Personality
People’s typical way of thinking, feeling, and behaving
These traits account in part for consistencies in our behaviour across time and situations
Nomothetic vs. idiographic approaches to studying personality
Causes of Personality
Behaviour‐genetic methods attempt to disentangle the effects of
•Genetic factors
•Shared environmental factors •Nonshared environmental factors
Use twin and adoption studies to do this
Numerous personality traits are influenced by genetics – but all much below a 1.0 correlation
◦ Demonstrates nonshared environmental influence
Turns out that shared environment plays little to no role in adult personality
◦ Supported by twin and adoption studies
birth order
Most research has failed to find link between
personality and order of birth
•One possible exception is acceptance of radical scientific ideas
•Later borns were more accepting
(there is a pic about it)
A Note of Caution
Remember, genes code for proteins, not specific behaviours
•Genes have indirect influence on traits, while the environment influences how these are displayed in our lives
•Twin studies vs. molecular genetic studies
Sigmund Freud
Viennese neurologist who developed first comprehensive
theory of personality
Psychoanalytic Theory
Developed by Sigmund Freud, rests on three primary assumptions
- Psychic determinism
- Symbolic meaning
- Unconscious motivation
Structure of Personality
Freud thought that the psyche consisted of three components
◦ Id – basic instincts, operates on pleasure principle
◦ Ego – principal decision maker ◦ Superego – sense of morality
Conflict between these cause distress
(picture in pow)
Psychoanalytic Theory
- Freud thought that our dreams reflected this unconscious struggle
- Said all dreams reflected wish fulfillments but that some were in disguise
- Contrary to pop psych, did not say that all symbols mean the same to everyone
Anxiety and Defense Mechanisms
The ego will try to minimize anxiety via defense mechanisms
•Although essential for psychological health, Freud thought over reliance on one or two could cause problems
Defense Mechanism Examples
Repression – motivated forgetting of emotionally threatening memories or impulses
Denial – motivated forgetting of distressing experiences
Projection – unconscious attribution of our negative qualities onto others
Stages of Psychosexual Development
•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
(pic on this )
Evaluated Scientifically
Very influential in thinking about personality, but there are major criticisms
•Unfalsifiable
•Failed predictions
•Questionable conception of unconscious •Unrepresentative samples
•Emphasis on shared environment
Neo‐Freudians
Differ from Freud’s theories in two key ways 1.Less emphasis on sexuality, more on social
drives
2.More optimistic about personal growth
Adler’s style of life and inferiority complex Jung’s collective unconscious and archetypes Horney’s feminist psychology
Behavioural Approaches
- Believe that differences in our personalities stem largely from our learning histories
- Personalities are bundles of habits acquired by classical and operant conditioning
- View personality as under the control of genetic factors and contingencies
Skinner’s Baby Box?
image (check book
Social Learning Theories
Saw learning as important, but believe thinking to play a crucial role as well
Emphasize reciprocal determinism rather than Skinnerian determinism
Focus on observational learning and individuals’ locus of control
Evaluated Scientifically
Placed psychology on firmer scientific footing However…
Radical behaviourists’ ignoring of cognition is not supported by research
Social learning’s emphasis on shared environment is not supported
Carl Rogers
Rejected notion of determinism and embraced free will
•Proposed self‐ actualization as core motive in personality
Roger’s Model
Three major components of personality:
- The organism (innate, genetic blueprint) 2.The self (set of beliefs about who we are)
- Conditions of worth (expectations we place on ourselves – can result in incongruence)
Self‐Actualization
- Maslow said that these people tend to be creative, spontaneous, and accepting of themselves and others
- Can come off as difficult to work with or aloof •Prone to peak experiences
Evaluated Scientifically
Comparative psychology challenges Rogers’ claim that our nature is entirely positive
His and Maslow’s research was fraught with methodological difficulties
Many non‐falsifiable assumptions
Trait Models
Interested primarily in describing and understanding the structure of personality
• Used factor analysis to reduce diversity of personality descriptors to underlying traits
• Five traits have repeatedly appeared in such studies
Big Five Model
Uncovered using a lexical approach •Openness to Experience
•Conscientiousness •Extraversion •Agreeableness •Neuroticism
Big Five and Behaviour
Predict many important real‐world behaviours •Job performance and grades in school •Physical health and life span
Relatively similar traits seen across cultures, but different prevalence rates
•Individualist vs collectivistic societies
