Journal Instructions FOR CHAPTER 9, 10,11 ,AND 17. Write 2 paragraphs per chapter for your Journal Entries.
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PSY429WeekThreeLecture.pptx
PSYCHOLOGY 427
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Evolutionary Psychology & “Personality”
PSY 429 Week 3
Behavioral Theories
Trait Theories
Evolutionary Psychology & “Personality”:
What is “Personality” For?
PSYCHOLOGY 429 Week Three
Voice-Over: Both S. Freud and W. James thought and wrote about psychology in evolutionary terms for all the good reasons.
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“Personality is an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.”
—Myers and DeWall
Personality
VO: When one thinks deeply about a fairly common and standard definition of personality (above), right away we are obligated to say something about the origin (the purpose) of thinking, feelings, and behaviors, in general.
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What is personality for?
What is intelligence for?
What is love for?
What is religion for?
William James’ Functionalism
VO: William James’ approach to thinking about psychology was to ask “What for?” questions. This is referred to as functionalism. This type of questioning leads us in the direction of thinking about the pragmatic or utilitarian (survival) value of psychological mechanisms (for example, personality).
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James (1842-1910)
Evolutionary Science
Mary Calkins
It follows logically that if evolutionary processes shaped “thinking,” “feeling,” and “acting”—the various ways in which “personality” is measured—then evolutionary science is also a fundamental approach to its study.
VO: From this perspective, studying “personality” involves exploring further the functions of dimensions usually included under personality such as “thinking,” “feeling,” and “acting” (behavior).
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“Researchers have demonstrated that both domesticated and non-domesticated animals—from invertebrates to monkeys and apes—behave in consistently different ways, meeting the criteria for what many define as personality. But why are there differences, and how are personalities shaped by genes and environment? How did they evolve?”
“Animal Personalities”
VO: For many of us who have worked with non-human animals, including domestic pets, it is easy to attribute, based on comparisons and observations, “personalities” to them. The field of Comparative Psychology, to name just one recognized area, assumes that a continuum might already exist between the way species think, act, and feel.
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James (1842-1910)
Personality as Behavioral Flexibility
Mary Calkins
Are changing behaviors (flexible responses) better than singular and fixed patterns of responses?
VO: From an evolutionary psychology perspective one may ask questions, for example, about why is it that greater intelligence and behavioral flexibility go hand in hand.
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Behaviors have consequences for survival. A range of behaviors is better than only one way of responding. The greater the range of responses the more “nature” has to “play with”—select from. In this context, does a person who suffers from depression and seems less curious or active, less adapted?
Behavioral Adaptations
VO: In evolutionary terms, behaviors have consequences for survival and deploying a wider range of responses to changing circumstances may be highly adaptive. In this context, what are the chances of survival (or greater “happiness”) for person who is overly anxious, clinically depressed, or overly impulsive?
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James (1842-1910)
Who Would You Rather Be?
Mary Calkins
Boring, “lazy” koala.
Smart, adaptable coyotes.
VO: A limited range of behavioral strategies, during drastically changing environmental circumstances, may spell doom for some species.
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James (1842-1910)
Who Would You Rather Be? (cont’d)
Mary Calkins
A sloth?
A jaguar?
VO: Many species that have survived into the present did so because their niches and environmental circumstances changed little. But what if abrupt changes occur?
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James (1842-1910)
Why “Trickster”
Mary Calkins
Across cultures and time “trickster” has been an important motif with which to impart lessons about aspects (desirable and bad) of human personality.
VO: Human and non-human animal personalities are likely to represent a continuum to the extent that certain ways of psychologically reacting to changing circumstances, sometimes, prove more fruitful than others. The poles, if extreme, of introversion and extraversion are modes of facing very different environmental circumstances.
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Thinking and Feeling
VO: It is impressive how closely related species (all the great apes; all the great cats; most canids) resemble each other when it comes to important aspects of personality.
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The Evolutionary Basis of “Personality”
| “Human” Traits |
| Neuroticism/Anxiety |
| Sociality (cooperation) |
| Curiosity |
| Introversion/Extraversion |
| Creativity as “insight” |
| Aggression |
| Impulsivity |
| Compassion/Caring |
| Gregarious/Solitary |
| In the Rest of the Animal Kingdom |
| Fleeing distance (placidity) |
| Dolphins collaborative hunting |
| ? |
| Introversion/Extraversion |
| ? |
| Aggression |
| Impulsivity |
| Compassion/Caring |
| Gregarious/Solitary |
VO: The more naturalistic observation comparisons one makes between human and non-human animals, the stronger the functionalist case becomes when it comes to an evolutionary psychology view of personality.
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Adaptive Mechanisms and Functions
Environmental Event
(A. Ellis)
Personality Dispositions (Introverted)
Responses
(P) Probability of survival
VO: The following two slides illustrate situations where personality dispositions (introversion in this slide) can lead to optimal and suboptimal ways of coping with different environments. For this reason it could be said that certain aspects of personality had an adaptive advantage and led to greater survival some time in the pre-human past.
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Adaptive Mechanisms and Functions (2)
Environmental Event
(A. Ellis)
Personality Dispositions (OCD behaviors)
Responses
(P) Probability of survival
VO: Cleanliness, as necessary hygiene, is ubiquitous in the animal kingdom. But one can see that excessive time spent doing these tasks may render any animal vulnerable to predators.
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Other Aspects of An Evolutionary Basis of “Personality”
| “Human” Conditions |
| Depression |
| ADD |
| ADHD |
| OCD |
| Introversion/Extroversion |
| Aggression |
| Impulsivity |
| Phobias |
| In Different Contexts, Adaptive? |
| ? |
| ? |
| ? |
| ? |
| ? |
| ? |
| ? |
| ? |
VO: One can speculate further whether other aspects of dysfunctional personality are responses that, under the appropriate environmental circumstances, led to greater survival.
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Can scientists make a good (testable) case for an evolutionary basis for:
Altruism
Parental investment
Attractiveness
Promiscuity
Pro-social behaviors
Stereotypes
Prejudice
Discrimination
Mating preferences
Case or Evolutionary Basis?
VO: The longer list of aspects of personality (at least, personality descriptors) that can be argued had survival advantages includes the above constructs.
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James (1842-1910)
“Spirituality”
Mary Calkins
Are there evolutionary advantages in experiencing (feeling), having a mindset (thinking), and practicing rituals (acting) that relate to various spiritual practices?
VO: The list could include human propensities that seem to exclude, at present, other animals, for example, our ability to have “spiritual” experiences. Can one define “spirituality” further and discover other benefits that aid in survival?
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Are there evolutionary advantages in experiencing (feeling), having a mindset (thinking), and practicing rituals (acting) that relate to various religious practices?
Religion
VO: To the extent that humans are social animals one would expect that we are very keen on forming communal networks of any type.
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Behavioral Theories
Albert Bandura & Julian Rotter
PSYCHOLOGY 429 Week Three
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Born 1925, in a small town in northern Canada. In 1949, Bandura earned a BA in Psychology from the University of British Columbia. In 1952, he earned a Ph.D. from University of Iowa (a school strong in the behaviorist tradition and learning theory). Bandura was president of the APA in 1973, and received the APA’s Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions in 1980. He is now a Professor Emeritus.
Albert Bandura
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Emphasis on experimental methods and animal models:
Focuses on variables we can observe, measure and manipulate.
Avoids whatever is subjective, internal, and unavailable (i.e. mental or emotional).
Personality must be defined, then, as one’s habitual behavior patterns.
All this boils down to a theory of personality that says that one’s environment causes one’s behavior.
Behaviorism
Bandura questioned the adequacy of behaviorist explanations. He was studying aggressive adolescents, who shared environments with adolescents who did not react with aggression. Bandura suggested that environment causes behavior but behavior causes environment as well. Both may be mediated by cognitive and emotional processes like thought and feeling. He labeled this reciprocal determinism, or “Triadic Reciprocal Causation”. Events in the world, a person’s thoughts or feelings, and a person’s behavior all cause each other.
Reciprocal Causation
James (1842-1910)
Reciprocal Causation (cont’d)
Mary Calkins
Behavior and environment change each other.
Thinking and feeling influence both.
Thinking they like me and feeling happy about it
Friendly behavior
People respond with smiles and liking
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Social rewards sustain friendly behavior.
Good grades sustain studying behavior.
We can learn about rewards from watching others. We don’t need to be rewarded directly in order to learn a new behavior.
Is THINKING a part of the equation?
Bandura the Behaviorist
James (1842-1910)
Triadic Reciprocal Causation
Mary Calkins
Bandura later began to look at personality as an interaction among three “things:” the environment, behavior, and the person’s psychological processes.
Psychological processes
Friendly behavior
People respond with smiles and liking
I’m OK.
People like me.
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Reciprocal Determinism
Person
Environment
Behavior
Cognition, perception
Other internal events
Now we have a behavioral model that allows for human thinking and feeling!
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“Psychological processes ” involve having images and language in our minds: immeasurable, intangible elements enter the behavioral equation! When Bandura included thoughts and imagery in his theory, he was no longer a strict behaviorist. The theory takes on a cognitive tone. Some call Bandura one of the originators of the cognitive movement in psychology.
A Cognitive View?
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We learn to behave in ways that have brought us pleasure or helped us to avoid pain. No “thinking” is necessary to change behavior—just control the consequences. What starts as random behavior becomes habitual when it is reinforced.
Example: Superstitious behavior occurs when a person or animal repeats behaviors that occurred just before a reward. (Like the day you wore your lucky shirt and won the game.) Although the behavior did not cause the reward, the behavior itself becomes rewarding.
Traditional “Learning theory”
Operant conditioning, BF Skinner
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Bandura pointed out that we learn even when we are not reinforced for a behavior. We can learn how to do something by seeing someone else do it (i.e., learn it through social interaction). We choose whether or not to do the same behavior based on our perceptions of whether we would find it rewarding.
Bandura’s “Social” Learning
Observational learning is learning from watching. Studies of TV violence are based on Bandura’s research (very big in the late ’60’s and 1970’s). Do we respond only to punishment and rewards? Or can we learn what will be rewarded, and act according to that knowledge?
Vicarious learning – learn from seeing other people being rewarded or punished.
Observational Learning
How do you hold a handgun to shoot someone?
What steps do you go through to scuba-dive?
How does a hang-glider control flight?
What happens in a court of law?
How does a surgeon prepare for surgery?
How do you know these things?
Vicarious Learning
James (1842-1910)
“Modeling”
Mary Calkins
Modeling is observing and copying behavior.
What skills do we learn by trying to replicate someone else’s behavior?
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Bandura’s Bobo Doll Studies
Kindergarten children were shown a film of a college student beating up a Bobo doll. The woman punched the clown, shouting “Sockeroo!” She kicked it, sat on it, hit with a little hammer. The children were then left in a play room with toys, including a bobo doll, and a few little hammers. Observers recorded the children’s behavior.
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Of course, the children beat up on the poor bobo doll. They punched it and shouted “Sockeroo,” kicked it, sat on it, hit it with the little hammers—imitating the young lady in the film. These children changed their behavior without first being rewarded for approximations to that behavior! This went against traditional behavioral principles. Bandura called the phenomenon observational learning or modeling, and the theory is called social learning theory.
Observational Learning, or Modeling
We model our behavior after people who get rewards, are attractive, likable and respected, and are similar to ourselves. So advertisers use attractive but realistic models who reap great rewards (love, happiness, success) for using their products. This should get our attention and generate imitation.
Expectation of Reward
Self-efficacy is confidence in one’s ability to do well and confidence this will continue to be. A person with it is likely to set ambitious but reachable goals. Significantly related to happiness, along with self-acceptance, environmental mastery, and autonomy and self-determination.
—Schmutte & Ryff (1997)
Self-Efficacy
The Self-system is made up of the cognitions that regulate behavior (the “Person” in reciprocal determinism). How do we judge our efficacy?
Self observation - look in the mirror.
Evaluation or judgment - by what standard?
Self response - primp happily, change clothes.
Self Regulation of Behavior
Performance accomplishments
Vicarious experience
Verbal Persuasion
Emotional Arousal
Sources of Efficacy Information
How Do We Know What Works?
Doing the task or helping others do the task (trial and error)
Observation of others doing the tasks or similar tasks
Encouragement, exhortation, self-talk
Attribution (who caused it?), biofeedback
Think of an activity you are good at:
Self-observation - Are you comparing your skill to personal standards, or other people’s skills?
Evaluation - Is this skill or ability an important skill, for you? Entirely internal, or supported by other factors?
Response – How do you reinforce yourself for doing well?
Changing self-efficacy is the key to behavioral change.
How is Your Self-Efficacy?
James (1842-1910)
Self-Efficacy
Mary Calkins
What you think about yourself is more important than what others think about you.
Think you can, think you can't... either way, you're right.
-Henry Ford
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Julian Rotter (1916-2014)
The youngest of three, Rotter grew up the Depression years. He studied with Alfred Adler. In 1938, he earned a MA in clinical psychology. Then, he joined the faculty of Ohio State with George Kelly.
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James (1842-1910)
Locus-of-Control
Mary Calkins
Considered the major discovery of Rotter’s career.
Internal Locus-of-Control
“Whether I win or lose is mostly a result of my own skill and efforts.”
Internal Locus-of-Control
“Whether I win or lose is mostly due to circumstances beyond my control.”
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Personality is Learned.
Personality is motivated toward specific GOALS. Behaviors which lead us toward our goals are reinforced and will continue.
Experiences shape expectancies, which are generalized to other situations and which control behavior.
Rotter’s Social Learning Theory
After success, Internals increase their expectations for future success. After failure, Internals lower their expectations for future success. This keeps them striving for achievement, but accepting of limitations.
Internal Locus-of-Control
The Locus of Control is a 13 item questionnaire developed by Rotter (1966), which measures generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement.
People with an internal locus of control believe that their own actions determine the rewards that they obtain.
Those with an external locus of control believe that their own behavior doesn't matter much and that rewards in life are generally outside of their control.
Locus-of-Control Test
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Self-efficacy is confidence in one’s ability to do well and confidence this will continue to be. A person with it is likely to set ambitious but reachable goals. Significantly related to happiness, along with self-acceptance, environmental mastery, and autonomy and self-determination.
—Schmutte & Ryff (1997)
Locus of Control Scale: Julian Rotter (1966)
Indicate for each statement whether it is T or F for you. There are no right or wrong answers.
1. I usually get what I want in life.
2. I need to be kept informed about news events.
3. I never know where I stand with other people.
4. I do not really believe in luck or chance.
5. I think that I could easily win a lottery.
6. If I do not succeed on a task, I tend to give up.
7. I usually convince others to do things my way.
8. People make a difference in controlling crime.
9. The success I have is largely a matter of chance.
Locus of Control Scale:
Julian Rotter (1966)
10. Marriage is largely a gamble for most people. 11. People must be the master of their own fate. 12. It is not important for me to vote. 13. My life seems like a series of random events. 14. I never try anything that I am not sure of. 15. I earn the respect and honors I receive. 16. A person can get rich by taking risks. 17. Leaders are successful when they work hard. 18. Persistence and hard work usually lead to success.
19. It is difficult to know who my real friends are. 20. Other people usually control my life.
0-15 Very strong external locus of control 20-35 External locus of control 40-60 Both external and internal locus of control 65-80 Internal locus of control 85-100 Very strong internal locus of control
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Walter Mischel extended views about the interaction of person and environment. We generally choose to enter a situation (apply for a job or a school, ask someone out, decide to travel), then the environment expresses certain pressures. We choose to conform (to adapt or change to fit it), or we choose to rebel, or we choose to escape.
Interactionism - personality traits and situations interact with each other to influence behavior.
Behavioral Specificity (Mischel)
Is your behavior controlled by the situation you are in?
Self-monitoring (Mark Snyder):
Attending to the effects and impressions one makes.
Engaging in “impression management” (persona).
Strong in actors, effective salespeople, charismatic leaders.
Requires an internal locus of control.
Learning About Ourselves
Is personality stable or does it change with the situation? Context matters . . . we may appear different in different situations because social context affects actions, thoughts and feelings. Examples:
Are you jealous and moody? (friend’s wedding or baby shower or promotion)?
Are you thrifty? Depends on when payday comes.
Determinism in Trait Theory
Role variability (power of choice).
You are what you do (vocationally and in other areas, too).
If you act kindly, you are kind.
If you go along with cheating, you are a cheater.
If life is unhappy, DO it differently. Make a choice to change. Situations help determine behavior
If you’re a square peg in a round hole, GET OUT!
Determinism in Trait theory (cont’d)
Trait Theories
Gordon Allport, Henry Murray, Raymond Cattell, Big 5, Buss and Plomin
PSYCHOLOGY 429 Week Three
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We commonly assume that people have identifying characteristics of behavior, or traits. He’s “goofy”, she’s “conceited.” We can briefly describe a person with a word or two: a “geek,” a “hot mama,” a “jock,” indicating a type.
How much can we tell about a person from such labels?
Can we create a final list of traits by which we could describe ANY personality?
Traits and “Types” of People
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Fools
“Yes, they are all fools, gentlemen, but what KIND of fools are they?”
—Gary Larson
Traits and Types
| What Are Traits? |
| Consistent patterns in the way individuals behave, feel, and think: Measurable Objectively observable |
| Three major functions of the trait concept: Summarize Predict Explain |
| What Are Types? |
| Prototypical patterns of behavior clusters. Clumps of traits that tend to go together. |
| A limited number of categories for which each person can be assigned a type. |
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Throughout the 20th century, one movement within personality theory has focused on describing individual differences. One of the earliest workers in this field was Gordon Allport.
History of Trait Psychology
Gordon Allport: Biographical Background
Allport was born in 1897 in Indiana. He was the son of a country doctor, who spent much of time alone, was adept at language, but poor at sports and games. Later, he graduated from Harvard University.
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Allport went on to teach English and sociology in Istanbul, Turkey. His 1922 dissertation, “An Experimental Study of the Traits of Personality” was the first American study on personality traits. Then, he taught social ethics, social relations, psychology, sociology, and anthropology at Harvard, where he developed first course in personality theory in the US. He died in 1967 at age70.
Gordon Allport
In casual conversation, Allport chatted about his train trip to Vienna. Allport said he observed a small boy who was afraid of dirt didn’t want to sit on a dirty seat or next to a dirty old man. Freud replied, “And, was that little boy you?” Allport felt that Freud’s ascription of most behaviors to unconscious motives was incorrect and that an alternative theory of motivation was necessary. So Allport was a very UN-psychoanalytic personality theorist.
When Allport Met Freud
Would you like to have had a conversation with Sigmund Freud?
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For Allport, personality is “what a man really is” (1961). He described and classified over 50 definitions of personality. Here is his final draft:
“Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his characteristic behavior and thought.”
The Nature of Personality
Dynamic - moving and changing.
Determined - structured by the past and predisposing of the future.
Characteristic - unique for each individual.
A real entity - not imaginary or mere fiction (really there).
Hypothetical construct - unobservable because it cannot be measured empirically.
Personality Is . . .
Proposed a biophysical conception of traits as neuropsychic structures. Emphasized that traits are structures within a person that influence behavior. They are not labels to describe or classify behaviors.
Defined trait - a determining tendency or predisposition to respond to the world in certain ways.
Traits
James (1842-1910)
Traits (cont’d)
Mary Calkins
“A trait is a neuropsychic system which renders many stimuli functionally equivalent, and which guides behavior.”
Trait
Dissimilar stimuli
Karate class
Wife
Feminist writings
Political election
Daughter
Female employee
Functionally equivalent responses
Bragging about male superiority
Hostile remarks
Criticizing women’s lib
Vote only for males
Calling women names
Reject promotion for female employee
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A trait is a Hypothetical construct that permits us to compare individuals within a given culture. No two people have identical traits, but similar traits allow us to compare the predispositions held in common with others. Normal people in any given culture develop along similar lines of adjustment.
Common Traits
Personal Dispositions
Personal dispositions describe individual’s uniqueness.
Cardinal disposition - a personal disposition so pervasive that almost every behavior of the individual appears to be influenced by it.
Lust for power.
Mother Teresa’s dedication to aiding the poor.
Can you think of more examples?
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Central disposition -highly characteristic tendencies of an individual.
We normally have between 5-10.
Provide the adjectives or phrases a person might use in describing another (e.g., intelligence, responsibility, independent, sensitive, caring).
Secondary disposition -more specific, focused tendencies, situational, less crucial (as in, I act like a goofball sometimes).
Personal Dispositions
Refers to the central experiences of self-awareness that people have as they grow and move forward. “Pro” connotes forward movement—the initiator of action. Proprium is defined in terms of its functions or the things it does. There are seven propriate functions which develop over time from infancy to adulthood.
Proprium:
Allport’s “Self”
The Seven Propriate Functions
| Bodily self | Sensations in the body & coming to know one’s body limits Bodily sense is learned and remains the foundation of our self-awareness |
| Self-identity (before 18 months) | Awareness of inner sameness and continuity Infants cannot tell the difference is self and objects (emerges about 18 months) |
| Self-esteem (2 year olds) | Feelings of pride as develop abilities (like Erikson’s stage of autonomy) |
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The Seven Propriate Functions (cont’d)
| Self-extension (4-6 year olds) | Sense of possession: “My daddy,” “My ball” |
| Self-image | Sense of expectation of others and compare with own behavior Early self-image lays foundation for development of conscience and later intentions and goals. |
| Self as rational coper (6 -12) | Solve problems Develops a sense of competency Compared to Freud’s executive ego |
| Propriate striving (adolescence) | Long term purposes and goals Necessary for development of self-identity |
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Infant:
Dependent, impatient, pleasure-seeking.
“Unsocialized horror" governed by unlearned biological drives.
Can tolerate little delay in the fulfillment of drives and reflexes.
Adult:
Discontinuous from the child.
Emerges from the child but is no longer governed by the child’s needs.
Allport was Interested in How We develop
He saw distinct differences between Infant and Adult.
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Continuity and Discontinuity
Theories of Personality
| Continuity Theory (Learning Theories) |
| Personality development is an accumulation of skill, habits, and preferences without anything really new appearing in the person’s makeup Closed systems - changes are quantitative relative to inputs |
| Discontinuity (Allport) |
| Organism experiences genuine transformations or changes so that it reaches higher levels of organization Growth is qualitatively different: walking different from crawling Open system - change is qualitative |
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Discontinuity between Healthy Adult and Neurotics
The Neurotic’s life is marked by cognitive crippling anxiety:
Seeking security.
React in rigid and inflexible ways.
Behave as a child, dominated by infantile drives and conflicts.
Proprium is undeveloped.
Motives are tied to original infantile needs.
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James (1842-1910)
Functional Autonomy of Motives
Mary Calkins
Allport claims that adult motivation is not necessarily tied to the past. A given behavior may become a goal in itself regardless of its original intention
Why did you go to church as a child?
Why did you go to church as an adult?
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Persevative functional autonomy - behaviors that are repeated even though they may have lost their original functions (unintentional habits). Not controlled by the proprium and have no genuine connection with it.
Propriate functional autonomy - consciously selected interests, values, attitudes, intentions, and life-style (directed from the proprium). Native abilities frequently convert into interests. We select those motives that are important and organize them to fit our self-image and life-style.
Two Levels of Functional autonomy
1. Extension of the Sense of Self
Genuinely participate in important realms of human achievement.
Interested in others and consider the welfare of others as important as their own.
Sense of self not limited to own self but embraces many interests.
2. Warm Relating of Self to Others
Relate intimately to others.
Compassionate and able to tolerate many differences in humans.
Neither impose self on others nor hinder their own freedom of self-identity.
Allport’s Criteria of Maturity
3. Emotional Security (Self-Acceptance)
Emotions do not lead them into impulsive acts or actions that hurt others.
Sufficiently secure in who they are to accept themselves and not wish to be somebody else.
4. Realistic perception, skills, and assignments
Live in the “real world.”
Problem solvers and have developed appropriate skills to complete tasks and work.
Work is not a burden to them but a responsibility whose challenge can be accepted without self-pity.
Allport’s Criteria of Maturity (cont’d)
5. Self-objectification (Insight and Humor)
Know what they can do, what they cannot do, and what they ought to do.
Have no need to deceive themselves or others.
Able to laugh at themselves rather than feel threatened by weaknesses.
6. Unifying philosophy of life
Clear understanding of life’s goals and purposes.
Strongly informed by a set of values that may but does not necessarily include religious sentiments.
The must conscience of childhood is replaced by the ought conscience of the adult.
Allport’s Criteria of Maturity (cont’d)
Six main Values—which is the strongest in motivating YOU?
Theoretical
Economic
Aesthetic
Social
Political
Religious
Allport’s Study of Values
Allport, Vernon & Lindzey, (1931, 1970)
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Henry Murray (1893-1988)
Murray coined the term personology to refer to the effort to understand the whole person rather than breaking a personality into parts. He favored an idiographic approach centering on the uniqueness of each individual.
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Murray was the middle child of three in a wealthy NY family. He had a stuttering problem and was cross-eyed. He had a poor relationship with his mother and mentally ill aunts (Adler’s “inferiority” seems to be set up here!).
Undergraduate studies at Harvard where he concentrated in history and graduated in 1915 (drinking and romancing were his other concentrations) (age 22).
He then attended medical school at Columbia, graduating first in his class in 1919 (age 26).
Next, he earned a Master's in biology at Columbia with a surgical internship at Presbyterian Hospital, conducted embryology research at the Rockefeller Institute, and finally earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Cambridge in 1927 at age 34.
Murray’s Background (cont’d)
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Murray’s Background (cont’d)
Murray married Josephine Rantoul in 1916, then fell in love with Christiana Morgan. He became interested in psychology through reading Carl Jung's Psychological Types in 1923 and meeting Jung for three weeks in Switzerland in 1925.
His interest was spurred on by his “acquaintance” with Christiana Morgan, an artist who shared his fascination with Jung, the unconscious and the writings of Herman Melville.
Jung promoted an “open marriage”, which Murray adopted also.
Christina Morgan actually developed the TAT.
Henry’s not-so secret girlfriend
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James (1842-1910)
Henry Murray
Mary Calkins
Invited to join the staff of the Harvard psychological Clinic, Murray found his life’s work. He went through psychoanalysis, then developed the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) with Ms. Morgan and published Explorations in Personality in 1938. He retired from Harvard in 1962.
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Measures latent needs (needs that can not be openly observed)
Apperception is the process of projecting imagery onto an outside stimulus, such as a picture. The theory suggests the stories you describe reflect your latent motivations (dispositional needs). The TAT assesses your motives by telling or writing a story about ambiguous pictures. Late in life Murray admitted that Christina Morgan was the true author of the TAT.
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT):
Murray’s Best-Known Work
Who are the people?
What are their roles in life?
What are their relationships to each other?
What has led up to this situation?
What is happening right now?
Thematic Apperception Demonstration
What is each person thinking, saying trying to do?
What does each person want from whom?
What will happen to each person the future?
How will it all end?
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James (1842-1910)
Another Interesting Note
Mary Calkins
While at Harvard, Murray was part of stimulating environment that included Gordon Allport and Raymond Cattell. He investigated stress resistant personalities in WWII years (1941-1945) and conducted a battery of tests and assessments aimed to identify men who would not break under pressure. At that time, Ted Kaczynski, the serial bomber, was a participant in one of Murray’s psychological experiments.
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Focus is on the process of personality, not parts of personality.
Personality is rooted in the brain.
Physiology interacts with environment.
Goal is Pleasure: the Pleasure associated with Tension Reduction.
Emphasis on integrated, dynamic nature of individual as a complex organism responding to specific environment.
Importance of needs and motivations.
Motivational processes and environmental pressures drive behavior.
Murray’s Personology Theory
Needs
Motives
Environmental Press
Murray’s definition of personality psychology - branch of psychology which concerns itself with the study of human lives and factors which influence the life course and which investigates individual differences.
Basic Theoretical Elements
Needs - an internal state that’s less than satisfactory.
Person lacks something necessary for a their well-being “a physicochemical force in the brain that organizes and directs intellectual and perceptual abilities” (Murray, 1962).
Needs are internal (but can be provoked by environmental press).
Necessitate taking action in social environment.
Readiness to respond in a certain way under given circumstances.
Basic Theoretical Elements
Individuals have either high or low needs for achievement, power, affiliation, intimacy and exhibition. Altogether, Murray catalogued 40 “psychogenic needs.” These can be measured with the Edwards Personal Preference Inventory.
Need Theory Henry Murray (1938)
System of Needs
Viscerogenic needs - our primary biological needs such as food, water, sex, avoidance of pain, etc. Homeostasis is the goal to preserve internal equilibrium.
Psychogenic needs - these are our secondary emotional and psychological needs. Secondary needs are not crucial to a person's life, but may become strong motivational forces for an individual.
Types of Needs
Reactive needs - occur when a stimulus arouses a need in us: Say, for example, a gorgeous sexy person walks into the room this could elicit a need for sex, or aggression, or sentience. Or suppose you are presented with a really yummy dessert after a good meal.
Proactive needs - occur in the absence of a fulfilling stimulus, and cause us to seek out satisfaction (bathroom!).
Kinds of Needs
Motives are based on needs:
A need creates a state of tension. When a need is satisfied, tension is reduced.
Motives propel people to perceive, think, and act in ways that satisfy a need. Internal psychological needs and urges propel people to think, perceive, and act in predictable ways.
Some motives are thought to operate outside awareness. Projective techniques can tap into unconscious needs.
Motives Drive Behavior
An external condition that creates an inner desire to obtain or avoid something. A “push” from other people or events in the environment (get out of rain, get enough to eat, deal with rejection or competition). Think of “Peer Pressure.” There’s an emphasis on social roles and situational determinants of behavior (e.g., need to excel leads to cheating), with a combination of internal motivations & external demands.
Environmental Press
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Murray (1938) defined achievement motivation as the desire to do things well and feel pleasure in overcoming obstacles. A desire for significant accomplishment such as mastering skills or ideas, control over things or people, or attaining a high standard of excellence in sports, science, business, etc. People with a high need for achievement (nAch) are motivated to master tasks and take great pride in doing so. In contrast, people with low achievement needs seem to enjoy success because they have avoided failure.
Need for Achievement
People with a high nAch set challenging but realistic goals. They like intermediate tasks because such tasks provide the most information about their ability. If they do well on an easy task—who cares? If you fail at a hard task—well, no one does well on those—so choose a real test of your abilities. They like feedback from competent critics (concrete feedback is best). Stay or move on to easier things? Stay and persevere: “never give up.” Very concerned for measurements of success (bonuses, incentives, etc. serve as feedback).
Characteristics of High Need Achievers
Social problems - sometimes the need to achieve overpowers their sensitivity to others. Shrewdness and persistence need to win may mean they are less skillful in diplomacy and cooperation.
Need to anticipate and make long term plans - need to have things mapped out and don’t like surprises. Persistent and driven to succeed with quantity of success more important than quality.
Very energetic approach - in all things but especially in work. Specifically invigorated by creative tasks.
Characteristics of High Need Achievers (cont’d)
Need for Power
The need to have influence over others, to have prestige, to feel strong, compared to others. Found in those with a tendency to acquire high status possessions and to surround oneself with symbols of power. Seek positions and offices which are controlling over others. A high need for power may be expressed as a need for “personalized power” or "socialized power“.
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The motive to spend time with others and be in social relationships. Need to draw near to and win affection of others.
Motivation to have lots of friends. They go along with group pressure, want to be accepted and liked by other people, and get nervous if they think people are judging their interpersonal skills. Gregarious instinct wanting to come together in groups.
Low in affiliation, tends to be a loner, uncomfortable socializing with others except for a few close friends or family (introversion?), and lacking motivation or energy to maintain social contacts in networking, group presentations, public relations, and close personal relations.
Need for Affiliation
Low in affiliation - tends to be a loner, uncomfortable socializing with others except for a few close friends or family, and lacking motivation or energy to maintain social contacts in networking, group presentations, public relations, and close personal relations.
High nAFF - reluctant to let work interfere with harmonious relationships.
Low nAFF vs. High nAFF
James (1842-1910)
Need for Intimacy
Mary Calkins
A desire to experience warm, close and communicative exchanges with another person and to feel close.
High Intimacy - more one to one exchanges with other people than those lower in this need. Men with higher intimacy motivation at age 30 have greater marital and job satisfaction at 47 than those with less need for intimacy .
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James (1842-1910)
Need for Exhibition
Mary Calkins
The need for emotional communication and to show self before others and amuse, entertain, excite or even shock others. Colorful, spellbinding, noticeable, dramatic and showy, with expressive style is the clue to this need.
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Murray developed his list of needs from his own intuition with much of scientific method was lacking.
Can’t understand the dynamics of personality by studying one motive at a time.
Criticisms of Murray’s Motive Theory
Goldberg (1981) reviewed all of the literature on personality traits, and said everything seemed to boil down to five big traits:
Neuroticism
Extraversion
Openness to experience
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness
The Five-Factor Model of Personality
The “Big Five” McCrae & Costa (1985)
The Big Five
| Extraversion |
| Gregariousness |
| Activity level |
| Assertiveness |
| Excitement seeking |
| Positive emotions |
| Warmth |
| e.g., Robin Williams |
| Agreeableness |
| Straightforwardness |
| Trust |
| Altruism |
| Modesty |
| Tendermindedness |
| Compliance |
| e.g., Radar O’Reilly |
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More Big Five
| Conscientiousness |
| Self-discipline |
| Dutifulness |
| Competence |
| Order |
| Deliberation |
| Achievement striving |
| e.g., Mr. Spock |
| Neuroticism |
| Anxiety |
| Self-consciousness |
| Depression |
| Vulnerability |
| Impulsiveness |
| Angry hostility |
| e.g., Woody Allen |
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Even More Big Five
| Openness to Experience |
| Fantasy |
| Aesthetics |
| Feelings |
| Actions |
| Values |
| e.g., Lewis Carrol |
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They are highly stable across the life span, have cross cultural consistency (though differing cultures VALUE the traits differently), and are similar to other theories:
Extraversion and neuroticism appear in both this and Eysenck’s theory.
Psychoticism - low agreeableness/conscientiousness (Eysenck).
Agreeableness - high social interest (Adler).
The Big Five Hold Up to Testing