Psychology: Personality

11/19/2013 6:17:00 AM

Personality Distinctive pattern of behavior, mannerisms, thoughts, motives, and emotions o Across time o Across situations Traits o Habitual ways of thinking, behaving, feeling o Building blocks of personality E.g., shy, outgoing, aggressive, caring, adventurous, dependent, needy Psychodynamic Approaches: Feud A Freudian slip is when you say one thing but mean your mother Developed Psychoanalysis o A theory of personality and a method of psychotherapy o Helped people who were suffering neurotically Neurosis: not as bad as a developed mental illness but not understanding certain mental issues (anxiety, selfconsciousness, etc.) Psychodynamic Theories o Explain behavior and personality in terms of unconscious energy dynamics o Focus on: Early childhood experiences Unconscious motives and conflicts (dreams) Sexual and aggressive urges (in children) Came up with the word ego The idea that our dreams tell us something about ourselves comes from Freud

Smoker and a cocaine user for most of his life Took his background in medicine and applied it to psychological problems o Discovered the unconscious Freudian Theory Levels of Consciousness o Levels of consciousness Conscious

Our immediate awareness Preconscious Memories etc. that can be recalled Unconscious Wishes, feelings, impulse that lie beyond awareness; Access through dream interpretation, slips of the tongue, psychoanalysis Example: reasons why people start smoking cant be known, they are in the unconscious

Not accessible to us Structures of Personality o Id When were born, were here Pleasure Principle Primary process thinking Primitive, irrational, fantasy oriented Libido: The psychic energy that fuels the life or sexual instincts of the id. o Ego Very basic when we want something we imagine it, but theres no rational plan to get it (newborn babies) Reality Principle Secondary-process thinking Rational, logical, realistic, problem-focused More goal oriented we realize we cant always have want we want Toddlers

o Superego Contains moral values and ideals (Conscience) Around age 5 Concerned whether a behavior we want to engage in is ethical and moral Develops through interactions with family and religion Id, Ego, and Superego continually in conflict o Conflict generates anxiety:

Ids sexual and aggressive impulses threaten to get out of control Ego perceives danger; superego alarmed o Ego addresses the conflict: Coping strategies and defense mechanisms o Were never truly happy o Intrapsychic conflict (between id, ego, and superego) Anxiety Reliance in defense mechanisms Defense Mechanisms: Exercises in Self-Deception Defense mechanisms are: o Unconscious o Engaged in by everyone o Distortions of reality Repression o Intentional, but not conscious, forgetting Memories, impulses, traumatic events o Repression never complete o (always tries to come to surface from unconsciousness into consciousness generating anxiety) Rationalization o Substitution of an acceptable reason for behavior because real reason in unacceptable o Sour grapes I never loved her anyway Displacement o Divert unacceptable feelings onto substitute target Scapegoating o Sublimation Substitute social acceptable behavior for unacceptable urges Sexual energy used in artistic endeavors o Splitting Seeing the world and others in all or nothing ways o Denial Refusal to believe the reality of a situation

Feeds illusions of vulnerability It cant happen to me

o Projection Attribute ones shortcomings or unacceptable impulses onto others o Reaction Formation Extreme overreaction; the opposite of what we feel o Regression Revert to an earlier stage of psychological development Evaluating Psychodynamic Perspectives Humanistic Psychology Temperament Trait Approaches to Personality Measurement Trait theories Allports Core Personality Traits o Central traits Reflect a characteristic way of behaving, dealing with others, and reacting to new situations o Secondary Traits More changeable aspects of personality o How are basic traits identified? Factor Analysis Ratings on many different personality related words Matrix of correlations used to identify clusters of similar traits Look for underlying continuous dimensions Extraversion-introversion Cattells 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) o Factor analyzed Gordon Alperts list of 1000s of personality traits o Identified 16 basic dimensions (factors) of personality o Any individuals personality could be completely described in terms of these 16 traits

o The Five Factor Model: McCrae & Costa Big Five 1. Openness vs. Conformity 2. Conscientiousness vs. Carelessness 3. Extraversions vs. Introversion 4. Agreeableness vs. Hostility 5. Neuroticism vs. Emotional Stability Neuroticism anxious, hostile, self-conscious, in vulnerable o Predicts divorce, linked to CHD and more health complaints Personality Traits vs. Temperament Brief Measure of Big Five 1. Openness vs. Conformity 2. Conscientiousness vs. Carelessness EAS Temperament Survey Activity Sociability

3. Extraversion vs. Introversion

Emotionality Distress Fearfulness Anger

4. Agreeableness vs. Hostility 5. Neuroticism vs. Emotional Stability Scores 1-14; higher scores, stronger trait Scores 1-20; higher scores, greater the dimension reflects your temperament

Freudian Model

Psychosexual Development Stages of early childhood focus on bodily pleasure o Id focuses on specific erogenous zones o Fixation = Excessive gratification or frustration Oral (Birth 1 year old) o Pleasure from chewing and sucking

Oral fixation Anal (2 to 3) o Pleasure focused on eliminations Anal retentive or Anal expulsive personality Phallic (4 to 5) o Pleasure derived from sexual organs Oedipal or Electra conflict Freud faced a lot of criticism from saying children have sexual urges Little boys pursue their mothers but they think dad is the competition biggest fear is that dad will castrate him o Start spending more time with dad

11/19/2013 6:17:00 AM

11/19/2013 6:17:00 AM