INTRODUCTION TO
PSYCHOLOGY
PSYCH01X
PERSONALITY:
Theories and
Measurement
Lesson 8
Learning Outcomes
• Describe the psychoanalytical perspective and
how it contributed to the study of personality.
• Explain the trait perspective and the “Big Five”
trait model.
• Identify the contributions of learning theory to
understanding personality.
• Describe the humanistic-existential perspective
on personality.
What is Personality?
• Personality consists of
the reasonably stable
patterns of emotions,
motives, and behavior
that distinguish one
person from another
The
Psychodynamic
Perspective
Psychodynamic
Theory
• Sigmund Freud
– Personality
characterized by
conflict
• Conflict is first external,
then internalized
• Our behavior is the
result of these inner
conflicts
Sigmund Freud’s
Theory of Psychosexual Development
Three levels of awareness
• Conscious, preconscious, unconscious
• Unconscious urges are kept below the surface
by repression
Psychoanalysis
• Form of therapy used to explore the
unconscious mind
Structure of
Personality
• Three psychic structures of personality
– Id – pleasure principle
– Ego – reality principle
• Defense Mechanisms
– Superego – moral principle
• Identification
Stages of Psychosexual
Development
• Stages: Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, Genital
• Fixations at any stage are expressed by
characteristics of that stage
– Oral Fixation
– Anal Fixation
Stages of Psychosexual
Development
• Oral Stage
– Conflict centers on nature and extent of oral
gratification
– Excessive or insufficient gratification leads to
fixation
• Anal Stage
– Focuses on the control of elimination of waste
– Learn to delay gratification – self-control
Stages of Psychosexual
Development
• Phallic Stage
– Oedipus or Electra complex
– Resolved through identification with same
sex parent
• Latency
– Sexual feelings remain unconscious
• Genital Stage
– Incest taboo
Neo-Freudians
• Carl Jung - Analytical
Psychology
– Downplayed importance of
sexual instinct
– Collective unconscious
– Archetypes
Neo-Freudians
• Alfred Adler – Individual
Psychology
– People are motivated by
an inferiority complex
– Drive for superiority
– Creative self
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Neo-Freudians
• Karen Horney
– Argued girls do not
feel inferior to boys
– Social relationships are
more important than
unconscious sexual
and aggressive
impulses
Neo-Freudians
• Erik Erikson – Psychosocial
Development
– Eight stages named for traits
that should develop at each
stage
• First stage – trust versus
mistrust
• Goal of adolescence is
attainment of ego identity
Evaluation of Psychodynamic Perspective
• Shift to examination of problems as having a psychological
source
• Focused attention on childhood experiences
• No evidence for existence of psychic structures
• Problems with clinical method for gathering evidence
• Biting one’s
fingernails or
smoking cigarettes
Truth or
Fiction? is a sign of conflict
experienced during
early childhood.
• Biting one’s
fingernails or
smoking cigarettes
Truth or is a sign of conflict
Fiction? experienced during
early childhood.
• FICTION!
The Trait
Perspective
What are Traits?
Traits are reasonably stable
elements of personality that
are inferred from behavior
History of the
Trait Perspective
• Hippocrates (ca. 460-377 BCE)
–Personality depends on the balance
of four fluids (humors) in the body
–Disease was reflected by imbalance
and was restored through
bloodletting and vomiting
• Bloodletting and
vomiting were once
Truth or recommended as
Fiction? ways of coping with
depression.
• Bloodletting and
vomiting were once
recommended as ways
Truth or of coping with
Fiction? depression.
• TRUE!
History of the Trait
Perspective
Charles
Gordon Allport
Spearman –
(1936)
factor analysis
Heritable traits Catalogued
embedded in 18,000 human
nervous system traits
Hans
Eysenck’s Trait
Theory
• Focus on relationship between
– Introversion – Extraversion
– Stability – Instability (Neuroticism)
• Twenty-five hundred years
ago, a Greek physician
Truth or devised a way of looking at
Fiction? personality that—with a
little “tweaking” —remains
in use today.
• Twenty-five hundred
years ago, a Greek
physician devised a way
of looking at personality
Truth or that—with a little
Fiction? “tweaking” —remains in
use today.
• TRUE!
Eysenck’s Personality Dimensions
and Hippocrates’ Personality Types
The “Big Five”: The
Five-Factor Model
• Five basic personality factors
– extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness,
agreeableness, openness to experience
• Research has shown cross-cultural application and
relationship to inborn temperament
• Popular means of developing personality “types”
The “Big
Five”: The
Five-Factor
Model
• Actually, there are
no basic
Truth or personality
Fiction? traits. We are all
conditioned by
society to behave
in certain ways.
• Actually, there are
no basic personality
traits. We are all
Truth or conditioned by
Fiction? society to behave in
certain ways.
• FICTION!
Biology and Traits
Biological factors related to traits
• Heredity, Neurotransmitters
Temperament
• Shyness and behavioral inhibition
• Antisocial personality disorder
Evaluation of Trait Model
• Personality tests have been used to identify
“types” related to certain occupations
• Trait theory has been more descriptive than
explanatory
Positive Psychology
and Trait Theory
• Character Strengths and Virtues
–Virtuous traits
Learning-
Theory
Perspective
s
Behaviorism
John B. Watson
• Focus on determinants of observable behavior, not
unseen, undetectable, unconscious forces
B.F. Skinner
• Emphasized the effects of reinforcements on behavior
Criticism
• Ignored the role of choice and consciousness
Social Cognitive Theory
Albert Bandura
• Focuses on learning by Person and
observation and cognitive Situational Variables
processes of personal
differences
Person
Variables and
Situational
Variables in
Social-Cognitive
Theory
Social Cognitive Theory
Predicting • Expectancies about the outcome, and
behavior is • Subjective values perceived about
those outcomes
based on
Self-efficacy • Beliefs we can accomplish certain
expectations things
Observational
Learning
• Modeling or
cognitive learning
– Acquiring
knowledge by
observing others
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NC.
Evaluation of Learning Perspective
• Emphasize observable behaviors which can be
measured
• Emphasize environmental conditions
– Avoid internal variables
• Social cognitive theory does not explain self-
awareness and genetic variation
The
Humanistic-
Existential
Perspective
What is Humanism?
Humanism argues people are capable of
• free choice
• self-fulfillment
• ethical behavior
Existentialism
Abraham Maslow and the
Challenge of Self-Actualization
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of
Needs
– Conscious need for
self-actualization
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Carl Rogers’ Self
Theory
• Self
– Your ongoing sense of who and what
you are
– Your sense of how and why you react
to the environment
– How you choose to act on the
environment
• Self Theory
– Focuses on nature of self and
conditions that allow the self to This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC
BY-NC.
develop freely
Self-Concept and
Frames of Reference
• Self-Concept
– Our impressions of ourselves and
our evaluations of our adequacy
• Frames of Reference
– The way in which we look at
ourselves and the world
Self-Esteem and Positive Regard
Unconditional
positive Accept child as having intrinsic merit regardless of present behavior
regard
Conditional
positive Accept child only when they behave in the desired manner
regard
Conditions of
Develop in response to conditional positive regard
Worth
Evaluation of Humanistic-Existential
Perspective
• Focus on conscious experience
– Private and subjective
• Does not address development of traits and
personality types
Measurement of
Personality
Characteristics of Scientific Personality Tests
Validity Reliability Standardization
Extent to which test Stability of one’s test results
measures what it is from one testing to another
supposed to measure
Use of Personality Tests
Behavior-rating scales
• Classrooms or mental hospitals
Decision making
• Occupations, School, Medications
Aptitude and interest scales
Psychologists can
determine
Truth or whether a person
Fiction? has told the truth
on a personality
test.
• Psychologists can
determine whether
a person has told
Truth or the truth on a
Fiction? personality test.
• FICTION!
Objective Tests
• Respondents are presented
with standardized group of
test items in form of
questionnaire
– Forced-choice format
• Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality Inventory
(MMPI)
– Designed to diagnose
psychological disorders
• There is a
psychological test
Truth or made up of
Fiction? inkblots, and test-
takers are asked to
say what the blots
look like to them.
• There is a
psychological test
made up of inkblots,
Truth or and test-takers are
Fiction? asked to say what the
blots look like to
them.
• TRUE!
Projective
Tests • Rorschach Inkblot Test
An Inkblot Test
Projective • Thematic Apperception Test
Tests
INTRODUCTION TO
PSYCHOLOGY
PSYCH01X
