Professional Documents
Culture Documents
What Is Personality?
an individuals characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, & acting most fields of psychology study similarity
personality: the individual
interactionism: view of personality as product of both traits and situations We will start by talking about historical personality perspectives, then move to more modern interactionist approaches...
Anna O. (1859-1936)
aka. Bertha Pappenheim treated for hysteria by Josef Breuer & Freud
limb paralysis on right side of body disruptions to vision, hearing, & speech hallucinations loss of consciousness
The Unconscious
more to the psyche than just consciously accessible portion (iceberg analogy)
unconscious: collection of unacceptable thoughts, wishes, desires, feelings, & memories (Freudian definition)
modern definition: information processing of which we are unaware
psychoanalysis: hydraulic theory of personality that attributes thoughts & actions to unconscious motives & conflicts
Freudian Slips
Condoleezza Rice (2004): called Pres. Bush my husband
Freudian Slips
Pres. George W. Bush (2000):
I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family.
Freudian Slips
Pres. George W. Bush at an address to teachers of America (2001):
First Id like to spank all the teachers...
Freudian Slips
George H.W. Bush (1988):
For seven and a half years Ive worked alongside President Reagan. Weve had triumphs. Made some mistakes. Weve had some sex ... uh ... setbacks.
Bottom line: Freud believed neuroses expressed themselves in slips of the tongue, passing comments, etc.
projective tests: personality test using ambiguous stimuli to elicit projection of inner conflicts
e.g. Rorschach inkblot test (1921)
requires subjective, projective perspective of clinician no universal system for scoring & interpretation low inter-rater reliability
Defense Mechanisms
repression: forcibly blocking unacceptable thoughts from conscious mind
thoughts, desires, emotions, memories, etc. e.g. why we dont remember childhood sexual desire for parents
Defense Mechanisms
projection: disguise own threatening impulses by attributing them to others
e.g. Newt Gingrichs diatribe against Bill Clintons infidelity while having his own affair at the same time a level of disrespect and decadence that should appall every American ... White House as rough equivalent of the Jerry Springer show (5.18.1998)
Defense Mechanisms
reaction formation: unconsciously switching unacceptable impulses into their opposites
e.g. Congressman Mark Foley (R-Florida) resigned in 2006
exchanged sexually explicit emails with a former congressional page had previously introduced legislation to protect children from Internet exploitation by adults
Defense Mechanisms
sublimation: redirecting psychic energy away from negative outlets, toward positive outlets
most productive defense mechanism; socially useful e.g. art, music, etc.
Neo-Freudians
people who ran with Freuds ideas, pioneered psychoanalysis
maintained many of Freuds original ideas
e.g. personality structures, unconscious, personality development in childhood, anxiety & defense mechanisms
2 critical modifications:
1. more emphasis on conscious mind 2. sex & aggression as primary motives?
Collective Unconscious
a reservoir of the experiences of our species
repository of all religious, spiritual, & mythological symbols and experiences
Synchronicity
e.g. costume designers buying a coat for Wizard of Oz
bought from second-hand store previously belonged to L. Frank Baum Professor Marvel Wizard of Oz
Jung: such synchronicities evidence of collective unconscious, underlying all human experience
scientific shortcomings
typically based on Freuds own recollections & interpretations fails to predict behaviors, only explains them post hoc
testable predictions?
gender identity begins earlier, lasts longer than Oedipus complex other, modern explanations for dreams
Bottom line: good starting point for identifying traits, but should not be exclusive method
factor analysis: statistical procedure that identifies groups of items that covary, but do not covary with other groups
Imaginative
Original Inventive
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caveat: You only get out of it what you put into it.
critical dependence on input selection
Taxonomies of Personality
many attempts at creating a list of the most important traits
some theoretical, some atheoretical...
sample questions:
I am always prepared. I am exacting in my work.
sample questions:
I am interested in people. I make people feel at ease. I sympathize with others feelings.
sample questions:
I get irritated easily. I get stressed out easily. I have frequent mood swings.
sample questions:
I am full of ideas. I am quick to understand things. I spend time reflecting on things.
sample questions:
I am the life of the party. I dont mind being the center of attention. I start conversations. I talk to a lot of different people at parties.
some variability...
e.g. individualistic cultures score higher (on average) on extraversion
birth order?
Optimism
belief that things are more likely to go well than to go badly
strongly positively correlated with selfesteem
causal direction?
Optimism
benefits of optimism:
more likely to turn around low grades success at work associated with higher immune system functioning
Optimism
one problem with optimism: optimistic bias
tendency to be over-optimistic about future outcomes
Success requires enough optimism to provide hope and enough pessimism to prevent complacency.