PERSONALITY

Personality

A person’s pattern of thinking,

feeling and acting.
 Development of personality
• From where personality come from??
• Psychologist studies the personality in a
different way from where it comes from??
• Personality Theories
– Tend to explain how personalities develop
 Personality
For Feist & Feist (2009), “personality is a pattern of unique
characteristics and relatively permanent traits that give both
individuality and consistency to a person’s behavior”.
Schultz & Schultz (2005) described “personality is the unique
relatively enduring internal and external aspects of person’s character
that influence behavior in different situations”.
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the
American Psychiatric Association (2000), “personality traits are
enduring patterns of perceiving and thinking about oneself and the
environment that are exhibited in a wide range of personal and social
context”. Theorists generally assume that …..
a) traits differ among individuals
b) traits relatively stable over time
c) behavior is influenced from different characteristics or traits.
They are continuously used for the help of people as whole.
 Theories Of Personality
• Psychodynamic/Psychoanalysis theory
• Biological Theory
• Trait Theory
• Behaviorism
• Social-cognitive Theory
• Humanistic
Psychodynamic/Psychoanalysis
theory: Our Personality
• Conscious- things
we are aware of.
• Preconscious-
things we can be
aware of if we think
of them.
• Unconscious- deep
hidden reservoir that
holds the true “us”.
All of our desires and
fears.
Freudian Explanation of Personality
Personality develops from a conflict between two forces: our
biological aggressive and pleasure-seeking drives versus our
internal socialized control over these drives
 Id
• Exists entirely in the
unconscious (so we
are never aware of
it).
• Our hidden true
animalistic wants
and desires.
• Works on the
Pleasure Principle
• Avoid Pain and
receive Instant
Gratification.
 Ego
If you want to be with someone. Your id says just take
them, but your ego does not want to end up in jail. So you
ask her out and just mac it hard.
• Develops after the Id
• Works on the Reality
Principle
• Negotiates between
the Id and the
environment.
• In our conscious
• It is what everyone
sees as our
personality.
 Superego
• Develops last at
about the age of 5
• It is our conscience
(what we think the
difference is
between right and
wrong)
• The Ego often
mediates between
the superego and
id.
 Defense
mechanism:
unconscious
protective
behaviors
that reduce
anxiety.
 Repression

• Pushing thoughts into our

unconscious.
Denial

• Not accepting the ego-

threatening truth.
 Displacement
• Redirecting one’s
feelings toward another
person or object.

• Often displaced on less

threatening things.
Projection

• Believing that the

feelings one has
toward someone else
are actually held by
the other person and
directed at oneself.
 Reaction Formation

• Expressing the
opposite of how one
truly feels.
Regression

• Returning to an
earlier, comforting
form of behavior.
 Sublimation
• Channeling one’s
frustration toward a
different goal.
• Sometimes a healthy
defense mechanism.
• Brandon starts to
learn how to play the
guitar and writing
songs (or maybe
starts to body build).
Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality
• Fathered by Sigmund Freud.
• Our personality is shaped by unconscious motives
and hidden desires
• Stages of Psycho-Sexual Development
1. Oral (birth – 18 months)
• Babies learn about the world with their mouths, oral pleasures
• Oral fixation – preoccupation with oral activities as an adult
2. Anal (18 months – 3 years)
• Control of eliminating and retaining feces, toilet training issues
• Anal retentive – obsession with cleanliness, perfection, control
• Anal expulsive – messy, disorganized
3. Phallic (Oedipal; 3 – 5 or 6 years)
• Pleasure zone is the genitals
• Oedipus complex – development of feelings for opposite sex parent and rivalry feelings
towards same sex parent
– Boys – fear of castration; Girls – penis envy
4. Latency (6 – puberty)
• Sexual urges repressed, play with same sex peers
5. Genital (puberty on)
• Leads to adult sexuality
 Neo-Freudians
Psychodynamic Theories
Jung’s Ideas about Personality

Carl Jung and his concept of the “personal” and

“collective” unconscious.

Collective unconscious: common psychological tendencies that

have been passed down from one generation to the next
Archetype: pattern that exists in our collective unconscious
across cultures and societies
 Introverts and Extroverts
Introvert Extrovert
Energized by being Energized by being with
alone others
Avoids attention Seeks attention
Speaks quickly and
Speaks slowly and softly
loudly
Thinks before speaking Thinks out loud
Stays on one topic Jumps from topic to topic
Prefers written Prefers verbal
communication communication
Pays attention easily Distractible
• Alfred Adler and his ideas
of superiority and
inferiority.
• Adler also talked about
birth order and how it
played a part in
personality.
 Inferiority Complex
It refers to a person’s feelings that they lack worth and don’t
measure up to others’ or to society’s standard
 Carl Rogers
• The object of
humans is to
become self-
actualized.
• Genuineness
• Acceptance
(Unconditional
Positive Regard)
• Empathy
 Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages of
Development
Age
Stage (years Developmental Task Description
)
Trust that basic needs, such as
1 0–1 Trust vs. mistrust
nourishment and affection, will be met
Autonomy vs.
2 1–3 Sense of independence develops
shame/doubt
Take initiative on some activities, may
3 3–6 Initiative vs. guilt develop guilt if boundaries
overstepped
Develop self-confidence in abilities
4 7–11 Industry vs. inferiority
when competent or sense of inferiority

5 12–18 Identity vs. confusion Develop identity and roles

6 19–29 Intimacy vs. isolation Establish intimacy and relationships

Generativity vs.
7 30–64 Contribute to society and family
stagnation
Assess and make sense of life and
8 65– Integrity vs. despair
 Stage 1: Infancy (birth to 18
months)
• Basic Conflict: Trust vs. Mistrust
• Important Events: Feeding
• Outcome: During the first stage of
psychosocial development, children develop a
sense of trust when caregivers provide
reliability, care, and affection. A lack of this
will lead to mistrust.
 Stage 2: Early Childhood (2 to 3
years)
• Basic Conflict:
Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
• Important Events: Toilet Training
• Outcome: Children need to develop a sense of personal
control over physical skills and a sense of independence. Potty
training plays an important role in helping children develop
this sense of autonomy. Children who struggle and who are
shamed for their accidents may be left without a sense of
personal control. Success during this stage of psychosocial
development leads to feelings of autonomy, failure results in
feelings of shame and doubt.
 Stage 3: Preschool (3 to 5 years)
• Basic Conflict: Initiative vs. Guilt
• Important Events: Exploration
• Outcome: Children need to begin asserting
control and power over the environment.
Success in this stage leads to a sense of
purpose. Children who try to exert too much
power experience disapproval, resulting in a
sense of guilt.
 Stage: School Age (6 to 11 years)
• Basic Conflict: Industry vs. Inferiority
• Important Events: School
• Outcome: Children need to cope with new
social and academic demands. Success leads
to a sense of competence, while failure results
in feelings of inferiority.
 Stage: Adolescence (12 to 18
years)
• Basic Conflict: Identity vs. Role Confusion
• Important Events: Social Relationships
• Outcome: Teens need to develop a sense of
self and personal identity. Success leads to an
ability to stay true to yourself, while failure
leads to role confusion and a weak sense of
self.
Stage: Young Adulthood (19 to 40
years)
• Basic Conflict: Intimacy vs. Isolation
• Important Events: Relationships
• Outcome: Young adults need to form intimate,
loving relationships with other people.
Success leads to strong relationships, while
failure results in loneliness and isolation.
Stage: Middle Adulthood (40 to 65
years)
• Basic Conflict: Generativity vs. Stagnation
• Important Events: Work and Parenthood
• Outcome: Adults need to create or nurture
things that will outlast them, often by having
children or creating a positive change that
benefits other people. Success leads to
feelings of usefulness and accomplishment,
while failure results in shallow involvement in
the world.
 Stage: Maturity (65 to death)
• Basic Conflict: Ego Integrity vs. Despair
• Important Events: Reflection on life
• Outcome: Erikson's theory differed from many others because
it addressed development throughout the entire lifespan,
including old age. Older adults need to look back on life and
feel a sense of fulfillment. Success at this stage leads to
feelings of wisdom, while failure results in regret, bitterness,
and despair. At this stage, people reflect back on the events of
their lives and take stock. Those who look back on a life they
feel was well-lived will feel satisfied and ready to face the end
of their lives with a sense of peace. Those who look back and
only feel regret will instead feel fearful that their lives will end
without accomplishing the things they feel they should have.​
 Trait Theories of
Personality
• They believe that we
can describe people’s
personalities by
specifying their main
characteristics (traits).
• Traits like honesty,
laziness, ambition,
outgoing are thought
to be stable over the
course of your lives.
 Biological Theories of
Personality

• What % of personality is inherited –heritability?

Heritability refers to the proportion of difference among people
that is attributed to genetics
Most contemporary psychologists believe temperament has a
biological basis due to its appearance very early in our lives
• Reactivity refers to how we respond to new or challenging
environmental stimuli
• Self-regulation refers to our ability to control that response
 Behaviorist Theory of Personality

• The way most people think of

personality is meaningless.

• Personality changes according

to the environment (reinforces
and punishments).

• If you change environment

then you change the
personality.
Humanistic Theory of Personality
• Do not believe in Determinism (your
actions are dictated by your past).
• They believe that humans have free
will (our ability to choose your own
destiny).
• We are innately good and as long as
our self-esteem and self-concept
are positive we will be happy.
• A growing openness to experience
• An increasingly existential lifestyle
• Freedom of choice
• Higher levels of creativity
• Reliability and constructiveness
• A rich full life
Social-Cognitive Theories on
Personality
• Focus on how we
interact with our
culture and
environment
• Albert Bandura is
back!!!
• Reciprocal
Determinism (traits,
environment and
behavior all interact
and influence each
other.)
Assessing Personality
• Most common way is
self-report inventories.
• MMPI- Minnesota
Multiphasic Personality
Inventory
Test must be
• Reliable- does it yield
the same results over
time.
• Valid- does it measure
what it is supposed to
measure.
 Tests of Personality
Self-Report Inventories Projective Tests
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Personality assessment in which a
Inventory (MMPI): personality test person responds to ambiguous
composed of a series of true/false stimuli, revealing hidden feelings,
questions in order to establish a clinical
impulses, and desires
profile of an individual
• Rorschach Inkblot Test
• Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank
(RISB)
• Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
• TEMAS Multicultural Thematic
Apperception Test and the
Contemporized-Themes Concerning
Blacks Test (C-TCB)
 Quick Review
• What are early theories about personality development?
• What is the psychodynamic perspective on personality
development, including the id, ego, and superego, defense
mechanisms, and the psychosexual stages of personality
development?
• What are the contributions of Neo-Freudians to personality
theory, including Adler’s inferiority complex, Erikson’s
psychosocial stages, Jung’s ideas of the collective unconscious
and archetypes.
 Quick Review Continued
• What are the contributions of humanists Abraham Maslow
and Carl Rogers to personality development?
• What are biological approaches to understanding personality,
including the findings of the heritability, and temperament?