Chapter14 PowerPoint.ppt

(1)

Chapter 14 Personality

(2)

Personality • Personality: An elusive concept.

– Some psychologists have developed “grand theories” of personality.

– Others have tried to identify personality types and describe why an individual classified as a certain “personality type” behaves in certain ways.

– We will examine the ways of understanding personality and discuss problems that arise in measuring this concept.

(3)

Module 14.1 • Personality Theories

(4)

Personality

• Personality derives from the Latin word

persona, which translates into English as “mask.”

• In psychology, personality is defined as the

consistent ways in which one person’s behavior differs from that of others, especially in social contexts.

(5)

Figure 14.1

FIGURE 14.1 Sigmund Freud, like philosopher Thomas Hobbes, stressed the more negative aspects of human nature; Carl Rogers, like Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the more positive aspects.

(6)

Personality

• Freud and the psychodynamic approach – Sigmund Freud, an Austrian physician,

developed the first psychodynamic theory of personality.

• Psychodynamic theory relates personality to the interplay of conflicting forces within the individual.

• The individual may not be aware of these forces that influence thought and behavior.

(7)

Personality

• Freud and the psychodynamic approach

– Although Freud’s theory had an enormous

impact on society during the 20th century, his influence within psychology is waning.

– His theory is very difficult to test empirically. – Although many psychologists find nothing

useful in the Freudian paradigm, its tenets are still utilized by some mental health

(8)

Personality

• Freud and the psychodynamic approach – Freud’s search for the unconscious

• He was influenced by the psychiatrist Josef Breuer, who encouraged patients to recall and discuss the details of traumatic early life experiences in order to relieve the

physical complaints he believed to be a manifestation of the unreleased emotions associated with these events.

(9)

Figure 14.2

FIGURE 14.2 Freud believed that psychoanalysis could bring parts of the unconscious into the conscious mind, where the client could deal with them.

(10)

Personality

• Freud and the psychodynamic approach – Freud’s search for the unconscious

• Breuer and Freud referred to this process as catharsis, the therapeutic release of pent-up emotional tension.

• Freud later expanded this “talking cure” into a method of explaining the workings of

personality, based on the interplay of

conscious and unconscious internal forces, and called it psychoanalysis.

(11)

Personality

– The unconscious mind contains memories, emotions and thoughts, some of which are irrational or socially unacceptable.

– These thoughts and feelings influence our behavior although we may not be aware of them.

– Psychoanalysis brings these to consciousness to achieve catharsis and help the patient

(12)

Personality

– Freud noticed that some patients were less seriously affected by their early childhood traumas than others were.

– He developed a series of interesting

hypotheses for the “excessive anxiety” that some patients seem to manifest.

(13)

Personality

– He stood by the “seduction hypothesis” for a number of years, putting together the

evidence for sexual abuse in childhood from patients’ dream reports, slips of the tongue, and other indirect evidence.

– Some patients had no recollections of such events, but Freud insisted that his

(14)

Personality

• Freud and the psychodynamic approach – Freud later abandoned the seduction

hypothesis, claiming that his patients had

“misled” him (rather than saying that he might have been mistaken).

– He then claimed that his patients had sexual fantasies as young children and never came to terms with their anxiety and guilt.

(15)

Personality

– Freud developed the concept of the Oedipus complex.

• He concluded that children wish to have sex with their opposite sex parent but realize that it is forbidden.

• The name is based on an ancient Greek play by Sophocles in which the protagonist

(unknowingly) murders his father and marries his mother (also unknowingly).

(16)

Personality

• Like many other constructs proposed by Freud, there is little reliable empirical

evidence to support the notion of an “Oedipus complex.”

• Freud rarely distinguished between his results and his evidence.

(17)

Personality

• Freud’s psychosexual stages of development

– Freud also developed a framework to explain the development of personality over the

course of childhood and adolescence.

– This framework is known as the Stages of Psychosexual Development.

(18)

Personality

– Freud based his theory on what he perceived to be the changing nature of the individual’s psychosexual interest and pleasure.

Psychosexual pleasure refers to all the strong and pleasurable sensations of excitement that arise from body stimulation.

– He believed that how we manage this aspect of development influences nearly all aspects of our personality.

(19)

Personality

• Freud’s psychosexual stages of development – Freud proposed that people have a libido, a

psychosexual energy (from the Latin word for “desire”).

– The preferred channel for gratifying this desire changes over the lifespan.

(20)

Personality

• Freud’s psychosexual stages of development – There are five stages, each with its own way

for seeking gratification.

– If normal development is blocked, a person may become fixated and continue to be

preoccupied with gratification of the libido in a manner typical of an earlier time of life.

(21)

Personality

– The Oral Stage (The first year of life)

• The infant derives intense psychosexual pleasure from stimulation of the mouth,

particularly from breastfeeding but from oral contact with other objects as well.

• Oral fixation might involve problems with eating, drinking, substance use, and issues of dependence on/independence from

(22)

Personality

• Freud’s psychosexual stages of development – The Anal Stage (About 1 to 3 years old)

• The child derives intense psychosexual pleasure from stimulation of the anal sphincter, the muscle that controls bowel movements. This is partly

related to toilet training, which usually occurs at this stage.

• Anal fixation might involve problems with extreme stinginess or need to maintain strict order.

Sometimes the opposite is true, and the person is very wasteful and messy.

(23)

Personality

– The Phallic Stage (About 3 to 6 years of age) • The child derives intense psychosexual

pleasure from stimulation of the genitals, and becomes attracted to the opposite-sex parent.

• Phallic fixation might involve fear of being castrated (in boys) or “penis envy” in girls.

(24)

Personality

– The Latent Period (About 6 years to

adolescence)

• The child in this period suppresses his or her psychosexual interest. Children in this age

group tend to play mostly with same sex peers. • There is some evidence that the “latent period”

is a cultural artifact. Children in some non-industrialized societies do not experience a period of “latency.”

(25)

Personality

– The Genital Stage (Adolescence and beyond) • The individual now has a strong sexual

interest in other people. If he or she has completed the other stages successfully, primary psychosexual satisfaction will be gained from sexual intercourse.

• The individual who is fixated in an early

period of development has little libido left for this stage.

(26)

Table 14.1

(27)

Personality

• Freud’s psychosexual stages of development – Evaluation of Freud’s stages

• These stages are difficult to test empirically and research on this model has been

inconclusive.

• Personality attributes in people who are “fixated” at certain stages do seem to

correlate, there is no evidence that they result from the difficulties that proposed at those

(28)

Personality • Freud’s structure of personality

– According to Freud, there are three components to personality.

• _Id_{is comprised of all of our biological drives} that demand immediate gratification.

• Ego, the rational, negotiating, and decision-making component of the personality.

• Superego, the internalized values and rules

(29)

(30)

– Freud believed that these components were like “warring factions” struggling for control of the personality and behavior of the individual. – Sometimes these struggles cause

psychological distress.

– Psychologists treat this model as a metaphor; most do not believe that it represents the

(31)

Concept Check:

Your friend Patricia tells you that she believes that men have all the advantages in the “sexual arena.” Freud would say that she….

(32)

Concept Check:

Your friend Oscar can’t seem to go more than 30 minutes without lighting up a cigarette. Freud

would say that he…

(33)

Concept Check:

Your friend Annie can’t seem to hang on to a cent. She spends her money wildly. Her

roommates are always threatening to call the

health department because she never cleans up after herself and her room always looks like a

“pigsty.” Freud would say that she…

(34)

– The model of personality that Freud created involves conflicts and anxiety over unpleasant impulses and thoughts.

• Freud proposed the existence of defense mechanisms that function to relegate

these unpleasant thoughts and feelings to the unconscious.

(35)

• Most of the time, these mechanisms function as healthy ways to suppress anxiety.

• They are only viewed as problematic if they prevent the person from effectively dealing with reality.

(36)

Figure 14.3

FIGURE 14.3 The ego, or “rational I,” has numerous ways of defending itself against anxiety, that apprehensive state named for the Latin word meaning “to strangle.”.

(37)

Personality • Common defense mechanisms…

• Rationalization - “making excuses” and

reframing unpleasant events or actions as beneficial, justifiable or rational.

• Repression - “motivated forgetting” of

unacceptable thoughts and feelings.

• Regression - a return to juvenile behavior.

“You’re only young once, but you can be immature forever!”

(38)

Personality • Common defense mechanisms…

• Denial - refusal to acknowledge a problem.

• Displacement - diversion of an unacceptable

thought or impulse from its target to a less threatening one.

• Reaction formation involves presentation of

one’s thoughts or feelings as the extreme opposite of what they are.

“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”

(39)

Personality

• Common defense mechanisms…

• Sublimation - the transformation of sexual or aggressive energies into acceptable and pro-social behaviors.

• Projection - attributing one’s own undesirable characteristics or motives to other people.

“It’s no secret that a liar won’t believe anyone else.”

(40)

(41)

(42)

(43)

(44)

(45)

(46)

Concept Check: Name that defense mechanism!

Your psychology professor, who smokes a pack of cigarettes every day, “forgets” to list nicotine on a handout you receive in class that lists addictive substances and drugs of abuse.

(47)

Your ex-spouse, who cheated on you, writes a best-selling nonfiction book arguing that human beings are not naturally monogamous and have an instinctive need for variety.

(48)

You are in love with your best friend’s new flame. The friendship is an old one and very valuable to you. You tell everybody that your friend’s new love interest is a terrible human

being and you don’t understand the attraction at all.

(49)

Your boss yells at you. You come home and yell at your spouse. Your spouse yells at your child. Your child goes out to the yard and yells at the dog.

(50)

Personality • Freud’s legacy

– We’ve emphasized how weak his evidence was, and how wrong some of his conclusions likely are.

– But he did make some enduring and useful contributions to psychology

– Please note that scholars argue about the

extent to which Freud alone was responsible for formulating the following notions.

(51)

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

– People often have conflicting motives. – Childhood experiences contribute to the

development of adult personality and social behavior.

(52)

– Relationships with people in our

family-of-origin have some impact on relationships we have with others throughout life.

– Sexual development has an impact on psychological development.

(53)

Personality • Neo-Freudians

– The Neo-Freudians were psychologists and others who adopted some parts of Freud’s theory and modified other parts.

• Karen Horney believed that Freud

exaggerated the role of sexuality in human behavior and motivation, and

misunderstood the motivations of women and the dynamics of family relationships.

(54)

Personality

• Neo-Freudians

– Carl Jung put a greater emphasis on the continuity of human experience and need for spiritual meaning in life.

– He proposed the existence of a “collective

unconscious” reflecting the cumulative experiences of all of our ancestors.

– The collective unconscious also contains

archetypes. These are figures and themes that emerge repeatedly in human history and across cultures.

(55)

– Alfred Adler founded the school of “individual psychology.”

– The word “individual” refers to understanding the whole person, in contrast with the

partitioned model of personality that was incorporated into the Freudian framework.

(56)

– Adler proposed that humans have a natural desire to seek personal excellence and

fulfillment, a striving for superiority. We

create a master plan for achieving this, called a style of life.

– People who do not succeed may suffer from an inferiority complex, an exaggerated

(57)

Personality

• Neo-Freudians

– Adler believed that a healthy striving for

superiority involved concern for the needs and welfare of others.

– A psychologically healthy person also had a

social interest, a sense of belonging and identification with other people.

– Psychopathology, in Adler’s framework, involves the setting of inadequate goals, the adoption of a faulty style of life, and a lack of social interest.

(58)

Personality • The learning approach

– Some psychologists believe that the whole concept of personality is questionable.

• People frequently adopt a variety of

behavioral styles that depend on the social context.

• We exhibit one set of behaviors when we interact with our parents, another with our coworkers, and yet another with our friends.

(59)

• The learning approach relates specific behaviors to specific experiences.

• Often the experiences from which we learn are those of other people in our

(60)

– For example, a gender role is a psychological aspect of being male or female (as opposed to your biological sex.)

– A large amount of cross-cultural research suggests that components of the male and female gender roles are in fact learned.

– Boys can be observed to imitate men, and girls to imitate women.

(61)

Personality • Humanistic psychology

– Humanistic psychology deals with values, beliefs, and consciousness, including

spirituality and guiding principles by which people live their lives.

– Personality depends on what people believe and how they perceive and understand the world.

(62)

– Humanistic psychologists see people as

essentially good and interested in achieving perfection.

– This is in contrast with the more morally neutral behaviorism and the essentially negative view of human nature in

(63)

Personality

• Humanistic psychology

– Humanistic psychologists are critical of the deterministic nature of behaviorism and

psychoanalysis.

– They avoid looking for simple cause and effect processes in behavior.

– Humanistic psychologists reject reductionism, which is also characteristic of behaviorist and psychoanalytic theory.

(64)

– Humanistic psychologists study peak

experiences of individuals, those moments in a person’s life when he or she feels truly

fulfilled or content.

– Research in humanistic psychology is often qualitative in nature, recording narratives and anecdotal evidence about how people behave and think.

(65)

– Carl Rogers is considered to be one of the founders of the humanistic school.

• He believed that human nature is

essentially good, and that people strive toward a state of self-actualization -a state of achieving one’s full potential.

(66)

– Rogers believed that children develop a self-concept, an image of the person that they really are.

– They also develop an ideal self, an image of the person they’d like to be.

– In the Rogerian model, psychological distress is generated from the mismatch perceived

(67)

– Rogers believed that human welfare was best served when people related to each other in an atmosphere of unconditional positive regard.

• Unconditional positive regard involves the acceptance of the person as he or she is.

(68)

– Most people receive what Rogers referred to as conditional positive regard in their

important relationships.

• The person is only held in esteem when

they fulfill certain requirements set for them by the other person or society.

(69)

– Abraham Maslow proposed that people have a hierarchy of motivating needs and that the highest need of these is the need to become self-actualized.

– Maslow developed a list of characteristics of the self-actualized person based on people who, in his opinion, had achieved the state.

(70)

(71)

– Some of the characteristics of the self-actualized individual are:

• An ability to perceive reality accurately

• Independence, spontaneity, and creativity • Treating others with unconditional positive

(72)

• An outlook that emphasizes problem-solving

• Enjoyment of life

• A good sense of humor

– Critics correctly point out that this is not a scientific list, and merely represents

characteristics that Maslow admired in people.

(73)

Personality

• Personality theory in many ways seeks to describe human nature. It raises some

fascinating questions that do not seem easily answerable.

• Many researchers in the area of personality are working on these questions in small steps in

hopes of eventually synthesizing an accurate larger picture of who we as humans really are.

(74)

Module 14.2 • Personality Traits

(75)

Trait of Locus of Control • Theorist: Julian Rotter

• The extent to which individuals believe that they can control events that affect them

• Locus refers to location • High LOC

• Low LOC • Internal • External

(76)

Personality

• Two approaches used to study personality • The nomothetic approach identifies

general laws that describe how aspects of personality influence behavior.

• The idiographic approach uses intensive studies of individuals. It does not seek

conclusions that can be applied to people in general.

(77)

Personality • Personality traits and states

– A trait is a consistent, long-lasting tendency in behavior, such as sociability, shyness or assertiveness.

– A state is a temporary activation of particular behavior.

(78)

Concept Check:

You become very, very nervous whenever you have a psychology test scheduled. Are you

experiencing “trait anxiety” or “state anxiety?”

(79)

Personality

• The search for broad personality traits – The idea that people have consistent

personality characteristics that can be measured and studies is called the trait approach to personality.

– Psychologists have studied many familiar personality traits.

(80)

Personality

• The search for broad personality traits – The Big Five personality traits

• Using a statistical technique to determine

which traits correlate most strongly with each other (factor analysis), psychologists have

found five major groups of related traits. • These are: neuroticism, extraversion,

agreeableness, conscientiousness, and

(81)

Personality

• The search for broad personality traits

– The Big Five personality traits: Neuroticism • Neuroticism is the tendency to experience

(82)

Personality

– The Big Five personality traits: Extraversion • Extraversion is a tendency to seek

stimulation and enjoy the company of other people.

(83)

Personality

• The search for broad personality traits – The Big Five personality traits:

Agreeableness

• Agreeableness is a tendency to be

compassionate rather than antagonistic towards others.

(84)

Personality

• The search for broad personality traits – The Big Five personality traits:

Conscientiousness

• Conscientiousness is the tendency to show self-discipline, to be reliable, and to strive for competence and achievement.

(85)

Personality

– The Big Five personality traits: Openness to Experience

• Openness to Experience refers to a

tendency to enjoy new experiences and new ideas.

(86)

Personality

• The search for broad personality traits – Criticisms of the Big Five description:

• It was based on a study of the English language, not on observations of human behavior.

• There are too few traits included. • There are too many traits included.

(87)

Personality • The origins of personality

– What makes people differ in behavior and disposition, anyway?

• _Heredity_{– monozygotic (identical) twins}

tend to resemble each other more strongly than other relatives on measures of

personality traits.

• Heredity – biological relatives tend to

resemble each other more than adoptive relatives or unrelated persons.

(88)

Figure 14.6

FIGURE 14.6 Five studies—conducted in Great Britain, the United States, Sweden, Australia, and Finland—found larger correlations between the extraversion levels of monozygotic (MZ) twins than those of dizygotic (DZ) twins. (Based on data summarized by Loehlin, 1992)

(89)

Figure 14.7

FIGURE 14.7 Researchers in Britain, Minnesota, and Texas measured extraversion in members of hundreds of families. Each found moderate positive correlations among relatives but near zero correlations between parents and adopted children. (Based on data summarized by Loehlin, 1992)

(90)

– Environment – the resemblance in personality

between family members would be stronger than it is given the combined effects of genetic factors and shared environment.

– Unshared Environment – Aspects of the

environment that differ between family

members (i.e., with each new birth in a family, the environment changes) might account for this.

(91)

– Age – in general, the older a person is, the more consistent his or her personality is over time.

– Age – the increased consistency as people age can be observed cross-culturally.

– _{Historical era}_{– researchers have found that} anxiety levels appear to be increasing over the past few generations.

(92)

Personality

• Psychologists are still grappling with the enigma of human personality. People are not just

different from each other; the same people are different depending on the situation.

• We are complex creatures and this area of research is very challenging.

(93)

Module 14.3 • Personality Assessment

(94)

Personality Assessment • Personality testing is a tricky business.

• Creating assessments that seem accurate is easy.

• It is very hard to be sure that particular

assessment tool is producing accurate results. • Profiles produced by popular and well-regarded

personality assessment tools often appear to suffer from some degree of the Barnum effect.

(95)

Personality Assessment • Standardized personality tests

– A standardized test is administered according

to strict rules and interpreted using a prescribed rubric.

– Before its release it is administered to a very large number of people who form the sample representative of individuals for whom the test will be utilized.

– This process facilitates accurate interpretation of the results.

(96)

– Objective personality tests

• Some personality tests are administered simply using paper and pencil.

• The most widely used of these tests is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality

(97)

Table 14.2

(98)

Personality Assessment

• Standardized personality tests

– Objective personality tests: The MMPI

• The most current version of the MMPI (the MMPI-2) is comprised of a series of 567 true-false questions.

• They are designed to measure dimensions of personality such as sociability and

conscientiousness.

• They are also designed to detect clinical conditions like depression and psychosis.

(99)

• The original standardization procedure of the MMPI was flawed but nonetheless

yielded a test that was useful in practice. • The revision that produced the MMPI-2

addressed and corrected some of the flaws.

(100)

• Poorly designed items were rewritten or dropped.

• Scales to detect new areas of concern to clinicians were added (drug abuse, for example).

(101)

– The generalizability of the MMPI

• Is the MMPI an accurate measure of personality for people from diverse backgrounds?

• It is unclear at this time whether differences in scores between members of different

ethnic groups reflect real personality differences or problems with the test.

(102)

Personality Assessment • “Faking it” on a standardized test

• People who take tests may be motivated to make themselves appear more or less

mentally healthy than they actually are (“faking good” or malingering).

• The designers of the MMPI included a set of items that are designed to detect lying.

• A person who answers true to the item “I like every person I have ever met” and false to the statement “Occasionally I get angry at

someone” will have an elevated “fake good” scale on the score report.

(103)

– Uses of the MMPI

• The MMPI is a helpful instrument for research psychologists who study personality.

• It is a useful instrument for clinical

psychologists in familiarizing themselves with clients and planning treatment.

(104)

– Projective techniques

• People frequently feel threatened by

personality assessments that ask them for information directly.

• Projective techniques are designed to

avoid this problem as they assume that

personality characteristics can be detected by asking people to interpret ambiguous stimuli.

(105)

– Projective techniques: The Rorschach Inkblots

• The Rorschach is composed of a series of

10 ambiguous inkblots.

• The person taking the test is asked to interpret each of the blots.

• The psychologists hands a card with a black and white or color blot and asks the questions “What might this be?”

(106)

– Projective techniques: The Rorschach Inkblots

• There is probably some truth in the

underlying assumption that personality

influences behavior in ambiguous situations. • The degree of accuracy of any individual

psychologist’s interpretation of responses is hard to know.

(107)

• One way to manage this flaw is to use a

system for interpreting and scoring the test. • James Exner developed the most widely

used standard system for interpreting this test.

(108)

– Projective techniques: The Rorschach Inkblots

• Exner’s system does not address all problems with the test.

• People with no clinical diagnosis are

frequently identified as having disorders. • A person who makes many responses is

likely to be identified as “disturbed” as an unlimited number are still allowed.

(109)

• The test is cross-culturally limited.

• The correlation among interpretations made by different clinicians is not strong enough.

(110)

• The Exner system’s scales don’t have sufficient validity.

• The information provided by the Rorschach can be found in other, more trustworthy

(111)

• Some critics believe that this assessment procedure should no longer be used.

• Other clinicians feel it is useful at least as a way to start a dialogue with clients.

• The limitations of the Rorschach should be considered substantive, at any rate.

(112)

– Projective techniques: The Thematic

Apperception Test (TAT)

• The TAT is based upon the presentation of a

series of pictures to the test subject.

• The subject is request to make up a story for each picture. The story for each picture is

recorded by the examining clinician.

• The assumption behind the test is that the story told is actually about the test-taker.

(113)

– Projective techniques: The Thematic

Apperception Test (TAT)

• There is no systematic widely used method for interpreting the stories that are produced in response to the cards.

• It is difficult to do research on the reliability and validity of the test.

• Research results suggest that reliability and validity of this procedure are weak.

(114)

• Less commonly used projective techniques – Implicit personality tests

• The assumption behind an implicit

personality test is that it is possible to

measure aspects of personality that may be beyond a person’s awareness.

• It is still unclear whether this assumption will receive enough support that to justify widespread use of such procedures.

(115)

• Less commonly used projective techniques – Implicit personality tests: The Emotional

Stroop Test

• The emotional version of the Stroop test requires a person to look at a list of words and say the color of the ink in which the word is printed.

• Some of the words represent possible sources of concern or anxiety.

(116)

• Less commonly used projective techniques – Implicit personality tests: The Emotional

Stroop Test

• The assumption is that the task will be

more difficult and the pauses of the subject will be longer when trying to say the color of the words that relate to areas of concern.

(117)

• Less commonly used projective techniques – Implicit Personality Tests: The Implicit

Association Test

• The assumption behind the Implicit

Association Test relates to the idea of

“priming.” - the subject responds faster to the categories that combine a particular topic

with pleasant or unpleasant words.

• One advantage of this technique is that it is hard for people to “fake good” or malinger.

(118)

• Uses and misuses of personality tests

• Personality tests need to be used with great caution.

• They may be useful as part of interviewing and rapport building.

• They can aid the total process of personality assessment.

• They should only be used in employment

screening if there is clear evidence that they will improve accuracy of selection.

(119)

Figure 14.12

FIGURE 14.12 Assume that a certain profile occurs in 95% of people with schizophrenia and 5% of other people. If we relied entirely on this test, we would correctly identify 95 schizophrenic people, but we would also misidentify 495 normal people as schizophrenic.

(120)

Uses and Misuses of Personality Tests Criminal Profiling

– No consistent relationships have been found between personality characteristics and type of criminal.

– The profiles of criminals that have emerged from these efforts differ little from those of members of the general and non-criminal public.

(121)

• It would probably be a long, complex process to measure everything worth knowing about an

individual’s personality.

• The tests that are used as part of personality assessment should only be used in a limited fashion. It is all too easy to draw strong