Introduction to Psychology
Personality
What is Personality?
Long-standing traits
and patterns that
propel individuals to
consistently think, feel,
and behave in specific
ways
Kant’s adaptation of
Galen’s four
temperaments,
arranged on two axes
as suggested by
Wundt (left)
Freudian Explanation of Personality
Personality develops from a conflict between two
forces: our biological aggressive and pleasure-
seeking drives versus our internal socialized control
over these drives
Defense
mechanisms:
unconscious
protective
behaviors that
reduce anxiety.
Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development
Adult
Age Erogenous Major
Stage Fixation
(years) Zone Conflict
Example
Weaning
Smoking,
Oral 0–1 Mouth off breast
overeating
or bottle
Toilet Neatness,
Anal 1–3 Anus
training messiness
Oedipus/El Vanity,
Phallic 3–6 Genitals ectra overambiti
complex on
Latency 6–12 None None None
Genital 12+ Genitals None None
Inferiority Complex
Proposed by Adler, it refers to a person’s feelings
that they lack worth and don’t measure up to
others’ or to society’s standard
Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages of Development
Age
Stage Developmental Task Description
(years)
Trust that basic needs, such as
1 0–1 Trust vs. mistrust
nourishment and affection, will be met
Autonomy vs.
2 1–3 Sense of independence develops
shame/doubt
Take initiative on some activities, may
3 3–6 Initiative vs. guilt
develop guilt if boundaries overstepped
Develop self-confidence in abilities
4 7–11 Industry vs. inferiority
when competent or sense of inferiority
5 12–18 Identity vs. confusion Develop identity and roles
6 19–29 Intimacy vs. isolation Establish intimacy and relationships
Generativity vs.
7 30–64 Contribute to society and family
stagnation
Assess and make sense of life and
8 65– Integrity vs. despair
meaning of contributions
Jung’s Ideas about Personality
Collective unconscious: common psychological
tendencies that have been passed down from one
generation to the next
Archetype: pattern that exists in our collective
unconscious across cultures and societies
Introverts and Extroverts
Introvert Extrovert
Energized by being with
Energized by being alone
others
Avoids attention Seeks attention
Speaks slowly and softly Speaks quickly and loudly
Thinks before speaking Thinks out loud
Stays on one topic Jumps from topic to topic
Prefers written Prefers verbal
communication communication
Pays attention easily Distractible
Cautious Acts first, thinks later
Horney’s Coping Styles
Coping Style Description Example
Child seeking positive
Moving toward Affiliation and attention and affection
people dependence from parent; adult
needing love
Child fighting or bullying
Aggression other children; adult who
Moving against
and is abrasive and verbally
people
manipulation hurtful, or who exploits
others
Child withdrawn from the
Moving away Detachment
world and isolated; adult
from people and isolation
loner
Learning Approaches to
Personality
Behaviorist Social-Cognitive
Personality is shaped by Personality is developed
reinforcements and through learning, which
consequences. may be observational.
People behave in a Both learning and
consistent manner cognition are sources of
based on prior learning. individual differences in
personality.
Reciprocal determinism
Self-efficacy
Social-Cognitive Theory: Reciprocal Determinism
Bandura proposed the idea of reciprocal determinism: Our behavior, cognitive
processes, and situational context all influence each other.
Social-Cognitive Theory: Self-Efficacy
Self-efficacy: someone’s level of confidence in their
own abilities
People with high self-efficacy believe that their
goals are within reach, have a positive view of
challenges, develop strong commitment to the
activities in which they are involved, and quickly
recover from setbacks
Social-Cognitive Theory:
Locus of Control
Locus of control refers to our beliefs about the
power we have over our lives. It occurs on a
continuum (below) from internal to external.
Mischel and the Person-Situation Debate
• People are situation processors
• They behave differently in different situations
• A person’s behavior in one situation would likely
be repeated in a similar one
• Mischel studied self-regulation or will power in the
marshmallow test
Humanistic Approaches: Maslow’s Hierarchy of
Needs
Maslow proposed that human
beings have certain needs in
common and that these needs
must be met in a certain order
The highest need is the need for
self-actualization, which is the
achievement of our fullest
potential
Humanistic Approaches: Self Concept
• Self-concept is illustrated below
• When our ideal self is similar to the person we are,
our real self, we experience congruence
• Children raised with unconditional positive regard
have the opportunity to self-actualize
Humanistic Approaches:
The Good Life
1. A growing openness to experience
2. An increasingly existential lifestyle
3. Increasing organismic trust
4. Freedom of choice
5. Higher levels of creativity
6. Reliability and constructiveness
7. A rich full life
Biological Approaches: Heritability of Personality
and Temperament
Heritability refers to the proportion of difference among
people that is attributed to genetics
The Minnesota Twin Study found a 0.50 or greater heritability
ratio for personality traits including: leadership, obedience to
authority, a sense of well-being, alienation, resistance to stress,
and fearfulness
Traits are determined by a combination of many genes, as
well as by epigenetic factors that control whether the genes
are expressed
Most contemporary psychologists believe temperament has a
biological basis due to its appearance very early in our lives
• Reactivity refers to how we respond to new or challenging
environmental stimuli
• Self-regulation refers to our ability to control that response
Early Trait Theorists: Cattell
• Traits are characteristic ways of behaving
• 16 factors or dimensions of personality
1. Warmth 9. Vigilance
2. Reasoning 10. Abstractedness
3. Emotional Stability 11. Privateness
4. Dominance 12. Apprehension,
5. Liveliness 13. Openness to change
6. Rule-consciousness 14. Self-reliance
7. Social boldness 15. Perfectionism
8. Sensitivity 16. Tension
Early Trait Theorists: The Eysencks
The Eysencks viewed people as having three
specific personality dimensions:
1. Extroversion/introversion
2. Neuroticism/stability
3. Psychoticism/superego control
Trait Theory
Today: The
Five Factor
Model
Culture and Personality
The culture in which you live is one of the most
important environmental factors that shapes your
personality
The term culture refers to all of the beliefs, customs,
art, and traditions of a particular society.
Three approaches to study personality in a cultural
context:
1. Cultural-comparative approach
2. Indigenous approach
3. Combined approach
Regional Personality Clusters Suggest Cultural
Influence
Tests of Personality
Self-Report Inventories Projective Tests
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality assessment in
Personality Inventory which a person responds to
(MMPI): personality test ambiguous stimuli, revealing
composed of a series of hidden feelings, impulses, and
true/false questions in order to
establish a clinical profile of an desires
individual • Rorschach Inkblot Test
• Rotter Incomplete Sentence
Blank (RISB)
• Thematic Apperception Test
(TAT)
• TEMAS Multicultural Thematic
Apperception Test and the
Contemporized-Themes
Concerning Blacks Test (C-TCB)
Practice Question
What evidence suggests that culture plays a role in
personality?
What evidence suggests that genes play a role?
Quick Review
• What are early theories about personality
development?
• What is the psychodynamic perspective on
personality development, including the id, ego,
and superego, defense mechanisms, and the
psychosexual stages of personality development?
• What are the contributions of Neo-Freudians to
personality theory, including Adler’s inferiority
complex, Erikson’s psychosocial stages, Jung’s
ideas of the collective unconscious and
archetypes, and Horney’s coping styles?
Quick Review Continued
• What is the learning perspective on personality,
including the concepts of reciprocal determinism,
self-efficacy, locus of control, and the person-
situation debate?
• What are the contributions of humanists Abraham
Maslow and Carl Rogers to personality
development?
• What are biological approaches to understanding
personality, including the findings of the
Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart,
heritability, and temperament?
More Quick Review
• What are the early trait theories of Cattell and
Eysenck?
• What are the Big Five factors? How do you
categorize someone who is high and low on each
of the five traits?
• What are personality differences of people from
collectivist and individualist cultures? What are
the approaches to studying culture and
personality?
• What are different types of personality tests,
including the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
Inventory and common projective tests?
