Psychology personality

 Psychological qualities that bring a consistency to an
individual’s thoughts and behaviors in different situations
and at different times.
 Personality is a continuously changing process, shaped by our
individual needs and cognitions and by external pressures from
the social environment.
 It is the thread that consistently runs through our lives.

Type A Type B
 Feel time pressure.
 Easily angered.
 Competitive and
ambitious.
 Work hard and play
hard.
 More prone to heart
disease than rest of
population.
 Relaxed and easygoing.
 But some people fit in
neither type.

 Psychodynamic Theory: Freud’s theory that calls attention to
motivation, especially unconscious motives, and the influence
of our past experiences.
 Humanistic Theory: A theory that emphasizes the present,
subjective reality-what we believe is important now, what we
think of ourselves in relation to others is important now.
 Social-cognitive theory : derived from experiments in
psychology rather than clinical work.
 This theory is based on the idea that personality is a result of
learning, perception and social interaction.
 Despite what it seems, social-cognitive theory and clinical
perspective compliment each other and share some common ideas.

 Although there are a variety of
psychodynamic theories, they
originate with Freud’s
psychoanalytic theory.
 In this theory, Freud said the
unconscious, the hidden parts of
the mind, was a source of
powerful impulses, instincts,
motives, and conflicts that
energize personality.

 Conscious thoughts: are wishes, desires, or
thoughts that we are aware of or can recall
at any given moment.
 Preconscious- things we can be aware of if
we think of them.
 Unconscious forces: represent wishes
desires, or thoughts that because of their
disturbing/threatening content, we
automatically repress and cannot voluntarily
access.
 Freud believed that a large part of our
behavior was guided or motivated by
unconscious forces.

 Unconscious motivation: is a Freudian concept
that refers to the influence of repressed thoughts,
desires, or impulses on our conscious thoughts and
behaviors.

• To understand how
the id, ego, and
superego interact,
imagine an iceberg
floating in the sea.
• The part of the
iceberg that is above
water represents
conscious forces of
which we are aware,
while parts below the
water indicate
unconscious forces
of which we are not
aware.

 In Freud’s model, the id is the primitive,
unconscious reservoir that houses the basic
motives, drives and instinctive desires that
determine our personalities.
 Always acts on impulse and seeks immediate
pleasure
 The only part of the personality present at birth
 2 biological drives- sex and aggression
 Source of all mental energy.
 The id follows the pleasure principle, which is
to satisfy the drives and avoid pain, without
concern for moral restrictions or society’s
regulations.

 Regulating the conflict between the id
and the superego is the job of the ego-
the conscious, rational part of the
mind.
 The ego must figure out a way to
satisfy one’s desires, while not
violating one’s moral code.
 When this balance becomes upset,
conflicted thoughts and behaviors
that signify a mental disorder may
be the result
 The ego follows the reality principle,
which is to satisfy a wish or desire only
if there is a socially acceptable outlet
available.
 The ego develops from the id during
infancy.

 The superego is the “police” of personality
and is responsible for morals and values
learned from society.
 The superego develops as the the child forms
an internal set of rules based on external
experiences
 The inner voice of “should” and “should not's”
 Often conflicts with the id because the id
wants what feels good and the superego wants
what is right and moral
The superego develops from the ego during early
childhood.

 Defense mechanisms are Freudian processes that
operate at unconscious levels and that use self-
deception or untrue explanations to protect the
ego from being overwhelmed by anxiety.
 Anxiety: an uncomfortable feeling that results
from inner conflicts between the primitive
desires of the id and moral goals of the
superego.
 Ego defense is the largely unconscious mental
strategy to reduce anxiety or conflict.
 Repression: the ego defense that excludes
unacceptable or inappropriate thoughts and feelings
from our awareness.

 Rationalization: involves covering up the
true reasons for actions, thoughts, or
feelings by making up excuses and incorrect
explanations.
 Denial: is refusing to recognize some
anxiety provoking event or piece of
information that is clear to others.
 Repression: involves blocking and pushing
unacceptable or threatening feelings,
wishes, or experiences in the unconscious.

Projection:- falsely and unconsciously
attributes your own unacceptable feelings, traits, or thoughts
to individuals or objects.
 e.g. a person who is rude may constantly accuse
other people of being rude.
 Ego perceives dysfunction from 'somewhere' and then seeks
to locate that “somewhere”. The super ego warns of
punishment if that “somewhere is internal”, so the ego
places it in a more acceptable external place – which is
often in other people
Reaction Formation:- Involves substituting behaviors,
thoughts, or feelings that are the direct opposite of
unacceptable ones.

Displacement:
involves transferring feelings about, or response to, an
object that causes anxiety to another person or object
that is less threatening.
 E.g. The boss gets angry and shouts at me.
I go home and shout at my wife. She then shouts at our son.
With nobody left to displace anger onto, he goes and kicks the dog.
 id wants to do something of which the Super ego does
not permit.
 The ego finds some other way of releasing the psychic
energy of the id & transfers energy from a repressed
object-cathexis to a more acceptable object.
Sublimation- Channeling one’s frustration toward a
different goal. Sometimes a healthy defense mechanism.

 All these defense mechanisms
function indirectly and
unconsciously.
 They reduce anxiety by disguising
our threatening impulses.
 Just as the body unconsciously
defends itself against disease,
Freud also believed that the ego
unconsciously defends itself
against anxiety.

 Humanistic theories are optimistic about the core of
human nature.
 Personality is driven by needs to adapt and learn, rather
than unconscious conflicts or defense mechanisms and
anxiety
 Mental disorders occur when a person is in an unhealthy
situation that causes low self-esteem and unmet needs, not
from unhealthy individuals.

 The most famous humanistic perspective came from
Abraham Maslow who created a hierarchy of needs.
 He said we needed something that described good
mental health as more than just the absence of illness.
 Maslow saw a group of people in pursuit of “higher
ideals” and wanted a way to explain their behavior.
 Self-actualizing personalities-healthy individuals who have
met their basic needs and are free to be creative and fulfill
their potentialities.

 It arranges needs in ascending order with biological needs
at the bottom and social and personal needs at the top.
Only when needs at a lower level are met can we advance
to the next level.
 Deficiency needs are physiological needs (food, sleep)
and psychological needs (safety, love, esteem) that we try
to fulfill if they are not met.
 Growth needs are those at the higher levels and include
the desire for truth, goodness, beauty and justice.

 According to Maslow, we must satisfy our
deficiency needs before having the time and
energy to satisfy our growth needs and move
toward self-actualization.
 Self-actualization: refers to the development and
fulfillment of one’s unique human potential.
 Characteristics include:
 Perceive reality accurately.
 Independent and autonomous.
 Prefer to have a deep, loving relationship with only a few
people.
 Focus on accomplishing their goals.
 Report peak experiences, which are moments of great joy
and satisfaction.

 Another famous humanists was Carl Rogers who took a
different approach.
 He identified healthy personalities as the fully
functioning person.
 He believed that people are basically good and are
endowed with self-actualizing tendencies.
 He also believed that people nurture our growth by
being genuine-by being open with their own feelings,
dropping their facades, and being transparent and self-
disclosing.

• People nurture our growth by being accepting-by offering us
what Rogers called unconditional positive regard.
• Unconditional positive regard: an attitude of total acceptance
toward another person
• Finally, people nurture our growth by being empathetic-by
sharing and mirroring our feelings and reflecting our
meanings.
• Roger’s believed that genuineness, acceptance, and
empathy nurture growth in all of our relationships.

 Humanistic psychology helped to renew psychology’s
interest in the self.
 Perhaps one more reason that the message has been so
well received is that its emphasis on the individual self-
reflects and reinforces western cultural values.
 People who feel intrinsically liked and accepted exhibit
less defensive attitudes.

• This theory views behavior as influenced by the
interactions between persons and their social
context.
• Albert Bandura proposed this perspective on
personality.

 In observational learning, we learn new responses
by watching each others’ behavior.
 Personality, thus, is learned behavior patterns
 These cognitive process involve an ongoing relationship
between the individual and the environment called
reciprocal determinism

 Learned Helplessness (Seligman)
 the hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or
human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive
events
How is this related to Personal Control?
 People who feel helpless and oppressed often perceive
control as external.
 It is important for young and old people alike to create
environments that enhance our sense of control and personal
efficacy.
 Perceived control is basic to human functioning.

Learned Helplessness
Uncontrollable
bad events
Perceived
lack of control
Generalized
helpless behavior

• Under conditions of personal
freedom and empowerment, people thrive.
• Citizens of stable democracies report higher levels
of happiness.
• Excess of freedom in today's Western cultures
contributes to decreasing life satisfaction,
increased depression, and sometimes paralysis.
• Tyranny of choice bring information overload and
a greater likelihood that we will feel regret over
some of the unchosen options.

 This test attempts to sort people according to Carl
Jung’s personality types, based on their responses to
126 questions.
 Incredibly popular test! Taken by 2.5 million
Americans per year and used by 89 of the 100 largest
corporations in the U.S.
 A national research council report noted, however,
that despite the test’s popularity there is an absence
of proven scientific worth.

Psychology personality

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