Reality principle
The operating principle of the ego that creates compromises between the id's demands and those of the real world.
Ego
The part of the personality that mediates conflicts between and among the demands of the id, the superego, and the real world. The ego prevents anxiety and guilt by restricting the socially unaccepted id impulses, and preventing us from violating our superego's rules. It prevents threatening material from surfacing. In order to do this it resorts to defense mechanisms. Note: Restrictions teach you that you can not satisfy all wants.
Anal stage
The second of Freud's psychosexual stages of personality development, in which the focus of pleasure and conflict shifts from the mouth to the anus. This occurs because toilet training shifts pleasure and conflict to anal area. Fixation results in: (If potty training is too early) stinginess, preoccupation with neatness. (If potty training is too late) anal explosiveness, disorganized and/or impulsive personality.
Phallic stage
The third of Freud's psychosexual stages of personality development, in which the focus of pleasure and conflict shifts to the genital area. Freud believed that it was at this stage that the oedipal complex was developed for boys and the electra complex for girls.
Id
The unconscious portion of personality that contains basic impulses and urges. It is the first part of personality to develop.
Personality
The unique pattern of enduring thoughts, feelings, psychological and behavioral characteristics by which each person can be compared and contrasted with others.
Humanistic psychology approach (phenomenological approach)
The view that develops through an actualizing tendency that unfolds in accordance with each person's unique perceptions of the world. The focus is on the mental capabilities that set humans apart from other animals: self awareness, creativity, planning, decision-making, and responsibility. Theorists who adopt the humanistic approach see human behavior as motivated mainly by an innate drive toward growth that prompts people to fulfill their unique potential. People are seen as naturally inclined toward goodness, creativity, love and joy. Humanistic psychologists also believe that to explain people's actions in any particular situation, it is more important to understand their view of the world than their instincts, traits, or learning experiences. The two prominent humanistic theories can be attributed to Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.
Trait approach
The view that personality is a combination of characteristics that people display over time and across situations. The idea that traits are consistent, predictable, and vary in kind and degree. Ex: Cranky kids often grow to be cranky adults is an example of predictability. Ex2: If you're aggressive at work you are most likely to be aggressive on the road is an example of consistency. Ex3: "Not everyone works as hard as James", this is an example of varying degrees of traits.
Social-cognitive approach
The view that personality reflects learned patterns of thinking and behavior. This approach differs from the psychodynamic and trait approaches in two important ways: First, social cognitive theorists look to conscious thoughts and emotions for clues to how people differ from one another. Second, the social-cognitive approach was based on the principles of animal and human learning. The roots of the social-cognitive approach is based on functional analysis.
Self-concept
The way one thinks of oneself.
Biological Trait Theories (Models)
Theories that suggest differences in biology and shape personality. Examples: Eysenck Biological trait, and Gray's Approach-Inhibition.
Projection
Unconsciously attributing one's own unacceptable thoughts or impulses to another person. Ex: "When I am feeling lazy or unproductive, I yell at my husband to stop being lazy!"
Repression
Unconsciously pushing threatening memories, urges, or ideas from conscious awareness. Ex: Forgetting a traumatic event.
Roger's self theory
This theory is based on the actualizing tendency and the belief that personality is also shaped by others' evaluation of us. Each person learns to have a self-concept of oneself. (People come to like what they are supposed to like and to behave how they are supposed to behave.) Conditions of worth are created whenever people are evaluated instead of their behavior. This socialization process is adaptive, because it helps people function in society, but it often requires that they suppress their self-actualizing tendency and distort their experience. Rogers argued that psychological discomfort, anxiety, or even mental disorder can result when feelings people experience or express are incongruent, or at odds, with their true feelings.
What are some ways of assessing personality?
Through observation, by conducting interviews, and through personality tests (note: there are 2 types of personality tests; objective and projective.)
Rationalization
To make actions or mistakes seem reasonable. Ex: Stating that you were fired because you didn't kiss up to the boss, when the real reason was your poor performance.