Psychology: From Inquiry to Understanding

Fifth Canadian Edition

Chapter 14
Personality: Who We Are

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Lecture Preview

Personality

Psychoanalytic theory

Behavioural and social learning theories

Humanistic models

Personality assessment

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Personality: How Can We Study It?
n Personality consists of traits - relatively enduring
predispositions that influence our behaviour across
many situations – typical ways of thinking, feeling,
behaving

n Two primary approaches:

n Nomothetic approach – focuses on identifying general laws
that govern the behaviour of all individuals (average scores
across people)
nGood for generalization
n Idiographic approach – focuses on identifying the unique
configuration of characteristics and life history experiences
within a person (post-hoc; most case studies)
nCannot generalize results from a case study to the larger
population because of uniqueness.

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Causes of Personality Differences
Describe how twin and adoption studies shed light on genetic and
environmental influences on personality

n Genetic factors
nWe are biologically linked to our parents (“she
takes after her father”)
nIdentical (mz) twins have more similar
personalities than fraternal twins (dz)

Shared environmental factors

nparents raise their children similarly because they have a
core parenting philosophy
Nonshared environmental factors
nparents treat siblings differently—e.g., birth order, age
between siblings, gender, pediatric chronic illness, etc.)

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Causes of Personality Differences
n Twin studies
n Genetic factors have a heavy influence on personality, but
not complete control (correlations are < 1.0 so
environment matters!!) (Table14.1)
n Identical twins reared apart are as similar as identical twins
reared together (genes not environment)
n Identical twins reared apart are more similar than fraternal
twins reared apart (genes not environment)

n Birth order (nonshared environmental influence)

n *First = achiever; middle = diplomacy; laters = risk taking
n Later-borns are 3x more likely than firstborns to favor
revolutionary scientific ideas (Sulloway, 1996)
n Controversial because of inconsistent and non-replicated
findings

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 Comparison of Correlations of Twins Reared
Together or Apart
TWINS REARED TOGETHER TWINS REARED APART

IDENTICAL FRATERNAL IDENTICAL FRATERNAL

TWIN TWIN TWIN TWIN
CORRELATION CORRELATION CORRELATION CORRELATION
Anxiety proneness 0.52 0.24 0.61 0.27
Aggression 0.43 0.14 0.46 0.06
Alienation 0.55 0.38 0.55 0.38
Impulse control 0.41 0.06 0.50 0.03
Emotional well-being 0.58 0.23 0.48 0.18
Traditionalism 0.50 0.47 0.53 0.39
Achievement orientation 0.36 0.07 0.36 0.07

(Source: Based on data from Tellegen et al., 1988 )

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Critical thinking exercise
n Twin method logic…… rmz=.60
rdz=.30
LEGEND:
P=phenotype
(EXTROVERSION)
h2=heritability/genetics
c2=common env. experiences
e2=unique env. experiences

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Personality
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUELAiHbCxc

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Theoretical Models of Personality

How do our personalities develop?

What are the core driving forces in our personalities

or, more informally, what makes us tick?

What accounts for individual differences in

personality?

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Sigmund Freud
• History….
• How did Psychoanalysis
come to be?
• Viennese neurologist who
developed the first
comprehensive theory of
personality

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Psychoanalytic Theory - FREUD
n Childhood influences? Dreams? Slips of the tongue?
Talk it out to work it out? – BIG IDEAS at the time!
n Freud came to believe that physical symptoms and
ailments without an organic cause were
psychogenic (rooted in repressed trauma)

n Core assumptions of psychoanalytic theory:

1) Psychic determinism – all psychological events
have a cause – no real Free Will
2) Symbolic meaning – ALL actions are meaningful
(NOTHING is a mistake)
3) Unconscious motivation – we rarely understand
why we do things (although we think we do). The
Mind = Iceberg Analogy. Most of “us” is
submerged like the bulk of an iceberg à beneath
the surface
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Freud’s Model of Personality Structure
(but don’t take it too literally…it’s an oversimplification)

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Three Agencies (parts) of the Human Psyche =
Personality
n Id – basic instincts; the reservoir of our most primitive
impulses, including sex (libido) and aggression
n Pleasure principle – the tendency of the id to strive for immediate
gratification (sex, food, violence)
n “I want Jesse’s girl” (click on the link to watch the video)
n Superego – our sense of morality (guilt) comes from
society and parents (*unrealistic expectations)
n “OMG, NO! you cannot have Jesse’s girl, that would be so
wrong, you would HURT your best friend, AND… you would
feel so guilty, what is the matter with you!!!”
n Ego – the mediator; the psyche’s executive and principal
decision maker “this is so bad, I am MORTIFIED, ok, stop
thinking about this, you will find another girl”
n Ego interacts with the real world, and solve conflict between Id and
Superego Reality principle – the tendency of the ego to postpone
gratification until it can find an appropriate outlet
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 Anxiety and Defense
Mechanisms (Table 14.2)
n Defense mechanisms – unconscious maneuvers
intended to minimize anxiety
n Repression – motivated forgetting of emotionally
threatening memories or impulses (the BIGGIE)
n Denial – deny evidence of a stressful event, despite
abundant evidence of its reality (terminal illness)
n Reaction-formation – transformation of an anxiety-
provoking emotion into its opposite (do you really hate
your coworker…?).
n Projection – unconscious attribution of our negative
characteristics to others (you project your own
lying/infidelity onto your partner and get super
accusatory)
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 Defense Mechanisms
n Displacement – directing an impulse from a socially
unacceptable target onto a safer and more socially
acceptable one (you project your work anger onto your
partner because they are “safe”)
n Sublimation – transforming a socially unacceptable
impulse into an admired goal (anger is sublimated into
art, sports, writing, etc.)
n Rationalization – providing a reasonable-sounding
explanation for unreasonable behaviours or failures (I
failed the test because it was unfair, the questions
sucked, etc)
n Intellectualization – avoiding emotions associated with
anxiety-provoking experiences by focusing on abstract
and impersonal thoughts (health crisis)
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Stages of Psychosexual Development
*Widely criticized as pseudoscientific
Freud believed that we pass through stages, each of which is focused on an
erogenous zone
Insisted that sexuality begins in infancy
Individuals who get fixated on a stage and have difficulty moving on =
personality traits.
Fixation means there was too much or too little gratification during a stage.
The extent to which we “successfully resolve” each stage impacts later
personality development.
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Freudian Personality Development
Identify the five psychosexual stages of psychoanalytic development

n Oral stage (birth to 12-18 months) - infants

obtain gratification by sucking and drinking
(mouth, lips, tongue=Erogenous zone)
n Too much or too little gratification = fixation
nImpatient, demanding, dependent, gullable
nSmokers, overeaters, gum chewers,
incessant talkers
n Anal stage (18 months-3 years) - focuses on
toilet training
n Toddlers obtain gratification from toilet
training
n “anal” personality characteristics
nAnal expulsive (overly generous) vs. anal
retentive (perfectionist, stingy,
micromanager)
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 Freudian Personality Development
n Phallic stage (3-6 years) - focuses on genitals
n Powerful attraction to the opposite-sex parent with desire to eliminate
the same-sex parent (Oedipus killed his father and married his mother)
n Oedipus complex – castration anxiety / “Can’t beat ‘em, join
‘em” à RESOLUTION
n Penis envy – girls feel inferior with no penis (penis = power)
n Electra complex – female version of wanting to possess dad
and eliminate mom
n No castration anxiety, so can stay a “Daddy’s girl for… a long time.”
n Can only resolve this issue by giving birth to a son (he has a penis!)
n Latency stage (6-12 years) - sexual impulses are submerged into the
unconscious and expressed in physical and academic activities
n Cooties!!!
n Genital Stage (12 years - adulthood) - sexual impulses awaken and
begin to mature into romantic attraction toward others
n Problems in earlier stages à problems with intimacy
and relationships

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Criticisms of Psychoanalytic Theory
Describe key criticisms of psychoanalytic theory
n Cannot falsify!
n Failed predictions
nrigid toilet training
n Questionable conception of the unconscious
nWe do seem to have one, but not like Freud
described
n Lack of evidence for defense mechanisms?
nWe do use these types of processes to cope with
anxiety… but are they unconscious???
n Reliance on unrepresentative samples
nIdiographic inquiry but nomothetic application!
n Freud’s theories have exerted a profound influence
on conceptions of the mind, but they are problematic,
scientifically
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The Neo-Freudians (*unconscious and childhood)
• Some of Freud’s own students –
broke from Freud to form their own
models of personality. More
emphasis on social drives
• Alfred Adler – the principle motive in
personality is to strive for
superiority
• Carl Jung – archetypes and
collective unconscious
• Karen Horney – Rejected penis
envy and Oedipus Complex. Social
Factors
• Erik Erikson – Lifespan
Theory of Development
psychoSOCIAL

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Social Learning Theories of Personality
n Emphasize thinking and interpretation as a
cause of personality
n Reciprocal determinism – mutual influence of
personality and cognitive factors, behaviour, and
environment
n Observational learning – learning can occur by
watching others (Bandura): “learn” your
personality
n *Locus of control – extent to which people
believe that reinforcers and punishers lie inside
or outside of their control (Rotter)

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Humanistic Models of Personality
Carl Rogers
• Rejected notion of determinism
and embraced free will
• Unconditional positive
regard (people love and accept
you for who you are!!)
• Conditions of worth
(opposite of UPR) (I love
you… only if you do as I want)
• Proposed the importance of
being true to yourself/living as
your authentic self.
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Roger’s Model

• Three major components of personality:

1. The organism (innate, genetic blueprint)
§ Like the “id” kind of…. Except positive and
helpful
2. The self (set of beliefs about who we are)
3. Conditions of worth (expectations we place on
ourselves – can result in incongruence)
§ Like the superego these conditions come from
parents and society, and we internalize them
– I will love you if…
§ Can cause us to lose touch with our genuine
self

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 Self-Actualization – Abraham Maslow
• Maslow focused on self-actualized people:
Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi,
Mother Teresa
• Maslow said that these people tend to be creative,
spontaneous, and accepting of themselves and others
• Prone to peak experiences – transcendent moments
(excitement, tranquility, connection)
• Can come off as difficult to work with or aloof; they have
“outgrown” the need to be popular

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Personality Assessment
• Plagued by number of
dubious methods
– Phrenology (earliest method to
map traits to bumps on the
head)
– Physiognomy (facial
characteristics and personality)
– Blood type (A, B, AB, O, +/-)
– Body Fluids—4 humors (blood,
phlegm, yellow bile, black bile)
• Complete pseudoscience—
did not stand up to scientific
scrutiny.
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Measuring Personality

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUrV6oZ3zsk&
t=566s

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The BIG 5

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Structured Personality Tests
• Paper-and-pencil tests consisting of questions you
respond to in one of a few fixed ways (T/F or on a Likert
scale)
– The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
(MMPI & MMPI2) --most researched test
– 567 true-false questions
– 10 basic scales (8 of these scales assess mental
disorders)
– As with all surveys, participants may distort items (e.g.,
response sets) or not answer honestly.

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Personality Assessment
Describe projective tests, particularly the Rorshach, and
their strengths and weaknesses
n Projective tests - consist of
ambiguous stimuli that examinees
must interpret
n Projective hypothesis – examinees
project aspects of their own
personality onto the ambiguous
stimulus
•Rorschach Inkblot Test (Table
14.5)
•Thematic Apperception Test
(TAT)
•Human figure drawings
•Graphology

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