Chapter 13: PERSONALITY




I. DEFINITIONS

II. FREUD'S THEORY OF PERSONALITY

1. Level's of Consciousness - Freud viewed what we were aware of at any time (conscious level) as only the tip of the iceberg. Beneath this level was the vast majority of our consciousness. The preconscious is just below the conscious level. This contains memories and stored knowledge which we are not immediately aware of but which we can retrieve at any time. Beneath the preconscious and forming the largest portion of the human mind is the unconscious. These are thoughts, desires, and impulses of which we are not aware. Even though we are not aware of these, Freud saw these as controlling our behavior and it is the goal of psychoanalysis to get at these unconscious factors.

2. Three Components of Personality

(a) Id: Present at birth. Operates on the pleasure principle. It is there to serve your instincts and it wants immediate gratification.

(b) Ego: Develops later when start learning and thinking logically. Realize that sometimes you may have to delay gratification or find other ways to get it. Works on reality principle, tries to find realistic ways of gratifying instinct.

(c) Superego: This is the ideal moral part. Strives for perfection rather than pleasure or reality. Works through making you feel guilty or ashamed when you do bad. Develops about 5-6 years of age.
3. Stages of Psychosexual Development - Five stages of development. Centers around sex instinct. As you mature your sexual interest shifts to different erogenous zones. Each stage is centered around a particular erogenous zone.
(a) Oral Stage - (birth to 1 year) Erogenous zone is the mouth. Erotic pleasure comes from sucking, biting, spitting, etc.
(b) Anal Stage - (1-3 years) This is when child gets toilet trained, sphincter muscles begin to mature. Anus is erogenous zone and defecation becomes method of getting erotic pleasure.
(c) Phallic Stage - (3-6 years) Genital area becomes erogenous zone and child gets sexual pleasure from masturbation. Develop strong sexual desire for parent of the opposite sex. Oedipus Complex: Boy develops a desire to sleep with their mothers and they develop jealous of father so they want to destroy them. When his castration anxiety becomes intense enough he resolves the conflict by identifying with father, act like him, and that way he can vicariously experience mother. Girls experience Electra Complex which is similar to boys except that the girl develops penis envy and desires the father in the hope he shares his penis with her. Resolution is not as clear as for boys, it just fades away when she realizes she can't have father but this leads to less developed superego because its development is not based on as much fear (castration).
(d) Latency Period - (6-12 years) Sex instincts are relatively quiet. This continues up to puberty.
(e) Genital Stage - (12+) Now interested in sex with opposite sex. Underlying aim is reproduction.




III. OTHER PSYCHOANALYTIC VIEWS

1. Jung - Jung was a disciple of Freud but the two of them had a bitter falling out. Jung agreed with Freud on the importance of the unconscious but proposed another important part, the collective unconscious. This is the part of the unconscious that is shared by all human beings and it is passed along to new generations biologically. It contains archetypes which predispose us to view the world in certain ways. Two important archetypes are the anima and animus. The animus is the masculine side of females and the anima is the feminine side of males. When we look for a mate we look for someone who can project this hidden part of our personality. Jung also coined the terms introvert and extrovert to describe individuals who are shy and reclusive, or talkative and sociable.

2. Karen Horney - Freud's was a very sexist theory. Horney could be considered one of the first feminists as she criticized Freud for his ideas on female sexuality. Her focus was more on social factors in shaping the developing child rather than sexual factors.


IV. HUMANISTIC THEORIES

1. Overview - While specific theories have their differences, humanistic theories are all based on a much more optimistic view of human nature. They propose that all humans strive for personal growth and development.

2. Rogers' Self Theory - Carl Rogers proposed that all humans are striving to become fully functioning persons. These are psychologically healthy people who enjoy life to the fullest. Why aren't we all this way? Because a gap develops between of self-concept (the beliefs we have about ourselves) and reality. This creates anxiety and to reduce this anxiety we do things like distort our perceptions of reality or deny reality. This leads to maladjustment and personal unhappiness. This happens because we grow up in an atmosphere of conditional positive regard, our parents approve of us only when we behave in certain ways. To overcome this, you need an atmosphere of unconditional positive regard where you know you will be accepted no matter what you do or say.


3. Maslow - Maslow's need hierarchy was already discussed but this is also considered a humanistic theory. The key here is self-actualization, the top of the hierarchy. Maslow saw psychologically healthy people as ones who have attained self-actualization. They have reached their true potential, they recognize their shortcomings as well as their strengths, and they are interested in maintaining their own standards which may not necessarily be societies.

4. Self-Disclosure - This is simply the act of revealing intimate information about oneself to another person. this forms the basis of many therapeutic approaches, especially humanistic approaches. Does it work? It does seem to help both psychological and physical health although it may be best if it is reciprocal, that is, the person you are disclosing to discloses back.


V. TRAIT THEORIES

1. Overview - These are theories that focus on identifying key dimensions of personality on which people may differ. Ask class for examples of traits.

2. Allport's Trait Theory - Allport divided personality traits into several major categories.
(a) Secondary Traits - These are least important and they exert a small and relatively specific influence on personality.
(b) Central Traits - These are more important and are the five to ten traits that best describe the individual. This is the uniqueness of an individual's personality.
(c) Cardinal Trait - This is a single, all-important trait that characterize a few people. Not everyone has this but someone like Michael Milken may have one (greed).

3. Key Dimensions of Personality - Research has identified five robust dimensions that characterize personality.
(a) Extraversion - Social, talkative fun-loving to shy, silent, and cautious (introversion).

(b) Agreeableness - Good natured, gentle, cooperative, helpful to irritable, suspicious, and uncooperative.

(c) Conscientiousness - Careful, self-disciplined, and responsible to careless, weak-willed, and unscrupulous.

(d) Emotional Stability - Poised, calm, composed, and not hypochondriacal to nervous, anxious, excitable, and hypochondriacal.

(e) Openness to Experience - Imaginative, sensitive, intellectual to insensitive, narrow, and crude.


VI. MEASURING PERSONALITY

1. Objective Tests - These are generally self-report measures in which people are asked whether statements are true or false about themselves or whether they agree or disagree about something. just like on intelligence tests, performance is compared to some norm group. The MMPI is the most common. It contains over 500 true-false questions.

2. Projective Tests - These are tests where you are shown a relatively ambiguous stimuli and you respond to it by telling what you see or telling a story about it. The most common are the Rorschach which is an inkblot test and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) in which a picture is shown and you tell a story about it. The utility of these tests is not agreed upon. Many people believe they are worthless.