11.

Personality
-Individuals unique and relatively stable patterns of bhvr, thoughts and feelings.
-Interactionists perspective: bhvr. In any situation is a fnc. of both personality
and external factors.
-Theories of personality:
a. Psychoanalytical
b. Socio-cultural
c. Interpersonal
d. Developmental
e. Humanistic
f. Behavioristic
g. Trait and Approaches.
-Psychoanalytical: Freuds Psychosexual development and Tripartite theory.
-Psychosexual development
a.

People including children are basically hedonistic they are driven to seek pleasure by gratifying the Ids desires (Freud, 1920).

Sources of pleasure are determined by the location of the libido (life-force).

As a child moves through different developmental stages, the location of the libido, and hence sources of pleasure, change (Freud, 1905).

b.

Personality involves several factors:

Instinctual drives food, sex, aggression
Unconscious processes
Early childhood influences (re: psychosexual stages) especially the parents

Personality development depends on the interplay of instinct and environment during the first five years of life. Parental behavior is crucial to
normal and abnormal development. Personality and mental health problems in adulthood can usually be traced back to the first five years.

Environmental and parental experiences during childhood influence an individual's personality during adulthood. For example, during the first two
years of life the infant who is neglected (insufficiently fed) or who is over-protected (over-fed) might become an orally-fixated person (Freud, 1905).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Freuds Tripartite theory:

a.

Perhaps Freud's single most enduring and important idea was that the human psyche (personality) has more than one aspect. Freud (1923)

saw the psyche structured into three parts (i.e. tripartite), the id, ego and superego, all developing at different stages in our lives.
These are systems, not parts of the brain, or in any way physical.

b.

The id (or it)

1.

The id is the primitive and instinctive component of personality. It consists of all the inherited (i.e. biological) components of personality,

including the sex (life) instinct Eros (which contains the libido), and the aggressive (death) instinct - Thanatos.
2. The id is the impulsive (and unconscious) part of our psyche which responds directly and immediately to the instincts. The personality of the
newborn child is all id and only later does it develop an ego and super-ego.
3. The id demands immediate satisfaction and when this happens we experience pleasure, when it is denied we experience unpleasure or pain.
The id is not affected by reality, logic or the everyday world.
4. On the contrary, it operates on the pleasure principle (Freud, 1920) which is the idea that every wishful impulse should be satisfied
immediately, regardless of the consequences.
5. The id engages in primary process thinking, which is primitive illogical, irrational, and fantasy oriented.

c.

The Ego (or I)

1. Initially the ego is 'that part of the id which has been modified by the direct influence of the external world' (Freud 1923).

2.

The ego develops in order to mediate between the unrealistic id and the external real world. It is the decision making component of

personality. Ideally the ego works by reason whereas the id is chaotic and totally unreasonable.
3. The ego operates according to the reality principle, working out realistic ways of satisfying the ids demands, often compromising or
postponing satisfaction to avoid negative consequences of society. The ego considers social realities and norms, etiquette and rules in deciding
how to behave.
4. Like the id, the ego seeks pleasure and avoids pain but unlike the id the ego is concerned with devising a realistic strategy to obtain pleasure.
Freud made the analogy of the id being a horse while the ego is the rider. The ego is 'like a man on horseback, who has to hold in check the
superior strength of the horse' (Freud, 1923, p.15).
5. Often the ego is weak relative to the head-strong id and the best the ego can do is stay on, pointing the id in the right direction and claiming
some credit at the end as if the action were its own.
6. The ego has no concept of right or wrong; something is good simply if it achieves its end of satisfying without causing harm to itself or to the id.
It engages in secondary process thinking, which is rational, realistic, and orientated towards problem solving.

c.

The Superego (or above I)

1.

The superego incorporates the values and morals of society which are learned from one's parents and others. It develops around the age of 3

5 during the phallic stage of psychosexual development.

2. The superego's function is to control the id's impulses, especially those which society forbids, such as sex and aggression. It also has the
function of persuading the ego to turn to moralistic goals rather than simply realistic ones and to strive for perfection.
3. The superego consists of two systems: The conscience and the ideal self. The conscience can punish the ego through causing feelings of
guilt. For example, if the ego gives in to the id's demands, the superego may make the person feel bad through guilt.
4. The ideal self (or ego-ideal) is an imaginary picture of how you ought to be, and represents career aspirations, how to treat other people, and
how to behave as a member of society.
5. Behavior which falls short of the ideal self may be punished by the superego through guilt. The super-ego can also reward us through the ideal
self when we behave properly by making us feel proud.
6. If a persons ideal self is too high a standard, then whatever the person does will represent failure. The ideal self and conscience are largely
determined in childhood from parental values and how you were brought up.

**Psychoanalysis- A method of therapy based on Freuds theory of personality, in which

the therapist attempts to bring repressed unconscious material into consciousness.
**Freudian Slips- Errors in speech that betray unconscious thoughts or impulses.
**Fixation- Excessive investment in of psychic energy in a particular stage of
psychosexual development; this results in various types of psychological disorders.
--Sociocultural Theory:
Question: What Is Sociocultural Theory?
Answer:
Sociocultural theory is a emerging theory in psychology that looks at the important contributions thatsociety makes to individual
development. This theory stresses the interaction between developing people and the culture in which they live in.
Sociocultural theory grew from the work of seminal psychologist Lev Vygotsky, who believed that parents, caregivers, peers, and the
culture at large were responsible for the development of higher order functions.

a.

Unlike Piaget's notion that childrens' development must necessarily precede their learning, Vygotsky argued, " learning

is a
necessary and universal aspect of the process of developing culturally
organized, specifically human psychological function " (1978, p. 90). In other words, social

b.

learning tends to precede (i.e. come before) development

Vygotsky places more emphasis on culture affecting/shaping cognitive development. Hence Vygotsky assumes cognitive development
varies across cultures

c.

Vygotsky places considerably more emphasis on social factors contributing to cognitive development . For Vygotsky, the environment
in which children grow up will influence how they think and what they think about.

d.

Vygotsky places more (and different) emphasis on the role of language in cognitive development (again Piaget is criticized for lack of
emphasis on this). For Vygotsky, cognitive development results from an internalization of language.

--Humanistic Theories:
Humanistic psychologists try to see peoples lives as those people would see them. They tend to have an optimistic perspective on human nature. They
focus on the ability of human beings to think consciously and rationally, to control their biological urges, and to achieve their full potential. In the humanistic
view, people are responsible for their lives and actions and have the freedom and will to change their attitudes and behavior.

Two psychologists, Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers, became well known for their humanistic theories.

Abraham Maslows Theory:

a.

The highest rung on Abraham Maslows ladder of human motives is the need forself-actualization. Maslow said that human beings strive for
self-actualization, or realization of their full potential, once they have satisfied their more basic needs.

b.

Maslow described several characteristics that self-actualizing people share:

1.

Awareness and acceptance of themselves

2.

Openness and spontaneity

3.

The ability to enjoy work and see work as a mission to fulfill

4.

The ability to develop close friendships without being overly dependent on other people

5.

A good sense of humor

6.

The tendency to have peak experiences that are spiritually or emotionally satisfying

Carl Rogerss Person-Centered Theory

a.
b.

Carl Rogers, another humanistic psychologist, proposed a theory called theperson-centered theory.
In Rogerss view, the self-concept is the most important feature of personality, and it includes all the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs people have
about themselves. Rogers believed that people are aware of their self-concepts.

c.

Congruence and Incongruence

Rogers said that peoples self-concepts often do not exactly match reality. For example, a person may consider himself to be very honest but often lies to his
boss about why he is late to work. Rogers used the term incongruence to refer to the discrepancy between the self-concept and reality. Congruence, on
the other hand, is a fairly accurate match between the self-concept and reality.

d.

According to Rogers, parents promote incongruence if they give their children conditional love. If a parent accepts a child only when the child
behaves a particular way, the child is likely to block out experiences that are considered unacceptable. On the other hand, if the parent shows
unconditional love, the child can develop congruence. Adults whose parents provided conditional love would continue in adulthood to distort their
experiences in order to feel accepted.

Results of Incongruence
Rogers thought that people experience anxiety when their self-concepts are threatened. To protect themselves from anxiety, people distort their
experiences so that they can hold on to their self-concept. People who have a high degree of incongruence are likely to feel very anxious
because reality continually threatens their self-concepts.

critics of humanistic theories maintain several arguments:

Humanistic theories are too navely optimistic and fail to provide insight into the evil side of human nature.

Humanistic theories, like psychodynamic theories, cannot be easily tested.

Many concepts in humanistic psychology, like that of the self-actualized person, are vague and subjective. Some critics argue that this concept
may reflect Maslows own values and ideals.

Humanistic psychology is biased toward individualistic values.

--Behaviorist

theories:

The school of behaviorism emerged in the 1910s, led by John B. Watson.

B.F. Skinners Ideas:

1. F. Skinner is well known for describing the principles of operant conditioning. Skinner believed that the environment determines behavior. According to
his view, people have consistent behavior patterns because they have particular kinds of response tendencies. This means that over time, people learn to
behave in particular ways. Behaviors that have positive consequences tend to increase, while behaviors that have negative consequences tend to decrease.

2.

Skinner didnt think that childhood played an especially important role in shaping personality. Instead, he thought that personality develops over the

whole life span. Peoples responses change as they encounter new situations.

Example: When Jeff was young, he lived in the suburbs. He developed a liking for fast driving because his friends enjoyed riding with him and he never got
speeding tickets. After he left college, though, he moved to the city. Whenever he drove fast, he got a speeding ticket. Also, his new friends were much more
cautious about driving in fast cars. Now Jeff doesnt like to drive fast and considers himself to be a cautious person.

Albert Banduras Ideas

1.

Albert Bandura pointed out that people learn to respond in particular ways by watching other people, who are called models.

Criticisms of Behavioral Approaches

Critics of the behavioral approach to personality maintain three arguments:

Behaviorist researchers often do animal studies of behavior and then generalize their results to human beings. Generalizing results in this way
can be misleading, since humans have complex thought processes that affect behavior.

Behaviorists often underestimate the importance of biological factors.

By emphasizing the situational influences on personality, some social-cognitive theorists underestimate the importance of personality traits.