AS PSYCHOLOGY A SOCIAL SCIENCE
Chapter Twelve- Reading Notes
Distinctiveness- each person has their own distinctive set of personality traits Personality is used to explain stability of a person's behavior over time (consistency) and behavioral differences among people reacting to the same situation (distinctiveness) Personality- individuals unique set of consistent behavioral traits Personality trait- durable disposition to behave in a particular way in a variety of situations Most assume that some traits are more basic than others, IE a small number of fundamental traits determine other traits. Impulsive, restless, irritable may be derived from a basic tendency to be excitable Raymond Cattell used factor analysis to narrow down Gordon Allports 171 personality traits into 16 basic traits Factor analysis- correlations among many variables are analyzed to identify closely related variable clusters, IE if two variables correlate highly it is assumed that there is a common factor influencing them Robert McCrae and Paula Costa Five-Factor Personality Model 1.Extraversion- outgoing, etc..sometimes referred to as positive emotionality 2.Neuroticism- anxious, hostile, self conscious...sometimes called negative " " 3.Openness to Experience- curiosity, flexibility, vivid imagination (maybe a key determinant in political attitudes and ideology) 4.Agreeableness- sympathetic, trusting, cooperative 5.Conscientiousness- diligent, disciplined, well organized (sometimes called constraint) associated with living longer Big Five traits are indicative of behavior. IE extraversion has positive correlation with popularity, etc Some criticisms are that the model is just descriptive and provides no insight into causes/development of personality, more than 5 traits are needed to account for variation in human personality Psychodynamic theories- descended from the work of Sigmund Freud, focus on unconscious mental forces Freud's psychoanalytic theory- attempts to explain personality, motivation and psychological disorders by focusing of the influences of early childhood, unconscious motives and conflicts and methods people use to cope with sexual and aggressive urges Controversial because he said people weren't masters of their own minds, not masters of their own destinies and he talked a lot about sex Freud divided personality into three components, Id, ego and superego Id- primitive, instinctive component of personality that operates according to the pleasure principle (reservoir of psychic energy- raw biological urges IE eating, sleeping, pooop) Pleasure principle- immediate gratification of its urges
Engages in primary-process thinking, primitive, illogical, irrational and fantasy orientated Ego- decision making component of personality that operates according to the reality principle, mediates with Id over its desire for immediate satisfaction with expectations and norms regarding suitable behavior Considers social norms such as etiquette in decision making Reality principle- seeks to delay gratification of id's urges until appropriate outlets and situations can be found Ego works to tame id Strives to avoid negative consequences by behaving "properly" Superego- moral component of personality, incorporates social stands about what represents right and wrong Emerges out of ego around 3-5years old All three distributed differently across three levels of awareness Conscious- whatever one is aware of at a particular moment in time Preconscious- material just beneath the surface of awareness that can be easily retrieved (IE your middle name, or what you had for dinner last night) Unconscious- thoughts, memories and desires that are well below the surface of consciousness but still exert great influence on behavior (IE forgotten trauma from childhood, hidden feelings of hostility towards a parent...) FIGURE 12.2 PAGE 473!! Freud focused on sex and aggression because he thought the two were more complex and ambiguous social controls than other basic motives. Thus this two drives are the source of the most confusion. Secondly, they are also thwarted the most Defense Mechanisms- unconscious reactions that protect a person from unpleasant emotions such as anxiety and guilt (generally work through self deception) Rationalization- creating false but plausible excuses to justify unacceptable behavior Repression- (most basic and widely used defense mechanism) keeping distressing thoughts and feelings buried in the unconscious Projection- attributing one's own thoughts, feelings or motives to another, you don't want someone, they're trying to seduce you (hiding your lust for them) Displacement- diverting emotional feelings from their original source to subst. target Reaction formation- behaving in a way that's exactly the opposite of one's true feelings (often guilt of sexual desires leads to this, telltale sign- excessive exaggeration of opposite behavior) Regression- reversion to immature patterns of behavior (massive exaggerations that anyone can see through) Identification- bolstering self esteem by forming an imaginary or real alliance with some person or group Freud believed that children developed personality, permanently, by age 5 Freud had psychosexual stage theory- developmental periods with a characteristic sexual focus that leave their mark on adult personality Freud though that each stage had it's own set of problems and how you handled the problems shaped your personality
Fixation- failure to move forward from one stage to another as expected, can be caused by excessive gratification of needs at a certain stage or excessive frustration of needs 1.Oral stage- first year of life, focused on mouth IE weaning from breast or bottle. Fixation at this stage could lead to obsessive eating or smoking later in life 2.Anal stage- 2-3years pooping! Toilet training 3.Phallic- 4-5years whacking off focused on genitals. Stage where Oedipus complex (boys have erotically tinged preference for moms, and have hostility towards their fathers, girls blame moms for not having a penis) 4. Latency- 6-12(puberty) sexuality is largely suppressed , expanding social contacts beyond immediate family 5.Genital- Puberty + focused on genitals again and being sexually intimate, establishing intimate relationships and contributing to society through working Carl Jung- analytical psychology (split from Freud), focused on unconscious determinants of personality, divided it into two layers Personal unconscious- material not within one's conscious awareness because it has been repressed or forgotten Collective unconscious- storehouse of latent memory traces inherited from people's ancestral past (collective unconscious is shared with the entire human race) Jung called ancestral memories(past) archetypes- emotionally charged images and thought forms that have universal meaning IE mandala or magic circle, shows up in many cultures and has served as symbol as unified wholeness of self Jung first to describe introverted (preoccupied with thoughts of their internal world, own thoughts, feelings, experiences...) and extroverted( interested in external world of people and things) personality types Alfred Adler- individual psychology (split from Freud), thought Freud went overboard in talking about sex Adler, human motivation is striving for superiority- universal drive to adapt, improve oneself and master life's challenges, is the prime goal of life Compensation- efforts to overcome imagined or real inferiorities by developing one's abilities, everyone has to overcome inferiorities, although can become excessive then it is known as inferiority complex People who engage in unconscious self deception worry more about appearances than reality He though that birth order mattered in determining personality but no studies since have backed it up Recent studies (Frank Sulloway) have shown that first borns are more conscientious but less agreeable and open to experience than later borns and first borns are more conventional and achievement orientated while later borns are more rebellious and liberal Many criticisms of psychodynamic formulations (on personality) 1.Poor testability- hypothesis too vague and conjectural to permit a clear scientific test 2.Inadequate evidence- empirical evidence, depend too heavily on case studies and it is easy for clinicians to see what they expect. Even Freud distorted patients case studies to mesh with his own theories
3.Sexism- have a sexist bias against women. IE Freud believed that women's penis envy made them feel inferior to males Skinner, on personality, didn't talk about the id, ego or superego because they couldn't be observed Skinner believed in determinism- behavior is fully determined by stimuli environmental People show consistent patterns of behavior because they have some stable response tendencies that they have acquired through experience Skinner thought behavior was always changing depending on your experiences and reinforcements, saw no need for stage theory Albert Bandura- social cognitive theory, personality is largely shaped through learning (behaviorists stand point) but he says that is process is not mechanical and people are not passive to it Believed that not only does environment determine behavior, behavior determines environment (people can act to alter their environment) Reciprocal determinism- idea that internal mental events, external environmental events and overt behavior all influence one another. Observational learning- occurs when an organism's responding is influenced by the observation of others, who are called models Model- persons who behavior is observed by another, some more influential than others Self-efficacy- ones belief about one's ability to perform behaviors that should lead to expected outcomes, when it is high people believe that they can execute the responses necessary to earn reinforcers and when it is low individuals worry that necessary responses may be beyond their abilities Walter Mischel- proponent of social cognitive theory Mischel showed that people exhibit far less consistency across situations than had widely been assumed, strikes against concept of personality because if there isn't consistency than there isn't a real purpose for concept of personality Both person and situation are important in determining behavior Criticisms of Behavioral Perspectives 1.overdependence on animal research 2.dehumanizing nature of radical behaviorism- theories rely on denying existence of free will 3.fragmentation of personality- no unifying structural concepts, carves personality up into stimulus-response associations Humanism- theoretical orientation that emphasizes on the unique qualities of humans, especially their freedoms and potential for personal growth. Emerged in 1950's as a backlash to behavioral and psychodynamic theories Humanists don't believe animal testing can reveal anything about humans Humanists believe that people can control their biological urges, unlike animals and that people are largely conscious and rational beings who are not dominated by unconscious and irrational conflicts Humanists think subjective reality is more important that objective reality Phenomelogical Approach- one must appreciated an individuals' personal, subjective experience to truly understand their behavior
Carl Rogers (Humanist) based his personality theory, like Freud, on extensive interactions with his clients. Based heavily on subjective experience and thusly called a person-centered theory Self-Concept- collection of beliefs about one's own nature, unique qualities and typical behavior (your own mental picture of yourself, which you are aware of) Incongruence- degree of disparity between one's self-concept and one's actual experience According to Rogers people have a strong need for affection, love and acceptance Incongruence is fostered by conditional love, people distort their self concept to meet criteria for acceptance Congruence is fostered by unconditional love Anxiety is caused by experiences that threaten peoples personal views of themselves, higher levels of incongruence lead to higher levels of anxiety Abraham Maslow (humanist)- proposed that human motives are organized into a hierarchy of needs Hierarchy of needs- systematic arrangement of needs, according to priority, in which basic needs must be met before less basic needs are aroused (usually portrayed in a pyramid) Complete satisfaction of needs is not necessary to advance to next level Upper most needs on pyramid called growth needs- relate to human drive for personal growth (needs for knowledge, understanding, order, aesthetic beauty) Need for self-actualization- need to fulfills one's potential, highest need in Maslow's motivational hierarchy (What a man can be, he must be) According to Maslow self-actualizing people are people with exceptionally healthy personalities marked by continued personal growth See Figure 12.12 PAGE 490 Weaknesses in humanism1. Poor testability 2. Unrealistic view of human nature- self actualizing people sound nearly perfect, Maslow had a hard time finding such people, in fact he had to turn to historical figures in his search when he couldn't find any in the living. Too optimistic 3. Inadequate evidence- hard to quantify human experience, humanists not particularly research orientated Hans Eysenck- views personality structure as a hierarchy of traits in which many superficial traits are derived from smaller number more basic traits which are derived from a handful of fundamental higher order traits. Determined to a large extent by a person's genes Eysenck suggests that all aspects of personality emerge from three higher order traits, extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism Extraversion- outgoing, sociable, lively Neuroticism- anxious, tense, moody Psychoticism- egocentric, impulsive, cold Eysenck believes that people can be conditioned more readily (behaviorism) than others because of differences in their psychological functioning. This influences the personality traits that people acquire Introverts are more easily conditioned than extraverts and thusly gain more inhibitions and become more uneasy in social situations
Identical twins reared apart had much more personality similarities than fraternal twins reared together Shared family environment has little impact on personality Evolutionary theorists say that personality has a biological basis because natural selection has favored certain traits over the course of human history Weaknesses in biological approach to personality1. Behavioral genetics research has an obsession with establishing exact magnitude of heritability coefficients 2. At present no comprehensive biological theory of personality Terror-Management Theory- borrows from Freud and evolutionary psych, one of its chief goals is to explain why people need self-esteem Theory assumes that humans share evolutionary heritage with other animals that includes a drive for self-preservation. But humans have advanced cognitive abilities that allow for self-awareness and contemplation of the future Drive for self-preservation but awareness of death leads to anxiety, alarm, terror Cultures provide ways to view the world that solves the existential crisis caused by awareness of death. Gives people a sense of order, meaning and context that soothes a fear of death Self-esteem feeling that one is a valuable contributor to a meaningful universe, serves as a terror management function. Buffers people from profound anxiety associated with death Mortality salience- asking people to think about their own death, increasing mortality salience leads people to work harder at defending their world view and may also fuel prejudice and aggression According to terror management theory, depression occurs when a persons anxiety buffer fails Big Five personality traits consistent across cultures Individualism- putting personal goals ahead of group goals and defining one's identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group memberships Collectivism- putting group goals ahead of personal goals and defining ones identity in terms of the groups one belongs to Self- Enhancement- focusing on positive feedback from others, exaggerating one's strengths and seeing oneself as above average Self- report inventories- personality tests that ask individuals to answer a series of questions about their characteristic behavior MMPI- Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, measures 10 personality traits when manifested to an extreme degree are thought to be symptoms of disorders Raymond Cattell reduced personality down to 16 source traits (Sixteen Personality Factor) 16PF questionnaire is a 187-item scaled that assesses these 15 basic dimensions of personality NEO Personality Inventory- measures Big Five traits Error in self report inventories: 1. Deliberate deception 2. Social desirability bias 3. Response sets- some people tend to agree with everything on a test, while some tend to disagree with everything on a test
Projective tests- ask participants to respond to vague, ambiguous stimuli in ways that may reveal the subjects needs, feelings and personality traits (Rorschach ink blot test) Strengths of projective tests- respondents don't know the right answer therefore hard to engage in intentional deception, tests sensitive to unconscious features of personality Weaknesses- inconsistent scoring, low reliability, cultural bias, inadequate test norms