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Chapter 2: Personality
What is more important in determining your behaviour - your personality or the siltation in which
you are in (the environment)? Are you a "nice" person? If you said yes, are you always nice? The
answer, if you are being honest, is no.
The question then is, if you are a "nice" person (and thus that is part of your personality), why aren't
you nice all the time; how can you be every not be nice if that is your personality? According to
personality theorists, the human personality is enduring and the determining factor in human
behaviour. But, as you will see in the Social Psychology section (later in the semester), this may not be
exactly the case. For now, let's take a look at what Personality is according to Personality theorists.
2) Physiognomy -- the study of the face (based on the belief that personality was revealed by facial
features.
2) Bouchard studies of identical twins reared apart. These studies demonstrate that identical twins
who grow up in different homes often exhibit many similar behaviors and characteristics.
ST ROOP CONVENT SCHOOL CLASS 12th- PSYCHOLOGY
II. The Psychoanalytic Approach (rooted in the psychobiological approach) - this theory is
extremely popular, and was developed by Freud.
A. Psychosexual Theory of the Structure of Personality
1) Id (Latin for "it") -- contains innate biological drives, seeks immediate gratification, and operates
by the pleasure principle (seeking gratification of impulses).
2) Ego (Latin for "I") -- helps the individual adapt to external reality by making compromises between
the id, the superego, and the environment. Operates by the "reality principle" -- directs the individual
to express sexual and aggressive impulses in socially acceptable ways.
3) Superego (Latin for "over the I") -- acts as our moral guide; contains the conscience, which makes
us feel guilty for doing or thinking something wrong; also contains the ego ideal, which makes us feel
good for wanting or doing something good.
4) Defense Mechanisms -- distort reality to protect the ego from anxiety caused by id impulses. There
are many different types of defense mechanisms:
a) repression -- this is the most often used and central main defense mechanism; it is common to all
the others. Repression can be defined as the banishment of threatening thoughts, feelings, and
memories into the unconscious mind.
b) denial -- refusal to admit a particular aspect of reality.
c) regression -- individual displays immature behaviors that have relieved anxiety in the past
d) rationalization -- providing socially acceptable reasons for our inappropriate behavior
e) intellectualization -- reducing anxiety by reacting to emotional situations in a detached,
unemotional way.
f) projection -- attributing our undesirable feelings to others.
g) displacement -- expressing feelings toward something or someone besides the target person,
because they are perceived as less threatening.
h) reaction formation -- acting in a manner opposite our true feelings.
i) compensation -- reacting to a personal deficiency by developing another talent.
j) sublimation -- expression of sexual or aggressive impulses through indirect, socially acceptable
ones.
B. Analytic Psychology -- Carl Jung
Unlike the Psychosexual approach, the analytic approach de-emphasizes the sex motive
1. Unstable/Stable
2. Introverted/ Extroverted
a) cardinal (similar to types) - this is the big one. Cardinal traits are dominant traits that characterize
most of (or almost all) of a person's behavior. Cardinal traits completely dominate a person's sense of
self. For example, Charles Manson's evilness could be identified as a cardinal trait or Mother Teresa's
altruism.
It is important to note that cardinal traits are not common. Most people do not have these
traits...people with cardinal traits are considered rare.
b) central (humorous, kind) - these traits are central, prominent traits that everyone has (unlike
cardinal traits). Our personalities are built upon the central traits. They are influential, but don't
dominate like the cardinal traits.
c) secondary (food preferences, etc.) - these are traits that are only exhibited in some situations. For
example, someone may be kind most of the time, but become very selfish in other situations.
2) Cattell -- factor analysis; 16 traits (e.g., emotional stability, agreeableness)
IV. The Behavioral Approach - this approach rejects the importance of biological factors in favor of
the environmental forces. Instead of traits, behavioral approach proponents believe that behavior is a
function of environmental factors and learning.
A. Operant Conditioning Theory -since operant conditioning was already discussed in an earlier
section, we won't go into much detail.
B.F. Skinner was a major proponent of this perspective and believed that what most people referred
to as personality was simply a person's distinct behavior pattern that emerged in specific situations.
For example, you may think that your teacher is very timid and a straight arrow because you see them
only in a very specific situation (the classroom or in the school setting). However, your teacher may
behave very differently in another situation that contradicts your perception of their "personality".
B. Social Cognitive Theory (Albert Bandura) -- this perspective is quite similar to the behavioral
perspective, but here cognitive factors are also considered important in determining behavior
(remember that cognitive factors are ignored in strict behavioral theory). So, according to the Social
Cognitive Perspective, the environment/learning and cognition are the determining factors in
behavior. In addition, there are two important concepts you need to be familiar with:
1) reciprocal determinism -- Bandura’s belief that personality traits, environmental factors, and
overt behavior don't determine behavior in isolation. Rather, these factors affect each other to
determine our behaviors. Reciprocal determinism also relies on a person's self-efficacy.
2) self - efficacy -- a person’s belief that he or she can perform behaviors that are necessary to
produce a desired outcome. Self-efficacy influences what choices we make in different situations, the
situations we enter, and the outcomes. For example, do you think a person with low self-efficacy would
enter a situation in which they must perform a difficult task in front of a large crowd of people?
C. Behavioral Assessment - to measure a person's personality, there are several tools Psychologists
with a behavioral perspective may use:
1) Behavioral observation
2) Experience sampling
ST ROOP CONVENT SCHOOL CLASS 12th- PSYCHOLOGY
3) Situational interview
4) Behavioral checklists
B. Self Theory -- incongruence between the self and personal experience. Healthy people have
congruence between the self and the ideal self.
C. Humanistic Assessment --
1) Personal Orientation Inventory -- measures the degree to which a person’s values and attitudes
agree with those of Maslow’s description of self-actualized people.
2) Q-Sort -- Measures the degree of congruence between a person’s self and ideal self.