Theories of Personality - Notes PDF

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Missing details for Freud and Jung. Organized by chapter and section....

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Studying Personality: Assessments, Research, and Theory Monday, October 30, 2017

4:56 PM

Personality - the unique, relatively enduring internal & external aspects of a person's character that influence behavio in different situations

The Place of Personality in the History of Psych W. Wundt • Est. psych's first lab in 1897 in Germany The Study of Consciousness • Early psychologists theorized that human nature was greatly influenced by the natural science approach ○ Researchers limited themselves to the experimental method ○ Studied only the metal processes that might be affected by some external stimulus that could be controlled The Study of Behavior • Behaviorism - the school of psych founded by John Watson that focused on the study of overt behavior rather than mental processes ○ Presents a mechanistic picture of people as well-ordered machines that respond automatically to externa stimuli • Watson believed that consciousness couldn’t be seen or experimented on so it wasn't to much of a science • Focus on what could be seen, manipulated, and measured • Sees personality as "the accumulation of learned responses or habit systems" - Skinner The Study of the Unconscious • Psychoanalysis - Freud's theory of personality & systems of therapy for treating mental disorders • Freud didn't use the experimental method, but instead clinical observations of his patients • Neo-psychoanalysts ○ Focused on the whole person as they function in the real world ○ Accepted the existence of conscious & unconscious forces ○ Relied more on inferences based on observations rather than on quantitative analysis of lab data

Personality, the Internet, and Social Networking • Research from the US and Germany show that social networking sites do convey accurate images/impressions o people's personality ○ Almost as accurate as those conveyed face-to-face • More time on the internet usually = ○ higher levels of depression and anxiety in adolescents ○ Reduced psych well-being ○ Decrease quality of relationships w/ friends and romantic partners • People who use social media/status updates usually = ○ more extroverted and narcissistic ○ More open to new experiences ○ Lower self-esteem ○ Less conscientious ○ Score lower on tests of emotional stability than those who use less • Shy people more likely to text message than call • Older bloggers more motivated by the need to help and inform and younger bloggers tend to be more motivated by boredom

Gender and Ethnic Issues in Assessment Gender • The difference in scores between men and women may result from sex-role training of different cultures • Data has shown that women receive more diagnosis for emotional disorders ○ May be related to gender bias/stereotyping in inter preting assessment results ○ Average course of therapy tends to be longer and does of psychoactive meds prescribed tend to be higher for women Asians tend to score: • High in collectivism • Low in individual competitiveness and assertiveness • Low in self-enhancement and optimism • Low in the tendency to seek mental health treatment African American tend to score: • Low in trust of other people • Low in hopelessness and depression (if they identify with Black culture values) • Low on self-esteem if they perceive discrimination against them

Hispanics tend to score: • Low in tendency to seek mental health treatment • High in collectivism • High in PTSD symptoms following injuries Cross-Cultural Issues • Cultural factors can affect or even distort personality assessments ○ What is normal in one culture may be judged wrong in other cultures ○ Important factors of personality may be ignored completely depending on the culture it’s administered in • Personality tests are sometimes reworked to ensure that they accurately reflect and measure relevant personality variables, but it can be difficult and require a knowledge and sensitivity to cultural differences

Ethnic & Gender Issues in Personality • All early research of psychology of personality were conducted and experimented for and by white, Caucasian men ○ Even the lab rats, no joke ○ Focused on the importance of social and environmental forces and ignored ethnic and gender background influences • Boys and girls are exposed and affected to our environments in vastly different social and cultural ways ○ Kids are still typically reared by gender stereotypes ▪ in a large-scale study of undergraduate college women in the US and Germany showed greater emotional awareness than men despite the difference in culture as one example • Cross-cultural psych ○ Personality is formed by both genetic and environmental influences, among the most important influences being cultural ○ Much less research has been done in non-English speaking countries Assessment in the Study of Personality • To assess = to evaluate • Reliability - the consistency of response to a psychological assessment device • Validity - the extent to which an assessment device measures what it is intended to measure Self-Report Personality Tests • Self-report inventory - a personality assessment technique where subjects answer questions about their behaviors and feelings • Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) ○ World's most widely used psych test (translated into over 140 languages) ○ A true-false tests with 567 statements ▪ a shorter version for adolescents, MMPI-A with 478 ○ Measures characteristics such as gender role, defensiveness, depression, hysteria, etc. ○ Used with adults as a diagnosis tool for assessing personality problems and for vocational & personal counseling ○ Problems: ▪ Some people lose interest and motivation way before they finish ▪ Some items deal with highly personal characteristics ▪ Some people consider the questions and invasion of privacy, especially when they have to take the test to get a job • Assessment of self-report inventories ○ Pros ▪ Designed to be scored objectively ▪ Results don't depend on the scorer's personal or theoretical biases ▪ Computerized scoring provides a complete diagnostic profile of the test-taker's responses ○ Cons ▪ Not always appropriate for people with lower levels of intelligence or lower reading skills ▪ Even minor changes in the wording of questions/response alternatives can lead to major changes in the results ▪ People tend to give answers that appear to be more socially desirable especially when taking for a job

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Projective Techniques • Projective Test - a personality assessment device where subjects are presumed to project p need, fears, and values onto their interpretation or description of an ambiguous stimulus • Results are very subjective ○ Not highly reliable or valid ○ Different test administrators can come to different conclusions with the same info fro same person • Widely used for assessment and diagnosis purposes • Rorschach Inkblot Technique ○ How it works: ▪ Inkblot cards are shown and test-takes describe what they see ▪ Cards shown a second time and asked specific questions about earlier answers ▪ Examiner observes behavior like gestures, reactions, and general attitude ○ Disagreement amongst researchers on its validity • Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) ○ Developed by Henry Murray and Christina Morgan ○ How it works: ▪ Test-taker asked to create a story around the people and/or objects from ambi pictures, describing what led up to the situation, what they are thinking/feeling the possible outcome ▪ Psychologists then consider several factors such as the kinds of personal relatio involved, the motivations of the characters, and the degree of contact with rea shown by the characters ○ Proven high for research and low for actual diagnostic purposes ▪ Devised to measure specific aspects of personality Word association & sentence completion • ○ How it works: ▪ A list of words are read to a subject and they are meant to respond with the fir that comes to their mind ○ Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank test provided more objective scoring

Clinical Interviews • Psychologists take test results and focus on problems indicated and explore those areas in d • Subjective • Widely used for personality assessments and a tool when supplemented by more objective procedures

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Research in the Study of Personality The Clinical Method • Case study - a detailed history of an individual that contains data from a variety of sources ○ Psychologists who used this tried to find consistencies in their findings • Method includes tests, interviews, and dream analysis to be used for assessment • Not offer the precision and control of the experimental and correlation methods so not exactly scientific ○ Subjective ○ Memories can be distorted by time so not accurate either • Provides a window to view the depths of the personality to be used by the psychoanalytic and nep-psychoanalytic theorists (like Freud)

Theory in the Study of Personality • Theories provide a framework fro simplifying and describing data in a meaningful way • Must be testable, must clarify and explain the data, and useful in understanding/predicting behavior

The Experimental Method • Technique for determining the effect of one or more variables or events on behavior • Most precise of the methods • Consists of: ○ Independent variable ○ Dependent variable ○ Control group ○ Experimental group • Ex: Bandura and the Bobo doll experiment • Limitations: ○ Some aspects of behavior or personality can't be studies under lab conditions b/c of safety or ethical conditions ○ Subject's behavior may change b/c they are aware they are being observed The Virtual Research Method • Advantages: ○ Provide faster responses ○ Cost less ○ Have the potential to reach a broader range of subjects • Disadvantages: ○ Limited to Web users so no guarantee that takers will be a true sample of a population ○ Can't determine how honest and/or accurate subjects will be • This method has shown to be generally consistent and similar to traditional lab research The Correlation Method • A statistical technique that measures the degree of the relationship between two variables, expressed by the correlation coefficient • Limitations: ○ No guarantee that one variable had caused the other

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Online Test Administration • Pros ○ Takes less time ○ Less expensive ○ Scoring is more objective ○ Readily accepted by younger members of the work force ○ Prevents from looking ahead at questions and from changing answers already given • People feel a greater sense of anonymity and privacy when interacting with a computer an result will reveal more personal info

Formal Theories vs. Personal Theories Formal: • Based on data from obser vations of large numbers of people in diverse natur es • More comprehensive • More objective • Tested repeatedly by other scientists who didn't originally propose a certain theory Personal: • Basically just the opposite of formal theories • May reflect a theorist's life experiences

Personality Theorists: • Present different images of human nature ○ Examples: ▪ Free will vs Determinism ▪ Nature vs Nurture ▪ Optimism vs Pessimism

Sigmund Freud: Psychoanalysis Monday, October 30, 2017

5:05 PM

Carl Jung: Analytical Psych Monday, October 30, 2017

5:06 PM

Alfred Adler: Individual Psych Tuesday, October 31, 2017

5:06 PM

Overview Individual psychology • Focuses on the uniqueness of each person • Social forces > biological forces (Freud) ○ Childhood experiences aren't as important as our attitude towards them ○ However, the potential for social interest and strive for perfection are innate • The conscious is at the core of personality • We control our fate

Striving for Superiority/Perfection • Our ultimate goal/main motivation is the urge toward perfection or completion • Not related to the superiority complex • Fictional Finalism - the idea that there is an imagined/potential goal that guides our behavior • It increases tension ○ Adler didn't believe that our sole motivation was to reduce tension • Manifested by both the individual and society ○ Most people are social beings so striving for superiority extends to being members of a group ○ Individuals and society are interrelated and interdependent

Aspects of Adler's theories that have influenced personality theorists: • Emphasis's in: ○ Cognitive & social factors in personality ○ The unity of personality ○ The creative power of self ○ The importance of goals

The Style of Life • A unique character structure/pattern of personal behaviors & characteristics • How we try to attain the goal of perfection • Determines which aspects of our environment we attend to or ignore and what attitudes we hold • Depends on social interactions • Will remain relatively constant

Inferior Feelings: The Source of Human Striving • Inferior feelings ○ The normal condition of all people; the source of all human striving ○ Determined by the infant's helplessness and dependency on adults • Compensation - a motivation to overcome inferiority, to strive for higher levels of development ○ The cause of individual growth

The Creative Power of the Self • The ability to create an appropriate style of life ○ Once chosen, that style remains constant throughout life • How we react to heredity and environment sets the basis for our attitudes for life

The Inferiority Complex • A condition that develops when a person is unable to compensate for normal inferiority feelings • Causes low self-esteem & helplessness • Caused from either: ○ Organic inferiority ▪ Having defective parts or organs of the body shape --> taking the defect as weakness and never compensating ○ Spoiling ▪ Given idea that they are the most important people in any situation and others should always defer to them --> believe that they must have some personal deficiency when unable to get through obstacles Neglect ▪ Lack of love & security in childhood --> feelings of worthlessness/anger and view others with distrust The Superiority Complex • A condition that develops when a person overcompensates for normal inferiority feelings • Expresses in two ways: ○ Person feels inwardly self-satisfied and superior and doesn't want to demonstrate it with accomplishments ○ Person feels a need to work to become extremely successful • Causes: boasting, vanity, self-centeredness, and tendency to put others down

Research in Adler's Theory • Primarily used case study but little of it survived • Observations can't be duplicated or repeated • They weren't conducted in a controlled and systematic function ○ Didn't verify accuracy or explain procedures of analysis Dreams • Participant given a puzzle that remained unfinished --> went to sleep -- > some allowed to dream others not -- > dreaming enabled research participants to effectively deal with the currently threatening situation (the puzzle) • Two groups of people about to go through stressful situations allowed to dream -->both dreamt about problems they were facing Inferior Feelings • Adults that score low in inferiority feelings tended to be more successful, self-confident, and mor persistent to in trying to achieve their goals

Early Recollections • These memories tend to be subjective recreations rather than actual events • Research supported theory that these memories reveal one's current style of life and can be used as a therapeutic device Neglect in Childhood • Feelings of worthlessness and shame • Depression • Anxiety Pampered in Childhood • Low self-esteem • Become narcissistic • Lack of empathy for others Social Interest • People who score high: ○ Lower on depression, anxiety, and hostility ○ Empathetic ○ Become happy and agreeable

Neo-psychoanalytic Approach Page 4

Dominant, Getting, Avoiding, and Socially Useful Types • Groups of Universal Problems: ○ Those involving our behavior toward others ○ Those of occupation ○ Those of love • Styles of Life for dealing w/ these problems: ○ Dominant ▪ Ruling attitude w/ littl e social awareness ▪ The extreme end of the spectrum can become sadists, delinquents, or sociopaths ▪ Less extreme become alcoholics, addicts, or c ommit suicide b/c they believe they hurt others by attacking themselves ○ Getting ▪ Most common according to Adler ▪ Become dependent on others b/c they expect to receive satisfaction that way ○ Avoiding ▪ Make no attempt to face life's problems ○ Socially useful ▪ Only style of life with social interest ▪ Cooperates w/ others and acts in accordance to their needs • Adler used these for teaching purposes, but warned therapists to not assigning people into a category Social Interest • Our innate potential to cooperate w/ other people to achieve personal and societal goals ○ The extent of how social we are depends on our early social experiences • A lot depended on the mom's role • People have a fundamental need to belong in order to be healthy, well-functioning individuals

Birth Order • Not firm rules, but certain likelihood that certain styles of life will develop combined with one's early social interaction The First-Born • Oriented toward the past, pessimistic about the future, and concerned w/ maintaining order authority • Possible Pros: ○ Play more authoritative roles -- > mature intellectually to a higher degree than other sibli ○ Tend to become good organizers, conscientious and scrupulous about detail, and authoritarian in attitude ○ High in self-esteem ○ Low on measures of depression & anxiety • Possible Cons: ○ Subject more to the power of the parents b/c more is expected of them ○ Can grow up to be more insecure and hostile towards others ○ Neurotics, perverts, and criminals were often first-borns The Second-Born • Has the older kid's example as a model, threat, or source of competition • Not as concerned with power • More likely to take risks • Possible Pros: ○ Likely to become competitive and ambitious ○ More optimistic • Possible Cons: ○ If individual feels overshadowed by older sibling, inferiority could take over and they become underachievers The Youngest • Possible Pros: ○ Often develop at a fast rate b/c of need to surpass older siblings ○ Often high achievers as adults • Possible Cons: ○ Excessive pampering --> not learning anything for themselves ○ Can retain helplessness and dependency and have a hard time adjusting to adulthood The Only Child • Never lose their position and remain the focus/center of attention • Possible Pros: ○ Often mature early and manifest adult attitudes and behaviors ○ High in achievement & intelligence ○ Industrious and do good in school ○ High in self-esteem • Possible Cons: ○ Learned to neither share nor compete ○ Lack of attention could cause them to feel disappointment

Assessment in Adler's Theory • Developed theory by analyzing his patients • Sat in comfortable chairs facing each other so the sessi ons felt more like chats between ○ Used humor • Primary methods of assessment he called the entrance gates to mental life ○ Birth order, early recollection, and dream analysis • Purpose was to discover the patient's style of life and determine whether it was the most approp for that person Early Recollections • A personality assessment technique where our earliest memories, real or not, are assum the primary interest in our life • Early memories indicate the style of life that continue to characterize us as adults ○ Memories that support their current views of themselves in the world ○ Memories that support their direction of striving for significance & security Dream Analysis • Dreams involve our feelings about a current problem and what we intend to do about it • Fulfilled our wishes or reveal hidden conflicts

Measure of Social Interest • Adler thought therapists should develop intuition instead of rel ying on tests, but tests to measur theory were created anyways • Social Interest Scale (SIS) ○ Test-takers were given a pair of adjectives and told to choose which one they wanted • Social Interest Index (SII) ○ Participants judge the degree that statements represent themselves ○ People who score high in this test tend to have more social...