Personality

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Personality

• Part Two- Theories from
• Humanistic
• Trait
• Social Cognitive

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Humanistic Perspective

• importance of self and fulfillment of potential

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• Personality how you feel about yourself, how
  you are meeting your goals

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Abraham Maslow

• Hierarchy of Needs influences behavior- striving
  for self actualization

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Morality, Lack of Prejudice
Self-Esteem, Confidence and Respect
Significant Other, Family and Friends
Economic and Physical security (Health and Job)
Food, Water, Oxygen, Etc
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Evaluating Humanism

• Difficult to test or validate scientifically
• Too optimistic, minimizing some of the more
  destructive aspects of human nature

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Trait Theory

• Description and measurement of personality
  differences

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• Traitrelatively stable predisposition to behave
  in a certain way

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Five Factor Model

• Factorsusually rated from low to high
• Conscientiousness
• Agreeableness
• Neuroticism
• Openness to experience
• Extraversion

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The Big Five Traits
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The Big Five Traits
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The Big Five Traits
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The Big Five Traits
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The Big Five Traits
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The Five-Factor Model of Personality
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Evaluation of Trait Perspective

• Doesnt explain why how personality
  (description only)
• Doesnt address motives, unconscious, or beliefs
  about self affect personality development

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Psychological Tests

• Test is useful if it achieves two basic goals
• Accurately and consistently reflects a persons
  characteristics
• Predicts future psychological functioning or
  behavior

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Self-Report Inventory

• Standardized questions about his or her behavior
  and feelings
• The answers are then compared to established norms

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MMPI

• Most widely used self-report inventory
• Originally designed to assess mental health and
  detect psychological symptoms

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• Has over 500 questions to which person must reply
  True or False
• Includes lying scales

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Strengths of Self-Reports

• Standardizedeach person receives same
  instructions and responds to same questions

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• Use of established norms results are compared to
  previously established norms and are not
  subjectively evaluated

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Weaknesses of Self-Reports

• Evidence that people can fake responses to look
  better (or worse)
• Tests contain hundreds of items and become
  tedious
• People may not be good judges of their own
  behavior

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Psychodynamic Testing

• Projective Tests
• Personality tests that provide ambiguous stimuli
  to trigger projection of ones inner thoughts and
  feelings

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Psychoanalytical Approach Accessing the
Unconscious Mind

• Rorschach Inkblot Test
• A set of 10 inkblots, without any discernable
  patterns or images, are presented to a patient.
  Subjects simply identify what they think the
  inkblot looks like, and researchers interpret
  those identifications as personality
  characteristics.

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• Black ink. A roughly triangular shape, point
  down, suggesting a broad, fox like face with
  prominent ears. Naughty bits a pair of breasts
  (rounded projections at top of blot) a vertical
  female figure, her torso partly visible through a
  gauzy dress (along center line). The first blot
  is easy. How fast you answer is taken as an
  indication of how well you cope with new
  situations. The best reaction is to give one of
  the most common responses immediately. Good
  answers are bat, butterfly, moth, and (in center
  of blot) a female figure. Mask, jack-o'-lantern,
  and animal face are common responses too, but in
  some interpretation schemes they suggest
  paranoia. A bad response is any that says
  something untoward about the central female
  figure. "She" is often judged to be a projection
  of your own self-image. Avoid the obvious comment
  that the figure has two breasts but no head. If
  you don't give more than one answer for Plate I,
  many psychologists will drop a hint--tell you to
  look closer.

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• Black and red ink. Two dark-gray splotches
  suggesting dancing figures. Red splotches at top
  of each figure and at bottom center. Naughty
  bits penis (upper center, black ink) vagina
  (the red area at bottom center). It is
  important to see this blot as two human figures
  usually females or clowns. If you don't, it's
  seen as a sign that you have trouble relating to
  people. You may give other responses as well,
  such as cave entrance (the triangular white space
  between the two figures) and butterfly (the red
  "vagina," bottom center). Should you mention
  the penis and vagina? Not necessarily. Every
  Rorsehach plate has at least one obvious
  representation of sexual anatomy. You're not
  expected to mention them all. In some
  interpretation schemes, mentioning more than four
  sex images in the ten plates is diagnostic of
  schizophrenia. The trouble is, subjects who took
  Psychology 101 often assume they should detail
  every possible sex response, so allowances must
  be made. Most Rorschach workers believe the sex
  images should play a part in the interpretation
  of responses even when not mentioned. You may not
  say that the lower red area looks like a vagina,
  but psychologists assume that what you do say
  will show how you feel about women. Nix on
  "crab" stick with "butterfly."

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• Black and red ink. Two obvious .figures (black
  ink) facing each other. Butterfly-shaped red blot
  between the figures an elongated red blot behind
  each figure's head. Naughty bits penises and
  breasts (at anatomically appropriate positions
  for each figure). This is the blot that
  supposedly can determine sexual preference. Most
  people see the two human figures. Both figures
  have prominent "breasts" and an equally prominent
  "penis." If you don't volunteer the gender of the
  figures, you'll be asked to specify it. By the
  traditional interpretation, seeing the figures as
  male is a heterosexual response (for test
  subjects of both sexes). Describing the figures
  as female or acknowledging the androgynous nature
  of the blot is supposed to be a homosexual
  response. Does it work? Not really--many
  straights describe the figures as women, and not
  all gays give a gay response. A 1971 study at
  Mount Sinai Hospital in New York showed the
  traditionally heterosexual response (two male
  figures) to be declining in popularity. The
  splotches of red ink are usually perceived
  separately. Common responses are "bow-tie" or
  "ribbon" (inner red area) and a stomach and
  esophagus (outer red areas).

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                                  Plate V
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• Black ink. A simple, bat like shape. Naughty
  bits two penises (the "ears" or "antennae").
  Rorschach himself thought this was the easiest
  blot to interpret. It is a bat or a butterfly,
  period. You don't want to mention anything else.
  Seeing the projections on the ends of the bat
  wings as crocodile heads signifies hostility.
  Seeing the paired butterfly antennae or feet as
  scissors or pliers signifies a castration
  complex. Schizophrenics sometimes see moving
  people in this blot. Many psychologists take
  particular note of the number of responses given
  to this plate. If you mention more images here
  than in either Plate IV or VI, it is suggestive
  of schizophrenia.

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Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

• Slightly less ambiguous that the inkblot
• uses real pictures of objects or people
• participant is asked to say what is going on in
  the picture, what has happened just before the
  event depicted and what will happen afterwards.
• Like the inkblot, because the scene is ambiguous,
  the individual will project onto the scene
  something of themself and in this way their
  'inner' or hidden self will be revealed.
• The validity of projective tests is very
  difficult to assess and therefore they must be
  used with extreme caution.

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Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

• what is going on in the picture?
• what has happened just before the event depicted?
• what will happen next?

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• what is going on in the picture?
• what has happened just before the event depicted?
• what will happen next?

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)