Theories of Personality Development

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Theories of Personality Development
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Trait Theories

• Explain differences between people in terms of
  stable personality traits
• Modern day psychologists have found 5 personality
  dimensions that span cultures

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The 5 Factor Theory

• Extraversion
• Neuroticism
• Conscientiousness
• Agreeableness
• Openness to Experience

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The 5 Factor Theory
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The 5 Factor Theory
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The 5 Factor Theory
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The 5 Factor Theory

• Helpful in predicting general trends in behavior
• Too general to predict behavior in a specific
  situation

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Personality Heredity

• Heritability can be calculated by comparing
  traits of twins reared together and twins reared
  apart

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Heritability, Big 5 Traits
(Minnesota Study)
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Heritability, Extraversion
(Minnesota Study)
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Heritability, Neuroticism
(Minnesota Study)
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Heritability, Conscientiousness
(Minnesota Study)
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Heritability, Agreeableness
(Minnesota Study)
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Heritability, Openness
(Minnesota Study)
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Behaviorist Theory

• Behavior determined by

• Reward
• Punishment
• Classical conditioning

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Social Cognitive Theory

• Bandura's Reciprocal Determinism and
  Self-Efficacy
• Rotter's Locus of Control

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Reciprocal Determinism
Environment
Personal Cognitive Factors
Behavior
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Self-Efficacy

• One's perception of personal effectiveness
• One of Bandura's personal/cognitive factors

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Self-Efficacy
Beliefyou will dowell
Greatereffort persistence
Success
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Self-Efficacy
Beliefyou will dopoorly
Lesseffort persistence
Failure
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Internal Locus
Belief you control your fate
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Internal Locus
Belief you dontcontrol your fate
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The Person Beliefs and Behaviors

• Humanistic psychology
• Abraham Maslow
• Self-actualization
• Oceanic feelings (flow)
• Carl Rogers
• Client-centered therapy
• Unconditional positive regard

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The World Social Influences on Personality

• Birth order
• Peer relationships Personality development by
  peer pressure
• Sex differences in personality Nature and
  nurture
• Culture and personality Are there national
  personalities?

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Assessment

• Observation
• Interviews
• Rating Scales
• Inventories
• Projective Tests

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Problems

• Observations, interviews, rating scales suffer
  from reliability problems the halo effect
• Halo Effect
• Assuming that someone with one favorable trait
  has many others as well

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The MMPI-2

• The most widely-used inventory
• Consists of 567 true-false questions

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The CPI

• An MMPI-like test designed for normal individuals
• The MMPI is more useful for clinical purposes,
  the CPI for normal populations

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Projective Tests

• The Rorschach Inkblot Test
• The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

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The Rorschach

• Subject tells what each blot looks like and what
  aspect of the blot triggered that response

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The Rorschach

• Responses scored on use of parts vs. wholes,
  movement, content, use of color
• Criticized for lack of reliability, low validity
  (inability to predict behavior)

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The TAT

• Consists of 19 vague or ambiguous drawings
• Person describes what is happening in each

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The TAT

• A TAT-like picture

Criticized for low reliability for reflecting
temporary states rather than long-term traits
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Sentence Completion

• A projective test requiring completion of
  open-ended sentences
• May be more reliable than the TAT

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Magazine Quizzes

• "Personality" tests in popular magazines often
  use vague terms and rely on the the "Barnum
  Effect"
• "Always have a little something for everybody.
  (Famed circus owner P.T. Barnum)
• In this case involves having everyone's
  assessment be vague (so it fits) but positive (so
  you'll believe it)

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Sigmund Freud

• Assumptions
• Traits transcend situations
• Personality formed in childhood

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Freuds Model
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Freudian Theory

• Personality components
• Id Concerned with drive satisfaction, provides
  the motive power follows the pleasure principle
  (the horse)
• Ego Rational thought controls channels id
  follows the reality principle (the rider)
• Superego Oversees balance between ego id
  internalized parental control much like a
  conscience

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Freudian Theory

• The Libido The sexual life energy that drives
  the id other researchers dispute Freud's sexual
  emphasis
• The Conscious Consists of things you are
  currently aware of constantly changing
• The Preconscious Consists of things in long term
  memory that influence behavior could be
  retrieved if desired
• The Subconscious Consists of things you're
  unaware of but that influence you the primary
  personality component

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Freudian Theory

• The Unconscious
• The primary personality component
• Consists of things you're unaware of but that
  influence you
• Can't be tapped directly
• Reflected in slips of the tongue, dreams, etc.

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Freudian Theory Stages

• Psychosexual Stages(source of libido
  satisfaction)
• Oral (0-1 year)
• Anal (1-3 years)
• Phallic (3-6 years)
• Latency (6-puberty)
• Genital (from puberty)

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Freudian Theory Stages

• Oral Stage
• Libido gratification comes from oral exploration
  of the world
• Infant learns to trust in others, esp. for food
• Oral Personality
• Problems in the oral stage supposedly lead to
  pessimism about the world, hostility or
  passivity

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Freudian Theory Stages

• Anal Stage
• Kids learn about delay of gratification
• Kids gain pleasure and libido satisfaction from
  being in control
• Anal Personality
• Problems in the anal stage supposedly lead to
  either excessive orderliness or excessive
  messiness

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Freudian Theory Stages

• Phallic Stage
• Freud believed sex-role identification occurred
• Mechanisms included castration anxiety (boys)
  penis envy (girls)
• Phallic Personality
• Problems in the phallic stage supposedly lead to
  sex-role identification problems, promiscuity,
  vanity, or excessive chastity

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Freudian Theory Stages

• Latency Stage
• A time of focus on achievement and mastery of
  skills
• Libido is channeled into mastery activities
• Freud thought little of interest happened here
• Others have argued the sense of self-esteem is
  established here

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Freudian Theory Stages

• Genital Stage
• The time of mature personality, intimacy with
  others
• Libido satisfied by adult- type sexual activity

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Freudian Theory Defense

• Defense Mechanisms
• Methods for dealing with anxiety
• Freud thought some more mature than others

Denial Repression Projection Formal
Reaction Rationalization Regression Displacement
Sublimation
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Denial

• Refusing to accept that the feeling is present or
  that the event occurred
• A very primitive mechanism
• Example preschoolers will convince themselves
  they didn't do something they wish they hadn't

"Firecrackers? No, I never use firecrackers!"
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Repression

• Relegating anxiety- causing thoughts to the
  unconscious, refusing to think about them
• Example
• Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind -- "I
  won't think about that now, I'll think about that
  tomorrow."

"I refuse to even think about firecrackers."
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Projection

• Attributing one's undesirable traits or actions
  to others, so they become the problem instead of
  you
• Example from a failing student
• "I'm not worried about me, but I'd hate to see
  Ellen flunk--she's so fragile"

"Okay, I played with 1, but Joe's always playing
with firecrackers."
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Reaction Formation

• Taking actions opposite to one's feelings in
  order to deny the reality of the feelings
• Freud thought many people fervently pursuing a
  cause were using this mechanism to hide their
  true feelings

"Hi! I'm the president of the local
anti-fireworks club!"
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Rationalization

• Creating intellectually - acceptable arguments
  for thoughts or behavior to hide the actual
  anxiety - causing impulses
• Examples
• "I only read Playboy for the articles."
• "I didn't get an A on my paper because I didn't
  want to make you feel inferior."

"I wasn't playing with fireworks I was testing
them to see if they're safe."
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Regression

• Reverting to the comfort of behaviors of an
  earlier stage of development in order to cope
• Example
• Children who crawl around the floor and produce
  baby talk when a new baby enters the family

"I couldn't be using fire-crackers, I'm too
little."
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Displacement

• Substituting a less-threatening object for the
  subject of the hostile or sexual impulse
• A person mad at his boss might attack an
  underling instead--a person like the boss in some
  ways, but not as anxiety provoking

"I'm not afraid of firecrackers. I'm afraid of
what will happen if mom finds out."
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Sublimation

• The most mature mechanism
• Redirecting anxiety-causing impulses into
  socially acceptable actions
• Example
• Dealing with anxiety over a final by engaging in
  vigorous physical activity

"My puppet show is about kids who use
firecrackers."
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Problems with Freud

• Too general Explains everything after the fact,
  but predicts nothing beforehand
• Key portions are contrary to recent data There
  is no evidence for penis envy, castration
  anxiety, the latency period
• Biased against females Freud's negative
  attitudes towards women colored his entire theory
• Relies on too many constructs Relies on the
  existence of hypotheticals such as the id, ego,
  superego

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Contributions

• The discovery of unconscious processes
• His emphasis on childhood influences on adult
  behavior

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Neo-Freudians

• Former students of Freud who broke away from him
  (often acrimoniously) to create their own
  theories
• Carl Jung
• Alfred Adler
• Karen Horney

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Carl Jung

• Personality Theory
• Ego
• Personal Unconscious Like a combination of
  Freud's preconscious and unconscious
• Collective Unconscious Inherited tendencies to
  respond in a particular way (archetypes) shared
  by all humans

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Alfred Adler

• Humans motivated by the need to overcome
  inferiority and strive for significance
• Inferiority Complex Adler's term for feelings of
  inferiority that interfere with development

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Karen Horney

• Stressed need for safety satisfaction
• Childhood frustration may lead to development of
  basic anxiety neurosis

Tyranny of the Should Horney's term for focusing
on an unrealistic, perfect self-image that leads
to dissatisfaction
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