PERSONALITY

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PERSONALITY
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What is personality

• Depends on our theory or view of the world, i.e.,
  our way of understanding how things work

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Could be

• Manifestation of biological processes
  (genetically determined)
• Constellation of "self-descriptors" or what we
  say about ourselves
• Pervasive behavioral repertoire under
  environmental control

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WHAT IS PERSONALITY?

• An individuals unique and relatively stable
  patterns of behavior, thoughts and feelings
  these stable patterns usually characterize
  persons in a number of situations over time.
• Also refers to the enduring, inner
  characteristics of individuals that organize
  their behaviors.

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Is Personality real?

• In the past this was one of the debates that
  psychologists had
• They questioned whether or not the individual
  could display enough consistency in their
  behaviour over time and across situations, for us
  to say that this is personality
• With the growing evidence of consistency,
  psychologists felt that there was enough basis to
  state that personality is real
• Our behaviour in any situation is a function of
  our personality and situational factors

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• This resulted in the term interactionism or
  transactional approach this approach says that
  how one behaves is a function of an interaction
  of stable personality characteristics and the
  individuals perception of the situation
  (situation-bound reaction).

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THEORIES OF PERSONALITY

• Psychoanalytic Approach
• Behavioural- Learning Approach- Classical
  Conditioning, Operant Conditioning, Observational
  Learning
• Humanistic Approach
• Cognitive Approach
• Trait/ Biological Approach

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Psychoanalytic Approach

• Sigmund Freud 1856-1939
• The Freudians and neo-Freudians, who for the most
  part, attribute significance to unconscious
  processes.

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BASIC CONCEPTS OF THE APPROACH

• Levels of Consciousness
• Basic Instincts
• Structures of Personality- ID, EGO and SUPEREGO
• Defense Mechanisms
• Psychosexual stages of development

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Levels of Consciousness

• Conscious level- Mental events of which we are
  actively aware at the moment.
• Preconscious level- Aspects of our mental life
  of which we are not conscious of at the moment
  but that can be easily brought to awareness are
  stored at this level.
• Unconscious level- Cognitions, feelings, and
  motives that are not available at the conscious
  or preconscious level. Here we keep ideas,
  memories, and desires of which we are not aware
  and cannot easily become aware.

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BASIC INSTINCTS

• According to Sigmund Freud, there are only two
  basic drives that serve to motivate all thoughts,
  emotions, and behavior. 
• Freud said that a large measure of life is an
  attempt to resolve conflicts between these two
  natural but diametrically opposed instincts.
• These two drives are, simply put, sex and
  aggression.  Also called Eros and Thanatos, or
  life and death, respectively, they underlie every
  motivation we as humans experience.
•  

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• Life instincts (eros) impulses for survival,
  including those that motivate sex, hunger and
  thirst. Each instinct has its own energy that
  drives it. The psychic energy that drives the
  sexual instinct is called the libido.
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• Death instincts (thanatos) impulses of
  destruction. Directed inward, they give rise to
  feelings of depression or suicide directed
  outward, they result in aggression.

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Lets look at a few examples. 

• Why would an adult decide to get a college
  degree? 
• According to Freud, we are driven to improve
  ourselves so that we may be more attractive to
  the opposite sex and therefore attract a better
  mate. 
• With a better mate, we are more likely to produce
  offspring and therefore continue our bloodline. 
  Furthermore, a college degree is likely to bring
  a higher income, permitting advantages over
  others who may be seen as our adversaries

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THE STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITY

• Freud suggested that personality consist of 3
  separate, though interacting, structures or
  subsystems the id, ego, and superego.
• Each system has its own job to do and its own
  principle to follow.

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ID

• We are born with our ID. 
• It is an important part of our personality
  because as newborns, it allows us to get our
  basic needs met. 
• The id is based on our pleasure principle.  In
  other words, the id wants whatever feels good at
  the time, with no consideration for the reality
  of the situation. 

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ID

• The id doesn't care about reality, about the
  needs of anyone else, only its own satisfaction. 
• If you think about it, babies are not really
  considerate of their parents' wishes.  They have
  no care for time, whether their parents are
  sleeping, relaxing, eating dinner, or bathing. 
  When the id wants something, nothing else is
  important.
• It resides in the unconscious level of the mind,
  and it is through the id that basic instincts
  develop.
• Driving force behind the ID is the libido.

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EGO

• Within the next three years, as the child
  interacts more and more with the world, the
  second part of the personality begins to develop.
  
• The part of the personality that develops through
  ones experience with reality.
• It is the rational, reasoning part of our
  personality.
• Operates on the reality principle.
• The ego understands that other people have needs
  and desires and that sometimes being impulsive or
  selfish can hurt us in the long run. 

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• Its the ego's job to meet the needs of the id,
  while taking into consideration the reality of
  the situation.  
• The ego may delay gratification of some libidinal
  impulse or may need to find and acceptable outlet
  for some need.
• According to Freud, the ego stands for reason
  and good sense while the id stands for untamed
  passions.
• Delay gratification the MAYBE of the
  personality.

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SUPEREGO

• By the age of five, or the end of the phallic
  stage of development, the Superego develops.
• The Superego is the moral part of us and develops
  due to the moral and ethical restraints placed on
  us by our caregivers. 
• Many equate the superego with the conscience as
  it dictates our belief of  right and wrong.
• The superego operates on the idealistic
  principle.
• Like the id, the superego has no contact with
  reality and, therefore, places unrealistic
  demands on the individual.

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• It demands that we do what is right and proper,
  no matter the circumstances.
• Failure to do so may lead to guilt and shame.
• Never the NO of the personality.

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Interaction

• In a healthy person, according to Freud, the ego
  is the strongest so that it can satisfy the needs
  of the id, not upset the superego, and still take
  into consideration the reality of every
  situation. 
• Not an easy job by any means, but if the id gets
  too strong, impulses and self gratification take
  over the person's life. 
• If the superego becomes to strong, the person
  would be driven by rigid morals, would be
  judgmental and unbending in his or her
  interactions with the world.

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• When the ego has a difficult time satisfying both
  the id and the superego, it gets help. 
• The ego has some tools it can use in its job as
  the mediator, tools that help defend the ego. 
• These are called Ego Defense Mechanisms or
  Defenses. 
• When the ego has a difficult time making both the
  id and the superego happy, it will employ one or
  more of these defenses

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DEFENSE MECHANISMS

• Repression
• Sublimation
• Denial
• Rationalization (Intellectualization)
• Fantasy
• Projection
• Regression
• Displacement
• Reaction Formation
• Compensation

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Two things to know about defense mechanism

• Using DM is a normal reaction. You shouldnt be
  alarmed if you find that some of these mechanisms
  sound like reactions you have used. They help us
  cope with anxieties and conflicts of everyday
  life.
• Although they are normal they can become
  maladaptive. As long as defense mechanism are
  successful in easing the unpleasant feelings of
  anxiety, we may no longer feel a need to search
  for the true sources of anxiety and we will be
  less likely to resolve the conflict that is
  producing the anxiety.

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• FREUDS PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES OF PERSONALITY
  DEVELOPMENT

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Five stages

• Oral Stage- Birth to 1 yr
• Anal Stage- 1- 3yrs
• Phallic Stage- 3- 5 yrs
• Latency Period- 6- puberty
• Genital Stage- 11- 18 yrs

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Evaluating the Psychoanalytic Approach  

• Major criticism is the over-reliance on innate
  biological/sexual drives as being our central
  motivator for our personality and behavior.
• Freud seems to have ignored the social approach
  to personality development.
• Freud in the development of his theory relied on
  case studies and this form of research in not
  generalizable.
• He mainly used persons from wealthy background
  and these persons are not representational of
  human beings in general.

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The Psychoanalytic Approach After Freud

• Neo- Freudians- they had their own theory. They
  didnt agree with everything that Freud proposed
  so they had to part from Freud. He would not
  accept disagreement you either accepted all of
  Freudian theory or you had to leave the inner
  circle.

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Carl Jung (1875-1961)

• The main disagreement was his belief that there
  was more to the unconscious than Freud
  theorized. 
• There were fears, behaviors, and thoughts  that
  children and adults exhibit that are remarkably
  similar across time and culture. 
• He believed that this was more than coincidence
  and represented what he called the collective
  unconscious.
• He argued that it was made up of what he termed
  archetypes which are primordial images inherited
  from our ancestors.  As support for such a
  theory, he spoke of the immediate attachment
  infants have for their mother
• In his view, infants are drawn to their mother
  because of the unconscious image of mother that
  is alive in all of us and that we fear the dark
  because of the unconscious image of darkness. He
  also spoke about animus/anima
• The animus is the masculine side of the female
  and the anima is the feminine side of the male.
  According to Jung, we all have an unconscious
  opposite gender hidden within us and the role of
  this archetype is to guide us toward the perfect
  mate.
• Another approach of Jung was that we are born
  with innate tendencies that has to do with our
  inner selves and the outside world.
• He believed that there are introverts (hesitant
  cautious and do not make friends easily) and
  extroverts (individuals who are open and
  confidents and make friends easily)

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Alfred Adler (1870-1937)

• According to Adler's theory, each of us is born
  into the world with a sense of inferiority. 
• We start as a weak and helpless child and strive
  to overcome these deficiencies by become superior
  to those around us. 
• He called this struggle a striving for
  superiority, and like Freud's Eros and Thanatos,
  he saw this as the driving force behind all human
  thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
• For those of us who strive to be accomplished
  writers, powerful business people, or influential
  politicians, it is because of our feelings of
  inferiority and a strong need to over come this
  negative part of us according to Adler.  This
  excessive feeling of inferiority can also have
  the opposite effect.  As it becomes overwhelming
  and without the needed successes, we can develop
  an inferiority complex.  Leaving us with feeling
  incredibly less important and deserving than
  others, helpless, hopeless, and unmotivated to
  strive for the superiority that would make us
  complete.

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Karen Horney (1885-1952)

• Trained, as a psychoanalyst in Germany and came
  to the US in 1934. Horney theorized that the
  prime impulses that motivate behavior are not
  biological and inborn or sexual and aggressive,
  but basic anxiety, which grows out of childhood
  when the child feels alone and isolated in a
  hostile environment.
• If the child receives proper parental nurturance
  the child is able to overcome basic anxiety. If
  parents are overly punishing, inconsistent, or
  indifferent, however, children may develop basic
  hostility and may feel very hostile and
  aggressive toward their parents. However, young
  children cannot express hostility toward their
  parents openly, so the hostility gets repressed,
  building even more anxiety. Emphasized early
  childhood experiences, but from a perspective of
  social interaction and personal growth.
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Practice

• Which of Eriksons eight stages seems most
  important? Why?
• 2. What aspects of Eriksons theory are most
  important for educators to understand?
• 3. What aspects of Eriksons theory are most
  important for parents to understand?\
• 4. What are some of the most crucial differences
  between Freuds theory and Eriksons theory?
• 5. Which developmental theory do you prefer,
  Freuds or Eriksons? Why?  

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• HUMANISTIC APPROACH

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• Claims that people have the ability to shape
  their own destiny, and this is not driven by
  biological, instinctive influences.
• Emphasize the wholeness or completeness of
  personality, rather than focusing on its
  structural parts.
• What matters is how people view themselves.
•  

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Themes of Humanistic Theories

• Emphasis on personal responsibility and free will
  each of us is responsible for what happens to
  us.
• The importance of the here and now rather than
  the past.
• Also emphasize personal growth and fulfillment
  moving towards bigger goals self-actualizing

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Humanistic Theorists

• Carl Rogers (1902-1986)
• Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)

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Carl Rogers (1902-1987)
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• Approach to psychology was based on self-
  concept. Each individual has a self- concept,
  which consists of his or her conscious thoughts
  and beliefs about himself or herself. View
  referred to as person-centered.
• He spoke about the real and ideal self
• Believed that the most powerful drives are the
  ones to become fully functioning.
• To be fully functioning is to achieve optimal
  psychological adjustment, to live in the
  present, getting the most from each experience.
• To help children become fully functioning
  requires that we offer them unconditional
  positive regard.

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• Unconditional Positive Regard means showing a
  child that they are loved, respected, and
  accepted (this is positive regard) with no
  conditions attached.
• This does NOT mean that parents must always agree
  with their childs behaviour choices. But they
  must never use love and acceptance as a means of
  pressuring the child into accepting their views.
• Rogers said we should separate the childs
  behaviors from the childs self. We punish a
  child for doing a bad thing, but never for being
  a bad child.
• Helping people achieve positive self-regard is
  one of the major goal of Rogers person-centered
  therapy.
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Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)
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• Peoples needs are positive and our major goal is
  to realize and put into practice those needs, or
  to self-actualize
• We have to master our lower needs before we could
  move to the highest need.
• Our personality and subsequently behaviors are
  driven by or ability to master these needs.

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• Biological and Physiological needs - air, food,
  drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.
• Safety needs - protection from elements,
  security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.
• Belongingness and Love needs - work group,
  family, affection, relationships, etc.
• Esteem needs - self-esteem, achievement, mastery,
  independence, status, dominance, prestige,
  managerial responsibility, etc.
• Self-Actualization needs - realizing personal
  potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal
  growth and peak experiences.

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Self - Actualization

• A musician must make music, and artist must
  paint, a poet must write, if he is to ultimately
  be at peace with himself. What a man can be, he
  must be. This need we may call self-
  actualization (Maslow 1970)

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Evaluating the Humanistic-Phenomenological
Approach

• Critics argue against the humanist psychologist
  strong emphasis on personal responsibility or
  free will.
• This conflicts with the deterministic view that
  says that behavior and personality is influenced
  by many factors external factors.
• Also concepts are loosely defined. What is
  self-actualization, fully functioning? Hard to do
  systematic research b/c concepts cannot be
  defined or tested. How do you measure
  self-actualizing, self-concept etc?
•  

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COGNITIVE APPROACH
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• Cognitive therapy is based on a theory of
  personality which maintains that how one thinks
  largely determines how one feels and behaves.
• What matters most are the clients beliefs,
  thoughts, perceptions and attitudes about
  him/herself and the environment.
•  
• They dont deny the importance of behavior
  (stimulus-response), but they argue that A
  (activating events stimulus) doesnt just lead
  to C (consequences or behavior response), but
  there is an intervening process B (beliefs).

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• These beliefs can be rational or irrational. The
  way a person processes stimulus events is
  critical in determining what responses are
  produced and subsequently ones personality.
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• In Cognitive therapy it is not the stimuli (A)
  activating events that are crucial, but rather
  the persons perceptions and interpretation of
  the events.
•  
• Individuals make themselves emotionally healthy
  or emotionally upset by the way they think, not
  by the environment.

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The Trait/Biological Approach 
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• Personality trait is defined as the stable
  dimensions of personality along which people vary
  from very low to very high.
• According to Allport personality traits can be
  divided into several categories there are
  secondary traits (exert relatively weak and
  limited effect on behaviour), central traits
  (5-10 traits account for our uniqueness) and
  cardinal traits (few people are dominated with a
  single important trait)
• In Allports theory he spoke about Functional
  Autonomy, which is defined as maintenance of
  patterns of behaviour by motives other than the
  ones originally responsible for the behaviour
  occurence

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Assessment tools

• Many of us have taken some sort of psychological
  test, whether for mental health reasons,
  potential employment, job evaluations, or
  research.
• Objective tests do not have the biases that are
  common among subjective measures, but they also
  don't provide the breadth of information. 
• Some of the most common objective tests include
  the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory,
  Second Edition (MMPI-2), Million Clinical
  Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI), NEO Personality
  Inventory (NEO-PI).
• Projective techniques are designed to uncover
  thoughts, emotions, and desires that may not be
  known to the test taker.  In other words,
  unconscious impulses that may be driving current
  behaviors.  The most common of this type include
  the Rorschach Inkblot Test, The Thematic
  Apperception Test (TAT) and the Incomplete
  Sentences Blank.

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Other measures

• Interview the person and ask subjective questions
  about his or her feelings, thoughts and
  behaviors.  This will gather information in the
  person's own words, allowing the interview to
  better understand the person.  This could also
  alert the interview to associated issues such as
  anxiety. (Subjective)
• Biological measures of personality PET scans