Personality Theory

Personality Theory To begin with, here are your chapter projects. Yes that is a plural! HOOAH!!! Go to the following website: http://queendom.com and take one no-fee test. Write a reaction. There is more…

Personality Theory Here is your second requirement. Go to the following website: http://www.keirsey.com Take the Keirsey Sorter: Sign in as a first time user. After you complete the test, you will receive a score indicated by 4 initials: E or I, N or S, T or F, J or P. On your paper, list your four initials and what they stand for. Discuss what part of the result most accurately describes you and why and which ones you disagree with. Also tell me what, if anything, you learned about yourself from taking that survey.

Personality Theory Understanding the Kiersey Sorter E/I E: extraversion; I: Introversion N/S N: Intuition (innovation); S: Sensation (practical) T/F T: Thinking; F: Feeling J/P J: Judging (must settle things) P: Perceiving (keep all options open) EIFP: Extravert who is innovative, makes decisions based on personal reasons and keeps options open.

Personality Theory Form up into groups of 1-4 people for an anticipatory set activity. HOOAH!!! In your group, think of a person you all have observed in a variety of social settings. Discuss and be prepared to describe how that person interacts with others and how others respond to him/her. How does the person influence others and how is he/she influenced by others? Green Mile Rule!

Personality Theory Who can provide us with a definition of the term personality? The consistent, enduring, and unique characteristics that bring continuity to a person in different situations and times. Personality theorists are often former psychotherapists who try to determine four things.

Personality Theory Personality theorists try to determine four things: • Key issues about traits: whether certain traits go together; why a person may have some traits but not others; why a person might exhibit different traits in different situations • Differences among individuals • How people conduct their lives • How life can be improved

Personality Theory Types of personality theories Psychodynamic Humanistic Cognitive Temperaments, traits, types (Behaviorist) Implicit Cross-cultural

Personality Theory Psychodynamic: call attention to motivation, especially unconscious motives and the influence of past experiences Humanistic: emphasize present, subjective reality: what we believe is important now and how we think of ourselves in relation to others Social-cognitive: come out of research experiments rather than clinical practice; idea that personality is influenced by learning, perception and social interaction

Psychoanalytic Theory Jean Charcot, treating hysteria (conversion disorder); could make symptoms disappear through suggestion when his patients were in a hypnotic trance Freud: not many patients could be hypnotized deeply enough to affect symptoms

Psychoanalytic Theory Sigmund Freud The unconscious is the center of the personality; the unconscious develops as a result of repression of socially unacceptable ideas and impulses • Dreams have meaning • All have unconscious components • **Painful childhood episodes • **Still influence our behavior

Psychoanalytic Theory Sigmund Freud • Human personality = an energy system • Life instinct and death instinct • Life: Eros—erotic/pleasure seeking libido (acts, jokes, creativity) • Death: Thanatos—destructive/ aggressive behavior

Psychoanalytic Theory • Structural concepts of the mind: • Id, Ego, Superego

Psychoanalytic Theory Id • Container of instinctual • or biological urges. • Unconscious/primitive • Pleasure principle—seeking • immediate gratification • Not cognizant of consequences

Psychoanalytic Theory • Superego • Source of conscience, • high ideals • The moral principle • Defines what is right; • source of guilt

Psychoanalytic Theory • Ego • Conscious • Rational, thoughtful, • reality principle • Planning

Psychoanalytic Theory Id Ego Superego Id-superego frequently in conflict Ego must resolve, satisfying demands of id without offending superego

Psychoanalytic Theory It’s time for another group reinforcement exercise. Please form into groups of 1-4. You will now have an opportunity to practice some psychoanalysis as well as use your creativity. Pay attention to the following scenario.

Psychoanalytic Theory You are on a hike with a group of friends, and a rain storm suddenly hits. Everyone’s food is destroyed in the downpour, except one person’s, who wrapped her food in a plastic stuff sack. Night comes and you are starving. You notice that your friend has wandered away from her backpack. Part of you wants to steal her food—you need it to survive. Another part of you says the action is morally wrong. What will you do?

Psychoanalytic Theory Alone or with a group of 3 or 4, create a three-part dialog in which the id, ego, and superego argue about the resolution of this moral dilemma. Be sure that your story has a logical ending, with one part of the personality winning.

Psychoanalytic Theory Freud & Psychosocial Development All children are born with powerful sexual and aggressive urges that must be tamed. Controlling urgesleads to a sense of right and wrong. Boys & girls differ in development

Psychoanalytic Theory Freud & Psychosocial Development First years of life boys and girls: similar experiences Erotic pleasure through the mouth: sucking on mother’s breast Weaning—period of frustration. Child first experiences not getting what he/she wants The Oral Stage Failure to resolve: oral fixations in later life

Psychoanalytic Theory Freud & Psychosocial Development Stage 2: Anal Stage of development Anus: source of erotic pleasure Child enjoys holding in or pushing out feces Toilet training curbs freedom; child learns social control Failure to resolve: anal retentiveness; an obsession with control and order

Psychoanalytic Theory Freud & Psychosocial Development Stage 3: Phallic Stage Major conflict: ages 3-5 Child discovers he/she can obtain pleasure through genitals Child becomes aware of differences between genders

Psychoanalytic Theory Freud & Psychosocial Development Rivalry established between child and parent of same gender for affections of parent of opposite gender Unconscious struggle

Psychoanalytic Theory Freud & Psychosocial Development Son for mother: Oedipal conflict Oedipus Rex Hates, but also fears, dad To prevent punishment(castration) the boy buries sexual feelings & tries to emulate the father

Psychoanalytic Theory Freud & Psychosocial Development Boy’s process: identification with the aggressor—assumes the father’s values and moral principles As he learns to behave like a man, he internalizes his father’s morality Father’s voice: voice of conscience

Psychoanalytic Theory Freud & Psychosocial Development Girls experience Electra Complex Wants to possess father and exclude mother To escape punishment and possess father, she begins to identify with her mother

Psychoanalytic Theory Freud & Psychosocial Development Girls experience mother’s triumphs and failures as if her own Experiences penis envy:suspects that her mother has removed the penis she once had. To make up for this “deficiency,” desires to marry a man like dad.

Psychoanalytic Theory Freud & Psychosocial Development Stage 4: Latency Stage Age 5 Sexual desires pushed into background—explore world and learn new skills Sublimation: redirecting sexual impulses into learning tasks

Psychoanalytic Theory Freud & Psychosocial Development How the child resolves Oedipal/ Electra complex influences his/her relationships with opposite gender throughout life.

Psychoanalytic Theory Freud & Psychosocial Development Stage 5: Genital Stage Adolescence Equal satisfaction giving and receiving pleasure Freud: Adolescence = completion of development

Psychoanalytic Theory Criticizing Freud Convoluted answers to difficult questions Ignored influence of different forms of socialization (at the time) for males and females Theories lack scientific support One thing got right: fixations

Psychoanalytic Theory Ego Defense Mechanisms Rather than face intense frustration, conflict, or feelings of unworthiness, people deceive themselves into believing nothing is wrong. They defend the ego from experiencing anxiety about failing in its tasks. Freud believed they were necessary to psychological well-being.

Defense Mechanisms Repression: forget or push out of awareness painful memories or unacceptable thoughts. The basis of the unconscious Feelings of anger and hostility remain in the unconscious and may show themselves in cutting remarks, sarcasm, slips of the tongue or dreams. Repression:

Defense Mechanisms Denial: Denial: falsify or refuse to accept reality; opposite of repression. I don’t care what the grade was on the top of the test paper. I really passed that test.

Defense Mechanisms Rationalization: over think the problem to justify an action. Rationalization: OK, so I got a C on that stupid test. I really could care less about psychology—it’s a stupid subject.

Defense Mechanisms Reaction Formation: Reaction Formation: replacing an unacceptable feeling with its opposite—covering up true feelings. Conscious Unconscious Divorced father resents having his son for the weekend; so he showers the child with affection, gifts, etc.

Defense Mechanisms Displacement: take your anger out on someone other than the source of your frustration;the ego unconsciously shifts the wish to another, safer object. Displacement:

Defense Mechanisms Regression: Regression: going back to an earlier and less mature pattern of behavior.

Defense Mechanisms Sublimation Sublimation: redirecting a forbidden desire into a socially acceptable desire

Defense Mechanisms Projection: unconscious desires are projected outside onto other people or objects, so the ego can avoid anxiety. Projecting anger at oneself onto another person. Projection:

Excuse me. I have an announcement. We are going to take an informal quiz about ego defense mechanisms. I’ll read a statement and you identify the ego defense mechanism indicated as: Defense Mechanisms Repression Projection Reaction Formation Regression Rationalization Denial

Defense Mechanisms Rorschach Inkblot Technique Probe innermost feelings, desires, conflicts and desires; rely on projection

Defense Mechanisms Rorschach Inkblot Technique Hannah Arendt and Stanley Milgram regarding the defendants at the Nuremberg trials. . . …analyzed results of Rorschach tests and concluded the defendants were “guilty of possessing a psychopathic personality.”

Defense Mechanisms Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) Projective tests—see a photo and make up a story that explains the picture. (Like Rorschach test, relies on projection) Stories are based on test-taker’s beliefs, motives and attitudes David McClelland Henry Murray

Defense Mechanisms McClelland: Achievement motivation Murray: TAT also can test for aggression, sexual needs, and relationships because the person being tested apperceives (fills in) personal interpretations and explanations based on his own thoughts, feelings and needs

Psychoanalytic Theory Sigmund Freud • The Freudian slip: • psychic determinism • Not really mistakes— • something behind them ; • an unconscious conflict • or desire • Expresses how you really feel • unconsciously; therefore nothing • you do or say is accidental

Personality Theorists Carl Gustav Jung Friend then adversary of Freud More positive view of human nature Believed people try to develop their potential as well as handle their instinctual urges.

Personality Theorists Jung Distinguished between the personal unconscious(similar to Freud’s views of the unconscious) and the collective unconscious, which isa storehouse of instincts, urges, and memories of the entire human species throughout history. Distinguished between the personal unconscious(similar to Freud’s views of the unconscious) and the collective unconscious, Archetypes: inherited ideas, based on experiences of one’s ancestors, which shapes one’s perception of the world

Personality Theorists Jung The same archetypes are present in every person They reflect common experiences of humanity: mothers, fathers, nature, war, etc. • Examples: • Animus (masculine) & anima (feminine) • sides of personalities • Shadow archetype: destructive • and aggressive tendencies

Personality Theory