Psych 120General Psychology

Christopher GadeOffice: 1030A

Office hours: MW 4:30-5:30Email: gadecj@gmail.com

Class MW 1:30-4:30 Room 2240

Personality To effectively examine

the topic of personality, one must ask a number of questions… How is an individual’s

personality defined? How do we determine

different personalities? Can and do our

personalities change? How does personality

come about?

What is personality? Personality – all the consistent ways in which

the behavior of one person differs from and is similar to that of others, especially in social situations. Specific behaviors signify specific personalities

Personality measures can’t determine what we do all of the time in every social situation, but it can give us a good indication about what we are likely to do.

Personality traits are often tough to define, but there are a number of theories about how many, and what types of traits individuals have.

Personality is said to be the product of experience and genetics.

Freud and his psychodynamic

approach Psychodynamic theory – personality is

based on the interplay of conflicting forces within the individual. This includes forces that the individual is both aware, and unaware of. Our personality is a derivative of all of experiences

of our past, as well as the forces acting on the individual.

Abnormal personality is a result of pent up or conflicting forces within the individual.

Catharsis – a release of pent up emotional tensions

What are these forces in conflict?

the ‘id’: an unconscious force that constantly seeks satisfaction of basic needs (survival, sex, immediate gratification).

The ‘superego’: an unconscious force that’s only goal is to push us to do what is ‘right’ (society’s standards).

The ‘ego’: a conscious force that operates on the reality principle. It seeks to satisfy id’s and the superego’s desires in realistic ways.

So what causes these emotional tensions

(according to Freud)? A pent up store of

unconscious desires and experiences that have a detrimental effect on the individual.

Conscious – thoughts, memories, and emotions that we are aware of.

Unconscious – thoughts, memories, and emotions that we are unaware of due to their traumatic or unacceptable nature.

How do we get at these unconscious

memories/emotions/thoughts? Psychoanalysis

Hypnosis

Free association

Dream interpretation

“Freudian Slips”

Differentiation of Sexual Desires

Freud eventually went on to argue that children of all ages have some form of sexual tension. This tension was a result of libido (psychosexual energy), that comes in different forms throughout development.

Anal Pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder stinginess(18-36 months) elimination; coping with demands for control strict orderliness

Freud’s Psychosexual StagesStage Focus FixationOral Pleasure centers on the mouth-- smoking, (0-18 months) sucking, biting, chewing overeating

Phallic Pleasure zone is the genitals; coping with penis envy(3-6 years) incestuous sexual feelings castration fearLatency Dormant sexual feelings (6 to puberty)Genital Maturation of sexual interests(puberty on)

So what can we take from Freud?

Humans apparently have a mental life that is at least partly unconscious.

People often have conflicting motives and desires.

Childhood experiences contribute to the development of adult personality and social behavior.

Sexual development has an impact on psychological development.

Where was Freud just dead wrong?

Unconscious thoughts defined by Freud are very different from today’s theories of unconscious.

Its not all about sex and psychosexual stages (if these stages even exist).

Almost all (if not all) forms of mental disorders have been only weakly linked to childhood experiences.

Then and now… In the last part of this

lecture, we began studying the field of personality psychology by discussing the personality theories proposed by Sigmund Freud.

Now we’ll be continuing our exploration of personality psychology. Other theories about

personality formation

Other possible origins of personality (a slightly more scientific approach)

Carl Jung (1875-1961)

Colleague of Freud’s Accepted many of Freud’s beliefs about

the formation of personality. Personality is formed from both conscious and

unconscious forces Our past experiences have an impact on our

personalities

Broke with Freud’s work because of his differing beliefs about personality formation. Our personal unconscious did not contain the basic

instincts that Freud proposed (primarily the id) People possess personality traits as a result of a

collective unconscious. Archetypes – vague images of our personality. Some

archetypes are inherited from the experiences of our ancestors.

Alfred Adler’s Superiority Theory

Another early student of Freud’s, but brokeaway because of differing theories (toomuch focus on sex).

Formed a branch of psychology called individual psychology Individual psychology – a psychology of the person as a

whole rather than a person in parts

Believed that personality was based on our attempts to pursue our strengths and make up for our shortcomings. Striving for superiority – a desire to seek personal

excellence and fulfillment. Inferiority complex – an exaggerated feeling of weakness,

inadequacy, and helplessness.

Carl Rogers’ Self Actualization Theory

This theory is very similar in structure toAdler’s theory of striving for superiority.

It postulates that people are constantly striving for betterment and to reach a point of self actualization. self actualization – the achievement of one’s full potential

(note: this stage is said to rarely be met by individuals)

Our personality is based on a number of selves that we have, and the discrepancy between these selves. Actual self – the person that we are Ideal self – the person that we want to be

Aught self – the person that we feel we “should” be (not really Rogers’ idea)

Abraham Maslow’s

Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow wasanotherpsychologist thatbelieved in theconcept of selfactualization. However, he believed that self actualization was met through another mechanism… The fulfillment of needs.

Maslow proposed that each of us has a hierarchy of needs, and once all of those needs are met, we are able to reach a state of self actualization.

What does it mean to reach a point of self actualization?

According to humanistic psychologists (Rogers and Maslow), once a person reaches self actualization, a number of recognizable behaviors take shape. Unconditional positive regard An accurate perception of reality Independence, creativity, and spontaneity Acceptance of oneself and others Enjoyment of life A good sense of humor

***Note: Skeptics have questions whether or not this was a sign of self-actualization, or just a list

of characteristics that Rogers and Maslow valued.

The “Learning Approach” to Personality

Our personality is primarily the result of learned responses and behaviors. These learned behaviors and responses allow us to follow group norms. Gender roles Class norms Racial norms Family standards

Other determinants of personality

Genes!!! Twin studies

have allowed us to conclude that genetic influence has a large impact on our personality.

However, specific genes have not been linked to specific personality characteristics (at least they haven’t been linked yet).

And now…

In the final section of class, we’ll be discussing the state trait issue, different ways of determining traits, and different personality measures.

The final look at personality…

In the two previous sections of lecture, we’ve looked two topic relating to the concept of personality. The definition of personality The causes of personality

Theoretical Proven

Today, we’re going to address three of the most prominent concerns of today’s personality psychologists. The definition of traits The correct number of traits Measures to determine these traits

The state/trait issue When looking at the concept of personality,

psychologists attempt to maintain a clear cut distinction between traits and states when describing people and behaviors.

Traits – a consistent, long-lasting tendency in behavior. Much more consistent over time Less influenced by social cues (supposedly) e.g. kindness, shyness, hostility, laziness

States – a temporary activation of a particular behavior The result of social cues Short-lived and slightly more influential while they are

experienced e.g. fear, excitation, sorrow, surprise

So how many traits do we have?

The best answer for that question is...

It depends.

When looking for a way to define a large group of individuals, the amount of personality traits that can be useful to describe these people can range anywhere from 2 – ??? traits.

When looking to predict a specific behavior, only one or two defining traits might be necessary to describe an individual.

The Big 5 Model of Personality When just looking at people

as a whole, psychologists attempt to describe personality based on the premise of parsimony (remember parsimony?). Parsimony (AKA Occam’s Razor):

Results should be explained through the most consistent and simplest conclusion that can be drawn in the context of the situation.

So to do this, psychologists began looking for ways to describe personality in the most parsimonious fashion possible. And how did they do it?

The Big 5 Model of Personality (cont.)

The dictionary… Looked in dictionaries to find every word in the

English language that related to personality 18,000 words were found

Comparing words for synonyms and antonyms… Similar to each other (e.g. nice and friendly) Opposite of each other (e.g. nice and mean) This search reduced the list down to 35 traits

Conducting “factor analyses” to see which remaining words/traits emerged… Found the ones that overlapped with each other in

response frequency. This reduction left us with a total of 5 personality

traits… the big 5.

So what are the big 5? (O)penness to experience – a tendency to

enjoy new intellectual experiences and new ideas.

(C)onscientiousness – a tendency to show self-discipline, to be dutiful, and to strive for achievement and competence.

(E)xtraversion – a tendency to seek stimulation and to enjoy the company of others.

(A)greeableness – a tendency to be compassionate toward others.

(N)euroticism – a tendency to experience unpleasant emotions relatively easily.

So what are some of the shortcomings of the big 5?

Might not be a good predictor of other cultures. Remember, this grouping was based on the English

language. However, modest supportive evidence has shown that the

big five might have some value in other cultures. Might have too few variables.

Religiosity, to name one variable, might also be an important aspect of personality not covered in the big 5.

Might have too many variables. Some variables are modestly positively correlated (E with

O), while others are modestly negatively correlated (both E and O with N).

Might not be a good predictor of the situation that you are examining. Some situations might not be predicted by big 5 measures,

others might just be better predicted by different, more specific personality traits.

Ways to look at personality

Observations Delay of gratification video

Questionnaires Big Five Inventory Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) Peer/family ratings

Projective measures Rorschach Inkblots Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Implicit tests The emotional Stroop task IAT

The MMPI

The most widely used personality test.

567 T/F statements. Tests for personality,

disorders, and deception.

Rorschach Inkblot Test

TAT Photos