Theories of Personality
What is Personality?
People differ from
each other inmeaningful ways
People seem to show some consistency in behavior
Personality is defined as distinctive and relatively enduring ways of thinking, feeling, and acting Personality
• Personality refers to a person’s unique and
relatively stable pattern of thoughts, feelings,
and actions.
Four major perspectives on personality
•
Psychoanalytic - unconscious motivations
Trait - specific dimensions of personality
Humanistic - inner capacity for growth
Social-Cognitive - influence of environment
Freudian Theory
Levels of consciousness
Structures of Personality
– Conscious
• What we’re aware of
– Preconscious
– Id
• Operates according to the “pleasure principle”
• Memories etc. that can – Ego
• Operates according to be recalled the “reality” principle
– Unconscious
– Superego
• Wishes, feelings,
• Contains values and impulses that lives ideals
beyond awareness Conscious
Ego
Superego
Preconscious
Unconscious
Id
The Unconscious
“the mind is like an iceburg -- mostly hidden”
“the mind is like an iceburg mostly hidden”
Conscious Awareness
small part above surface
(Preconscious)
Unconscious
below the surface
(thoughts, feelings,
wishes, memories)
Repression
banishing unacceptable
thoughts & passions to
unconscious
Dreams & Slips
Freud & Personality Structure
“Personality arises from conflict between
pleasure-seeking impulses and social restraints”
Satisfaction
without the guilt?
Super
Ego
Ego
Id
Freud & Personality Structure
Id - energy constantly striving to satisfy basic drives
Pleasure Principle
Ego - seeks to gratify the Id in realistic ways
Reality Principle
Super
Ego
Ego
Id
Super Ego
- voice of conscience
that focuses on how
we ought to behave
• Id - instinctual drives present at birth
– does not distinguish between reality and fantasy
– operates according to the pleasure principle
• Ego - develops out of the id in infancy
– understands reality and logic
– mediator between id and superego
• Superego
– internalization of society’s moral standards
– responsible for guilt
Anxiety occurs when:
– Impulses from the id threaten to get out of
control
– The ego perceives danger from the environment
The ego deals with the problem through:
– coping strategies
– defense mechanisms
Defense Mechanisms
Defense mechanisms refer to unconscious mental processes that
protect the conscious person from developing anxiety
– Sublimation: person channels energy from unacceptable
impulses to create socially acceptable accomplishments.
– Denial: person refuses to recognize reality.
– Projection: person attributes their own unacceptable impulses to
others.
–
– Repression: anxiety-evoking thoughts are pushed into the
unconscious
• Rationalization: Substituting socially acceptable
reasons.
• Intellectualization: Ignoring the emotional
aspects of a painful experience by focusing on
abstract thoughts, words, or ideas
• Reaction formation: Refusing to acknowledge
unacceptable urges, thoughts or feelings by
exaggerating the opposite state
• Regression: Responding to a threatening situation
in a way appropriate to an earlier age or level of
development
• Displacement: Substituting a less threatening
object for the original object of impulse
Psychosexual Stages
• Freud’s five stages of personality
development, each associated with a
particular erogenous zone
• Fixation - an attempt to achieve pleasure
as an adult in ways that are equivalent to
how it way achieved in these stages
• Oral Stage (birth - 1 year)
Mouth is associated with sexual pleasure
• Weaning a child can lead to fixation if not handled correctly
• Fixation can lead to oral activities in adulthood.
• Anal Stage (1 - 3 years)
• Anus is associated with pleasure
• Toilet training can lead to fixation if not handled correctly
• Fixation can lead to anal retentive or expulsive behaviors in adulthood.
• Phallic Stage (3 - 5 years)
• Focus of pleasure shifts to the genitals
• Oedipus or Electra complex can occur
• Fixation can lead to excessive masculinity in males and the need
for attention or domination in females.
• Latency Stage (5 - puberty)
• Sexuality is repressed
• Children participate in hobbies, school and same-sex friendships
• Genital Stage (puberty on)
• Sexual feelings re-emerge and are oriented toward others
• Healthy adults find pleasure in love and work, fixated
adults have their energy tied up in earlier stages
Harry Stack Sullivan
• BASIC CONCEPTS==DYNAMISM
AND PERSONIFICATION
• DYNAMISM==BASIC TENDENCY OF
BEHAVIOR, SUCH AS A HABIT, IN
RESPONSE TO PARTICULAR SOCIAL
INTERACTIONS
• EXAMPLE==PERSON’S TENDENCY TO GET NERVOUS
AND REMAIN SILENT WHEN IN ONE-TO-ONE
INTERACTIONS. IF THIS BEHAVIOR OCCURS IN A WIDE
VARIETY OF SITUATIONS, THE PERSON MAY HAVE A “SHY
PERSONALITY”
• SELF==MOST EXTENSIVE DYNAMISM. GENERATES
THOUGHTS AND INTEGRATES BEHAVIOR PATTERNS
DESIGNED TO MAINTAIN SECURITY AND REDUCE
ANXIETY
• INSECURE==STRICT AND RIGID TO AVOID NEW
SITUATIONS.
• SECURE==MAY SEEK OUT DIVERSITY FOR
OPPORTUNITIES TO DEMONSTRATE A SENSE OF
MASTERY AND ACHIEVEMENT
• 1. PROTOTAXIC MODE
• CHARACTERIZED BY A VERY PRIMITIVE FORM
OF THINKING. PERSONAL AND MAKES
COMMUNICATION WITH OTHERS DIFFICULT.
(YOUNG CHILDREN AND SEVERLY DISTURBED
MENTAL PATIENTS)
• ALSO, ARGUMENT WHERE A PERSON IS STUCK
IN THEIR OWN WAY OF THINKING.
• 2. PARATAXIC MODE
• VERY LOW LEVEL OF CAUSAL REASONING
THAT OFTEN MAKES COMMUNICATION
DIFFICULT.
• EXAMPLE==WOMAN WHO EXPRESSES ANGER
AND HOSTILITY TOWARD A COWORKER FOR
RECEIVING A PROMOTION THAT SHE
WANTED. THINKS IT’S THE PERSON WHO
GOT THE JOB IS AT FAULT. WHEN IN
REALITY, A PERSONNEL MANAGER MADE
THE DECISION.
• 3. SYNTAX MODE==SHARED LEVEL OF
COMMUNICATION AND EFFECTIVE
INTERACTION.
• EXAMPLE==TWO WRITERS THINKING ALONG
THE SAME LINES WHEN WORKING ON A
SCREENPLAY.
Stages of Development
• Sullivan saw interpersonal development as taking place over seven
stages, from infancy to mature adulthood. Personality changes can
take place at any time but are more likely to occur during transitions
between stages.
A. Infancy
• The period from birth until the emergence of syntaxic language is
called infancy, a time when the child receives tenderness from the
mothering one while also learning anxiety through an empathic
linkage with the mother.
B. Childhood
• The stage that lasts from the beginning of syntaxic language until the
need for playmates of equal status is called childhood. The child's
primary interpersonal relationship continues to be with the mother,
who is now differentiated from other persons who nurture the child.
C. Juvenile Era
• The juvenile stage begins with the need for peers of equal status and
continues until the child develops a need for an intimate relationship
with a chum. At this time, children should learn how to compete, to
compromise, and to cooperate. These three abilities, as well as an
orientation toward living, help a child develop intimacy, the chief
dynamism of the next developmental stage.
D. Preadolescence
• Perhaps the most crucial stage is preadolescence, because mistakes made earlier can
• be corrected during preadolescence, but errors made during preadolescence are nearly
impossible to overcome in later life. Preadolescence spans the time from the need
• for a single best friend until puberty. Children who do not learn intimacy during
preadolescence have added difficulties relating to potential sexual partners during
• later stages.
E. Early Adolescence
• With puberty comes the lust dynamism and the beginning of early adolescence.
Development during this stage is ordinarily marked by a coexistence of intimacy
• with a single friend of the same gender and sexual interest in many persons of the
opposite gender. However, if children have no preexisting capacity for intimacy, they
may confuse lust with love and develop sexual relationships that are devoid
• of true intimacy.
F. Late Adolescence
• Chronologically, late adolescence may start at any time after about age 16, but
psychologically, it begins when a person is able to feel both intimacy and lust toward the
same person. Late adolescence is characterized by a stable pattern of sexual activity and
the growth of the syntaxic mode, as young people learn how to live in the adult world.
G. Adulthood
• Late adolescence flows into adulthood, a time when a person establishes a stable
relationship with a significant other person and develops a consistent pattern of viewing
the world.
Social-Cognitive Perspective
• Behavior learned through
• conditioning & observation
What we think about our situation affects our behavior
Interaction of Environment & Intellect
Social/Cognitive Perspective
• Proposed that each person has a unique
personality because of our personal
histories and interpretations shape our
personalities
▲Albert Bandura’s social-cognitive approach
focuses on self-efficacy and reciprocal
determinism.
Bandura’s Theory
• Self-system: the set of cognitive processes by which a
person observes, evaluates, and regulates his/her behavior.
Bandura proposed that what we think of as personality is a
product of this self-system.
• Children observe behavior of models (such as parents) in
their social environment. Particularly if they are reinforced,
children will imitate these behaviors, incorporating them
into personality.
• Bandura also proposed that people observe their own
behavior and judge its effectiveness. Self-efficacy: a
judgment of one’s effectiveness in dealing with particular
situations.
Reciprocal Causation: Behavior, the
Person, & the Environment
Watching Attentively
Acting Aggressively
Preference for
violent TV
Violent TV
Development of
Behavior Through Learning
• Reinforcement is anything that increases the
likelihood of a response
– Operant behaviors – responses emitted without a
stimulus necessarily being present
– Operant conditioning involves shaping and
reinforcing operant behaviors
– Shaping deliberately molding the organism’s
responses through series of reinforcements in order to
achieve a desired behavior
Psychotherapy
and Behavioral Change
• Skinner’s attitude toward therapy is pragmatic
and curative
• Behavior modification seeks to eliminate
undesired behaviors by changing the
environment within which they occur
• Token economy used in many institutional
settings for reinforcement of appropriate
behaviors
Respondent Behavior and
Conditioning
• Ivan Pavlov: Classical conditioning
– Dogs salivate to neutral stimulus (sound of
owner’s feet) when previously only salivated to
sight of food
– Began sounding tone before feeding dogs
– Eventually began to salivate to sound of tone
• Demonstrates new meaning to previously neutral
stimulus (sound of tone
• Reinforcement (consequences of behavior)
– Dogs learn to respond to bell because reward follows (food)
– Strengthens response, increases likelihood of repeating
response in future
• Extinction
– Reinforcement is no longer given following the conditioned
stimulus
– Dogs not given food after sound of bell, salivation response
eventually stops
Positive Reinforcement, Negative
Reinforcement and Punishment
• Positive reinforcement: Strengthen response by
providing desirable rewards
– Ex: Token economy
• Negative reinforcement: Strengthen response by
removing aversive stimuli
– Ex: Prisoners-early release for good behavior
• Punishment: Use aversive stimulus following
response to decrease likelihood of behavior in the
future
The Humanistic Perspective
Maslow’s
Self-Actualizing
Person
Roger’s
Person-Centered
Perspective
Humanistic Theory
• Humanistic personality theories reject
psychoanalytic notions
– Humanistic theories view each person as
basically good and that people are striving for
self-fulfillment
– Humanistic theory argues that people carry a
perception of themselves and of the world
– The goal for a humanist is to develop/promote a
positive self-concept
Humanistic Perspectives
Carl Rogers
– We have needs for:
• Self-consistency (absence of conflict between self-
perceptions
• Congruence (consistency between self-perceptions
and experience)
– Inconsistency evokes anxiety and threat
– People with low self-esteem generally have poor
congruence between their self-concepts and life
experiences.
Self-concept
• Self-concept: How I see myself
• As infants grow, they develop the need for
positive regard
• Positive regard: Acceptance, love and approval
from others
• Child does not receive positive regard: fails to
develop actualizing tendency fully
Incongruence
• Discrepancy between self-concept and
aspects of experience
• Experiences inconsistent with how we see
ourselves cause anxiety
• Psychological adjustment/emotional health
Characteristics of Fully Functioning
Persons (Self-Actualizing)
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Awareness of all experiences
Live fully in the moment
Trust own behavior and experience
Sense of freedom in decision making
Creative, flexible to change
Recognition difficulties will inevitably arise
Criticisms of Rogers’ Theory
• Ignores aspects of personality that client
may be unaware of, but that still influence
client’s behavior
• Ambiguous concepts: Self-actualizing
tendency
Humanistic Perspectives
▲Abraham Maslow
emphasized the basic
goodness of human nature
and a natural tendency
toward self-actualization.
Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s theory maintains that a person does
not feel a higher need until the needs of the
current level have been satisfied. Maslow's
basic needs are as follows:
Self-Actualization
Basic Human Needs
Esteem Needs
Social Needs
Safety Needs
Physiological Needs
Characteristics of
Self-Actualized People
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Efficient perceptions of reality
Comfortable acceptance of self, others, and nature
Spontaneity
Task Centering
Autonomy
Continued freshness of appreciation
Fellowship with humanity
Profound interpersonal relationships
Non-hostile sense of humor
Peak experiences
Karen Horney
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Basic Anxiety
Pervasive feeling of loneliness and helplessness
Foundation of neurosis
4 ways we protect ourselves in childhood from basic
anxiety:
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Securing love and affection
Being submissive
Attaining power
Withdrawing
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Neurotic Needsthat become a
Definition: Irrational defenses against anxiety
permanent part of personality and that affect behavior
Encompass the 4 ways of protecting ourselves against anxiety
Affection and approval (gaining affection)
A dominant partner (submissive)
Power (attaining power)
Exploitation (attaining power)
Prestige (attaining power)
Admiration (attaining power)
Achievement or ambition (attaining power)
Self-sufficiency (withdrawing)
Perfection (withdrawing)
Narrow limits to life (withdrawing)
• 3 categories of behaviors and attitudes toward
oneself and others that express a person’s needs
• Neurotic persons are compelled to act based on
one of the neurotic trends
– Movement toward others (compliant personality)
– Movement against others (aggressive personality)
– Movement away from others (detached personality
The Compliant Personality
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Move toward others
Intense need for affection and approval
Urge to be loved, wanted
Manipulate others to achieve goals
Think of self as helpless
Suppress desires to control, exploit others
The Aggressive Personality
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Move against people
Survival of the fittest
See self as superior
Driven to succeed to compensate for
feelings of insecurity, anxiety
The Detached Personality
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Move away from others
Strive to become self-sufficient
Desire for privacy
Maintain emotional distance
Criticisms of Horney
• Theory of personality not as well
constructed as Freudian theory
• Ignores roles of sociology and anthropology
in influencing personality
• Observations too influenced by middle class
America ns
