SSCI125 Ch5 Part I: Personality PDF

**SSCI125 Ch5 Part I: Personality** What exactly is personality? Where does it come from? Does it change as we grow older? These are the sorts of questions that have long held the fascination of psychologists and which have inspired a number of different theories of personality. **Defining Persona...

**SSCI125 Ch5 Part I: Personality** What exactly is personality? Where does it come from? Does it change as we grow older? These are the sorts of questions that have long held the fascination of psychologists and which have inspired a number of different theories of personality. **Defining Personality** While personality is something that we talk about all the time (\"He has such a great personality!\" or \"Her personality is perfect for this job!\"), you might be surprised to learn that psychologists do not necessarily agree on a single definition of what exactly constitutes personality. Personality is broadly described as the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that make a person unique. In plain English, it is what makes you you. Researchers have found while some external factors can influence how certain traits are expressed, personality originates within the individual. While a few aspects of personality may change as we grow older, personality also tends to remain fairly consistent throughout life. Because personality plays such an important role in human behavior, an entire branch of psychology is devoted to the study of this fascinating topic. Personality psychologists are interested in the unique characteristics of individuals, as well as similarities among groups of people. **Characteristics of Personality** In order to understand the psychology of personality, it is important to learn some of the key characteristics of how personality works. ***Personality is organized and consistent.*** We tend to express certain aspects of our personality in different situations and our responses are generally stable. ***Although personality is generally stable, it can be influenced by the environment***. For example, while your personality might lead you to be shy in social situations, an emergency might lead you to take on a more outspoken and take-charge approach. ***Personality causes behaviors to happen.*** You react to the people and objects in your environment based on your personality. From your personal preferences to your choice of a career, every aspect of your life is affected by your personality. **Famous Figures in Psychology** -------------------------------- Some of the most famous figures in the history of psychology left a lasting mark on the field of personality. In order to better understand the different theories of personality, it can be helpful to learn more about the lives, theories, and contributions to the psychology of these eminent psychologists.  ### **Sigmund Freud** Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was the founder of psychoanalytic theory. His theories emphasized the importance of the unconscious mind, childhood experiences, dreams, and symbolism. His theory of psychosexual development suggested that children progress through a series of stages during which libidinal energy is focused on different regions of the body. His ideas are what is known as grand theories because they seek to explain virtually every aspect of human behavior. Some of Freud\'s ideas are considered outdated by modern psychologists, but he had a major influence on the course of psychology, and some concepts, such as the usefulness of talk therapy and the importance of the unconscious, are enduring. Based on his experience, Sigmund Freud developed a theory of personality touching on several issues mainly: 1- Levels of consciousness: Conscious- Pre/Subconscious- Unconscious 2- The structure of personality: ID (Pleasure Principle- operates at the unconscious level) EGO (Reality Principle- operates at the conscious level) SuperEGO (Moral Principle- operates at the Pre/Subconscious level 3- Anxiety and defense mechanism 4- Psychosexual stages of development **Theory of Personality:** 1- Levels of consciousness: Freud believed that his theories and temporary measure and should be replace by knowledge of biological and neural processes. His conclusion was that the mind lies below the threshold of conscious experience. (The mind is the basis of our conscious experience). The conscious includes our thoughts, images, ideas, desires, and experiences at any given moment. Beneath this conscious is the sub/preconscious which contains memories that are part of our current thoughts but can be brought to conscious level when needed. Under the pre-conscious is the unconscious which includes desires, thoughts, impulses that were once at the conscious level but because they\'re threatening and anxiety provoking (shameful experiences, aggressive sexual urges...) they were repressed in the unconscious. Though we\'re unaware of them, but still the can influence behavior. Freud believed that many symptoms experienced by his patients are behavioral manifestations of repressed thoughts and desires. Therefore the major goal of psychoanalysis (method used to treat psychological disorders by Freud) is to bring repressed material in consciousness. Once the patient is aware of these anxieties and desires and gain insight into his early experience in life that caused him to repress them, the disorder or mental illness could be cured. To probe into the unconscious, Freud used dream interpretation because in dreams patients freely express their impulses and desires. However such a method has no empirical (scientific) evidence to support it. **The Structure of Personality** The mind's conscious and unconscious states are illustrated as an iceberg floating in water. Beneath the water's surface in the "unconscious" area are the id, ego, and superego. The area above the water's surface is labeled "conscious." Most of the iceberg's mass is contained underwater. According to Freud, personality consists of 3 parts: id, ego, and superego. 1- Id consists of all our innate and primitive urges or desires and it operates at the unconscious level. (Immoral urges, selfish needs, violent motives, fears, irrational wishes, unacceptable sexual desires...) The id seeks immediate gratification (fulfillment) of irrational impulses and it\'s termed the pleasure principle. 2- The ego: Living in a society and interacting with others puts limits to the gratification of the basic impulses of the id. Thus the ego develops. It\'s the second structure of the personality and it controls the id and directs behavior so as to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. It\'s termed the reality principle and it operates at the conscious level. 3- The third aspect of personality is the superego. It controls the id impulses, but in contrast with the ego it\'s connected to morality. It allows the id to satisfy some impulses only when it\'s morally accepted, feasible, and safe. It operates at the preconscious level, and it\'s termed the morality principle. The superego internalizes the moral teachings of our society and our parents thus controlling basic desires. Therefore the task of the ego is to balance between our primitive needs (Id) and our learned social restrictions (superego). This constant struggle among id, ego, and superego plays a major role in forming our personality and psychological disorders. This struggle is often shown in what Freud calls Freudian slips; to slip a word (an error of speech) that actually reflects unconscious impulses.  Defense Mechanisms ================== Defense mechanisms are psychological strategies that are unconsciously used to protect a person from anxiety arising from unacceptable thoughts or feelings. ============================================================================================================================================================ ### **Why do we need Ego defenses?** We use defense mechanisms to protect ourselves from feelings of anxiety or guilt, which arise because we feel threatened, or because our [id or superego](https://www.simplypsychology.org/psyche.html) becomes too demanding. Defense mechanisms operate at an unconscious level and help ward off unpleasant feelings (i.e., anxiety) or make good things feel better for the individual. Ego-defense mechanisms are natural and normal.  When they get out of proportion (i.e., used with frequency), neuroses develop, such as anxiety states, phobias, obsessions, or hysteria. Examples of Defenses Mechanisms ------------------------------- There are a large number of defense mechanisms; the main ones are summarized below.  ============================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================= **Psychosexual stages of development:** Freud believed that events in the first years of life determine adult personality. How personality develops is based on psychosexual stages. There are 2 important concepts relating to them: Libido and fixation. The Libido is a psychic energy that enhances mental activity. It\'s a form of pleasure and it changes as the person moves through the stages of development. Sometimes a person gets Libido satisfaction at one stage that he refuses to move to another stage. This is called fixation. He has no more energy left to move to another stage. The result is an immature personality and many psychological problems. So psychosexual staged are innate sequence of stages through which every person passes. At each stage pleasure or Libido is focused on a different part of the body. As we grow we always look for ways to gratify out Libido. +-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+ | **Stage** | **Age | **Erogenous | **Major | **Adult | | | (years)** | Zone** | Conflict** | Fixation** | | | | | | | | | | | | **Example** | +=============+=============+=============+=============+=============+ | Oral | 0--1 | Mouth | Weaning off | Smoking, | | | | | breast or | overeating | | | | | bottle | | +-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+ | Anal | 1--3 | Anus | Toilet | Neatness, | | | | | training | messiness | +-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+ | Phallic | 3--6 | Genitals | Oedipus/Ele | Vanity, | | | | | ctra | overambitio | | | | | complex | n | +-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+ | Latency | 6--12 | None | None | None | +-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+ | Genital | 12+ | Genitals | None | None | +-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+ | **Table 1. | | | | | | Freud's | | | | | | Stages of | | | | | | Psychosexua | | | | | | l | | | | | | Development | | | | | | ** | | | | | +-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+ According to Freud progression to each stage is possible if no fixation has occurred at an earlier stage. If fixation occurs, development is blocked. As a result, various disorders emerge. **Freud\'s theory: An overall evaluation** As a result of the psychosexual stages of development, Freud believed that our feelings and behavior can be strongly affected by our unconscious (information that we can\'t bring to mind, conscious, and can\'t describe it verbally). Research evidence suggests that this is true to some extent, but they believe that they aren\'t really scientific. Many concepts can\'t be measured or tested especially the id, Libido, and fixation, so a theory that can\'t be tested is useless. Another point is that Freud based his research on a small number of case studies. The sample is limited and not representative (based on specific culture, specific wealthy background patients..). So the results can\'t be generalized according to the scientific methods. Nevertheless, Freud\'s ides had a great impact on society and modern thoughts especially his ideas about the levels of consciousness and about the importance of anxiety and psychological disorders that have contributed to understand human behavior and personality. Therefore, his theories were very influential to modern psychology.