Theories of Personality
events that occur in
Personality
- came from the Latin word persona.
- is everything about you that makes you what you are – a
unique individual who is different, in large and small ways,
from everybody else
- is the unique, relatively enduring internal and external
aspects of a person’s character that influence behavior in
different situations
- pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique
characteristics that give both consistency and individuality
to a person’s behavior.
- is made up of the characteristic patterns of thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors that make a person unique.
- arises from within the individual and remains fairly
consistent throughout life.
Fundamental characteristics of personality include:
 Consistency
- There is generally a recognizable order and
regularity to behaviors. Essentially, people act in the
same ways or similar ways in a variety of situations.
 Psychological and physiological
- Personality is a psychological construct, but
research suggests that it is also influenced by
biological processes and needs.
 Impact behaviors and actions
- Personality does not just influence how we move
and respond in our environment; it also causes us to
act in certain ways.
 Multiple expressions
- Personality is displayed in more than just behavior.
It can also be seen in our thoughts, feelings, close
relationships, and other social interactions.
Issues in the Study of Personality
1. Free will vs. determinism
- Are people’s behaviors determined by forces which
they have no control or can people choose to be what
they wish to be?
- Do we have control over what we would like to
happen in our lives (that is, we are the masters of our
own fate) or are we victims of forces over which we
have no control over?
2. Nature vs. nurture
- Does genetic endowment influence much of our
behavior or are they brought about by features of the
environment?
- Do inherited traits (genetic endowment) influence
much of our behaviour or are they brought about
features of the environment (like our upbringing and
training)? To some, inheritance is the predominant
influence and environment of minor importance;
others hold the opposite view
3. Early childhood experiences vs.
later life
- Are we products of what happened to us in infancy or
childhood or are we influenced by present or future
events?
4. Uniqueness vs. universality
- Are we different from one another or are we just the
same? Theorists believe that each individual is unique
and cannot be compared with others while others contend
that we are basically very similar.
- Are people really different from one another or are we
just the same?
5. Optimism vs. pessimism
- Are people doomed to live miserable lives or can they
change and grow into psychologically healthy, happy,
fully functioning individuals?
- Are human beings basically good or evil, kind or cruel,
compassionate or merciless?
Overview of the Different Theories of Personality
 Type theories are the early perspectives on personality.
These theories suggest that there are a limited number of
"personality types" which are related to biological
influences.
 Trait theories view personality as the result of internal
characteristics that are genetically based.
 Psychodynamic theories
- places importance on the role of the unconscious and
early childhood experiences.
- are heavily influenced by the work of Sigmund Freud
and emphasize the influence of the unconscious on
personality.
Psychodynamic theorists include Freud, Jung, Adler, Klein,
Horney, Erikson, Fromm
 Humanistic/ Existential
- theories emphasize the importance of free will and
individual experience in the development of personality.
The theories which subscribe to this perspective believe
in the realization of our full potentials in life.
Humanistic/ existential theorists include Carl Rogers, Abraham
Maslow and Rollo May.
 Behavioral and Cognitive Perspective
- suggest that personality is a result of interaction
between the individual and the environment. Behavioral
theorists study observable and measurable behaviors,
rejecting theories that take internal thoughts and feelings
into account.
Behavioral theorists include Skinner, Watson, Pavlov, Bandura
& Kelly
 Dispositional Theories
- view personality as the result of internal characteristics
that are genetically based.
Dispositional Theorists includes Allport, Mc Crae & Costa, and
Eysenck
PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
Sigmund Freud
- was born in May 6, 1856 in Freiberg, Moravia in Czech
Republic
- first born child of Jacob and Amalie Nathanson Freud
- His mother gave birth to Julius when Sigmund was about 1 ½
years old.
- He unconsciously wished for his younger brother’s death and
when Julius was 6 months, he died. This event left an impact
on his psychic development.
- He was forced to practice medicine at the University of
Vienna Medical School.
- In his practice as a psychiatrist, he focused on learning about
his patients’ unconscious motives.
- had a strong desire to be famous and failed on several
occasions to attain that fame until he finished Interpretation of
Dreams in 1899. This book however brought him the fame that
he was seeking.
- In 1938, with the Nazi invasion of Austria, Freud reluctantly
left his home and took up residence in London, where he died
on Sept. 23, 1939.
Levels of Mental Life
Our mental functioning operates on three levels according to
Freud.
> Unconscious
- includes drives and instincts that are beyond awareness but
that motivate most human behaviours. Images in our dreams
and slips of the tongue are some of its disguised or distorted
forms when unconscious drives become conscious.
> Preconscious
- contains images that are not readily available in our
awareness but they can become conscious either quite easily or
with some level of difficulty.
> Conscious
- plays a relatively minor role in the theory of Freud. As he
defined the term, it corresponds to its ordinary everyday
meaning, and includes all the sensations and experiences of
which we are aware of at any given moment.
Structures of Personality/ Provinces of the Mind
Freud conceptualized three regions of the mind or structures
of personality.
ID
- is completely unconscious and contains our basic instincts.
It serves the pleasure principle and operates through the
primary process.
- It is the raw, unorganized, inborn part of the personality
EGO
– operates through the secondary process and is governed by
the reality principle. The ego is responsible for reconciling the
unrealistic demands of the id and the superego.
- the only region of the mind in contact with reality.
- the executive of the personality
SUPEREGO
- serves the idealistic or morality principle.
- It is unrealistic in its demand for perfection
- Its two subsystems include the conscience and the ego-ideal.
Dynamics of Personality
- refers to those forces that motivate people. These include instincts
and anxiety.
Instincts - Freud wrote that instincts were the basic elements of the
personality, the motivating forces that drive behaviour and
determine its direction.
Freud grouped all human drives or urges under two primary
instincts:
 Sex (Eros or the life instinct)
- The aim of the sexual instinct is pleasure, which can be
gained through the erogenous zones, especially the mouth,
anus, and genitals. The object of the sexual instinct is any
person or thing that brings sexual pleasure. All infants
possess primary narcissism, or self-centeredness, but the
secondary narcissism of adolescence and adulthood is not
universal.
 Aggression (the death instinct or Thanatos)
- The destructive instinct aims to return a person to an
inorganic state, but it is ordinarily directed against other
people and is called aggression.
Both sadism (receiving sexual pleasure from inflicting pain on
another) and masochism (receiving sexual pleasure from painful
experiences) satisfy both sexual and aggressive drives.
Anxiety
– emphasized that it is a felt, affective, unpleasant state
accompanied by a physical sensation that warns the person
against impending danger.
Neurotic anxiety
- stems from the ego's relation with the id; moral anxiety is similar to
guilt and results from the ego's relation with the superego; and
realistic anxiety, which is similar to fear, is produced by the ego's
relation with the real world.
A. Defense Mechanisms
Defense mechanisms operate to protect the ego against the pain of
anxiety according to Freud. Here are some of them:
Repression
- involves forcing unwanted, anxiety-loaded experiences into the
unconscious. It is the most basic of all defense mechanisms because
it is an active process in each of the others.
Reaction Formation
- is marked by the repression of one impulse and the ostentatious
expression of its exact opposite.
Displacement
- takes place when people redirect their unwanted urges onto other
objects or people in order to disguise the original impulse.
Fixation
- develops when psychic energy is blocked at one stage of
development, making psychological change difficult.
Regression
- occurs whenever a person reverts to earlier, more infantile modes of
behavior.
Projection
- is seeing in others unacceptable feelings or behaviors that actually
reside in one's own unconscious.
Introjection
- takes place when people incorporate positive qualities of another
person into their own ego to reduce feelings of inferiority.
Sublimation
- involves the elevation of the sexual instinct's aim to a higher level,
which permits people to make contributions to society and culture.
Rationalization