Personality

Psychoanalytic Perspective

1Exploring the Unconscious

According to Freud unconscious motivations and childhood sexuality influence personality.Parts of the mindConsciousPreconsciousUnconsciousFree associationPsychoanalysisRepression

2Personality StructurePersonality structureIdPleasureEgoRealitySuperegoconscience

3Exploring the UnconsciousPsychosexual Stages

4Personality DevelopmentErogenous zonesOedipus complexA boys sexual desires toward his mother & feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father. Electra complexVice VersaIdentificationChild copes and represses such feelings and begins to identify with rival parent. FixationA strong conflict within a stage that would lock a person in that stage.

5Exploring the UnconsciousDefense MechanismsDefense mechanisms- egos protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality. RepressionRegressionReaction formationProjectionRationalizationDisplacementSublimationDenial

6Neo-Freudians

7Neo-FreudiansNeo-Freudians are followers of Freud, but typically disagreed with him in at least one way or another

8Neo-Freudian and Psychodynamic TheoristsNeo-Freudians veered away from FreudPlaced more importance on conscious minds role in interpreting experience and in coping with environmentDoubted that sex and aggression were all consuming motivesTended to emphasize loftier motives and social interactions9Carl JungJung disagreed with Freud in two major points1. Had more positive view of human natureTry to develop potential while trying to handle their instinctual urges

10Carl JungIdentified the collective unconscious

Collective unconscious: part of the mind that contains inherited instincts, urges, and memories common to all peopleCalled these inherited, universal ideas archetypes

An inherited idea, based on the experience of ones ancestors, which shapes ones perception of the worldThese reflect common experiences of humanity11Carl JungArchetype themes throughout many cultures stay the sameExample: Jack and the Beanstalk is similar to David And Goliath) PLOT? Batman? Superman? Such stories are common due to reoccurrence in history and stored in unconscious. Sense of self is an archetypeUse our personal and collective unconscious to shape our personality

12Alfred AdlerFelt the driving force of personalities is the desire toOvercome feelings of inferiorityExamples: NapoleonGlenn CunninghamCoined the term inferioritycomplexA pattern of avoiding feelings of inadequacy rather than trying to overcome their sourceStarts in childhood because one Cannot take care of themselves

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14Alfred AdlerAlso believed the way parents treat their child influences the styles of life they chooseOver pampering leads to self-centerednessNeglect leads to angry, hostile person

Ideally children should learn courage and self-reliance from father and generosity and feelings for others from their mother15Karen HorneyShe was a follower of Freud but disagreed with Freud in many waysStressed the importance of basic anxiety which leads to helplessnessFeelings of hostility towards parents due to anxiety and helplessness. Believed that if a child was raised in a loving environment, child would avoid parent-child conflict. Countered Freuds assumption of penis envy

16Neo-Freudian and Psychodynamic TheoristsFreud died in 1939.Some of his ideas have been incorporated into psychodynamics.Psychodynamic therapy: therapy deriving from the psychoanalytictradition that views individuals as responding to unconscious forcesand childhood experiences, and that seeks to enhance self-insight.Face to FaceLess Time Consuming.

17Assessing Unconscious ProcessesTo study personality there must be a pathway to the unconsciousProjective tests- personality test that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of ones inner dynamics, like a psychological X-Ray.Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)- people express their feelings & interests through the stories they make up about certain scenes.

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Assessing Unconscious ProcessesRorschach Inkblot Test- most widely used projective test, a set of 10 inkblots, designed by Hermann Rorschach; seeks to identify peoples inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blotsScoring has improved: computer aided tool has been designed to improve agreement among raters and enhance the tests validity19

20Evaluating the Psychodynamic PerspectiveCritics of Freud feel:Development is life long not fixed in childhoodOverestimated parental influence and underestimated peer influenceGender identity probably doesnt form during the ages of 5-6Researchers have found little research that defense mechanisms disguise sexual and aggressive impulsesWrite @ Least 1 Criticism!21Modern Unconscious MindFreud was right about one thing: we indeed have limited access to all that goes on in our mindsHowever Anthony Greenwald believes it is time to abandon Freuds idea of the unconsciousView unconscious as information processing that occurs without awareness We fly on auto-pilot more than we know22Modern Unconscious MindRecent research provides support for defense mechanismsProjection= false consensus effectTendency to over estimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviorsBaumeister found that people tend to justify their action because other people do itTerror Management TheoryA theory of death-related anxiety; explores peoples emotional and behavior responses to reminders of their impending death23HomeworkResearch Freuds repression. Does repression truly exist?Why are people so critical of Freud and his theory on development and the unconscious mind? (half page)24Pioneering psychoanalysts are called neo-FreudiansBelieved and agreed with Freuds Id, Ego, and Superego; unconscious and its importance; childhood personality development; dynamics of anxiety and defense mechanisms

25Humanistic Perspective & Personality

26Humanistic Perspective and PersonalityDuring 1960s, Humanistic perspective began to developGoes against Freud and SkinnerFreud UnconsciousSkinner behaviorism and learningHumanistic psychologists focused on the ways healthy people strive for self-determination and self-realization27Humanistic Perspective and PersonalityPioneersAbraham Maslow and Carl RogersOffered a third force perspective that emphasized human potential

28Humanistic Perspective and PersonalityMaslows Self-Actualizing PersonMotivated by a hierarchy of needsOnce our self-esteem is met we ultimately seek self-actualization and self-transcendenceBased description on a study of those who seemed notable for their rich productive livesLincolnJeffersonEleanor Roosevelt

29Humanistic Perspective and PersonalityDecided that each of these people were self-aware and self-accepting, secure in who they wereTheir interests were problem centered rather than self-centeredDuring his study on colleges students, he speculated that those likely to become self-actualizing adults wereCompassionate towards elders & disturbed by cruelty and meanness .Had courage to be unpopular & unashamed

30Humanistic Perspective and PersonalityCarl Rogers Person Centered PerspectiveBelieved that people are basically good and are endowed with self-actualizing tendenciesGrowth-promoting environment required three conditionsGenuineness, acceptance, and empathyPeople nurture growth by being genuineBeing open with their own feelings and being transparent31Humanistic Perspective and PersonalityPeople nurture growth by being acceptingUnconditional positive regard: according to Rogers, an attitude of total acceptance toward another personPeople nurture growth by empathySharing and mirroring our feelings and reflecting our meaningsRarely do we listen with real understanding, true empathy. Yet listening, of this very special kind, is one of the most potent forces for change I know.These three factors are the nutrients that enable people to grow.

32Humanistic Perspective and PersonalityCentral feature of personality is ones self-conceptSelf-concept: all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question Who am I?help others to know, accept, and be true to themselves.

33Social Cognitive Perspective

Albert Bandura34

BanduraProposed by BanduraSocial-Cognitive views behavior as influenced by the interaction between peoples traits (including their thinking) and their social contextViewing nature and nurture as working together

35Learned BehaviorsSOCIAL: Believed we learn many of our behaviors either through conditioning or by observing others and modeling our behaviors after theirsCOGNITIVE: Also emphasizes the importance of mental processesWhat we think about our situation plays a factor as well36Reciprocal DeterminismBandura views the person-environment interaction as reciprocal determinismThe interacting influences of behaviors, internal cognition, and environmentCalls these interlocking determinates of each otherExample: Childrens TV-viewing habits (past behavior) influences their viewing preferences (internal factor), which influences how TV (environmental factor) affects their current behavior.

373Consider 3 specific ways in which individuals and environment interactDifferent people choose different environmentsOur personalities shape how we interpret and reactOur personalities help create situations to how we react

38Social Cognitive PerspectivePersonal control: the extent to which people perceive control over their environment rather than feeling helpless2 ways to study the effect of personal controlCorrelate peoples feelings of control with their behaviors and achievementsExperiment by raising or lowering peoples sense of control and noting the effects39Social Cognitive PerspectiveInternal vs. External Locus of ControlI: You control your fate.E: Outside forces control your fate.Depleting and strengthening self controlSelf-control: the ability to control impulses and delay gratificationPredicts good adjustment, better grades, and social success according to June TangneySelf-control requires attention and energy40Learned Helplessness vs. Personal ControlPeople who feel helpless and oppressed often perceive control as externalLearned helplessness: Helpless behavior following repeated experiences that seemed to have no control. In an experiment on learned helplessness, Seligman found that animals that were unable to change their situation for long periods of times seemed unable or unwilling to change when the possibility was opened to them.

41Optimism vs. PessimismGood measure of how helpless or effective you feelOptimism health: outlive pessimists or live with fewer illnessesDating couples have conflicts, optimists and their partners see it as engaging constructivelyExcessive Optimism = not a good thing! 42Underlying Principles Guiding Social Cognitive PerspectiveResearchers study how people interact with their situationsBest way to predict someones behavior in a given situation is to observe that persons behavior in similar situationsContribution of S-C Perspective to personalityBuilds on psychologys well-established concepts learning and cognition and reminds us of the power of social situations

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