OUTLINE – QUICK OVERVIEW

• PREAMBLE
• LAYMAN’S VIEW
• PSYCHOLOGICAL DEFINITION - SINGLE?
• THEORIES OF PERSONALITY – 4 MAIN THEORIES
• PSYCHOANALYTIC; HUMANISTIC, SOCIAL COGNITIVE, AND TRAIT THEORIES
• UNC. INTRA PSYCHIC - 3RD FORCE - BEHAVIORISTS VIEW.PT - BIOLOGICAL VIEW
• 3 FORCES @ WORK- SELF + GROWTH/ ESTEEM - 3 GENTLEMEN CONTRIBUTION - TRAIT/ CONTINUUM
• ID - PLEASURE - CARL ROGERS (UCPR) - RECIPROCAL DETERMINISM - ALLPORT, EYSENCK
• NEED CERTAIN NUTRIENTS (SOCIAL INPUTS) BEH, ENV, COG, INTERACT 2 DETERMINE
• GENUINE, EMPATHY, UCPR EACH OTHER
• EGO-REALITY/D. MECH. A.MASLOW (HIERARCHY) – CHANGE OR NO CHANGE - CATTELL – 16PF
• SUPEREGO – MORAL/PERFECT *S FULFILLMENT - BIG 5 DIMENSIONS
• OTHER . P STRUCTURE/ DYNAMICS/DEV *S. ACTUALIZATION *LOC* S EFFICACY ETC.* OCEAN
• ASSESSMENT * HARDINESS *OPENNESS
• INTERVIEW – STRUCTURED AND UNSTRUCTURED *CONSCIENTIOUSNESS
• OBSERVATION – VARIANTS *EXTRAVERSION
• PROJECTIVE TESTS - SUBJECTIVE * AGREEABLENESS
• OBJECTIVE TESTS - OBJECTIVE * NEUROTICISM
• RELATED ISSUES – VALIDITY, RELIABILITY ETC.
• PERSONALITY DISORDERS
• ANTISOCIAL * BORDERLINE
• HISTRIONIC * PARANOID
• SCHIZOID * SCHIZOTYPAL
• AVOIDANT * DEPENDENT
• OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE
HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE
3RD FORCE?
 HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE

• Psychoanalytic and Behaviorism dominated psychology in

the 1st half of the 20th century.
• Psychoanalytic theory had drawn attention to the darker forces of the
unconscious*
• Controlled by unconscious, aggressive, sexual urges (primitive animalistic
drives) …gloomy and dysfunctional description.
• Behaviorists theorized the major determinants of Behaviour are environmental
forces (reinforcement and punishment) … dehumanizing.
• The existing theories made it seem as though humans were
PUPPETS … (Kwadwo Antwi’s Tom & Jerry)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzvDKYx675o
 NEED FOR ANOTHER THEORY …3RD FORCE

• In 1962 a group of psychologists founded the association of humanistic psychology

who criticized the above theoretical viewpoints as having
• a rather too narrow and too mechanistic, fragmented and dehumanizing
explanations for human nature, motivation of behavior & personality
• The humanists thought that the questions about the conscious mind, free will,
subjective experiences, and the capacity for self – reflection were inadequately
addressed in existing personality theories.
• To fill the void, an alternative to psychoanalysis and behaviorism known as the 3rd
force was born – humanistic theory of personality.
• Humanistic psychology was born out of a desire to understand
• the conscious mind,
• free will, and
• the experiences of the world as seen from the perspective of the individual (no objectivity)
 HUMANISTIC THEORY
 studied healthy people rather than people with mental health problems.
 focused on the conditions that support healthy personal growth.
• Assumptions;
• People can rise above their primitive animalistic heritage and control
their biological urges,
• People are largely conscious and rational beings who are not dominated
by unconscious, irrational needs and conflicts
• Humans possess an internal force; an inner – directedness, that pushes
them to grow, to improve, and to become the best individuals they are
capable of being; and
• this inner directedness is primary force behind personality development.
• Most important concept SELF
 KEY FIGURES - SELF AS CENTRAL

Self Actualization – requiring human Self fulfilment requiring 3 basic

needs as prioritized into a pyramid societal support system
 CARL ROGERS
PERSON CENTERED THEORY
 Carl Rogers’ Person-Centered Theory
Rogers agreed that people have natural tendencies to grow, become
healthy, move toward self- fulfillment/ actualization

The 3 conditions that

facilitate growth … (just Genuineness: Being honest, direct, not using a
as water, nutrients, and façade.
light facilitate the
growth of plants
Acceptance, a.k.a Unconditional Positive
Regard: acknowledging feelings, even
problems, without passing judgment;
honoring, not devaluing.

Empathy: tuning into the feelings of others,

showing your efforts to understand, listening
well (NOT sympathy: people need to be heard,
not to be pitied)
 CARL ROGERS – PERSON-CENTERED THEORY CONT’D
• For Carl Rogers, personality development is a movement towards wholeness
and integration of the self as a goal.
• Rogers uses a single psychological construct; SELF
• Divides into 2 … Real Self (self as I am now) & …Ideal Self (Self as I would like to
be) &
• uses societal input / support to formulate theory
• Every individual needs
• Unconditional positive Regard (UPR)
• Empathy,
• Genuineness
• Acceptance
• UPR produces integration of 2 selves, mature, happy
• OUTCOME: Fulfilled / actualized happy personality
 CARL ROGERS – PERSON-CENTERED THEORY CONT’D
• For Carl Rogers, personality development is a movement towards wholeness
and integration of the self as a goal.
• If given
• Conditional Positive Regard (CPR)
• Conditional acceptance
• Apathy (lack of interest, enthusiasm or concern)
• CPR produces
• Lack of integration of Real & ideal “selves”
• a gap/discrepancy/incongruence/ between 2 “selves”, unhappiness, low self image
etc.
• OUTCOME: Unfulfilled/ distorted / unhappy personality perhaps with low
self esteem
• Requiring psychotherapy for most part of life
 HUMANISM – DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELF

• From Childhood experiences

• People have a strong need for affection, love and acceptance from others (especially parents).
• Some parents make their affection CONDITIONAL (child behaving well and meeting
expectations) and withdraw their love when children don’t satisfy them.
• If individuals grow up believing that affection from others is highly conditional, they will go
on to distort more and more of their experiences in order to feel worthy of acceptance.
• As we struggle to live up to society’s standard, we distort and disvalue our true selves. By
constantly acting according to other people’s standards, we might even completely lose our
sense of self.
• When discrepancy/ incongruence between selves occur. What happens?
 R/LSHIP BETWEEN CONCEPTS
• Discrepancy between 2 (real and ideal) may generate negative feelings/ poor self concept/
Low self esteem,
• a person with negative/ poor self concept is likely to think, feel and act negatively/
unassertively**
• The greater the discrepancy between the real and the ideal selves the more maladjusted
the person becomes.
• Discrepancy may be the result of CONDITIONAL POSITIVE REGARD
• This causes the child to learn to deny or distort his/her genuine feelings. E.g
• Little Amy’s parents scold and reject her when she expresses genuine anger. Her strong need for +ve regard
will cause her to deny her anger, even when it’s justified or appropriate.
• Eventually, Amy’s self concept will so become distorted that genuine feelings of anger are denied because
they are inconsistent with her self – concept as “ a good girl who never gets angry”
• For fear of losing positive regard, she cuts herself off from her true feelings.
• That undermines her self esteem for the rest of her life
MASLOWS’ HIERARCHY OF HUMAN NEEDS
 ABRAHAM MASLOW (1908- 1970)
• One of the most influential humanist, saw all men and women as
essentially good
• Theorized that society’s interference blocked fulfillment of inner
needs, particularly those for self-esteem, knowledge, and beauty
• He described all of us as personalities in the process of becoming.
• In Maslow's view, each person begins with a unique genetic
potential and grows in different ways and to different degrees
• Based on studies of historical figures, famous living individuals and friends
whom he admired, Maslow theorized that all people are motivated to fulfill a
hierarchy of needs
 ABRAHAM MASLOW (1908- 1970)
• from the
• physiological,
• safety and security,
• the need for belonging and love, and
• esteem- related need for achievement, status, and recognition.
• He looked at these lifelong changes in terms of human needs; progressing from
basic necessities for survival – to safety and security – love and affection, and self
esteem
• When individuals develop to the extent that they can satisfy all these needs, they achieve a
state of wellness and fulfillment that Maslow called Self actualization
• the distinctly human need to become everything one is capable of becoming.
• Maslow proposed the most famous humanistic model of motivation called the
“Hierarchy of Needs” and summarized it in the form of a Pyramid.
MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS
 MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

Once all fundamental and psychological needs

are met, we then seek to fulfill need for
Esteem needs self actualization ; the ultimate??
-Need to achieve competence THE NEED TO REALIZE ONCE
-Recognition and high esteem.
UNIQUE POTENTIAL. Explain**
Need for appreciation of beauty
n art (Aesthetic need)
Need to be loved, feel belonging to a group,
a person, family
- Why we experience distress when r/ships end
We seek any event/thing that provides security and Safety. Snake in the Lecture hall ?
War in a country - will you remember you have a meeting with your local association?
In a hospital settings, what are the safety measures – security.
Why do we close our doors? Why do people go in for insurance etc

Basic Physiological Needs (Air, Food, water, sex etc)

…In a clinical setting, when someone is struggling to breath
He will not consider other higher needs…
its up to you to ensure other needs are met.
 MASLOW’S THEORY
• Initial proposition (Criticized)
• If lower needs are not met for the most part, then higher motives will not
operate.
• Higher needs lie dormant until the individual has a chance to satisfy
immediately pressing lower needs, such as hunger, thirst, and safety.

• When the lower needs have been met, then motives to develop relationships
with others, to achieve a positive self esteem, and to realise one’s full potential
(self actualisation) become important to the individual

• Does it explain all motives/ behaviours?

 MASLOW’S THEORY
• Critics
• Sometimes humans are willing to endure unmet lower motives to pursue higher
ones;

• One risks life to save someone in fire

• Prisoners go on hunger strikes to achieve a purpose even to death

• Why one will escape to a safe place when life is threatened before satisfying hunger?

• These notwithstanding, Maslow’s hierarchy appears to explain more facets of motivation

than it fails to

• Which came first ?

 PEAK EXPERIENCES

• Not everyone self actualizes, however most people experience “peak

experience”

• Maslow described as a fleeting but intense moment of self actualization in which we feel
happy, absorbed, and capable of extraordinary performance

• Music, sexual love, religion, nature running, sports creative pursuits, childbirth are most
of the common situations people cite when asked about peak experiences.

• Self Actualization is a rare state of being in which a person is open to new

experiences, spontaneous, playful, loving, realistic, accepting and creative,
energetic, independent, and problem focused.
ASSIGNMENTS – SUBMISSION IN 2 WEEKS

• LOOK UP 10 CHARACTERISTICS OF SELF ACTUALIZED INDIVIDUALS FROM

A TEXTBOOK AND PRESENT TO ME.

• READ
• EVALUATE THE HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE OF PERSONALITY