wood ch11 lecture personality

mastering the world ofpsychology

CHAPTER

fifth edition

Copyright © 2014, © 2011, © 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.All Rights Reserved

Personality Theory and Assessment

11

Mastering the World of Psychology, Fifth EditionSamuel Wood | Ellen Green Wood | Denise Boyd

Learning Objectives

11.1 What concepts did Freud propose to explain personality?

11.2 What is the role of the psychosexual stages in Freud's theory?

11.3 How do modern psychologists evaluate Freud's ideas?

11.4 How do the views of the neo-Freudians differ from those of Freud?

11.5 How do humanistic theorists explain personality?


Learning Objectives

11.6 What have psychologists learned about self-esteem?

11.7 What ideas did the early trait theorists propose?

11.8 How does the five-factor model describe personality?

11.9 What does research say about the effects of heredity and environment on personality traits?

11.10How do personality traits vary across cultures?


Learning Objectives

11.11How do Mischel and Bandura address the situation-trait debate?

11.12What do self-efficacy and locus of control contribute to personality?

11.13How do psychologists use observations, interviews, and rating scales?

11.14What do the MMPI-2, the CPI, and the MBTI reveal about personality?

11.15How do projective tests provide insight into personality?


Overview

• Psychoanalytic Theories• Humanistic Theories• Trait Theories• Social-Cognitive Theories• Personality Assessment


Psychoanalytic Theories:Freud's Theory of Personality

• Personality – characteristic patterns of behaving,

thinking, and feeling• Psychoanalysis

– theory and therapy that focuses on unconscious processes

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• Freud proposed 3 levels of consciousness.– Conscious

what we are aware of at any given moment

thoughts, feelings, sensations, or memories

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• Freud proposed 3 levels of consciousness.– Preconscious

memories we are not aware of but can easily bring to mind

– Unconscious repressed memories, instincts, wishes,

desires have never been conscious

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FIGURE 11.1 Freud’s Conception of PersonalityAccording to Freud, personality, which may be conceptualized as a giant iceberg, is composed of three structures: the id, the ego, and the superego. The id, completely unconscious, is wholly submerged, floating beneath the surface. The ego is largely conscious and visible, but partly unconscious. The superego also operates at both the conscious and unconscious levels.


Freud's Theory of Personality:The Id, Ego, and Superego

• Id– contains life and death instincts– operates according to the pleasure

principle• Ego

– logical, rational part of personality– operates according to the reality

principle

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Freud's Theory of Personality:The Id, Ego, and Superego

• Superego– moral system of the personality– consists of conscience and ego ideal

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Freud's Theory of Personality:Defense Mechanisms

• Used by ego to:– Maintain self-esteem– Defend against anxiety created by

conflict between the id and superego The id's demands for pleasure often

conflict with the superego's desires for moral perfection.

• All individuals use defense mechanisms.

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Freud's Theory of Personality:Defense Mechanisms

• Overuse can lead to psychological problems.

• Repression is the most commonly used mechanism.

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TABLE 11.1 Freud’s Defense Mechanisms


Freud's Theory of Personality:The Psychosexual Stages of Development

• The sex instinct is an important factor influencing personality.

• Develops through a series of stages– Each stage involves the erogenous zone

and conflict.– if the conflict is not resolved:

Child develops a fixation.– A portion of the libido (psychic energy)

remains invested at that stage.

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• Develops through a series of stages– central theme of phallic stage is

controversial love of opposite-sex parent

– Oedipus complex: boys– Electra complex: girls

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• Oral Stage– Takes place from birth to 1 year of age– conflict: weaning– Fixation can lead to dependency and

passivity or sarcasm and hostility.

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• Anal Stage– Takes place between 1 to 3 years of age– conflict: toilet training– Fixation can lead to excessive

cleanliness and stinginess or messiness and rebelliousness.

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• Phallic Stage– Takes place between 3 to 5 or 6 years of

age– conflict: Oedipus complex– Fixation can lead to flirtatiousness and

promiscuity or excessive pride and chastity.

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• Latency Stage– Lasts from the age of 5 or 6 years to

puberty– period of sexual calm

• Genital Stage– puberty and beyond– revival of sexual interests

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Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of Development


Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of Development (continued)


Evaluating Freud's Contribution

• Contributions– recognized importance of childhood

experiences in shaping personality– identified role of defense mechanisms– called attention to the unconscious

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Evaluating Freud's Contribution

• Critics Argue– People do not typically repress painful

memories.– Dreams do not have symbolic meaning.– Freud's ideas are difficult to test

scientifically.

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FIGURE 11.2 Jung’s Conception of PersonalityLike Freud, Jung saw three components in personality. The ego and the personal unconscious are unique to each individual. The collective unconscious accounts for the similarity of myths and beliefs in diverse cultures.


The Neo-Freudians

• Carl Jung (1875–1961)– Sexual instinct is not the main factor in

personality.– Felt that personality was not almost

completely formed in early childhood.– archetypes

inherited tendencies to respond to universal human situations

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The Neo-Freudians

• Alfred Adler (1870–1937)– predominant force of personality is not

sexual in nature– emphasized unity of personality

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The Neo-Freudians

• Alfred Adler (1870–1937)– The drive to overcome feelings of

inferiority motivates most human behavior. When feelings of inferiority prevent

personal development, they constitute an inferiority complex.

– Theory is referred to as individual psychology.

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The Neo-Freudians

• Karen Horney (1885–1952)– Work centered on 2 main themes.

The neurotic personality Feminine psychology

– rejected Freud's psychosexual stages, the Oedipus complex, and penis envy

– Women's difficulties arise from the failure to live up to idealized versions of themselves.

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The Neo-Freudians

• Karen Horney (1885–1952)– For their own psychological health,

women and men must overcome irrational beliefs about the need for perfection.

– Her influence can be seen in modern cognitive-behavioral therapy.

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Humanistic Theories

• Humanistic Psychology– People have a natural tendency toward

growth and realization of their fullest potential.

– Humanistic theories are more optimistic about human nature than Freud's.

– Humanistic theories are difficult to test scientifically.

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Humanistic Theories:Two Humanistic Theories

• Abraham Maslow (1908–1970) – proposed a hierarchy of needs that

motivates behavior– The highest need is self-actualization.– self-actualizers

Accurately perceive reality and quickly spot dishonesty

Tend not to depend on external authority

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• Abraham Maslow (1908–1970) – self-actualizers

Are internally driven, autonomous, and independent

Frequently have peak experiences– experiences of deep meaning, insight, and

harmony within themselves and with the universe

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• Carl Rogers (1902–1987)– conditions of worth

conditions on which positive regard depends

Conditions of worth force us to live according to someone else's values.

– In efforts to gain positive regard, we deny the true self.

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• Carl Rogers (1902–1987)– person-centered therapy

The goal is to enable people to live by their own values.

The therapist gives client unconditional positive regard.– unqualified caring and nonjudgmental

acceptance– brings the person back in tune with self

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Humanistic Theory:Self-Esteem

• How does self-esteem develop? – Variations in self-esteem can arise from

comparisons of actual to desired traits.– Self-esteem is fairly stable from

childhood through late adulthood.– By age 7, most children have global self-

esteem. Judgments come from both actual

experiences and information provided by others.

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Humanistic Theory:Self-Esteem

• To develop high self-esteem, children need to:– Experience success in domains they

view as important – Be encouraged by parents, teachers,

and peers to value themselves

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Trait Theories

• Attempt to explain differences among people

• Trait – personal characteristic that is stable

across situations – used to describe or explain personality

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Early Trait Theories

• Allport (1936) – proposed 2 kinds of traits

cardinal traits– so pervasive that almost every act can be

traced to their influence central traits

– traits which we would "mention in writing a careful letter of recommendation"

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Early Trait Theories

• Cattell (1950)– surface traits

the observable qualities of personality– source traits

underlie surface traits cause certain surface traits to cluster

together Cattell identified 23 source traits.

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FIGURE 11.3 The 16PF Personality ProfileThe solid line represents the 16PF profile for a man named “Eric” (Cattell, Cattell & Cattell, 2003). The broken line is the average 16PF profile for business executives.Source: Cattell, R., & Schuerger, J. (2003). Essentials of 16PF assessment. New York: John Wiley & Sons.


Early Trait Theorists

• Eysenck (1916–1997) – proposed 3 personality factors

psychoticism– an individual's link to reality

extraversion– a dimension ranging from outgoing to shy

neuroticism– emotional stability, ranging from stable to

anxious and irritable

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Early Trait Theorists

• Eysenck (1916–1997) – Factors are rooted in neurological

functioning.– The idea has been supported by modern

brain-imaging studies.

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FIGURE 11.4 Trait Structure of Extraversion in Eyesenck’s Three-Factor Model of PersonalityEysenck’s research focused on three major traits. A trait such as extraversion encompasses several other traits, as illustrated here. Based on Eysenck’s research focused on three major traits.


Trait Theories:The Five-Factor Model

• Attempts to explain personality using 5 broad dimensions

• This model has become most closely associated with the research of Robert McCrae and Paul Costa.

• The model varies from the Big Five model of Goldberg.

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• Each factor is composed of a constellation of personality traits.– Openness– Conscientiousness– Extraversion– Agreeableness– Neuroticism

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• Openness– open to new experiences, curious, and

broadminded versus having narrow interests and preferring the familiar

• Conscientiousness– reliable, orderly, and industrious versus

undependable and lazy

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• Extraversion– outgoing, prefer to be around other

people versus shy, prefer to be alone• Agreeableness

– easygoing and friendly versus unfriendly and cold

• Neuroticism– pessimistic and irritable versus

optimistic, take things in stride

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Nature Nurture and Personality Traits

• Five-Factor Theory of Personality– McCrae and Costa (2003)– behavioral genetic theory

asserts that heredity is largely responsible for individual differences

• Rushton and colleagues (1986)– Nurturance, empathy, and assertiveness

are influenced by heredity.

Nature, Nurture, and Personality Traits

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Nature, Nurture, and Personality Traits

• The heritability of aggressiveness may be as high as .50 Carey (1997).

• Genes constrain the ways in which environments affect personality traits (Kagan, 2003).

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FIGURE 11.5 Estimated Influence of Heredity and Environment on the Big Five Personality DimensionsThe Minnesota study of twins reared apart yielded an average heritability estimate of .41 (41%) for the Big Five personality factors; the Loehlin twin studies, a heritability estimate of .42 (42%). Both studies found the influence of the shared environment to be only about .07 (7%). The remaining percentage represents a combination of nonshared environmental influences and measurement error.Source: Bouchard, T. (1994). Genes, environment, and personality. Science, 264, 1700–1701. Reprinted by permission of AAAS.


Personality and Culture

• Culture influences personality.– may not be captured in the 5-factor

model• Cultures differ in

individualism/collectivism.– individualist cultures

Emphasis is placed on independence and individual achievement.

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• Cultures differ in individualism/collectivism.– collectivist cultures

emphasis on social connectedness define the self in terms of group

membership

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• Psychologists warn against overemphasizing cultural differences in personality.– The goal for all individuals should be to

enhance self-esteem.– A sense of personal control over one's

life predicts well-being in all cultures.

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Social Cognitive Theory:The Situation-Trait Debate

• Social Cognitive Theory– Personality is defined as a collection of

learned behaviors acquired through social interactions.

• The Situation-Trait Debate: Walter Mischel (1968)– stresses the importance of factors

within the situation and person in accounting for behavior

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Social Cognitive Theory:The Situation-Trait Debate

• The Situation-Trait Debate: Walter Mischel (1968)– views trait as conditional probability

A particular action will occur in response to a particular situation.

Situations can modify personality traits.– example: lack of social support can

increase neuroticism– Evidence suggests that traits are stable

over time and across situations.

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FIGURE 11.6 Bandura’s Reciprocal DeterminismBandura takes a social-cognitive view of personality. He suggests that three components—the external environment, individual behaviors, and cognitive factors, such as beliefs, expectancies, and personal dispositions—are all influenced by each other and play reciprocal roles in determining personality.


Bandura's Reciprocal Determinism Model

• Internal, environmental, and behavioral variables interact to influence personality.

• Self-Efficacy– a person's perception of his or her

ability to perform competently whatever is attempted

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Self-Efficacy and Locus of Control

• Self-Efficacy– Bandura (1997)– the perception people have of their

ability to perform competently whatever they attempt

– high self-efficacy persist in efforts, belief in success

– low self-efficacy expect failure, avoid challenges

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Self-Efficacy and Locus of Control

• Locus of Control – Rotter (1966, 1990)– internal locus of control

see selves as primarily in control of their behavior and its consequences

– external locus of control perceive events as in the hands of fate,

luck, or chance

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Theories of Personality


Personality Assessment:Observation Interviews and Rating Scales

• Observation– used in hospitals, clinics, schools, and

workplaces– behavioral assessment

Psychologists count and record the frequency of particular behaviors.

often used in behavior modification programs in treatment

time-consuming; behavior may be misinterpreted

Personality Assessment:Observation, Interviews, and Rating Scales

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• Interviews– used to help in diagnosis and treatment– structured interview

The content of the questions and the manner in which they are asked are carefully planned ahead of time.

Comparisons can be made between different subjects.

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• Rating Scales– provide standardized format, focus on

relevant traits

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Personality Assessment:Personality Inventories

• Inventory – paper and pencil test with questions

about a person's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors

– scored according to a standard procedure

– used to measure several dimensions of personality

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Personality Assessment:Personality Inventories

• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)– now revised as MMPI-2– used to screen for and diagnose

psychiatric problems and disorders– the most extensively researched and

widely used personality test

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Personality Inventories: Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

• Consists of 10 clinical scales and 3 validity scales

• Validity Scales– discerns those who are attempting to

look healthier than they are and those attempting to appear disturbed

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Personality Inventories: Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

• psychologist-evaluated clinical scales in light of validity scales

• more than 115 translations of the MMPI are in use

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TABLE 11.2 The Clinical Scales of the MMPI-2


Personality Inventories: California Personality Inventory (CPI) and Myers-Briggs

• California Personality Inventory (CPI)– developed to assess personality in

normal individuals– does not include any questions

designed to reveal psychiatric illness– useful in predicting school achievement,

leadership, and executive success

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Personality Inventories: California Personality Inventory (CPI) and Myers-Briggs

• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)– based on Jung's theory of personality– measures normal individual differences

on 4 personality dimensions– popular in business and educational

settings

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Personality Inventories:Projective Tests

• Projective Tests – consist of inkblots, drawings of

ambiguous human situations, or incomplete sentences

– no correct or incorrect responses

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Personality Inventories:Projective Tests

• Projective Tests – inner thoughts, feelings, fears, or

conflicts are projected onto the test materials

– include Rorschach Inkblot Test and Thematic Apperception Test

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Projective Tests:Rorschach Inkblot Method

• The test taker is asked to describe 10 inkblots.

• Responses can be used to diagnose disorders.

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Projective Tests:Rorschach Inkblot Method

• Critics argue that results are too dependent on the judgment of the examiner.

• Exner (1993) developed the comprehensive system for scoring.– provides normative data for comparison

of responses

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Figure 11.7 An Inkblot Similar to One Used for the Rorschach Inkblot Method


Projective Tests:Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)• Developed by Henry Murray (1935)• Consists of 1 blank card and 19 cards

showing vague or ambiguous black-and-white drawings of human figures

• The test taker describes the drawings.– The descriptions are thought to reveal

inner feelings, conflicts, and motives.

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Projective Tests:Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)• Critics argue that:

– The test relies too heavily on the interpretation of the examiner.

– Responses may reflect temporary states and may not indicate more permanent aspects of personality.

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Three Approaches to Personality Assessment