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Overview
Psychodynamic influences
Genetic influences
Personality
Environmental influences
Cultural influences
The Inner Experience
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Defining personality and
traits
Personality
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Psychodynamic theories
Distinctive and relatively stable pattern of behaviors,
thoughts, motives, and emotions that characterizes a
person throughout life
Freud’s theories and the theories of his
followers that explain behavior and
personality in terms of “the movement
of unconscious energy”
Trait
psych-(Greek word for human soul)
dynamics- (study of movement)
A characteristic of an individual, describing a habitual
way of behaving, thinking, and feeling
Ex: Introverted
All Psychodynamic
theories based on
Freud’s “Psychoanalytic theory” was the
FIRST psychodynamic theory
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!! the movement of psychic energy in the mind
psych-(Greek word for human soul) dynamics- (study of movement)
!!Adult behavior and problems determined
primarily by early
!!Psychological Development occurs in fixed
stages
!!Unconscious motivation and symbols are the
main influences on personality and behavior
!!Unconscious Reliance on subjective methods
for getting at “the truth” of a person’s life
Freud believed that
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unconscious forces control
our personalities and
behavior more than
conscious thought…
The unconscious reveals itself through
•!free association and dreams
•!“Freudian slips” (ex: Parliament member who
announced “the honorable member from Hell” (he
meant Hull- a town in England)
Freud’s structure of
personality
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Id: operates according to the
pleasure principle
Primitive, unconscious part of
personality
Ego: operates according to
the reality principle
Mediates between id and
superego
Superego: moral ideals,
parent and societies rules,
conscience
Defense mechanisms
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Used by the ego to reduce anxiety
when id’s wishes conflict with society
Repression
Projection
Displacement (& sublimation)
Reaction formation
Regression
Denial
Other psychodynamic
approaches
Carl Jung
Jungian theory
Collective unconscious: the universal memories,
symbols, and experiences of the human kind,
represented in the archetypes or universal symbolic
images that appear in myths, art, stories, and dreams
Two important archetypes are maleness and
femaleness, which Jung believed existed in both
sexes.
Personality development
Occurs in “psychosexual stages”
Oral (0-2)
Anal (2-3)
Phallic (4-6) Oedipus/Electra Complex, castration
anxiety/“penis envy”, personality mostly complete
Latency (7+) sexual feelings subside
Genital(puberty) mature adult sexuality begins
Fixation occurs when stages aren’t
resolved successfully or when too much
anxiety and tension is present during
each stage
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Psychodynamic theories13
often use subjective or
projective tests….
Based on the assumption that the
test taker will transfer (“project”)
unconscious conflicts and motives
onto an ambiguous stimulus
Thematic Apperception Test
Rorschach Inkblot Test
Thematic Apperception
Test
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The Rorschach Inkblot
Test
Person is asked to
tell a story about the
“hero” in the
picture.
Ambiguous stimuli
Based on Murray’s
personality theory
No clear image, so the
things you see must be
“projected” from inside
yourself
Person is asked to
report what he/she
sees
People are distinguished by
the needs that motivate their
behavior.
Evaluating
psychodynamic theories
Three problems from a scientific perspective
1.!
2.!
3.!
Violating the principle of falsifiability-can’t confirm or
disprove these ideas.
Drawing universal principles from the experiences of a few
atypical patients
Basing theories of personality development on
retrospective accounts and the fallible memories of patients
Objective personality
scales
Modern study of
Personality…
!!More Objective Scales
!!Genetics
!!Environment
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Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality Inventory
Most widely used personality instrument
Now the MMPI-2
Answer a series of questions about
yourself
True or False
True or False
Assumes that you can accurately report
No right or wrong answers
From responses, develop picture of you
called a personality profile
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!!Culture
Some people are attempting to study these
theories more empirically
“I am easily embarrassed”
“I like to go to parties”
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Clinical and employment settings
Measures aspects of personality that, if
extreme, suggest a problem
E.g., extreme suspiciousness
Long test–567 questions!
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The “Big Five” Traits
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MMPI sample items
(supported by research as
fundamental traits)
Openness to experience
Conscientiousness vs. impulsiveness
Extroversion vs. Introversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticism / emotional stability
I usually feel that life is worthwhile and
interesting.
Depression
Evil people are trying to influence my
mind.
Paranoia
I seem to hear things that other people
can’t hear.
Schizophrenia
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Genetic Influences
Heredity and temperament
Heredity and traits
Temperaments
Heritability
A statistical estimate of the proportion of the total variance in some trait
that is attributable to genetic differences among individuals within a
group
Physiological dispositions to respond to the environment in
certain ways
Present in infancy, assumed to be innate
Heritability of personality traits is about 50%
Relatively stable over time
Includes
Within a group of people, about 50% of the variation associated with a
given trait is attributable to genetic differences among individuals in the
group.
Reactivity
Genetic predisposition is not genetic inevitability
Sociability
Positive and negative emotionality
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Reciprocal determinism
Culture, values, and traits
Two-way interaction between aspects of the
environment and aspects of the individual in the
shaping of personality traits
Culture
A program of shared rules that govern the behavior of members
of a community or society
A set of values, beliefs, and attitudes shared by most members
of that community
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Culture, values, and traits
Customs in context
Individualist cultures
When culture is not appropriately considered,
people attribute unusual behavior to
personality.
Cultures in which the self is regarded as autonomous, and
individual goals and wishes are prized above duty and
relations with others
Timeliness
Collectivist cultures
Monochronic cultures: time is ordered sequentially, schedules and
deadlines valued over people
Cultures in which the self is regarded as embedded in
relationships, and harmony with one’s group is prized above
individual goals and wishes
Polychronic cultures: time is ordered horizontally, people valued
over schedules and deadlines
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Aggressiveness
The inner experience
Emphasis on
aggressiveness and
vigilance in herding
cultures, creates culture
of honor
Humanist approaches
Abraham Maslow
Carl Rogers
Rollo May
Used to explain increased
likelihood of fighting in
the South and the West,
versus the North and
Midwest
Narrative approaches
Evaluating humanist and narrative
approaches
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Abraham Maslow
Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs
Humanistic psychology
Self-Actualization
An approach that emphasizes personal growth, resilience, and the
achievement of human potential
Peak experiences
Rare moments of rapture caused by the attainment of excellence
or the experience of beauty
Esteem
Belongingness
Safety
Physiological
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Carl Rogers
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Carl Rogers’ personality theory
Unconditional positive regard
A situation in which the acceptance and love one receives from
significant others is unqualified
Conditional positive regard
A situation in which the acceptance and love one receives from
significant others is contingent upon one’s behavior
The needs for self-actualization and positive
regard create potential for conflict.
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Self-discrepancy theory
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Rollo May
Shared with humanists the belief in
free will and freedom of choice but
also emphasized loneliness,
anxiety, and alienation
Existentialism
Self-esteem is defined by the match between
how we see ourselves and how we want to see
ourselves.
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Free will confers on us responsibility for our actions.
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Narrative approaches
Evaluating humanist and
narrative approaches
Life narrative
Hard to operationally define many of the
concepts
The story that each of us develops over time to
explain ourselves and make meaning of everything
that has happened to us
Added balance to the study of personality
Encouraged others to focus on “positive
psychology”
Fostered new appreciation for resilience