Personality Day 2: Neo

Freudians

How does a psychoanalyst access the

unconcious?

Freud liked hypnosis & free association

Jung analysed dreams
A more modern method would be to utilize Projective
Tests

An ambiguous stimulus is presented and the patient is asked to

describe it or present the story behind it

Examples of these tests include:

the

Rorschach inkblot test

Thematic

Apperception Test (TAT)

Rorschach Ink
blot test

Rorschach Inkblot Test

Contains 10 or so symmetric inkblots in

which the examiner then goes through the
cards and asks the test taker to clarify
their responses by identifying the various
parts of the inkblot that led to the
response

Assumes the test takers responses are

projections of their personal conflicts and
personality dynamics

Widely used but not demonstrated to be

reliable and valid

Thematic
Apperception
Test

TAT

Consists of several cards with pictures of ambiguous settings and one

blank card

Test taker has to make up a story for each card they see (what
happened before, is happening now, what the people are feeling and
thinking, and how things will turn out)

Looks for recurring themes in the responses

Scoring has yet to be demonstrated to be either reliable or valid

Evaluating the Psychoanalytic Theories

Give

credit where credit is due:

First personality theories charted new ground and were bold in their ideas

Unconscious forces do influence behavior (schemas, priming, parallel processing, implicit memory
and stereotypes are all modern ideas of the unconscious).

Internal conflict has been shown to produce psychological distress.

Early childhood experiences can

have an impact on adult personality

People do use defense mechanisms

to reduce distress.

But dont be too hasty

Psychodynamic theories arent good science (no testable hypothesis) and they only offer
after the fact explanations for behavior.

There is little empirical evidence. Psychodynamic theories are based on subjective case
studies.

There tends to be a
sexist bias and a malecentered point of view.

Lack of cross-cultural
support

Humanistic Theory

Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow

Humanistic theory is called the 3rd force in psychology (psychoanalysis and behaviorism)

Humanistic

theory makes certain assumptions about

people:

Humans are basically good and not evil nor neutral. They strive toward higher levels of functioning.

This

is contrary to psychoanalytic theory which assumes humans are

evil and behavior theory which assumes people are neutral

Humanistic Theory

Reality, in humanism, is subjective and not objective

There is no single real world

Self-concept is of our own making based on our own perception of ourselves

Changing

your perception of yourself by changing your

reality can improve your self-concept

Humanist: Carl Rogers

Self-concept

Unconditional positive regard

term for all the information and beliefs about your own nature,
qualities, and behavior
parental acceptance and love regardless of our behavior leads to
becoming a fully functioning person. Also the cardinal rule in
humanistic psychotherapy

Conditional positive regard

acceptance and love dependent on behaving in certain ways and

fulfilling certain conditions. (What normally happens in the real
world.)

Humanist: Carl Rogers

The goal is to become a fully functioning person.

An individual whose self-concept matches his/her inborn

potentials. One whose actual self and idealized self are
similar. i.e. There is a harmony between the image they
project to others and their true feelings or wishes.

Anxiety results from experiences that threaten our

views of ourselves. We may become defensive to
block the threat.
Prentice Hall, 1999

Remember Maslow...

Self-actualizing
tendency:

the drive of human

beings to fulfill their
potential.

Truly self-actualized people are hard to find.

Self-Actualization

Characteristics of self-actualized people include

Accepting themselves, others, and the nature of world for what they are

Having a need for privacy and only a few close,

emotional relationships

Being autonomous and

independent, democratic,
and very creative

Having peak experiences,

which are experiences of deep
insight in which you experience
whatever you are doing as fully as possible

Criticisms of the Humanist Theories

Nave Assumptionshumanists are unrealistic, romantic, and

nave about human nature

Poor testability and inadequate evidenceunconditional positive

regard and self-actualization are difficult to operationalize and
test

Narrownesshumanistic theories merely describe, rather than

explain personality

Where do we go from here?

Freuds

view of the unconscious: a vast storage

space of repressed and unacceptable thoughts,
wishes, feelings and memories

Current

view: information processing that occurs

without our awareness

The Modern Unconscious Involves

Schemas that control our perceptions

Priming that points us toward certain interpretations

Parallel processing (i.e. vision and thought) that occurs without us

knowing

Implicit memories of learned skills

Instantly activated emotions

Self concepts and stereotypes that filter information about

ourselves and others

The Trait Perspective

What is a TRAIT?

A trait is a characteristic pattern of behavior or a

disposition to feel and act

Everyone has a combination of traits

Allport vs. Freud

Gordon Allport focused more on

describing personality with traits
VS.

Freud tried to explain individual traits

with his psychoanalytic theory

Personality

The Five-Factor Model of Traits

The Big Five OCEAN or Canoe

Openness to experience

Conscientiousness

Extraversion

Agreeableness

Neuroticism (emotional stability)

Very
Low

Very
Introverted

Very
Low

Very
Low

Very
Low

Neuroticism

Extraversion
Openness

Agreeableness
Conscientiousness

Very
High

Very
Extraverted

Very
High

Very
High

Very
High

Traits vs Behaviour

Traits do seem to be relatively stable over time

especially true in longitudinal studies of adults

Behaviors are less predictable

how someone behaves depends on the situation as well as internal characteristics

Expressiveness does seem to be consistent in various situations

Averaging behavior over a variety of situations does reveal distinct traits

Biological Factors for Traits?

Differences in brain functioning e.g.

Extraverts seek stimulation

due to low normal brain
arousal (less active in frontal
lobe)
Differences in childrens autonomic nervous
system
Genes contribute to temperament &
behavioral style

Biological Theories of Personality

Temperaments do seem
to be stable from infants
to old age.

chapter 2

Personality Traits in Infants and Children

Temperaments: Physiological dispositions to respond to the environment in
certain ways

1.
2.
3.

Present in infancy, assumed to be innate

Relatively stable over time

Easy/Flexible: positive disposition, curious about new situations,

adaptable, low-moderate emotional intensity - 40% of babies
Difficult/Feisty: negative moods, slow to adapt to new situations - 10 %
of babies
Slow-to-Warm: inactive, calm reactions to environment, negative moods
and withdraw from new situations, adapt slowly - 15 % of babies

35 % have babies have combination of characteristics and cant be categorized

Personality Assessment

The main uses of personality tests are to aid in

diagnosing people with problems, counseling, and
making personnel decisions

Personality
Inventories

Projective
Tests

Personality Inventories

Are designed to measure multiple traits of personality,

and in some cases, disorders

Are a series of questions or statements for which the test taker

must indicate whether they apply to them or not

The MMPI (the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality

Inventory) is the most widely used, translated into more
than 100 languages

Can be administered and scored by a computer

Development of the MMPI

Used empirical approach to item selection

Test items were chosen based on their ability to discriminate one

group of people from another

Items were selected for a scale if the psychiatric group scored

higher than non-clinical test-takers

Example: Much of the time my head seems to hurt all over

Endorsed by 4% of non-clinical test-takers

Endorsed by 12% of Hypochondriasis group

Difference was statistically significant

Development of MMPI

Originally eight psychiatric patient groups were formed for test

development (about 50 in each group): Hypochondriasis,
Depression, Hysteria, Psychopathic Deviate, Paranoia,
Psychasthenia, Schizophrenia, Hypomania

MMPI-2 published in 1989 was re-normed on more representative

sample

2600 people from across the country representative of 1980 U.S. census data

Rewrote awkward or offensive items, some new items added, some old items
removed

MMPI

Contains three validity scales, which attempt to detect test

takers who are trying to cover up problems and fake profiles
or who were careless in their responding

Its test construction method leads to good predictive validity

for its clinical scales and its objective scoring procedure leads
to reliability in interpretation

Evaluating the Trait Perspective

The Person-Situation
Controversy

Behavior influenced by the

interaction of our inner
disposition with our
environment (our
personality is different in
different situations)

Consistency of Expressive
Style

Our traits are less

constrained in a familiar
environment

First impressions are very

accurate in terms of
expressiveness

The Social-Cognitive Perspective

Proposed by Bandura; emphasizes the interaction of

persons and their situations

Social-Cognitive theorists believe:

we learn behaviors through conditioning or by observing

others and copying them

our behavior is influenced by our thoughts about the

situation

Bottom Line is the interaction between environment and people

Reciprocal Influences
Behavior, environment & internal personal factors all
operate as interlocking determinants of each other

1)

Different people choose different environments

2)

Our personalities shape how we interpret and react to

events

3)

Our personalities help create situations to which we react

Reciprocal Influences

REMEMBER: behavior emerges from the interplay of external and internal

influences

Evaluating the Social-Cognitive Perspective

How do situations affect individuals?

Builds on psychological research on learning and cognition

Does this focus too much on situation rather than the persons inner traits?

Biologically influenced traits still matter

Possible Selves

Includes the self you dream of becoming: the rich self, the successful self,
the loved and admired self

Also includes the self you fear becoming: the unemployed self, the lonely
self, the academically failed self

They motivate us by laying out specific goals and providing the energy to
work towards them

The Spotlight Effect

Spotlight effect: overestimating other noticing and

evaluating our appearance, performance, and
mistakes (as if we assume a spotlight shines on us)
However, people notice less than we think they do,
even after an embarrassing moment or a mistake we
made
We tend to remember information better if it is
encoded in terms of ourselves

Benefits of high self-esteem:

Fewer sleepless nights

Succumb less easily to pressures

to conform

Less likely to use drugs

More persistent with difficult

tasks

Less shy and lonely

Less likely to see rejection where none exists

Youre just plain happier

Low Self-Esteem

Comes

in two
different forms:

Depression: people feel

they are falling short of
their hopes

Anxiety: people feel they

are falling short of what
they ought to be

Effect of Low Self-Esteem:

If you temporarily deflate peoples self-image (telling them they did poorly on a
test, etc.) they are more likely to scorn others or express greater racial
prejudice

People negative about themselves tend to be easily offended and judgmental

Those made to feel insecure often become excessively critical, as if to impress

others with their own brilliance

Culture and Self-Esteem

African-Americans show a slightly higher selfesteem level than Caucasians

Rates of depression and alcoholism are the same

among African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and
Americans (according to a National Institute of
Mental Health survey)

People who have faced discrimination maintain their self-esteem in three

ways:

They

value the things at which they excel in

They

attribute problems to prejudice

They

do as everyone does, they compare

themselves to those in their own group

Despite the realities of prejudice, groups like these report levels of

happiness roughly comparable to others

Self-Serving Bias

Self-serving bias: a readiness to perceive oneself favourably

People accept more responsibility for good deeds than for bad, and for
successes than for failures

Most people see themselves as better than average

All of us have inferiority complexes, those who seem not to have such a
complex are only pretending.

John

Powell

We
Remember and justify
our past actions in selfenhancing ways
Exhibit an inflated
confidence in our
beliefs and judgments
Overestimate how well
we would act in a
situation
Often seek our
favourable, selfenhancing information

Are quicker to believe

flattering comments
about ourselves than
unflattering ones
Overestimate how much
others support our
opinions
Underestimate the
commonality of our
strengths
Exhibit group pride our
school, country, etc is
always superior

Pride does go before the fall

Encouraging people to
feel good about
themselves when they
haven't earned it poses
problems. Conceited,
self-important individuals
turn nasty towards those
who puncture their
bubbles of self-love. (Roy
Baumeister)

Culture and the Self

Individualism:

giving
priority to ones own
goals over group
goals, and defining
ones identity in terms
of personal attributes
rather than group
identifications.

 Collectivism:

giving
priority to the goals
of ones group
(often ones
extended family or
work groups) and
defining ones
identity accordingly.

Value Contrasts Between Individualism and

Collectivism

Concept
Self

Individualism

Collectivism

Independent
(identity from
individual traits)

Interdependent
(identity from
belonging)

Life task

Discover & express

uniqueness

Maintain
connections, fit in

What matters

Me personal
achievement and
fulfillment; rights
and liberties; selfesteem

Us group goals
and solidarity;
social
responsibilities and
relationships

Coping
method

Change reality

Accommodate to
reality

Concept
Morality

Individualism

Collectivism

Defined by
individuals (selfbased)

Defined by social
networks (dutybased)

Relationships

Many, often
temporary or
casual;
confrontation
acceptable

Few, close, and

enduring; harmony
valued

Attributing
behaviour

Behaviour reflects
ones personality
and attitudes

Behavior reflects
social norms and
roles