Chapter 10: Personality PDF

Because learning changes everything. ® Chapter 10: Personality Copyright 2022 © McGraw Hill LLC. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill LLC.  Chapter Preview Psychodynamic Perspectives...

Because learning changes everything. ® Chapter 10: Personality Copyright 2022 © McGraw Hill LLC. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill LLC.  Chapter Preview Psychodynamic Perspectives. Humanistic Perspectives. Trait Perspectives. Social Cognitive Perspectives. Biological Perspectives. Personality Assessment. © McGraw Hill LLC 2  Psychodynamic Perspectives Personality: a pattern of enduring, distinctive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that characterize the way an individual adapts to the world. Psychodynamic perspectives: theoretical views emphasizing that personality is primarily unconscious (beyond awareness). Behavior is only a surface characteristic. © McGraw Hill LLC 3  Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory 1 Psychoanalysis is Sigmund Freud’s approach to personality. He described personality as having three structures: Id: unconscious drives. Ego: deals with the demands of reality. Superego: serves as judge of the individual’s behavior; also known as conscience. © McGraw Hill LLC Universal History Archive/UIG/REX/Shutterstock 4  Figure 1: The Conscious and Unconscious Mind: The Iceberg Analogy The iceberg analogy illustrates how much of the mind is unconscious in Freud’s theory. The conscious mind is the part of the iceberg above water; the unconscious mind, the part below water. Notice that the id is totally unconscious, whereas the ego and the superego can operate at either the conscious or the unconscious level. © McGraw Hill LLC 5  Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory 2 Defense mechanisms: tactics the ego uses to reduce anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality. Unconscious; and not necessarily unhealthy. Denial is the most primitive. Displacement. Sublimation. Projection. Reaction formation. Repression. © McGraw Hill LLC 6  Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory 3 Freud believed people go through universal stages of personality development. Each stage involves sexual pleasure in one part of the body more than others. Oral stage (first 18 months). Anal stage (18 to 36 months). Phallic stage (3 to 6 years). Latency period (6 years to puberty). Genital stage (adolescence and adulthood)—when sexual pleasure shifts to outside the family. © McGraw Hill LLC 7  Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory 4 Oedipus complex: in the phallic stage, a boy’s intense desire to replace his father and enjoy the affections of his mother. The boy experiences castration anxiety. The girl experiences penis envy. © McGraw Hill LLC 8  Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory 5 Freud believed that a person may become stuck in any of the developmental stages if they are underindulged or overindulged. In such cases, an individual may experience fixation —when a particular psychosexual stage colors the adult personality. Childhood experiences can therefore have an enormous impact on adult personality. © McGraw Hill LLC 9  Adult Extensions Stage (Fixations) Sublimations Reaction Formations Oral Smoking, eating, kissing, Seeking knowledge, Speech purist, food faddist, oral hygiene, drinking, humor, wit, sarcasm, being prohibitionist, dislike of milk chewing gum a food or wine expert Anal Notable interest in one’s Interest in painting or Extreme disgust with feces, bowel movements, love of sculpture, being overly fear of dirt, prudishness, bathroom humor, extreme giving, great interest in irritability messiness statistics Phallic Heavy reliance on Interest in poetry, love of Puritanical attitude toward masturbation, love, interest in acting, sex, excessive modesty flirtatiousness, expressions striving for success of virility Figure 2: Defense Mechanisms and Freudian Stages If a person is fixated at a psychosexual stage, the fixation can color personality in many ways, including the defense mechanisms the person might use to cope with anxiety. © McGraw Hill LLC 10  Psychodynamic Critics and Revisionists 1 Freud’s critics stress the following points: Sexuality is not as pervasive a force as Freud believed; and the Oedipus complex is not universal. Experiences later than the first five years deserve attention. The ego and conscious processes play a more dominant role than Freud believed. Sociocultural factors are much more important. © McGraw Hill LLC 11  Psychodynamic Critics and Revisionists 2 Karen Horney’s sociocultural approach: Hypotheses must be supported with observable data. Sociocultural influences should be considered. The need for security, rather than sex, is the prime motivator. © McGraw Hill LLC Bettmann/Getty Images 12  Psychodynamic Critics and Revisionists 3 Karl Jung’s analytical theory: Collective unconscious: the impersonal, deepest layer of the unconscious mind, shared by all human beings because of their common ancestral past. Archetypes: emotionally laden ideas and images that have rich and symbolic meaning for all people. Anima (feminine), animus (masculine), and persona (the public mask). © McGraw Hill LLC ANL/REX/Shutterstock 13  Psychodynamic Critics and Revisionists 4 Alfred Adler’s individual psychology: Individual psychology: people are motivated by purposes and goals. Perfection, not pleasure, is thus the key motivator. Compensation is the normal attempt to overcome imagined or real inferiorities. Each person also has a natural impulse toward warm relationships, which Adler called the social context. Birth order can influence a person’s success. © McGraw Hill LLC 14  Evaluating the Psychodynamic Perspectives 1 Shared principles: Personality is shaped by early and current experiences. Personality is better understood as a developmental process. We mentally transform our experiences, giving them meaning that shapes our personality. Unconscious motives lie behind some behaviors. Conflict between one’s inner world and outer demands creates anxiety. Personality and adjustment are important topics of study. © McGraw Hill LLC 15  Evaluating the Psychodynamic Perspectives 2 Criticisms: An overemphasis on early family experiences without acknowledging that people can change and adapt. Too much emphasis (Freud and Jung) on the unconscious mind’s ability to control behavior. Too much emphasis (Freud) on sexuality. Difficulty in empirical testing—although empirical studies have now been done. © McGraw Hill LLC 16  Humanistic Perspectives Humanistic perspectives: theoretical views stressing people’s capacity for personal growth and positive human qualities. We all have the ability to control our lives and to achieve what we desire. © McGraw Hill LLC 17  Maslow’s Approach Self-actualization is the motivation to develop one’s full potential as a human being. Described self-actualizers as spontaneous, creative, and possessive of a childlike capacity for awe. Self-actualizers maintain a capacity for “peak experiences.” Note that Maslow’s examples were limited to those who had opportunities for success. © McGraw Hill LLC 18  Rogers’s Approach Carl Rogers believed that we are all born with the raw ingredients of a fulfilling life—we just need the right conditions to thrive. We have an innate sense of whether an experience is good or bad. We all have a need for positive regard from others—we need to be liked. © McGraw Hill LLC Michael Rougier/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images 19  Explaining Unhappiness 1 Unconditional positive regard: Rogers’s term for the individual’s need to be accepted, valued, and treated positively regardless of their behavior. Conditions of worth: the standards that the individual must live up to in order to receive positive regard from others. Our self-concept, developed in childhood, can be negatively affected by conditions of worth. © McGraw Hill LLC 20  Explaining Unhappiness 2 Rogers proposed that in order to reconnect with their own true feelings and desires, the individual must experience a relationship with three qualities: Unconditional positive regard. Empathy. Genuineness. © McGraw Hill LLC 21  Evaluating the Humanistic Perspective The way we perceive ourselves and the world is an essential element of personality. A positive approach to the whole person. Emphasis on conscious experience and potential. Criticisms: Too optimistic. Overestimate people’s freedom and rationality. May promote excessive self-love and narcissism. People are not held accountable. © McGraw Hill LLC 22  Trait Perspectives Traits are stable personality characteristics. Trait perspectives on personality have been the dominant approach for nearly four decades. © McGraw Hill LLC 23  Trait Theories 1 Trait theories: theoretical views stressing that personality consists of broad, enduring dispositions (traits) that tend to lead to characteristic responses. “High” on a trait: a strong tendency to behave a certain way according to that trait. “Low” on a trait. Trait theorists agree that traits are the fundamental building blocks of personality. © McGraw Hill LLC 24  Trait Theories 2 Gordon Allport: Stressed each person’s uniqueness and capacity to adapt. Traits are structures that cause a person’s behavior to be similar even in different situations. Lexical approach: the more important a trait is, the more likely it is that it is represented by a single word. Allport and H. S. Odbert found 4,500 distinct traits. W. T. Norman reanalyzed those traits and concluded they could be summarized in just five factors. © McGraw Hill LLC 25  The Five-Factor Model of Personality 1 Big five factors of personality: the five broad traits that are thought to describe the main dimensions of personality. Each has been the topic of extensive research. Openness to experience: Imaginative and interested in cognitively engaging with abstract ideas as well as perceptions, nature, and the arts. Someone high in openness enjoys thinking about issues from all sides and is not interested in conventional ways of doing things. © McGraw Hill LLC 26  The Five-Factor Model of Personality 2 Conscientiousness: Reliable, hard working, and dependable. Someone high in conscientiousness is disciplined, goal directed, and organized. Extraversion: Outgoing, sociable, and lively. A person high in extraversion is not shy and tends to be enthusiastic with others. © McGraw Hill LLC 27  The Five-Factor Model of Personality 3 Agreeableness: Kind, nice, and trusting. A person high in agreeableness is likely to be gentle and helpful to others. Neuroticism: A worrier, anxious, and insecure. Someone who is high on neuroticism is likely to be stressed out by negative events and is prone to experiencing distress. Neuroticism is sometimes labeled by its opposite end: Those low in neuroticism are high in emotional stability. © McGraw Hill LLC 28  The Five-Factor Model of Personality 4 Note that the role of personality traits depends on the situations in which we find ourselves. Our traits can be strengths or weaknesses. Extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness are the most likely factors to emerge across cultures and languages. Neuroticism and openness to experience are more likely to emerge only in English-speaking samples. © McGraw Hill LLC 29  The Five-Factor Model of Personality 5 At least some of the big five personality traits are evident in some animals, such as the domestic dog. General personality traits have been found in a larger range of animals. © McGraw Hill LLC Ammit Jack/Shutterstock 30  Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Well-Being 1 On average, some people are happier than others. Life events explain relatively little. Extraversion is related to higher levels of well-being. Neuroticism is strongly related to lower levels. Subjective well-being: a person’s assessment of their own level of positive affect relative to negative affect, and an evaluation of their life in general. Positive and negative moods affect life satisfaction. © McGraw Hill LLC 31  Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Well-Being 2 Extraversion is strongly related to well-being—even for those high on neuroticism. Extraverts are happier than introverts even when alone. The well-being benefits of extroversion appear to be linked most to their high energy. Note that while traits are enduring characteristics, states are briefer experiences. Personality research has begun to examine ways that behaving out of character may lead to boosts in mood and well-being. © McGraw Hill LLC 32  Evaluating the Trait Perspective Studying people in terms of their personality traits has practical value. Allows us to know people better. Enriches our understanding of connections between personality and health, ways of thinking, career success, and relations with others. Situational factors are still important. Critics argue that the trait perspective paints the individual with very broad strokes. © McGraw Hill LLC 33  Social Cognitive Perspectives Social cognitive perspectives: theoretical views emphasizing conscious awareness, beliefs, expectations, and goals. Incorporate principles from behaviorism. Emphasize the person’s individual interpretation of situations. Not interested in broad traits; rather, focus on specific factors such as beliefs and expectations. © McGraw Hill LLC 34  Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory 1 Albert Bandura’s social cognitive theory states that behavior, environment, and person/cognitive factors are all important to understanding personality. Reciprocal determinism: the way these factors interact to create personality. © McGraw Hill LLC Cheriss May/NurPhoto/Getty Images 35  Figure 4: Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory Bandura’s social cognitive theory emphasizes the reciprocal influences of behavior, environment, and person/cognitive factors. Notice that from Bandura’s perspective, the three arrows are double-headed, meaning that causation goes in both directions. Consider the events and experiences. Describe how factors from each of the three points on the triangle spur changes in the other two and how those influences might come back again. © McGraw Hill LLC 36  Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory 2 Through observational learning, we form ideas about the behavior of others. May adopt that behavior ourselves. Our specific beliefs can influence our behavior. Personal control: the degree to which a person believes to be in charge of the outcomes of behavior. Self-efficacy: the belief a person has that they can master a situation and produce positive change. © McGraw Hill LLC 37  Mischel’s Contributions 1 Walter Mischel attacked the assumption that personality characteristics are an enduring influence on behavior. Situationism: the idea that behavior changes considerably from one context to another. Researchers responded by showing that it is not a matter of whether personality predicts behavior, but when and how it does so. Often in combination with situational factors. © McGraw Hill LLC 38  Mischel’s Contributions 2 Mischel’s study of delay of gratification led to his own theory of personality. Delay of gratification: putting off a pleasurable experience in the interest of some larger but later reward. Cognitive affective processing systems (CAPS): Mischel’s theoretical model for how individuals’ thoughts and emotions about themselves and the world affect their behavior and become linked in ways that matter to that behavior. © McGraw Hill LLC 39  Evaluating the Social Cognitive Perspectives The social cognitive approach: Highlights the observation of behavior. Emphasizes the influence of cognitive processes. Suggests people can control their environment. Weaknesses: Too concerned with change and situational influences. Ignores the role biology plays. Tends to lead to very specific predictions for each person, making generalizations impossible. © McGraw Hill LLC 40  Biological Perspectives The notion that physiological processes influence personality has been around since ancient times. More recent advances in method and theory have led to fascinating research on the role of biological processes in personality. © McGraw Hill LLC 41  Theories Linking Personality and the Brain 1 Hans Eysenck’s arousal regulation theory: In extraverts and introverts, the reticular activation system (RAS)—consisting of the reticular formation and its connections—differs with respect to the baseline level of arousal. Research has not demonstrated this to be true. Researchers have found, however, that blood flow in the striatum differs; and this plays a role in levels of dopamine —the neurotransmitter linked with the experience of reward. © McGraw Hill LLC 42  Figure 5: Eysenck’s Reticular Activation System Theory Eysenck viewed introversion and extraversion as characteristic behavioral patterns that aim to regulate arousal around the individual’s baseline level. Access the text alternative for slide images. © McGraw Hill LLC (Left): drbimages/E+/Getty Images; (Right): Stockbyte/Getty Images 43  Theories Linking Personality and the Brain 2 Jeffrey Gray: Reinforcement sensitivity theory: identifies two biological systems linked to learning associations between behaviors and rewards or punishers. Behavioral activation system (BAS): sensitive to learning about rewards. Behavioral inhibition system (BIS): sensitive to learning about punishers. © McGraw Hill LLC 44  Figure 6: Gray’s Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory Gray theorized that two neurological systems, the BAS and the BIS, explain differences in an organism’s attention to environmental rewards and punishments, and in this way shape personality. Access the text alternative for slide images. © McGraw Hill LLC (Left): Matthias G. Ziegler/Shutterstock; (Right): xubingruo/iStock/Getty Images 45  Theories Linking Personality and the Brain 3 The brain and neurotransmitters: Some research supports a link between extraversion and dopamine and the anticipation of rewards. Neuroticism has been linked to: More persistent activation in the amygdalae in response to aversive or disturbing stimuli. Low levels of circulating serotonin. Poorer regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. © McGraw Hill LLC 46  Theories Linking Personality and the Brain 4 The brain and neurotransmitters, continued: Dopamine and serotonin have been associated with openness to experience. Neural connections involved in thinking about other people, along with oxytocin and serotonin, have been linked to agreeableness. Conscientiousness is related to greater brain volume in areas involving attention, impulses, and planning. Note that biological processes take place within a larger social context. © McGraw Hill LLC 47  Personality and Behavioral Genetics Behavioral genetics: the study of the inherited underpinnings of behavioral characteristics. Twin studies reveal a substantial genetic influence on the big five traits. Heritability estimates are about 50 percent. Heritability does not mean that traits are set in stone. Most traits are influenced by multiple genes. © McGraw Hill LLC 48  Evaluating the Biological Perspectives Biology can be the effect, not the cause, of personality. Traits may play a role in forging particular habitually-used pathways in the brain. In other words, personality may both be influenced by the brain and play a role in the brain’s structure and functions. © McGraw Hill LLC 49  Personality Assessment Psychologists use a number of scientifically developed methods to evaluate personality. They assess personality for different reasons, from clinical evaluation to career counseling and job selection. © McGraw Hill LLC 50  Self-Report Tests 1 Self-report test: a method of measuring personality characteristics that directly asks people whether specific items describe their personality traits. Social desirability is one problem in self-report testing. Empirically keyed test: presents many questionnaire items to two groups that are known to be different in some central way. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI): the most widely used and researched empirically keyed self-report personality test. © McGraw Hill LLC 51  Self-Report Tests 2 Paul Costa and Robert McCrae’s Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory–3 (NEO-PI-3): Geared to assessing the five-factor model. Also evaluates six subdimensions. Face validity: the extent to which a test item appears to fit the particular trait it is measuring. A key challenge is ensuring the accuracy of participants’ responses. © McGraw Hill LLC 52  Projective Tests Projective test: presents individuals with an ambiguous stimulus and asks them to describe it or tell a story about it. They project their own meaning onto the stimulus. Rorschach inkblot test: uses an individual’s perception of inkblots to determine their personality. Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): designed to elicit stories that reveal something about an individual’s personality. © McGraw Hill LLC 53  Figure 7: Type of Stimulus Used in the Rorschach Inkblot Test What do you see in this figure? Do you see two red fairies playing checkers? Or a red and pink butterfly? A psychologist who relies on the Rorschach test would examine your responses to find out who you are. © McGraw Hill LLC MadamSaffa/Shutterstock 54  Figure 8: Picture from the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) What is this person thinking and feeling? How did the person come to this situation, and what will happen next? A psychologist who uses the TAT would analyze your story to find out your unconscious motives. © McGraw Hill LLC Science History Images/Alamy Stock Photo 55  Other Assessment Methods Personality psychologists might also: Measure behavior directly. Use cognitive assessments. Incorporate friend or peer ratings. Employ psychophysiological measures and brain imaging. The choice of assessment instrument depends on the researcher’s theoretical perspective. © McGraw Hill LLC 56  End of Main Content Because learning changes everything. ® www.mheducation.com Copyright 2022 © McGraw Hill LLC. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill LLC.