Introduction to Psychology: Personality

Introduction to Psychology: Personality

• Personality is a pattern of enduring, distinctive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that characterize how a person adapts to the world.
• Psychologists approach personality from various perspectives, focusing on different aspects of the individual.

Outline

• Personality definition
• Personality theories
  • Psychoanalytic (Freud)
  • Defense mechanisms (types and uses)
  • Humanistic (Rogers)
  • Adler
  • Horney
• Four basic tools psychologists use to measure personality

Psychoanalytic Theory (Freud)

• Freud believed the sexual drive motivated human activity.
• He theorized that the human sex drive shaped personality development.
• Psychological disorders, dreams, and all behaviors stem from conflict between unconscious sexual urges and societal demands.

Psychoanalytic Structure of the Mind

• Freud divided the mind into three structures:
  • ID: Operates on the pleasure principle, seeking immediate gratification of needs, present at birth, and mainly concerned with basic physiological needs (sex, hunger).
  • EGO: Operates on the reality principle, mediating between the ID's desires and the external world.
  • SUPEREGO: Operates on the moral principle, representing internalized societal standards and moral values.

Sigmund Freud: ID

• Present at birth.
• Operates under the "pleasure principle".
• Primitive and focused solely on selfish desires.
• Primarily concerned with basic physiological drives like sex, food, water.
• Desires are often irrational and unrealistic.

Sigmund Freud: SUPEREGO

• Functions as a moral guardian and establishes extremely high, yet often unrealistic standards of behavior.

Sigmund Freud: EGO

• Characterized by self-awareness, rational decision-making, and delayed gratification.
• Strives to balance unrealistic ID demands with the moralistic SUPEREGO.
• Employs defense mechanisms to manage anxiety.

Sigmund Freud: Defense Mechanisms

• Repression
• Rationalization
• Sublimation
• Identification
• Reaction Formation
• Projection
• Denial
• Displacement
• Regression

Psychosexual Stages of Development (Freud)

• Oral Stage (Birth-1 year): Focus on oral activities. Fixation can lead to smoking, overeating, or dependence.
• Anal Stage (1-3 years): Focus on toilet training. Fixation can lead to orderliness or messiness.
• Phallic Stage (3-6 years): Focus on genitals.
  • Oedipus Complex (boys): Attraction to mother, fear of castration, identifying with father to gain mother's affection.
  • Electra Complex (girls): Attraction to father, "penis envy," identifying with mother.
• Latent Stage (6-11 years): Sexual urges subside. Focus shifts to cognitive development and social interactions.
• Genital Stage (Adolescence): Sexual impulses reappear. Focus on establishing relationships with members of the opposite sex.

Horney's Sociocultural Approach

• Karen Horney rejected Freud's emphasis on anatomy as destiny.
• She argued that sociocultural influences shaped personality development.
• The need for security, not sex, is the primary motivator in human existence.
• Psychological health involves expressing talents and abilities freely.

Adler's Individual Psychology

• People are motivated by purposes and goals, striving for superiority and perfection.
• Adler believed that birth order influences personality in distinct ways.
• He viewed the firstborn as potentially vulnerable, middle children as often in a favorable position, youngest children potentially spoiled, etc..

Carl Rogers' Humanistic Approach

• Emphasizes personal growth, potential, and positive human qualities.
• Rogers believed that individuals possess an innate capacity for personal growth and thrive when provided with unconditional positive regard.
• Conditions of worth, or standards individuals believe must be met to gain positive regard, often alienate us from our genuine desires and create unhappiness.
• Essential for healthy relationships; these qualities include empathy and unconditional positive regard.

Measurement of Personality

• Psychologists use various methods to assess personality:

  • Personal Interview
  • Direct Observation
  • Objective Tests
  • Projective Tests

• Objective Tests:

  • Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
  • Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF)
  • NEO-PI-R

• Projective Tests:

  • Rorschach Inkblot Test
  • Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)