Personality
·the unique pattern of enduring psychological and behavioural characteristics by which each person can be compared and contrasted with other people
Freud
The topographical model
1.unconscious
2.preconscious
3.conscious
The structural model
1.id
2.ego
3.superego
·also includes eros and thanatos ·based on biological instincts
Variations on Freud’s Personality Theory
Adler’s Individual Psychology (Alfred Adler 1927)
·emphasized the role of social rather than sexual urges ·wrote about sibling position ·believed that it is not the id but rather an innate desire to overcome infantile feelings of helplessness that provides the impetus for the development of personality - he called this process striving for superiority ·the ways in which each person tries to reach fulfillment constitute personality ·personality is directed not just by the unconsciousness but also by what he called guiding fictions: conscious ideas, goals, and beliefs that arise primarily from experiences within the family
Jung’s Analytic Psychology (Carl Jung 1916)
·argued that libido was not just a sexual instinct but a more general life force that includes an innate drive for creativity, for growth-oriented resolution of conflicts, and for the productive blending of basic impulses with real-world demands ·suggested that people develop, over time, differing degrees of introversion or extraversion
Other Neo-Freudian theorists
·Karen Horney (1937) challenged the view that women’s lack of a penis caused them to feel inferior to men ·she argued that it is men who envy women since they cannot bear children - she called this ‘womb envy’
·the unique pattern of enduring psychological and behavioural characteristics by which each person can be compared and contrasted with other people
Freud
The topographical model
1.unconscious
2.preconscious
3.conscious
The structural model
1.id
2.ego
3.superego
·also includes eros and thanatos ·based on biological instincts
Variations on Freud’s Personality Theory
Adler’s Individual Psychology (Alfred Adler 1927)
·emphasized the role of social rather than sexual urges ·wrote about sibling position ·believed that it is not the id but rather an innate desire to overcome infantile feelings of helplessness that provides the impetus for the development of personality - he called this process striving for superiority ·the ways in which each person tries to reach fulfillment constitute personality ·personality is directed not just by the unconsciousness but also by what he called guiding fictions: conscious ideas, goals, and beliefs that arise primarily from experiences within the family
Jung’s Analytic Psychology (Carl Jung 1916)
·argued that libido was not just a sexual instinct but a more general life force that includes an innate drive for creativity, for growth-oriented resolution of conflicts, and for the productive blending of basic impulses with real-world demands ·suggested that people develop, over time, differing degrees of introversion or extraversion
Other Neo-Freudian theorists
·Karen Horney (1937) challenged the view that women’s lack of a penis caused them to feel inferior to men ·she argued that it is men who envy women since they cannot bear children - she called this ‘womb envy’
·Erich Fromm
·Henry Stack Sullivan
·Erik Erikson
The Trait Approach
·traits are the inclinations or tendencies that help to direct how a person usually thinks and behaves ·a type is a discrete category ·type theories include:
·Hippocrates (sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic, choleric)
·William Sheldon - physiognomy
·Myers-Briggs personality test
·based on Jung’s 16 personality types
·validity is questionable
·the trait theories make 3 basic assumptions:
1.personality traits are relatively stable and therefore predictable over time
2.personality traits are relatively stable across diverse situations, and they can explain why people act in predictable ways in many different settings
3.people differ with regard to how much of a particular trait they possess - the result is an endless variety of unique personalities
·trait psychologists use a nomothetic approach, assuming that there are a number of traits that are common to all people
Prominent Trait Theories
Allport’s trait theory (Gordon Allport 1961)
·believed that people possess central traits which are usually apparent to others and comprise characteristics that organize and control behaviour in many different situations (e.g. ‘reliable’, ‘distractible’) ·also thought that people possess secondary traits which are specific to certain situations and control far less behaviour (e.g. ‘dislikes crowds’) ·his focus on the uniqueness of each individual personality made it difficult to draw conclusions
Cattell’s Factor-Analytic Approach (Raymond Cattell 1965)
·asked people to rate themselves on many of the trait-descriptive terms identified by Allport, and used Factor Analysis to calculate the degree to which various personality traits correlated with each other ·he identified sixteen dimensions, or factors, including shy vs. bold, trusting vs. suspicious, and relaxed vs. tense ·he believed these common traits are found in everyone, and measured their strength through the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire, or 16PF
Eysenck’s Biological Trait Theory (Hans Eysenck 1990)
·uses a dimensional approach to personality ·concluded that personality can be described in terms of three basic factors or dimensions (P, E, and N):
1.Psychoticism - people scoring highly show such attributes as cruelty, hostility, coldness, oddness, and rejection of social customs
2.Introversion-Extraversion (the most reliable of the dimensions)
3.Emotionality-Stability (a.k.a. Neuroticism) - high scorers exhibit characteristics such as moodiness, restlessness, worry, anxiety
·the Eysenck Personality Inventory can predict people’s key characteristics:
·criminals are likely to be in the ‘choleric’ quadrant (emotional and extraverted) ·people with anxiety disorders tend to be in the ‘melancholic’ quadrant (emotional and introverted) ·predicts that people with sensitive, ‘overaroused’ nervous systems are likely to be strongly affected by rewards and punishments, to readily develop conditioned responses such as fears and oversensitivities, and to be introverted ·of these dimensions, E has been most strongly supported by research ·Eysenck postulated that the biological bases of neuroticism are variations in the reactivity of the autonomic nervous system ·the bases of E are differences in the reticular activating system ·the introvert is said to condition more readily, and to develop responses which are stronger and more resistant to extinction ·people high on the N dimension are said to be more likely to develop neurotic symptoms under stress ·people low on E but high on N develop disorders characterized by excessive conditional anxiety (phobias, generalised anxiety, obsessional states) ·those high on E and N tend to develop disorders characterized by absence of control (hysterical and psychopathic conditions)
The “Big-Five” model (Paul Costa & Robert McCrae 1992):
Openness to experience: artistic, curious, imaginative, insightful, original, wide interests, unusual thought processes, intellectual interests
Conscientiousness: efficient, organized, planful, reliable, thorough, dependable, ethical, productive
Extraversion: active, assertive, energetic, outgoing, talkative, gregarious
Agreeableness: appreciative, forgiving, generous, kind, trusting, non-critical, warm, compassionate, considerate
Neuroticism: anxious, self-pitying, tense, emotionally unstable, impulsive, vulnerable, worrying
·different investigators find these factors when they factor-analyze data from numerous sources
·valid in many different countries including Canada, Germany, Finland, India, the Philippines, Poland, China, and Japan
Genetic basis of personality traits
·identical twins tend to be more alike in personality than non-identical twins, regardless of whether they are raised together or apart ·behavioural geneticists have concluded that at least 30 % and perhaps as much as 60 % of the variability in adult personality traits is due to genetic factors
The Cognitive-Behavioural approach
·view personality as the array of behaviours that people acquire through learning and display in particular situations ·often called the social learning approach - it views personality as the sum total of the behaviours and cognitive habits that develop as people learn through experience in the social world
·John B. Watson used research on classical conditioning to support his claim that all human behaviour is determined by learning
·B. F. Skinner emphasized the importance of operant conditioning - through functional analysis he sought to understand behaviour in terms of its function in obtaining rewards or avoiding punishment
Rotter’s Expectancy theory (Julian Rotter 1982)
·argued that learning creates cognitive expectancies that guide behaviour ·suggested that a person’s decision to engage in a behaviour is determined by:
1.what the person expects to happen following the behaviour
2.the value the person places on the outcome
·behaviour is therefore influenced by a cognitive expectation that they will obtain a particular reward ·some people (internals) are likely to expect events to be controlled by their own efforts
·others (externals) tend to expect events to be determined by external forces over which they have no control. When externals succeed, they are likely to believe that it was due to chance or luck
·internals:
·tend to get better grades and to score higher on standardized academic tests
·less likely to smoke
·work harder at staying healthy
·more likely to exercise
·more likely to wear seat belts
·if they are hospitalized, internals are more cooperative patients, and are released sooner
Reciprocal Determinism (Albert Bandura 1986)
·personality is shaped by reciprocal determinism - behaviour tends to affect their environment, which in turn affects cognitions, which may affect behaviour, and so on ·self-efficacy is the learned expectation of success, the belief that you can successfully perform a behaviour regardless of past failures or current obstacles ·self-efficacy interacts with expectancies about the outcome of behaviour in general, and the result of this interplay helps to shape a person’s psychological well-being:
Mischel’s Person-Situation Theory (Walter Mischel 1993)
·learned beliefs or expectancies characterize each individual and make that individual different from other people - these cognitive characteristics are called person variables ·the most important person variables are:
1.competencies (the thoughts and actions the person can perform)
2.perceptions (how the person perceives the environment)
3.expectations (what the person expects to follow from various behaviours)
4.subjective values (the person’s ideals and goals)
5.self-regulation and plans (the person’s standards for self-reward and plans for reaching goals)
·certain conclusions have resulted from the debate over personality traits vs. situational factors:
1.traits influence behaviour only in relevant situations (e.g. anxiety is only felt in situations where the person is threatened)
2.traits can lead to behaviours that alter situations that, in turn, promote other behaviours
3.people choose to be in situations that are in accord with their traits (e.g. introverts are more likely to choose quiet environments)
4.traits are more influential in some situations than in others - in ambiguous or unconstrained situations, people’s behaviour may be predicted from their personality traits
The Phenomenological Approach
·maintains that the way people perceive and interpret the world forms their personality and guides their behaviour ·focuses on mental qualities that set humans apart: self awareness, creativity, planning, decision making, and responsibility ·also called the humanistic view of personality ·the primary human motivator is an innate drive towards growth that prompts people to fulfill their unique and natural potential
Rogers’ Self Theory (Carl Rogers 1942-1980)
·assumes that each person responds as an organized whole to reality as he or she perceives it
·emphasized self-actualization - an innate tendency towards growth that motivates all human behaviour ·personality is the expression of each individual’s self-actualizing tendency as it unfolds in that individual’s uniquely perceived reality ·early in life, children learn to need other people’s approval, or positive regard ·when evaluations by others are congruent with self-experience, the result is a clearly identified and positively evaluated experience of the self, which becomes part of the self-concept ·Rogers argued that psychological discomfort, anxiety, or mental disorder can result when the feelings people experience or express are incongruent with their true feelings ·conditions of worth (when a child believes that his or her worth as a person depends on displaying the ‘right’ attitudes, behaviours, and values) are created whenever people are evaluated instead of their behaviour - they are first set up by external pressure but eventually become part of the person’s belief system
Maslow’s Humanistic Psychology (Abraham Maslow 1954-1971)
·believed that self-actualization is not just a human capacity but a human need ·he saw most people as controlled by deficiency orientation, a preoccupation with perceived needs for material things ·people with a growth orientation do not focus on what is missing but draw satisfaction from what they have, what they are, and what they can do ·this opens the door to what Maslow called peak experiences, in which people feel joy in the mere fact of being alive, and knowing that they are utilizing their full potential.
·Henry Stack Sullivan
·Erik Erikson
The Trait Approach
·traits are the inclinations or tendencies that help to direct how a person usually thinks and behaves ·a type is a discrete category ·type theories include:
·Hippocrates (sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic, choleric)
·William Sheldon - physiognomy
·Myers-Briggs personality test
·based on Jung’s 16 personality types
·validity is questionable
·the trait theories make 3 basic assumptions:
1.personality traits are relatively stable and therefore predictable over time
2.personality traits are relatively stable across diverse situations, and they can explain why people act in predictable ways in many different settings
3.people differ with regard to how much of a particular trait they possess - the result is an endless variety of unique personalities
·trait psychologists use a nomothetic approach, assuming that there are a number of traits that are common to all people
Prominent Trait Theories
Allport’s trait theory (Gordon Allport 1961)
·believed that people possess central traits which are usually apparent to others and comprise characteristics that organize and control behaviour in many different situations (e.g. ‘reliable’, ‘distractible’) ·also thought that people possess secondary traits which are specific to certain situations and control far less behaviour (e.g. ‘dislikes crowds’) ·his focus on the uniqueness of each individual personality made it difficult to draw conclusions
Cattell’s Factor-Analytic Approach (Raymond Cattell 1965)
·asked people to rate themselves on many of the trait-descriptive terms identified by Allport, and used Factor Analysis to calculate the degree to which various personality traits correlated with each other ·he identified sixteen dimensions, or factors, including shy vs. bold, trusting vs. suspicious, and relaxed vs. tense ·he believed these common traits are found in everyone, and measured their strength through the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire, or 16PF
Eysenck’s Biological Trait Theory (Hans Eysenck 1990)
·uses a dimensional approach to personality ·concluded that personality can be described in terms of three basic factors or dimensions (P, E, and N):
1.Psychoticism - people scoring highly show such attributes as cruelty, hostility, coldness, oddness, and rejection of social customs
2.Introversion-Extraversion (the most reliable of the dimensions)
3.Emotionality-Stability (a.k.a. Neuroticism) - high scorers exhibit characteristics such as moodiness, restlessness, worry, anxiety
·the Eysenck Personality Inventory can predict people’s key characteristics:
·criminals are likely to be in the ‘choleric’ quadrant (emotional and extraverted) ·people with anxiety disorders tend to be in the ‘melancholic’ quadrant (emotional and introverted) ·predicts that people with sensitive, ‘overaroused’ nervous systems are likely to be strongly affected by rewards and punishments, to readily develop conditioned responses such as fears and oversensitivities, and to be introverted ·of these dimensions, E has been most strongly supported by research ·Eysenck postulated that the biological bases of neuroticism are variations in the reactivity of the autonomic nervous system ·the bases of E are differences in the reticular activating system ·the introvert is said to condition more readily, and to develop responses which are stronger and more resistant to extinction ·people high on the N dimension are said to be more likely to develop neurotic symptoms under stress ·people low on E but high on N develop disorders characterized by excessive conditional anxiety (phobias, generalised anxiety, obsessional states) ·those high on E and N tend to develop disorders characterized by absence of control (hysterical and psychopathic conditions)
The “Big-Five” model (Paul Costa & Robert McCrae 1992):
Openness to experience: artistic, curious, imaginative, insightful, original, wide interests, unusual thought processes, intellectual interests
Conscientiousness: efficient, organized, planful, reliable, thorough, dependable, ethical, productive
Extraversion: active, assertive, energetic, outgoing, talkative, gregarious
Agreeableness: appreciative, forgiving, generous, kind, trusting, non-critical, warm, compassionate, considerate
Neuroticism: anxious, self-pitying, tense, emotionally unstable, impulsive, vulnerable, worrying
·different investigators find these factors when they factor-analyze data from numerous sources
·valid in many different countries including Canada, Germany, Finland, India, the Philippines, Poland, China, and Japan
Genetic basis of personality traits
·identical twins tend to be more alike in personality than non-identical twins, regardless of whether they are raised together or apart ·behavioural geneticists have concluded that at least 30 % and perhaps as much as 60 % of the variability in adult personality traits is due to genetic factors
The Cognitive-Behavioural approach
·view personality as the array of behaviours that people acquire through learning and display in particular situations ·often called the social learning approach - it views personality as the sum total of the behaviours and cognitive habits that develop as people learn through experience in the social world
·John B. Watson used research on classical conditioning to support his claim that all human behaviour is determined by learning
·B. F. Skinner emphasized the importance of operant conditioning - through functional analysis he sought to understand behaviour in terms of its function in obtaining rewards or avoiding punishment
Rotter’s Expectancy theory (Julian Rotter 1982)
·argued that learning creates cognitive expectancies that guide behaviour ·suggested that a person’s decision to engage in a behaviour is determined by:
1.what the person expects to happen following the behaviour
2.the value the person places on the outcome
·behaviour is therefore influenced by a cognitive expectation that they will obtain a particular reward ·some people (internals) are likely to expect events to be controlled by their own efforts
·others (externals) tend to expect events to be determined by external forces over which they have no control. When externals succeed, they are likely to believe that it was due to chance or luck
·internals:
·tend to get better grades and to score higher on standardized academic tests
·less likely to smoke
·work harder at staying healthy
·more likely to exercise
·more likely to wear seat belts
·if they are hospitalized, internals are more cooperative patients, and are released sooner
Reciprocal Determinism (Albert Bandura 1986)
·personality is shaped by reciprocal determinism - behaviour tends to affect their environment, which in turn affects cognitions, which may affect behaviour, and so on ·self-efficacy is the learned expectation of success, the belief that you can successfully perform a behaviour regardless of past failures or current obstacles ·self-efficacy interacts with expectancies about the outcome of behaviour in general, and the result of this interplay helps to shape a person’s psychological well-being:
Mischel’s Person-Situation Theory (Walter Mischel 1993)
·learned beliefs or expectancies characterize each individual and make that individual different from other people - these cognitive characteristics are called person variables ·the most important person variables are:
1.competencies (the thoughts and actions the person can perform)
2.perceptions (how the person perceives the environment)
3.expectations (what the person expects to follow from various behaviours)
4.subjective values (the person’s ideals and goals)
5.self-regulation and plans (the person’s standards for self-reward and plans for reaching goals)
·certain conclusions have resulted from the debate over personality traits vs. situational factors:
1.traits influence behaviour only in relevant situations (e.g. anxiety is only felt in situations where the person is threatened)
2.traits can lead to behaviours that alter situations that, in turn, promote other behaviours
3.people choose to be in situations that are in accord with their traits (e.g. introverts are more likely to choose quiet environments)
4.traits are more influential in some situations than in others - in ambiguous or unconstrained situations, people’s behaviour may be predicted from their personality traits
The Phenomenological Approach
·maintains that the way people perceive and interpret the world forms their personality and guides their behaviour ·focuses on mental qualities that set humans apart: self awareness, creativity, planning, decision making, and responsibility ·also called the humanistic view of personality ·the primary human motivator is an innate drive towards growth that prompts people to fulfill their unique and natural potential
Rogers’ Self Theory (Carl Rogers 1942-1980)
·assumes that each person responds as an organized whole to reality as he or she perceives it
·emphasized self-actualization - an innate tendency towards growth that motivates all human behaviour ·personality is the expression of each individual’s self-actualizing tendency as it unfolds in that individual’s uniquely perceived reality ·early in life, children learn to need other people’s approval, or positive regard ·when evaluations by others are congruent with self-experience, the result is a clearly identified and positively evaluated experience of the self, which becomes part of the self-concept ·Rogers argued that psychological discomfort, anxiety, or mental disorder can result when the feelings people experience or express are incongruent with their true feelings ·conditions of worth (when a child believes that his or her worth as a person depends on displaying the ‘right’ attitudes, behaviours, and values) are created whenever people are evaluated instead of their behaviour - they are first set up by external pressure but eventually become part of the person’s belief system
Maslow’s Humanistic Psychology (Abraham Maslow 1954-1971)
·believed that self-actualization is not just a human capacity but a human need ·he saw most people as controlled by deficiency orientation, a preoccupation with perceived needs for material things ·people with a growth orientation do not focus on what is missing but draw satisfaction from what they have, what they are, and what they can do ·this opens the door to what Maslow called peak experiences, in which people feel joy in the mere fact of being alive, and knowing that they are utilizing their full potential.
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