Module 40

Personality

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Clinical Psychology

Branch of Psychology concerned with the assessment and treatment of mental illness, abnormal behavior and psychiatric problems.

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Personality

A person’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and acting.

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Personality Theories

Frameworks that address the following:

What is the nature of human beings?

What motivates our behavior?

What factors are important for the development of personality?

Can we change our personality, and if so how?

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Psychodynamic Approach (Sigmund Freud)- conflicting forces-unconscious influences

Turn of the Century CultureStrict social rules

Male dominated

Sexually Repressed!

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Hysteria - physical symptoms without underlyingphysical causes.

Free Association

Hypnosis

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PsychoanalysisTalk Therapy focuses on bringing repressed anxiety provoking material to conscious awareness

Catharsis

Seduction Theory - mental problems due to actual sexual abuse.

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Three Aspects of the Mind

1)Conscious: current awareness

2) Preconscious: things we can become aware of.

3) Unconscious: blocked from awareness- anxiety provoking- sexual and/or aggressive

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Structure of the Personality

Id - pleasure principle- libido drives (psychosexual energy)- totally unconscious

Superego - moral issues (right and wrong)- part conscious/ part unconscious- opposes id- main weapon is anxiety

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Ego - logical, rational- part conscious/part unconscious- compromises between Id and Superego- reality principle

Defense Mechanisms: Ego’s tools for reducinganxiety.

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1) Repression - blocking of Id Impulses - motivated forgetting

2) Denial

3) Rationalization

4) Displacement - “kicking the dog”

5) Projection

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6) Reaction Formation - present themselves as the opposite of what they really are.

7) Sublimation - displacement to a socially acceptable activity

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Freud’s Developmental Theory of Personality

OverviewErogenous zones (e-zone)

Goal: to experience optimal gratification at each stage.

Fixation

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At Birth Infant is all Id

Ego and Superego develop through interaction withparents. - determines personality for life.

Personality fully formed by 5 yrs of age

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1) Oral Stage (birth to 18 months) e-zone - mouth Conflicts: weaning Fixation: Too much: overly dependant on others Too little: hostile, outspoken

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2) Anal Stage (18 months to 3 years) e-zone: Anus Conflict: Toilet Training Fixation: Too permissive: generous, messy and creative Too strict: Stingy, excessively neat, rigid

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3) Phallic Stage (3 to 5 years) e-zone: Penis (or lack of it) Conflict: Resolving issues of Sexual Identity

MalesOedipal Crisis - fantasizing sexually about mothers- aggressive toward fathers- resolved by identifying with fatherFixation:- lifetime of trying to prove manhood- repression of gentler side

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FemalesElectra Complex- penis envy- blame mothers (aggressive feelings)- sexual attraction to fathers- resolved by identifying with mother, symbolically possessing father.

Fixation: Inferiority- seductive behaviors- tendency to dominate males

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By This Stage the Personality is fully formed.

4) Latency period (5 to Puberty) - repressed libido - displacement to other activities

5) Genital Stage (remainder of life)- sexual urges directed towards others- drive toward love and generation (marriage, parenting etc.)

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Freudian SymbolsPhallic (Penis) symbols - anything elongated

                                                       

                                                       

                      

                      

                                                            

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Methods for accessing the Unconscious

Free Association

Dream Analysis Manifest content - what it appears to be. Latent Content - symbolic meaning

Freudian Slips

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Projective TestsAmbiguous pictures (TAT) or inkblots (Rorschach).require a lot of training to interpret.- validity is not high

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How did Freud's psychoanalytic theory allow him to explain why his patients reported recovering memories of childhood sexual abuse?

Freud claimed the memories were of fantasies that were left over from the Phallic stage.

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Criticisms of Freud’s Theory

1) Not Scientific - did not study children. - if adults had problems, he inferred that fixation had occurred.

2) Terms to vague and untestable - theory is not falsifiable

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3) Culturally Bound- Assumes Victorian European Standards

What Have We Kept?Unconscious processesImportance of childhood experiencesDefense mechanismsSymbolic meaningTalk Therapy

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1950’s - Behaviorism- behavior due to consequences- no theory of personality (mental concept).

“ a person does not act upon the world, the world acts upon him” (Skinner, 1971)

Module 41Humanistic Theories (1960’s)

- optimistic view

- innate drive for growth (self-actualization)

Focus on:

1) personal responsibility

2) present

3) people can change

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Hierarchy of Needs

Self-actualizers and Peak Experiences (Maslow, 1970)

• Studied healthy, creative people.

• Self Aware, Self-accepting.

• Interests problem-centered rather than self-centered

• Commitment to the tasks they take on

• Few deep relationships rather than several shallow.

• Peak Experiences

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Carl Rogers’ Person-Centered Perspective

Self-concept – our beliefs about who we are.

Ideal Self Concept – our beliefs about what we “should be” like.

Need to maintain a consistent self concept. Psychological problems arise when our self –concept does not match up to our ideal self-concept.

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Positive Regard – sense of being loved and value.

Conditions of Worth Messages we get from people around us about our worth.

Conditional Positive Regard – you are only loved and accepted if you . . . . . . .

Unconditional Positive regard – you have value and are loved despite how you behave.

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e.g., Sally has a brother who is bothering her. Eventually she hits him to get him to stop.

Parent could respond in one of two way to correct her behavior.

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Conditional Positive RegardTell sally she is “bad” for hitting her brother.Sally may hear, “getting angry is bad”.Later in life she may feel uncomfortable when ever she is angry.May use Defense MechanismsDistortion - misinterpret situations. Denial - refuse to admit she is angry.

Works in short run, but in long run person becomes maladjusted.

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Unconditional Positive Regard.Sally, we know that you are a good girl and thatYou hit your brother because you were angry. It is okay to get angry, but you need to find a better way to deal with your anger.

•Worthy person regardless of what you say or do.•- separates actions from worth

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Aspects Humanism that are Currently Influential1) self-concept2) positive view 3) need to understand our own feelings4) responsibility for ourselves 5) ability to change.

Problems: 1) difficult to scientifically study 2) Too optimistic

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Social-Cognitive Theories

&

Trait Theories

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Social Cognitive Theories (1980’s )Albert Bandura- stresses influences of the interaction between individual and their situation

-emphases learning in a social context.

- we learn mental concepts (schema, heuristics)

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Reciprocal Determinism (Causes)

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People choose their environments.

Our personalities effect how we interpret and react to events.

Our personalities help to create situations to which we react.

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Personal Constructs – beliefs about ourselves and interactions with our environment.

Beliefs about Personal ControlInternal vs. External Locus (location) of controlInternals generally happier, healthier and more successful than externals.

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Learned Helplessness vs. Personal Control

Seligman (1975) Dogs were classically conditioned to expect an electrical shock after light cue. Learned they could not escape the shock.

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Later the dogs were placed in a shuttlebox that contained two chambers separated by a low barrier. The floor electrified on one side, not on the other. The dogs previously subjected to the conditioning made no attempts to escape, even though avoiding the shock simply involved jumping over a low barrier.

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Rodin, 1986 Nursing Home Study.They selected two floors of a nursing home. One group was told the staff was there to help them. Despite the care, 71% got worse in only 3 weeks. In the other floor where they were encouraged to make decisions for themselves, the residents actually improved. They were more active and happier. They were more mentally alert and more active in activities. 

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Sometimes too many choices can be negative.The Tyranny of Choice

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Optimism vs. PessimismResearch shows that people with an optimistic life-view tend to outperform pessimists in all respects. 

Pessimists are up to 8 times more likely to become depressed when bad events occur; they do worse at school, sports, and perform worse at jobs than their talents would predict; they have worse physical health and shorter lives; they have rockier relationships.

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Can Optimism backfire??

Yes, Excessive optimism may keep us from being motivated to realistically prepare for future events (e.g., studying for an exam).

Holding distorted beliefs about the likelihood of a particular future event is distinct from possessing a personality trait known as optimism.

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Dunning–Kruger Effect (aka, Ignorance of one's own incompetence effect).

"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.“ As You Like It, Shakespeare

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Kruger and Dunning tested Cornell undergraduates. Students rated their own ability on logical reasoning skills, grammatical skills, and humor. Compared to their test scores, less competent students overestimated their ability.

They were shown their test scores, and were again asked to estimate their own rank. The incompetent group still overestimated their own rank.

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Meanwhile, people with true ability tended to underestimate their relative competence. Apparently, participants who found tasks to be relatively easy erroneously assumed that the tasks must also be easy for others.

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Cognitive Social Approach1) learning is important2) People have control over their response to the environment.3) people have the capacity to change

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Positive Psychology-Shares a focus on personal growth with humanism but is EVIDENCE BASED.

Scientific study of optimal human functioning. Aims to discover strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive.

Exploring the Self

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Self-Esteem - The correlation problem

High Self Esteem

Positive Expectations

High EffortSuccess

Self- Credit

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Exploring the Self

Spotlight effect – people overestimate how much other people are noticing and evaluating us.

Gilovich (1996) study

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Self-serving Bias – a readiness to perceive oneself favorably.•internalize (dispositional factors) for successes than for failures.•Tendency to see ourselves as better than average.•Less susceptible to Depression.

Down side of the self—serving bias. •Increased blaming of victims• prejudice (racism, sexism, homophobia).• bullying and aggression• decreased empathy

Narcissism – excessive self-love and self- absorption.

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Theory Based Personality TestsCarl Jung believed that personalities can be defined according to Archetypes.

Myers-Briggs (MBTI)Test designed to measure thesePersonality traits.

The validity of Jung’s archetypes makes the usefulness of the MBTI suspect.

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Trait Theories Attempt to measure and define enduring aspects of a person’s personality.

State vs. Trait

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Personality Dimensions

Definable characteristics which distinguish meaningful differences between people.

Eysenck Model

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Personal Adjectives – words used to describe people’s personalities. English ~ 18,000 words!

Factor analysis statistical method which looks at which ratings go together.

Cattell’s 16 Factor Model

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1.     reserved, unsociable outgoing, sociable2.  less intelligent, concrete more intelligent, abstract3.  affected by feelings emotionally stable4.  submissive, humble dominant, assertive5.  serious happy go lucky6.  expedient conscientious7.  timid venturesome8.  tough minded sensitive9.  trusting suspicious10.      practical imaginative11. forthright shrewd, calculating12.      self assured apprehensive13.      conservative experimenting14.      group dependent self sufficient15.      undisciplined controlled16.      relaxed tense

 

Assessing Personality: Self-Report Inventories

self-report inventories – Psychological tests in which a person’s responses to standard questions are compared to established norms.

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The Big Five Central Personality Traits.

1) Extroversion/Introversion

2) Agreeableness/Antagonism

3) Conscientiousness/Undirectedness

4) Emotional Stability/Unstable (Neuroticism)

5) Openness/Non-openness

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Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

Empirically Derived.

Items on the Inventory are ones that research studies have shown differentiate people with known diagnoses from normal controls.

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Can you lie on a Personality test?“Lie Scales” - detect faking good or bad.

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Criticisms of Trait Theories- largely descriptive- emphasis on biology- how many central factors?

Current Influences 1) personality traits are relatively stable.2) personality tests used for diagnosis of mental disorders - job suitability?

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Cognition

Emotions and Behaviors

Biology Environment

Eclectic View - Mix of all the theories