Introduction to Psychology

Personality
 What is Personality?

Long-standing traits and

patterns that propel
individuals to consistently
think, feel, and behave in
specific ways.
Our personality is what
makes us unique
individuals!
Though to be long term,
stable, and not easily
changed.
 Freud and the Psychodynamic
Perspective
Freud said unconscious drives,
influenced by sex and
aggression, along with
childhood sexuality, influence
our personality.

Remember! Freud was a

medical doctor, not a
psychologist
Freud published a book called
Studies on Hysteria with Josef
Breuer. Freud thought hysteria
was a result of sexual abuse in
childhood, but Breuer disagreed
and they went their separate
ways-based on the patient Anna
O.
Three Levels of Consciousness

1. Conscious Mind - consists of all the mental processes of which

you are aware of and this is seen in the tip of the iceberg. For
example, you may be feeling hungry at this moment and you decide
to get food to eat.
2. Preconscious Mind - contains thought and feelings that you are
currently aware of, but can easily be brought to consciousness
(1924). This would refer to our "memory". For example, you are not
thinking about your mobile phone number but when you are asked
about it you can recall it easily.
3. Unconscious Mind - comprises mental processes that are
inaccessible to consciousness but influences your judgments,
feelings, or behavior (Wilson, 2002). For Freud, this level of the mind
is the primary source of human behavior. Like an iceberg, the most
important part of the mind is the part that you cannot see. Your past
experiences are strongly influenced by your feelings, motives, and
decisions and stored in the unconscious.
• Structure of Personality

• The Id
• Present at birth
• Consists of
BIOLOGICAL drives
• Pleasure Principle
• Goal: Achieve
satisfaction NOW!
• Structure of Personality
• The Ego
• the only region of
the mind in contact
with reality.
• Reality Principle
• Goal : Satisfy
id’srequest reasona
bly -within the
limitations of the
environment
• Structure of Personality
• The Superego
• represents the moral and
ideal aspects of
personality
• Moral Principle
• it has no contact with
the outside world and
therefore is unrealistic in
its demands for
perfection
• Two subsytems:
• Conscience “should
not do”
• Ego-Ideal “should
do”
 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.

In other words,
its how our
personality deals
with unpleasant
emotions and
thoughts.
Compensation- it refers to the way a person makes
up for lack of some particular ability
• A. Direct Compensation- the individual tries to be
better in the area of activity where he is weak.

B. Indirect Compensation- the individual who is

weak in one area tries to be better in another.
 2. Sublimation – or substitution,is a
defense mechanism that allow us to act
out unacceptable impulses by converting
these behaviors into a more acceptable
form.
Examples
 3. Rationalization- this is the inclination to
give an example of excuse for something
already done.

2 Forms of Rationalization

1. Sour-Grape Attitude-there is an inclination

to deny the true motive.
2. Sweet-Lemon Attitude-the frustration is
regarded a blessing in disguise.
1.Sour-Grape Attitude
2. Sweet-Lemon Attitude
4.Identification-an individual’s inclination to share another’s
success and satisfaction which he himself failed to attain.
5. Reaction Formation- a person acts just the
opposite of real motive.
6.Displacement- attacks on innocent person or
object rather than against the real cause of the
frustration.
7.Projection- casting the feelings you have onto
another person; blaming another person for the
feelings you have.
8.Denial-refusing to accept an obvious situation
because of the emotional pain it causes.
 9.Regression.reverting to childlike behavior to get the
attention you got when you were younger.Ex. The wife
remember the happiness memories with her ex.
10.Repression- unconsciously forgetting information
that is too painfull to recall.
(Ex.child abuse may have difficulty in forming a
relationships)
BEHAVIOR WITHOUT CHOICE-this is the tendency to repeat
some types of behavior, regardless of their inappropriateness.

• 1. Smoking-a
common example
of compulsive
behavior.
2.Narcotics-an individual addicted to certain drugs
particularly barbiturates and opiate tends to form a
physiological dependence on drugs.
 3.Gambling- the individual addicted to
gambling turns out to be undependable and
unpredictable.
 4.Shyness- is common during
adolescent and young adult years,
when an individual is learning to make
adjustment to new self-expectations.
6.Flight- a common characteristic of frustration.
(wish to get away from the place in which
sorrow happen)
 Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development-Stages of child development in which a child’s
pleasure-seeking urges are focused on specific areas of the body called erogenous zones

Adult
Erogenous Major
Stage Age (years) Fixation
Zone Conflict
Example
Weaning off
Smoking,
Oral 0–1 Mouth breast or
overeating
bottle
Toilet Neatness,
Anal 1–3 Anus
training messiness
Oedipus/Elec Vanity,
Phallic 3–6 Genitals
tra complex overambition
Latency 6–12 None None None
Genital 12+ Genitals None None
 Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages of
Development
Age
Stage Developmental Task Description
(years)

Trust that basic needs, such as nourishment

1 0–1 Trust vs. mistrust
and affection, will be met

2 1–3 Autonomy vs. shame/doubt Sense of independence develops

Take initiative on some activities, may develop

3 3–6 Initiative vs. guilt
guilt if boundaries overstepped

Develop self-confidence in abilities when

4 7–11 Industry vs. inferiority
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

7 30–64 Generativity vs. stagnation Contribute to society and family

Assess and make sense of life and meaning of
8 65– Integrity vs. despair
contributions
Adults who are fixated at this
stage like to do things with
mouth for pleasure: smoking,
eating, chewing gum, biting
nails & other things, and engage
in orally aggressive behavior
(sarcasm & argumentative).
Anal retentive are overly-
cleanly, neat & organized,
stingy, and stubborn. Anal
repulsive are messy &
disorderly, irresponsible, and
engage in temper tantrums.
Oedipal complex – boys have
erotically tinged preference for
their mother – compete with
their father for mother’s
attention (Electra complex for
girls). Narcissistic pleasure.
 The Neo-Freudians
Like Freud, Alfred Adler
believed in childhood tensions.
However, these tensions were
social in nature and not sexual.

A child struggles with an

inferiority complex (physical,
intellectual, & social
inadequacies) during growth
and strives for superiority and
power (altruistic, creative,
aware, cooperative…).

He was the first to study the

influence of birth order.

Alfred Adler (1870-1937)

 The Neo-Freudians
Carl Jung believed in the
collective unconscious,
which contained a shared
common reservoir of
experiences (memories &
ideas) derived from our
ancestors’ past.

This is why many

cultures share certain
myths and images such
as the mother being a
symbol of nurturance. Carl Jung
(1875-1961)
 The Neo-Freudians She wasn’t
Horney until
Like Adler, Horney she got
married!
believed in the social
aspects of childhood
growth and development.

She countered Freud’s

assumption that women
have weak superegos and
suffer from “penis envy”
during the Phallic stage.
She proposed that men
suffer from “womb envy.”
Karen Horney (1885-1952)
 Tests of Personality
Self-Report Inventories
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
Inventory (MMPI): personality test
composed of a series of true/false
questions in order to establish a clinical
profile of an individual
 Projective Test

Personality assessment in which a person responds to

ambiguous stimuli, revealing hidden feelings, impulses, and
desires
• Rorschach Inkblot Test
• Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
• Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank (RISB)
 Projective Tests
Evaluating personality
from an unconscious
mind’s perspective
would require a
psychological
instrument that would
reveal the hidden
unconscious mind.
Remember the
defense mechanism of
projection.
 Rorschach (Inkblot) Test
The most widely used projective test. It uses a set of
10 inkblots designed by Hermann Rorschach. It
seeks to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing
their interpretations of the blots.
 Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

The TAT is a projective test in which people express

their inner feelings and interests through the stories
they make up about ambiguous scenes.

Answers reveal Manifest content and then Latent content is discovered.

 The Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank
Second Edition (RISB®-2) provides a
screening instrument that helps assess
overall adjustment in adolescents and adults.
 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 cognition
consistent manner based are sources of individual
on prior learning.  differences in personality. 
Reciprocal determinism
Self-efficacy