Introduction to Psychology

1
Introduction to Psychology

• Personality

2
Psychodynamic Views of Personality

• Freud invoked a role of unconscious processes in
  the control of behavior
• Based on his observations of clients
• Topographical model argued for 3 levels of
  consciousness
• Conflict occurs between the different aspects of
  consciousness
• Requires compromise formation
• Id, ego, superego

3
Freuds Developmental Model

• Human behavior is motivated by two drives
• Aggressive
• Sexual
• Libido refers to pleasure-seeking and sensuality
  as well as desire for intercourse
• Libido follows a developmental course during
  childhood
• Stages of development
• Fixed progression of change from stage to stage
• Notion of fixation at a particular libidinal
  stage

4
Freuds Psychosexual Stages
STAGE AGE CONFLICTS AND CONCERNS
5
Ego Defense Mechanisms

• Defense mechanisms are unconscious mental
  processes that protect the conscious person from
  anxiety
• Repression anxiety-evoking thoughts are kept
  unconscious
• Denial person refuses to recognize reality
• - Projection person attributes their own
  unacceptable impulses to others

6
Ego Defense Mechanisms

• Reaction Formation person converts an
  unacceptable impulse into the opposite impulse
• Sublimation person converts an unacceptable
  impulse into a socially acceptable activity
• Rationalization person explains away their
  actions to reduce anxiety
• Displacement diverting emotional feelings from
  their original source to a substitute target

7
Projective Tests

• Projective tests assume that persons presented
  with a vague stimulus will project their own
  impulses and desires into a description of the
  stimulus
• Rorschach Inkblots
• Thematic Apperception Test

"I see a ..
8
Other Psychoanalytic Theorists

• Jungs Analytical Psychology
• Adlers Individual Psychology
• Anna Freud
• Erik Erikson
• Harry Sullivan

9
Evaluation of Freuds Contributions to
Personality Theory

• Contributions
• Emphasis on unconscious processes
• Identification of defense mechanisms
• Importance of childhood experiences in shaping
  adult personality
• Limitations
• Theories are not solidly based on scientific
  observation
• Excessive emphasis on drives such as sex and
  aggression

10
B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) Radical Behaviorism

• scientific analysis of behavior
• personality a collection of behavior
  patterns
• black box theory
• explanatory fictions (e.g., freedom, the self)

11
Albert Banduras Social Learning Theory

• Observational (Vicarious) Learning
• people learn by merely observing what others do
  and what happens to them
• two processes
• acquisition
• acceptance/performance
• consequences are an important influence

12
RECIPROCAL DETERMINISM
PERSON (cognitions, expectations)
BEHAVIOUR
ENVIRONMENT (contingencies)

13
Albert Ellis Rational Emotive Therapy (RET)

• Assumes that all humans have fundamental goals,
  purposes and values (e.g., stay alive, be
  satisfied)
• if people choose to stay alive try to be
  happy/satisfied they are acting rationally
• when people think/emote/behave in a way that
  interferes with these goals, they act
  irrationally

14
Evaluation of Cognitive-Social Personality Theory

• Contributions
• Provided emphasis on the role of thought and
  memory in personality
• Limitations
• Overemphasis of rational side of personality
• Avoidance of explanations of unconscious
  processes in personality

15
Humanistic Personality Approaches

• Humanistic personality theorists reject the
  behaviorist and psychodynamic notions of
  personality
• Humanists emphasize the notion that each person
  has a potential for creative growth
• The intent is to assist the person in developing
  to their maximal potential

16
Rogers Person-Centered Approach

• Rogers believed that humans are good by nature
  (in contrast to psychodynamic view of human
  nature)
• Rogers emphasized the notion of self-concept
• Each person has multiple selves
• True-self the core aspect of being
• False-self the self that is created by
  distortions from interpersonal experiences
• Ideal-self what the person would like to be

17
Evaluation of Humanistic Personality Theory

• Contributions
• Focus on how humans strive to determine the
  meaning of life
• Limitations
• Humanistic approach is not a complete theoretical
  account of personality
• The approach has not generated a body of testable
  hypotheses and research

18
Trait Approach
TRAIT Consistent patterns of thoughts, feelings,
or actions that distinguish people.

• ASSUMPTION 1 traits are stable over time
• ASSUMPTION 2 traits are stable across situations
• people differ on continuous variables or
  dimensions
• traits exist on a continuum
• basic differences between people are quantitative
• traits are used to understand and predict
  behaviour
• emphasizes measurement of traits through tests

19
The Big Five Factors of Personality

• Openness to experience
• Conscientiousness
• Extroversion
• Agreeableness
• Neuroticism
• OCEAN...

20
Genetics of Personality

• Biological relatives are more similar in
  personality than are strangers
• Twins raised together and raised apart provide
  evidence for a genetic aspect of personality

Raised Apart Raised Together MZ DZ MZ DZ .48 .
18 .58 .23 .29 .30 .57 .24
Genetic effect
Well-being Social Closeness
Environmental effect