psychology notes.docx

Personal identity refers to those attributes of a person that make her/him different from others. When a person describes herself/himself by telling her/his name (e.g., I am Sanjana or Karim), or her/ his qualities or characteristics (e.g., I am honest or hardworking person), or her/his potentialiti...

Personal identity refers to those attributes of a person that make her/him different from others. When a person describes herself/himself by telling her/his name (e.g., I am Sanjana or Karim), or her/ his qualities or characteristics (e.g., I am honest or hardworking person), or her/his potentialities or capabilities (e.g., I am a singer or dancer), or her/his beliefs (e.g., I am a believer in God or destiny), s/he is disclosing her/his personal identity. Social identity refers to those aspects of a person that link her/him to a social or cultural group or are derived from it. self refers to the totality of an individual's conscious experiences, ideas, thoughts and feelings with regard to herself or himself. These experiences and ideas define the existence of an individual both at the personal and at social levels The way we perceive ourselves and the ideas we hold about our competencies and attributes is also called self-concept. At a very general level, this view of oneself is, overall, either positive or negative. At a more specific level, a person may have a very positive view of her/his athletic bravery, but a negative view of her/his academic talents. At an even more specific level, one may have a positive self-concept about one's reading ability but a negative one about one's mathematical skills. Finding out an individual's self-concept is not easy. The most frequently used method involves asking the person about herself/ himself. As persons we always make some judgment about our own value or worth. This value judgment of a person about herself/himself is called self-esteem. Some people have high self-esteem, whereas others may have low self-esteem. In order to assess self-esteem we present a variety of statements to a person, and ask her/ him to indicate the extent to which those statements are true for her or him. Self-esteem shows a strong relationship with our everyday behaviour. For example children with high academic self-esteem perform better in schools than those with low academic self-esteem, and children with high social self-esteem are more liked by their peers than those with low social self-esteem. On the other hand, children with low self-esteem in all areas are often found to display anxiety, depression, and increasing antisocial behaviour. Studies have shown that warm and positive parenting helps in the development of high self-esteem among children as it allows them to know that they are accepted as competent and worthwhile. Self-efficacy is another important aspect of our self. People differ in the extent to which they believe they themselves control their life outcomes or the outcomes are controlled by luck or fate or other situational factors, e.g. passing an examination. A person who believes that s/he has the ability or behaviours required by a particular situation demonstrates high self-efficacy. People with high self-efficacy have been found to stop smoking the moment they decide to do so. personality refers to our characteristic ways of responding to individuals and situations. Certain catchwords (e.g., shy, sensitive, quiet, concerned, warm, etc.) are often used to describe personalities. personality refers to unique and relatively stable qualities that characterise an individual's behaviour across different situations over a period of time. In brief, personality is characterised by the following features: 1. It has both physical and psychological components. 2. Its expression in terms of behaviour is fairly unique in a given individual. 3. Its main features do not easily change with time. 4. It is dynamic in the sense that some of its features may change due to internal or external situational demands. Thus, personality is adaptive to situations. Within psychology, the personality types given by Sheldon are fairly well known. Sheldon proposed the Endomorphic, Mesomorphic, and Ectomorphic typology. The endomorphs are fat, soft and round. By temperament they are relaxed and sociable. The mesomorphs have strong musculature, are rectangular with a strong body build. They are energetic and courageous. The ectomorphs are thin, long and fragile in body build. They are brainy, artistic and introvert. Jung has proposed another important typology by grouping people into introverts and extraverts. introverts are people who prefer to be alone, tend to avoid others, withdraw themselves in the face of emotional conflicts, and are shy. Extraverts, on the other hand, are sociable, outgoing, drawn to occupations that allow dealing directly with people, and react to stress by trying to lose themselves among people and social activity. Allport's Trait Theory Gordon Allport is considered the pioneer of trait approach. He proposed that individuals possess a number of traits, which are dynamic in nature. They determine behaviour in such a manner that an individual approaches different situations with similar plans. Allport argued that the words people use to describe themselves and others provide a basis for understanding human personality. Allport, based on this, categorised traits into cardinal, central, and secondary. Cardinal traits are highly generalised dispositions. They indicate the goal around which a person's entire life seems to revolve. Mahatma Gandhi's non-violence and Hitler's Nazism are examples of cardinal traits. Such traits often get associated with the name of the person so strongly that they derive such identities as the 'Gandhian' or 'Hitlerian' trait. Less pervasive in effect, but still quite generalised dispositions, are called central traits. These traits (e.g., warm, sincere, diligent, etc.) are often used in writing a testimonial or job recommendation for a person. The least generalised characteristics of a person are called secondary traits. Traits such as 'likes mangoes' or 'prefers ethnic clothes' are examples of secondary traits. Psychodynamic Approach This view owes largely to the contributions of Sigmund Freud. Early in his career he used hypnosis to treat people with physical and emotional problems. He noted that many of his patients needed to talk about their problems, and having talked about them, they often felt better. Freud used free association (a method in which a person is asked to openly share all the thoughts, feelings and ideas that come to her/his mind), dream analysis, and analysis of errors to understand the internal functioning of the mind three levels of consciousness. The first level is conscious, which includes the thoughts, feelings and actions of which people are aware. The second level is preconscious, which includes mental activity of which people may become aware only if they attend to it closely. The third level is unconscious, which includes mental activity that people are unaware of. Freud developed a therapeutic procedure, called psychoanalysis. The basic goal of psychoanalytic therapy is to bring the repressed unconscious materials to consciousness, thereby helping people to live in a more self-aware and integrated manner Structure of Personality According to Freud's theory, the primary structural elements of personality are three, i.e. id, ego, and superego. They reside in the unconscious as forces, and they can be inferred from the ways people behave ( Id : It is the source of a person's instinctual energy. It deals with immediate gratification of primitive needs, sexual desires and aggressive impulses. It works on the pleasure principle, which assumes that people seek pleasure and try to avoid pain. Freud considered much of a person's instinctual energy to be sexual, and the rest as aggressive. Id does not care for moral values, society, or other individuals. Ego : It grows out of id, and seeks to satisfy an individual's instinctual needs in accordance with reality. It works by the reality principle, and often directs the id towards more appropriate ways of behaving. For example, the id of a boy, who wants an ice-cream cone, tells him to grab the cone and eat it. His ego tells him that if he grabs the cone without asking, he may be punished. Working on the reality principle, the boy knows that the best way to achieve gratification is to ask for permission to eat the cone. Thus, while the id is demanding, unrealistic and works according to pleasure principle, the ego is patient, reasonable, and works by the reality principle. Superego : The best way to characterise the superego is to think of it as the moral branch of mental functioning. The superego tells the id and the ego whether gratification in a particular instance is ethical. It helps control the id by internalising the parental authority through the process of socialisation. For example, if a boy sees and wants an ice cream cone and asks his mother for it, his superego will indicate that his behaviour is morally correct. In some people, the id is stronger than the superego; in others, it is the superego. The relative strength of the id, ego and superego determines each person's stability. The instinctual life force that energises the id is called libido. Ego Defence Mechanisms According to Freud, much of human behaviour reflects an attempt to deal with or escape from anxiety. defence mechanism is a way of reducing anxiety by distorting reality. The most important is repression, in which anxiety provoking behaviours or thoughts are totally dismissed by the unconscious. When people repress a feeling or desire, they become totally unaware of that wish or desire. In projection, people attribute their own traits to others. Thus, a person who has strong aggressive tendencies may see other people as acting in an excessively aggressive way towards her/him. In reaction formation, a person defends against anxiety by adopting behaviours opposite to her/his true feelings. A person with strong sexual urges, who channels her/his energy into religious fervour, presents a classical example of reaction formation. In rationalisation, a person tries to make unreasonable feelings or behaviour seem reasonable and acceptable. For example, when a student buys a set of new pens after doing poorly in an examination, s/he may try to rationalise her/his behaviour by asserting, "I will do much better with these pens" Stages of Personality Development Freud claims that the core aspects of personality are established early, remain stable throughout life, and can be changed only with great difficulty. He proposed a five-stage theory of personality (also called psychosexual) development. Oral Stage : A newborn's instincts are focused on the mouth. This is the infant's primary pleasure seeking centre. It is through the mouth that the baby obtains food that reduces hunger. The infant achieves oral gratification through feeding, thumb sucking, biting and babbling. It is during these early months that people's basic feelings about the world are established. Thus, for Freud, an adult who considers the world a bitter place probably had difficulty during the oral stage of development. Anal Stage : It is found that around ages two and three the child learns to respond to some of the demands of the society. One of the principal demands made by parents is that the child learns to control the bodily functions of urination and defecation. Most children at this age experience pleasure in moving their bowels. The anal area of the body becomes the focus of certain pleasurable feelings. This stage establishes the basis for conflict between the id and the ego, and between the desire for babyish pleasure and demand for adult, controlled behaviour. Phallic Stage : This stage focuses on the genitals. At around ages four and five children begin to realise the differences between males and females. They become aware of sexuality and the sexual relationship between their parents. During this stage, the male child experiences the Oedipus Complex, which involves love for the mother, hostility towards the father, and the consequent fear of punishment or castration by the father (Oedipus was a Greek king who unknowingly killed his father and then married his mother). A major developmental achievement of this stage is the resolution of the Oedipus complex. This takes place by accepting his father's relationship with his mother, and modelling his own behaviour after his father. For girls, the Oedipus complex (called the Electra Complex after Electra, a Greek character, who induced her brother to kill their mother) follows a slightly different course. By attaching her love to the father a girl tries to symbolically marry him and raise a family. When she realises that this is unlikely, she begins to identify with her mother and copy her behaviour as a means of getting (or, sharing in) her father's affection. The critical component in resolving the Oedipus complex is the development of identification with the same sex parents. In other words, boys give up sexual feelings for their mothers and begin to see their fathers as role models rather than as rivals; girls give up their sexual desires for their father and identify with their mother. Latency Stage : This stage lasts from about seven years until puberty. During this period, the child continues to grow physically, but sexual urges are relatively inactive. Much of a child's energy is channelled into social or achievement related activities. Genital Stage : During this stage, the person attains maturity in psychosexual development. People learn to deal with members of the opposite sex in a socially and sexually mature way. Failure of a child to pass successfully through a stage leads to fixation to that stage. In this situation, the child's development gets arrested at an earlier stage. For example, a child who does not pass successfully through the phallic stage fails to resolve the Oedipal complex and may still feel hostile toward the parent of the same sex. This failure may have serious consequences for the child's life. Such a boy may come to consider that men are generally hostile, and may wish to relate to females in a dependable relationship. Regression is also a likely outcome in such situations. It takes a person back to an earlier stage. Regression occurs when a person's resolution of problems at any stage of development is less than adequate. In this situation, people display behaviours typical of a less mature stage of development Alfred Adler : Lifestyle and Social Interest Adler's theory is known as individual psychology. His basic assumption is that human behaviour is purposeful and goal directed. Each one of us has the capacity to choose and create. Our personal goals are the sources of our motivation. The goals that provide us with security and help us in overcoming the feelings of inadequacy are important in our personality development. In Adler's view, every individual suffers from the feelings of inadequacy and guilt, i.e. inferiority complex, which arise from childhood. Overcoming this complex is essential for optimal personality development Erik Erikson : Search for Identity Erikson's theory lays stress on rational, conscious ego processes in personality development. In his theory, development is viewed as a lifelong process, and ego identity is granted a central place in this process. His concept of identity crisis of adolescent age has drawn considerable attention. Erikson argues that young people must generate for themselves a central perspective and a direction that can give them a meaningful sense of unity and purpose. A formal effort aimed at understanding personality of an individual is termed as personality assessment. The most commonly used techniques are Self-Report Measures, Projective Techniques, and Behavioural Analysis. Self-report Measures It was Allport who suggested that the best method to assess a person is by asking her/him about herself/himself. The method requires the subject to objectively report her/his own feelings with respect to various items. The responses are accepted at their face value. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) Hathaway and McKinley developed this test as a helping tool for psychiatric diagnosis, but the test has been found very effective in identifying varieties of psychopathology. It consists of 567 statements. The subject has to judge each statement as 'true' or 'false' for her/ him. The test is divided into 10 subscales, which seek to diagnose hypochondriasis, depression, hysteria, psychopathic deviate, masculinity-femininity, paranoia, psychasthenia, schizophrenia, mania and social introversion Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16 PF) This test was developed by Cattell. The test provides with declarative statements, and the subject responds to a specific situation by choosing from a set of given alternatives. The test can be used with high school level students as well as with adults. It has been found extremely useful in career guidance, vocational exploration, and occupational testing. The self-report measures suffer from a number of problems. Social desirability is one of them. It is a tendency on the part of the respondent to endorse items in a socially desirable manner. Acquiescence is another one. It is a tendency of the subject to agree with items/questions irrespective of their contents. It often appears in the form of saying 'yes' to items. Projective Techniques While the nature of stimuli and responses in these techniques vary enormously, all of them do share the following features: (1) The stimuli are relatively or fully unstructured and poorly defined. (2) The person being assessed is usually not told about the purpose of assessment and the method of scoring and interpretation. (3) The person is informed that there are no correct or incorrect responses. (4) Each response is considered to reveal a significant aspect of personality. (5) Scoring and interpretation are lengthy and sometimes subjective. The Rorschach Inkblot Test This test was developed by Hermann Rorschach. The test consists of 10 inkblots. Five of them are in black and white, two with some red ink, and the remaining three in some pastel colours. The blots are symmetrical in design with a specific shape or form. Each blot is printed in the centre of a white cardboard of about 7" 10" size. The blots were originally made by dropping ink on a piece of paper and then folding the paper in half (hence called inkblot test). The cards are administered individually in two phases. In the first phase, called performance proper, the subjects are shown the cards and are asked to tell what they see in each of them. In the second phase, called inquiry, a detailed report of the response is prepared by asking the subject to tell where, how, and on what basis was a particular response made. Fine judgment is necessary to place the subject's responses in a meaningful context. The use and interpretation of this test requires extensive training. The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) This test was developed by Morgan and Murray. It is a little more structured than the Inkblot test. The test consists of 30 black and white picture cards and one blank card. Each picture card depicts one or more people in a variety of situations. Each picture is printed on a card. Some cards are used with adult males or females. Others are used with boys or girls. Still others are used in some combinations. The cards are presented one at a time. The subject is asked to tell a story describing the situation presented in the picture: What led up to the situation, what is happening at the moment, what will happen in the future, and what the characters are feeling and thinking? A standard procedure is available for scoring TAT responses. The test has been modified for children and for the aged. Sentence Completion Test This test makes use of a number of incomplete sentences. The starting part of the sentence is first presented and the subject has to provide an ending to the sentence. It is held that the type of endings used by the subjects reflect their attitudes, motivation and conflicts. The test provides subjects with several opportunities to reveal their underlying unconscious motivations. A few sample items of a sentence completion test are given below. 1. My father------------------------------------------. 2. My greatest fear is ---------------------------. 3. The best thing about my mother is --- ---------------------------. 4. I am proud of ------------------------------------ ------------------------ Behavioural Analysis Interview Interview is a commonly used method for assessing personality. This involves talking to the person being assessed and asking specific questions. Diagnostic interviewing generally involves in-depth interviewing which seeks to go beyond the replies given by the person. Interviews may be structured or unstructured depending on the purpose or goals of assessment. In unstructured interviews, the interviewer seeks to develop an impression about a person by asking a number of questions. The way a person presents her/ himself and answers the questions carries enough potential to reveal her/his personality. The structured interviews address very specific questions and follow a set procedure. This is often done to make objective comparison of persons being interviewed. Use of rating scales may further enhance the objectivity of evaluations. Observation It requires careful training of the observer, and a fairly detailed guideline about analysis of behaviours in order to assess the personality of a given person. For example, a clinical psychologist may like to observe her/his client's interaction with family members and home visitors. With carefully designed observation, the clinical psychologist may gain considerable insight into a client's personality. In spite of their frequent and widespread use, observation and interview methods are characterised by the following limitations: (1) Professional training required for collection of useful data through these methods is quite demanding and time consuming. (2) Maturity of the psychologist is a precondition for obtaining valid data through these techniques. (3) Mere presence of the observer may contaminate the results. As a stranger, the observer may influence the behaviour of the person being observed and thus not obtain good data. Behavioural Ratings Behavioural ratings are frequently used for assessment of personality in educational and industrial settings. Behavioural ratings are generally taken from people who know the assessee intimately and have interacted with her/him over a period of time or have had a chance to observe her/him. They attempt to put individuals into certain categories in terms of their behavioural qualities. The categories may involve different numbers or descriptive terms. The method of rating suffers from the following major limitations: (1) Raters often display certain biases that colour their judgments of different traits. For example, most of us are greatly influenced by a single favourable or unfavourable trait. This often forms the basis of a rater's overall judgment of a person. This tendency is known as the halo effect. (2) Raters have a tendency to place individuals either in the middle of the scale (called middle category bias) by avoiding extreme positions, or in the extreme positions (called extreme response bias) by avoiding middle categories on the scale. Nomination This method is often used in obtaining peer assessment. It can be used with persons who have been in long-term interaction and who know each other very well. In using nomination, each person is asked to choose one or more persons of the group with whom s/he would like to work, study, play or participate in any other activity. The person may also be asked to specify the reason for her/his choices. Nominations thus received may be analysed to understand the personality and behavioural qualities of the person. Situational Tests The most commonly used test of this kind is the situational stress test. It provides us with information about how a person behaves under stressful situations. The test requires a person to perform a given task with other persons who are instructed to be non-cooperative and interfering. The test involves a kind of role playing. The person is instructed to play a role for which s/he is observed. A verbal report is also obtained on what s/he was asked to do. The situation may be realistic one, or it may be created through a video play