Psychology Lecture 4: Introduction to Personality - PDF

Psychology Lecture: 4 Introduction to personality Psychoanalytic Perspective By Dr. Fatma Elzaher Please Scan Previous Lecture What is Intelligence? Intelligence is something abstract. Intelligence is the ability to think, to learn from experience, to solve...

Psychology Lecture: 4 Introduction to personality Psychoanalytic Perspective By Dr. Fatma Elzaher Please Scan Previous Lecture What is Intelligence? Intelligence is something abstract. Intelligence is the ability to think, to learn from experience, to solve problems, and to adapt to new situations.  Intelligence is then:  Ability to understand  Ability to learn.  Ability to act purposefully  Ability to think rationally/ abstractly.  Ability to adjust.  Intelligence is how we perceive and judge others (person/ material)  Intelligence is how well we see and understand ourselves (our learning, understanding capacities) IQ, or intelligence quotient  Concept of I Q The term "intelligence quotient," or IQ, was first coined in the early 20th century by a German psychologist named William Stern.  Psychologist Alfred Binet developed the very first intelligence tests to help the French government identify schoolchildren who needed extra academic assistance.  Binet was the first to introduce the concept of mental age or a set of abilities that children of a certain age possess. Personality  Personality “the set of traits and patterns of thought, behavior, and feelings that make you you”.  Personality traits are commonly defined as ”relatively stable patterns of thoughts, feelings, and actions in which each individual is different from the others”. Introduction to personality Personality embraces moods, attitudes, and opinions and is most clearly expressed in interactions with other people. It includes behavioral characteristics, both inherent and acquired, that distinguish one person from another and that can be observed in people's relations to the environment and to the social group. Personality Determinants  There are several factors that determine the formation or shaping of our personality.  Among them the three major factors are:  1- Heredity: The genetic components inherited from our parents at the time of conception determine strongly the personality characteristics of an individual.  Like the color, height, physical statutory, facial attractiveness, gender, temperament, muscle composition, inheritable diseases etc.  Personality Determinants  2- Environment: The culture in which people are brought up in their lives and they type of socialization process such as family’s child rearing practices, socio economic status of the family, number of children in a family, birth order, education of the parents, friends and peer group pressures, religious practices, the type of schooling and recreational activities, pastime behavior etc.  3-Situation: The type of specific situation which a person encounters also equally shapes the type of personality characteristics.  For example, an individual’s exposure to a job interview and the type of experiences encountered during that time will shape certain personality characteristics. Origins of personality study  In general, information about human personality has come from three different sources of study.  The first is biological, conceived to have genetic as well as environmental origins.  The second is that of the social realm, including the impact of social forces on the growing child that shape such personal responses as motives, traits, behaviours, and attitudes.  The third is the examination of clinical contacts with people who have suffered adaptive and adjustive failures. Some authorities have suggested that a greater degree of integration of all three sources of information and the methods derived from them would accelerate the growth of valid information about personality. Personality Traits  Popular characteristics including shy, aggressive, submissive, lazy, ambitious, loyal and timid. Those characteristics, when they exhibited in large number of situations, are called personality traits or enduring characteristics that describe on individual’s behavior.  Primary Traits Cattel (1973) identified 16 source traits/Primary Traits.  These traits were found to be generally steady and constant sources of behaviour. But there was found to be no scientific relevance. Sixteen Source Traits.  Personality Traits  Primary Traits Cattel (1973) identified 16 source  1. Reserved - Outgoing  2. Less intelligent - More intelligent  3. Affected by feelings - Emotionally stable  4. Submissive – Dominant  5. Serious - Happy go Lucky  6. Expedient - Conscientious  7. Timid – Venturesome  8. Tough minded - Sensitive  Personality Traits  Primary Traits Cattel (1973) identified 16 source  9. Trusting – Suspicious  10. Practical – Imaginative  11. Forthright – Shrewd  12. Self-Assured – Apprehensive  13. Conservative – Experimenting  14. Group-dependent - Self-sufficient  15. Uncontrolled – Controlled  16. Relaxed - Tense Psychodynamic Factors  The very word “psychodynamic” suggests that there are ongoing interactions between different elements of the mind.  Sigmund Freud not only offered names for these elements (id, ego, and superego), he proposed different levels of consciousness.  Since the unconscious mind was very powerful according to Freud, one of the first and most enduring elements of psychodynamic theory is that we are often unaware of why we think and act the way we do. there are ongoing interactions between different elements of the mind. Psychodynamic Factors  Add to that the belief that our personality is determined in early childhood, and you can quickly see that psychological problems would be very difficult to treat.  Perhaps more importantly, since we are not aware of many of our own thoughts and desires, it would difficult or even impossible for us to choose to change our personality no matter how much we might want to. Psychodynamic theory Sometimes called psychoanalytic theory  explains personality in terms of unconscious psychological processes (for example, wishes and fears of which we're not fully aware), and contends that childhood experiences are crucial in shaping adult personality.  Next Lecture will discuss Defense Mechanisms. Regards Dr. Fatma Elzaher