psycholgy
mid_19
gpm15_personality.pptAnnouncements
- Lecture: Personality
- Behaviorism
- Humanism
- Biological
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1. The 5-factor model includes which 5 basic personality factors?
- A. depression, obsessessiveness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness
- B. narcissism, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, opennness
- C. extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness
- D. extraversion, psychosis, conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness
2. Whose theory claims that self-esteem develops when parents show children unconditional positive regard?
- A. Abraham Maslow
- B. Carl Rogers
- C. Sigmund Freud
- D. Hans Eysenck
3. The views of Watson and Skinner largely ignore what?
- A. environmental variables
- B. personal freedom
- C. reinforcement and punishment
- D. shaping
4. Marisa is 5 months old and always chews on her rattle. What stage is she in, according to Freud?
- A. anal
- B. oral
- C. phallic
- D. latency
Personality:
Part 2
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Major topics today
- Definition of personality
- Theories of personality
- Behaviorism Theory
- Humanistic Theory
- Biological & Evolutionary Theory
- Trait Theory & Big 5
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Let’s start with some myths!
Astrology predicts personality traits at better than chance levels.
- A. TRUE
- B. FALSE
Some of each apply to all of us. . .
People’s responses to inkblots tells us a lot about their personalities.
- A. TRUE
- B. FALSE
Exercise
- What would you do if you were home alone at night and the lights suddenly went out?
A - Sleep
B - Hide
C - Call a friend
D - Look for a flashlight
E - Check the fuse box
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Exercise
- What would you do/feel if someone bumped into you in the hallway and did not apologize?
A – Say something rude back to them.
B – Shove them.
C – Do nothing, but be really upset.
D – Do nothing, and not really care.
E – Something else.
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What you do depends on your personality!
What is Personality?
- Definition: A person’s unique pattern of thinking, emotions, and behavior that is stable across time and situations
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Unique constellation of consistent behavioral traits
Derives from Latin term “persona”
Theatrical masks worn in ancient Greek dramas
History of Psychology: Summary
Philosophy & Physiology
1879 – Wundt’s Psychology Lab
Late 19th century
Structuralism (Wundt & Titchener)
Functionalism (James)
Early 20th century
Psychodynamic (Freud)
Behaviorism (Watson & Skinner)
Mid 20th century
Humanistic (Rogers & Maslow)
Cognitive (Piaget, etc.)
Today
Cognitive, Behaviorism, Cultural, Neuroscience, etc.
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Personality theories from different schools of psychology
- Personality theories
- Psychodynamic – early 1900s
- Behavioral – 1950s
- Humanistic – 1960s - present
- Biological & Evolutionary – 1980s- present
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Briefly go over these schools of psychology (since we skipped first lecture).
Psychodynamic – Freud, purpose of explaining mental illness, focus on internal drives, power of the unconscious
Behavioral – Focus on external behavior, there is nothing going on inside the body/brain, all future animal/human behavior is based on how the environment responds to our current behavior
Humanistic – optimistic, focus on the human potential (in contrast to Psychodynamic)
Biological – focus on the brain, neurotransmitters, genetics, etc.
Behavioral Perspective
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Behavioral Perspective
- Knowing what you know about the behaviorists:
- What would you expect the behaviorists to have thought about personality?
- Did they focus on inner traits or behavior?
- What would you expect them to say is the biggest cause of personality?
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Behavioral Perspective
- Personality = behavior
- Personality is a collection of learned behavior patterns
- Denied existence of internal personality structures which can’t be observed
- Behavior is explained by prior learning, not traits
- Focus on external causes of our actions
- Situational determinants
- Behavior is determined by situations and the interaction between situations and our prior learning history
- E.g., cheating rates vary depending on the situation
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Bandura – social learning theory (interacting with enviro)
Are you honest?
Yes
No
It depends.
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What would you do?
- If you participated in a research study and you got paid $30 instead of $20 accidentally, would you speak up and give the extra money back if you thought the money came out of the researcher’s personal bank account?
- A. YES
- B. NO
What would you do?
- If you participated in a research study and you got paid $30 instead of $20 accidentally, would you speak up and give the extra money back if you thought the money came out of a research grant?
- A. YES
- B. NO
Are you honest?
Yes
No
It depends on the environment.
(Who gets hurt? How easy is it? etc.)
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Behaviorism Example: Honesty
- Behaviorists: whether you are honest depends mostly on the situations
- Are you honest? It depends on the situation
- Research study:
- People overpaid during a task
- 80% dishonest when thinking that the money comes from a faceless source.
- 17% dishonest when thinking that the money was coming out of the pocket of the person running the study.
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Summarize personality from the perspective of the behaviorists.
- “Personality” is a bunch of learned behaviors that is determined by the situation (“situational determinism”)
- Didn’t believe in “personality traits”
- Focus on the role of the environment/ situation
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Humanistic Perspective
Maslow
Rogers
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Humanistic Psychology
- Knowing what you know about the humanists, what would you expect them to focus on in regards to personality?
- Human potential
- Human experience
- Human goodness
- Free will
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Humanistic Psychology: Maslow
“To oversimplify the matter somewhat,” he said, “it’s as if Freud supplied to us the sick half of psychology and we must now fill it out with the healthy half.”
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Humanistic Psychology: Maslow
- Interested in how people lead rich, creative, and satisfying lives
- Initially studied high achievers (Eleanor Roosevelt, Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln)
- Later found people of all walks of life could become self-actualized, reaching this great potential
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Maslow’s Self-Actualization
- Self-actualization
- motivation to fulfill one’s potential
- Ultimate psychological need
- Clear perception of reality, spontaneous, authentic, democratic character structure (high level of social interest), non-hostile sense of humor, profound interpersonal relationships but comfortable being alone
- “Peak experiences”
- Feelings of ecstasy, harmony, and deep meaning; feeling full of light, goodness, and beauty
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Physio – hunger, thirst
Safety/security – long-term survival and stability
Belongingness and love – affiliation and acceptance
Esteem – achievement and gaining of recognition
Cognitive – knowledge and understanding
Aesthetic – order and beauty
Self-actualization – realization of potential
Roger’s Exercise: Write 2 lists.
- Self-Concept
- Who do you think you are?
- Actual Self
- Who are you really?
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Humanistic Perspective: Rogers
- Self
- Self-concept v. Actual experience (reality)
- Congruence = health
- Incongruence (lying to yourself) = anxiety, mental problems
- Development of the self
- Conditional love -> Incongruence
- These children block out those parts of their self-concept that make them unworthy of love.
- Unconditional positive regard (love) -> Congruence
- These children can accept their true identities because they feel worthy of love, flaws and all.
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Self – view one has of oneself and relationships with other people
Self-concept – how one sees one’s own behavior and internal characteristics
Ideal self – picture of what one would like to be
congruence – self-concept meshes with actual experience
Genuineness (open w/ feelings, self-disclosing)
Acceptance (unconditional positive regard)
Attitude of total acceptance toward another person
Empathy (sharing feelings reflecting meaning)
Roger’s theory is structured around the concept of the self
Rogers felt people are generally happy when there is agreement between the self-concept and ideal self
When the self-concept and ideal self are similar, congruence exists
Evaluating the Humanistic Perspective
- Pros
- Launched positive psychology movement
- Impacted popular ideas on:
- Child-rearing
- Education
- Management
- Cons
- Not scientifically testable (unscientific)
- Does not address reality of human capacity for evil
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Positive influence on ‘pop’ psychology
Summarize the study of personality from the perspective of the humanists.
- Maslow
- Focused on people leading very positive lives
- Self-actualization: we all have a need to be fulfilled
- Rogers
- Congruency between self-concept, actual self, and ideal self lead to good health
- Unconditional positive regard during childhood allows us to live authentically and accept ourselves for who we are (congruency)
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Biological & Evolutionary Perspectives
Personality traits that lead to survival and reproductive success of our ancestors are more likely to be passed down (through genes) to the next generation.
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Key Concepts
- Trait: a stable quality that a person shows across situations; allow you to make predictions
- E.g., dishonest, dependable, moody, anxious, friendly, rigid, hostile
- Types: People who have several traits in common.
- E.g., Type A Personalities
- Ambitious
- Competitive
- Hostile
- Striving
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5-factor Model of Personality Traits—THE BIG 5
- Basic differences in personality can be boiled down to the “Big Five”
- Openness to experience –curious v. consistent
- Conscientiousness – efficient/organized v. easy-going/careless
- Extraversion – outgoing/energetic v. shy/reserved
- Agreeableness – friendly/compassionate v. cold/unkind
- Neuroticism (Emotional Stability) – nervous v. secure
Almost any trait you can name should fall into one of these
categories.
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Neuroticism – anxious, insecure, guilt-prone, self-conscious
Extraversion – talkative, sociable, fun-loving, affectionate
Opennes to experience – daring, nonconforming, showing unusually broad interests, imaginative
Agreeableness – sympathetic, warm, trusting, cooperative
Conscientiousness – ethical, dependable, productive, purposeful
The Biological Perspective
(1990s-present)
- Some of personality is inherited
- Heritability estimates
- 25-50%
- Twin studies
- Minnesota Twin Studies: Identical twins reared apart are more similar than fraternal twins reared together.
- Identical twins apart - same genes; different environments
- Similarities are due to genes
- Fraternal twins together - somewhat different genes; same environments
- Similarities are due to environments
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Use two primary personality factors as axes for describing personality variation
Hans Eysenck (1916 –1997) focused on higher levels of trait organization
Extraverts are sociable, impulsive, and enjoy exciting experiences and meeting new people. Introverts are the opposite
Neurotics have a high level of anxiety, and tend to overreact emotionally. Neurotics have a high level of anxiety, and tend to overreact emotionally. However, they are not necessarily pathological
People who score low on “N” are emotionally stabile and able to control their feelings
High scores on “P” do not necessarily indicate psychopathology. A high score on “P” may indicate that a person is cold, nonconforming, hostile, suspicious, and aggressive. A person with a low score on “P” tends to be altruistic, caring, cooperative, and conventional
Summarize the biological theory of personality.
- Because twin studies show that identical twins are more alike than fraternal twins on certain personality traits, personality has a genetic component.
- 25-50% of personality is biologically determined (but 50-75% is not!)
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Why do people cheat?
- Behaviorism Perspective
- Past experience – have you been rewarded/punished for it?
- Environmental factors
- How easy is it?
- Will anyone get hurt?
- Biological Perspective
- Did your ancestors cheat?
- Did you inherit the cheating trait/gene?
Summary
- Definition
- Theories
- Trait Theory & Big 5
- Behaviorist Theory
- Personality = learned behavior that is situationally determined
- Humanist Theory
- Maslow: Self-actualization
- Rogers: Congruent/Incongruent Self-Concept, Actual Self, Ideal Self determine mental health, unconditional positive regard
- Biological & Evolutionary Theory
- Twin studies. suggest personality is 25-50% inherited.
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