Psychology, 8th Edition – Myers
Ch. 15 – Personality
Personality - an individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.
Current theories focus on certain aspects of personality, such as traits, uniqueness, sense of personal control,
and the concept of self. Older theories tried to explain human nature as a whole.
The Psychoanalytic Perspective
 Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) - probably the most well known psychologist in history
 Originally, Freud went to medical school and set up a private practice, but soon encountered illness that
seemed to make no sense biologically.
o ex: a patient would complain of pain in the hand, however there is no sensory nerve that would
numb the entire hand and nothing hand  what was causing the pain - had to be a psychological
cause.
 Freud began studying the mind and devised the psychoanalytic theory - explored ideas about the
unconscious regions of the mind, psychosexual stages, and defense mechanisms for coping with anxiety.
Exploring the Unconscious
 Freud believed that the unconscious mind was psychologically causing illnesses in his patients.
o ex: a patient might not be able to feel their hand because of unconscious fear of touching one's
genitals.
o ex: unexplained blindness could be caused by an unconscious desire to not see something that
aroused anxiety.
 free association - in psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes
and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing.
o used by Freud to discover a chain of events that could be hidden in the unconscious that
contributed to psychological or physical illnesses.
o mostly included painful childhood experiences that were suppressed or hidden, but uncovered
with free association.
 psychoanalysis - Freud's theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious
motives and conflicts; the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and
interpret unconscious tensions.
 Freud's basic theory was that the mind was like an iceberg - mostly hidden beneath the surface.
o conscious region - floating above the water's surface
o unconscious - large underwater, hidden region - a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts,
wishes, feelings, and memories; according to contemporary psychologists, information
processing of which we are unaware
o preconscious - the water's surface, info outside of immediate awareness but can readily be
accessed.
 Freud believed we repress, or forcibly block, from our unconscious any unacceptable passions or
thoughts that would be too unsettling to acknowledge.
 Freud viewed jokes as expressions of repressed sexual and aggressive tendencies. Dreams were
representations of the unconscious mind in manifest and latent content.
Personality Structure
 Freud believed human personality was a product of the conflict between aggressive, pleasure-seeking
biological impulses and the internalized restraints against them.
 3 interacting systems

o Id – contains a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that strives to satisfy basic sexual and
aggressive desires
 Operates on the pleasure-principle, demanding immediate gratification. (ex: explains
babies crying to satisfy gratification)
o Ego – the largely conscious, “executive” part of personality that mediates among the demands of
the id, superego, and reality.
 Operates on the reality principle, seeking to gratify the id’s demands in realistic ways that
will bring long-term pleasure rather than pain/destruction.
 Contains partly conscious thoughts, judgments, and memories
o Superego – the part of personality that represents internalized ideals and provides standards for
judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations.
 Beings to develop around age 4-5
 Voice of conscience
 Considers the ideal, not the realistic
Example of three interacting – Jane (conservative and chaste) is sexually attracted to John. To satisfy the
id and the superego, she joins a volunteer organization to which John belongs.
Personality Development
 Freud believed most of his patients’ symptoms were rooted in unresolved conflicts from early
childhood.
 Freud proposed that all children pass through psychosexual stages – stages of development during
childhood during which the id’s pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones (pleasuresensitive areas of the body).
Freud’s Psychosexual Stages (According to Freud…)
Stage
Age
Focus
Oral
0-18 months
Pleasure centers on the mouth – suckling, biting, chewing
Anal
18-36 months
Pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder elimination – coping with demands
for control (potty-training)
Phallic
3-6 years
Pleasure zone is the genitals; coping with incestuous sexual feelings
 Boys develop an Oedipus complex – a boy’s sexual desires towards
his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father.
 Girls develop a similar Electra complex
Latency
6-puberty
Dormant sexual feelings
 Children cope with threatening sexual feelings and develop
identification – the process by which children incorporate their
parents’ values into their developing superegos.
 Identification with same-sex parents produces gender identity
Genital
Puberty +
Maturation of sexual interests
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At any point in the oral, anal, or phallic stages, Freud claimed that individuals could develop
maladaptive behaviors and fixate on the pleasure seeking-energies of that phase.
o Fixation – a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in
which conflicts were not resolved.
o Ex: a person with an oral fixation (due to early weaning) may over-eat or begin to smoke 
satisfy oral gratification.
Defense Mechanisms
 The constant conflict between the id and superego leads the ego to fear losing control  unfocused
anxiety.
 Defense mechanisms – in psychoanalytic theory, the ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by
unconsciously distorting reality.
Freud’s Defense Mechanisms
Defense Mechanism Definition
Example
Repression
Banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, Children do not remember their
and memories from the conscious
childhood lust for their parents.
Regression
When an individual retreats to a more
Facing the anxious first day of school, a
infantile psychosexual stage, where some
child may retreat to sucking their thumb.
psychic energy remains fixed.
Homesick college students may long for
the security and comfort of home.
Reaction Formation The ego unconsciously switches
“I hate him”  “I love him”
unacceptable impulses into their opposites
(people express feelings that are the opposite
of their anxiety-arousing unconscious
feelings)
Projection
People disguise their own threatening
“He doesn’t trust me” may actually be
impulses by attributing them to others.
because of the feeling “I don’t trust him”
or “I don’t trust myself”
Rationalization
Displacement
A wife who is cheating on her husband,
accuses him of cheating on her
Offers self-justifying explanations in place of Students who are failing classes in
the real, more threatening, unconscious
college may say, “All work and no play
reasons for one’s actions
makes Jack a dull boy.”
Shifts sexual or aggressive impulses towards
a more acceptable or less threatening object
or person.
An alcoholic may say they only drink
when around friends.
A student upset over failing a test may
snap at their roommate over something
trivial.
A child who fears expressing anger
against their parents may displace it by
kicking the family pet.
The Neo-Freudian and Psychodynamic Theories
 Neo-Freudians – accept Freud’s basic beliefs
o The id-ego-superego structure
o The importance of the unconscious
o The shaping of personality in childhood
o The dynamics of anxiety and defense mechanisms
o HOWEVER, argue that humans have different motives other than sex and aggression, and that
the ego’s conscious control is greater than Freud thought.
 Alfred Adler and Karen Horney – believed that social, not sexual, childhood tensions influenced
personality development
o Adler – coined the term “inferiority complex” (lack of self-esteem and self-worth that results in
either extreme achievements or isolation)
o Horney – claimed that helplessness in childhood triggers our desire for love and security
 Carl Jung – agreed with Freud’s view of the unconscious but also suggested a collective unconscious –
concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species’ history.
o Jung believed a shared collective unconscious explained why some cultures have similar
traditions, myths, and images (ex: symbolic image of a mother as nurturing)
 Contemporary psychodynamic theorists and therapists…
o Do not believe that sexual tensions are the root of personality, refute the id-ego-superego
structure, and do not emphasize psychosexual stages.
o Do believe that our mental life is largely unconscious and that we often struggle with inner
conflicts among our wishes, fear, and values; and that childhood experiences shape our
personalities.
Assessing Unconscious Processes
 The tool/measurement of personality must match the theory of personality being employed.  “How do
you study or test the unconscious if it is impossible to consciously access?” - Freudian personality
theorists
 Projective test – a personality test, such as the Rorschach or TAT, that provides ambiguous stimuli
designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics.
o The stimulus has no inherent meaning or significance, so individuals use it as a projection screen
for their unconscious interests and conflicts.
o Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) – a projective test in which people express their inner
feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes.
o Rorschach inkblot test – the most widely used projective test, a set of 10 inkblots, designed by
Hermann Rorschach; seeks to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations
of the blots.
 Assumes that what we see in the 10 inkblots reflects our inner feelings and conflicts.
 If someone sees predatory animals or weapons, the examiner may infer he/she has
aggressive tendencies.
 Neither the TAT nor the Rorschach test are considered to be reliable (consistent over time and people)
or valid (predicting what it is supposed to predict), however the Rorschach test is one of the most widely
cherished and used tests in psychology.
Evaluating the Psychoanalytic Perspective
Contradictory Evidence from Modern Research
 Freud’s theories, while controversial, are unfairly criticized by the 21st century observer. He did not have
knowledge of DNA, neurotransmitters, childhood cognitive development stages, etc.
 Today’s developmental psychologists agree that…
o Development does not occur just in childhood, but is a life-long process.
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o Infant’s neural networks are not mature enough to sustain as much emotional trauma as Freud
assumed.
o Gender identity is gained before age 5/6 and is not the result of overcoming an Oedipus or
Electra complex.
Freud’s questioning during therapy sessions could have created false memories of childhood abuse.
“Freudian slips” can be described as the brain miscommunicating similar words rather than the product
of the unconscious.
Little research suggests that defense mechanisms disguise sexual or aggressive tendencies.
Suppressed sexuality has failed to correlate with psychological disorders.
Is Repression a Myth?
 Many of today’s researchers claimed that repression, if it exists at all, is a rare response to extremely
traumatic events. If repression does exist, then how do we explain the following:
o In studies of 5-10 year old children who witnessed a parent’s murder, not one child repressed the
memory.
o Holocaust survivors can remember their traumatic experiences vividly.
o Amnesia in war veterans occurs among a small population, but is usually the product of
concussions or brain trauma, not repression of traumatic combat experiences.
 Some researchers claim that prolonged stress can disrupt the formation of memories by damaging the
hippocampus. But the consensus is that high stress situations actually enhance memory.
 Traumatic events can lead to PTSD and flashbacks rather than repression.
The Modern Unconscious Mind
 Modern psychologists agree that there is a large part of our mind and mental processes to which we have
limited access  a vast amont of information processing occurs unconsciously
o Schemas that automatically control our perceptions and interpretations
o Priming by stimuli to which we have not consciously recognized
o The right-hemisphere activity that enables the split-brain patient’s left hand to carry out an
instruction the patient cannot verbalize
o The parallel processing of different aspects of vision and thinking (refresher: parallel processing
is the brain’s ability to multitask low-level processes)
o The implicit memories that operate without conscious recall
o The emotions that activate instantly
o The self-concept and stereotypes that automatically and unconsciously influence how we process
information about ourselves and others.
 Modern research does not support the concept of defense mechanisms is tied to unconscious anxiety
from internal conflicts. However, some research shows support for the idea that anxiety is aroused when
thinking about death.
o Terror-management theory – proposes that faith in one’s worldview and the pursuit of selfesteem provide protection against a deeply rooted fear of death.
 Defense mechanisms, as described by Freud, do seem to exist, but are motivated less by impulses from
conflicts in the unconscious, and more by our need to protect our self-image.
Freud’s Ideas as Scientific Theory
 Freud’s theories attempt to explain how past experiences may have influenced current behaviors or
personality, but they fail to predict behavior. Critics would argue that this is a major flaw, but supporters
claim that the psychodynamic theory never claimed to do this, so does it really matter?
 While Freud is contested in the psychological community, his legacy lives on in culture.
The Humanistic Perspective
 In contrast to Freud’s predominantly negative view of human personality and behaviors and his study of
“sick” people, humanistic psychology focuses on the ways “healthy” people strive for self-determination
and self-realization.
 Based in self-reporting of experiences and feelings
 Third-force perspective – proposed by Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers, emphasized human potential
and seeing the world through the person’s (not the researcher’s) eyes.
Abraham Maslow’s Self-Actualizing Person
 Maslow proposed the hierarchy of needs – levels of physiological and psychological needs must be met;
highest point is self-actualization – the ultimate psychological need that arises after basic physical and
psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved; the motivation to fulfill one’s potential.
 Maslow developed his ideas by studying health, creative people, rather than troubled clinical patients.
 Self actualized people (potentially Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Eleanor Roosevelt) shared
common characteristics:
o Self aware
o Self accepting
o Open
o Spontaneous
o Loving/caring
o Not paralyzed with other’s opinions
o Problem-centered not self-centered interests
o Had a primary goal/mission in life
o Few deep relationships, rather than many superficial
o Moved by spiritual or personal peak experiences that surpassed ordinary consciousness
Carl Rogers’ Person-Centered Perspective
 Rogers believed that people are generally good and endowed with self-actualizing tendencies that could
be nurtured by genuineness, acceptance, and empathy
o Genuineness – being open with their own feelings
o Acceptance – offering unconditional positive regard – an attitude of total acceptance toward
another person.
o Empathy – sharing and mirroring feelings and reflecting meanings.
 Self-concept – all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, “Who am I?”
o Emphasized by Maslow and Rogers
o Central aspect of personality
o If positive – tend to perceive the world positively
o If negative – we feel like we have fallen short of our ideal self and become unhappy and
dissatisfied.
Assessing the Self
 Some humanistic psychologists assessed the self and personality using questionnaires on which people
reported on their self-concept (how you would like to be compared to how you actually are).
 Some humanistic psychologists thought tests were too depersonalizing, and believed that the self and
personality could be assessed through conversations and interviews
Evaluating the Humanistic Perspective
 Humanistic psychology has had an impact on therapy, counseling, education, and management.
 Many people assume humanistic psychology ideas to be true  a positive self-concept will lead to
higher self-esteem and life happiness; people are basically good rather than fundamentally corrupt
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Critics say that humanistic concepts are vague and subjective (where’s the science?) Some critics say
that focusing on individualism and oneself can lead to selfishness and self-indulgence. Also, critics
claim humanistic ideas are too naïve for the reality of the world: encourages hope, but not realism.
The Trait Perspective
 Trait – a characteristic pattern of behavior or disposition to feel and act, as assessed by self-report
inventories and peer reports.
 Trait researchers attempt to define personality in terms of stable and enduring behavior patterns.
 Gordon Allport – founder of trait perspective
 Concerned less with explaining individual traits and more with describing them.
 Some researchers use the idea of “types” to classify traits and characteristics of personalities.
o Ancient Greeks identified 4 different types of personality depending on which body fluid
(“humor”) predominated: melancholic (depressed), sanguine (cheerful), phlegmatic
(unemotional), or choleric (irritable).
o Isabel Briggs Myers and Kathleen Briggs attempted to sort people based on Carl Jung’s
personality types  Myers-Briggs Type Indicator ; taken by 2.5 million Americans a year.;
identifies 16 different types of people, each with its own strengths.
Exploring Traits
 Is classifying people as one distinct personality type really capturing their identity? Some researchers
say that placing people along personality trait dimensions could better describe personality variations.
Factor Analysis
 Which traits should be included?
 Factor analysis (looking for clusters of related items)
o Ex: extraversion  cluster of characteristics such as outgoing, like excitement, like jokes, and
dislike quiet reading
 Hans and Sybil Eysneck believed there were 2 or 3 dimensions such as extraversion-inversion and
emotional stability-instability, which seem to be genetically influenced.
o Eysneck Personality Questionnaire
Biology and Personality
 Introverts and extraverts show difference in brain arousal on brain imaging tools.
o Ex: PET scans show that the frontal lobe which concerns inhibition, experiences less arousal in
extraverts compared to introverts.
 Genes and heredity influence temperament (emotional reactivity) and our behaviors.
o Jerome Kagan believes that heredity, by influencing the autonomic nervous system reactivity,
can lead to differences in temperament and behaviors  personality.
Assessing Traits
 Trait theorists hold that because traits are enduring and stable, reliable and valid tests can be developed.
 Personality inventories – a questionnaire (often with true-false or agree-disagree items) on which
people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors; used to assess
selected personality traits.
o Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) – the most widely researched and
clinically used of all personality tests. Originally developed to identify emotional disorders, this
test is now used for many other screening purposes.
 Items were empirically derived – a test developed by testing a pool of items and then
selecting those that discriminate between groups. (the original purpose of the MMPI was
to discriminate abnormal personality traits from the normal or healthy ones.)
o Personality inventories are scored objectively  by an algorithm and computer.
o Personality inventories may not be valid (measuring what they are supposed to) if people do not
answer truthfully, therefore giving false results.
The Big Five Factors

Modern trait researchers agree that traits should be measured along dimensions, but on 5 specific factors
(The Big Five)
The “Big Five” Personality Factors (CANOE)
Trait Dimension
Endpoints of the Dimension
Conscientiousness
Organized  Disorganized
Careful  Careless
Disciplined  Impulsive
Agreeableness
Soft-hearted  Ruthless
Trusting  Suspicious
Helpful  Uncooperative
Neuroticism
Calm Anxious
(emotional stability vs.
Secure  Insecure
instability)
Self-satisfied  Self-pitying
Openness
Imaginative  Practical
Preference for variety Preference for routine
Extraversion
Sociable  Retiring
Fun-loving  Sober
Affectionate  Reserved
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These traits appear to be stable in adulthood, heritable, applicable to all cultures, and good predictors of
other personal attributes.
The Big Five Personality most comprehensive picture of personality.
Evaluating the Trait Perspective
The Person-Situation Controversy
 Behaviors are influenced by the interaction of our inner disposition with our environment.  Which is
more important? (person vs. situation)
 Critics of trait perspective - although general traits persist over time, specific behaviors vary from
situation to situation. Therefore, traits are not valid predictors of behavior.
 Supporters of trait perspective - despite situation to situation differences in behaviors, a person's average
behavior across situations tends to be fairly constant.
Consistency of Expressive Style
 Expressive styles - animation, manner of speaking, and gestures - demonstrate how consistent traits may
be, despite variations in situations.
 Immediate situational demands may change our behaviors and thus how our personality is perceived by
others. However, averaging our behaviors across many occasions does reveal distinct personality traits.
These traits can also be observed by others in a matter of seconds. (first impressions count!)
The Social-Cognitive Perspective
 social-cognitive perspective (of personality) - views behaviors as influenced by the interaction between
person (and their thinking) and their social context.
o personality perspective proposed by Albert Bandura
o believe we learn our behaviors through conditioning and observation (social)
o believe mental processes and appraisal of situations drives behaviors as well (cognitive)
o How do we interpret and respond to external events?
o How do our schemas, memories, and expectations influence behavior patterns?
Reciprocal Influences
 reciprocal determinism - the interacting influences between personality and environmental factors.
o proposed by Bandura
o Ex: children's TV viewing habits (past behaviors) influence their viewing preferences (internal
factor) which influences how TV (environmental factor) affects their current behaviors.
 3 ways in which individuals and environments interact:
o Different people choose different environments.  you choose your environment and it then
shapes you (school, music, TV, friends, etc)
o Our personalities shape how we interpret and react to events.  Ex: anxious people are attuned
to potentially threatening events, thus, they perceive the world as threatening and they react
accordingly.
o Our personalities help create situations to which we react.  how we view and treat people
influences how they view and treat us.
 *** Behavior emerges from the interplay of external and internal influences.
internal cognitive
factors
behavior
environmental
factors
Personal Control
Internal vs. External Locus of Control
 personal control - our sense of controlling our environment rather than feeling helpless
o external locus of control - the perception that chance or outside forces beyond one's personal
control determine one's fate.
o internal locus of control - the perception that one is in personal control of one's fate.
o people with an internal locus of control tend to achieve more in school, act more independently,
enjoy better health, and feel less depressed  because they feel IN CONTROL of their lives,
choices, and behaviors.
Learned Helplessness vs. Personal Control
 People who feel helpless often feel perceive control as external, and this perception can deepen their
helplessness feelings.
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Remember the rat study in Ch. 14 in which the rats who couldn't control the shocks to their tail
developed tumors and illnesses  lost sense of control could lead to learned helplessness
learned helplessness - the hopelessness and passive resignation that is learned when unable to avoid
repeated aversive events.
People in prisons, factories, colleges, and nursing homes can experience lower morale and increased
stress.
Under conditions of personal freedom and empowerment, people thrive.
An excess of freedom and choice can lead to decreased life satisfaction, increased depression, and
sometimes paralysis.  tyranny of choice
o Consumers, when faced with 30 choices of jam or chocolate, expressed less satisfaction than
those who chose among 6 options.
Optimism vs. Pessimism
 An optimistic or pessimistic attributional style (the way of explaining events) can show how in control
or helpless you feel.
 Optimism can increase performance outcomes (ex: grades, exams, etc), but too much optimism can
become unrealistic and bring unfavorable events.
 positive psychology - the scientific study of optimal human functioning; aims to discover and promote
strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive.
o 3 goals - studying and fostering subjective well-being; positive character; and positive groups,
communities, and cultures.
Assessing Behavior in Situations
 Social-cognitive researchers like to study people in realistic situations because they have found that the
best way to predict someone's behavior in a given situation is to observe a person's behavior in a similar
situation.
Evaluating the Social Cognitive Perspective
 builds on psychological research on learning and cognition.
 Critics of the social cognitive perspective - too much focus on situations and not enough focus on traits.
Exploring the Self
 Possible selves - proposed by Hazel Markus and colleagues - your visions of the self you dream of being
and the self you fear becoming.
 spotlight effect - overestimating others' noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and
blunder (as if we assume a spotlight shines on us.)  fewer people than we think notice us.
 self-reference effect - the ability to better recall information if we relate it our own person or life.
The Benefits of Self-Esteem
 self-esteem - one's feelings of high or low self worth.
 Studies show people with high self-esteem are generally happier.
 Low self-esteem often correlates with unhappiness and despair.
 Accept yourself, and you will find it easier to accept others. People who are down on themselves tend to
be down on other things and people.
Self Serving Bias
 self-serving bias - a readiness to perceive oneself favorably.
 People accept more responsibility for good deeds than for bad, and for success rather than failures.
 Most people see themselves as better than average.
 We remember and justify our past actions in self-enhancing ways.
 We exhibit an inflated confidence in our beliefs and judgments.
 We overestimate how desirably we would act in situations where most people behave less than
admirably.
 We often seek out favorable, self-enhancing information.
 We are quicker to believe flattering descriptions of ourselves than unflattering ones, and we are
impressed with psychological tests that make us look good.
 We shore up our self-image by overestimating the commonality of our faults and by underestimating the
commonality of our strengths.
 We exhibit group pride - a tendency to see our group as superior.
Biological
 genetically determined
temperament
 autonomic nervous system
reactivity
 brain activity
Personality
Psychological
 learned responses
 unconscious thought
processes
 optimistic or pessimistic
attributional styles
Socio-cultural
 childhood experiences
 influence of the situation
 cultural expectations
 social support