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Understanding Personality Psychology Theories

Aug 22, 2024

Personality Psychology Lecture Notes

Introduction to Personality Psychology

  • Distinction between personality and behavior:
    • Personality: underlying motivations and drives influencing behavior.
    • Behavior: the actions taken as a result of personality.
  • Stability of Personality:
    • Personality remains stable in adulthood according to various theories, although development may occur during childhood and adolescence.

Theories of Personality

Freud's Theory of Personality

  • Focuses on unconscious processes and developmental stages known as psychosexual stages.
  • Components of Personality:
    • Id: Functions on the pleasure principle, seeks immediate gratification.
    • Ego: Mediates reality, delays gratification based on environmental factors.
    • Superego: Conscience and moral compass developed through parental interactions.

Freud's Psychosexual Stages of Development

  1. Oral Stage:

    • Focus on oral gratification (e.g., breastfeeding).
    • Fixation leads to behaviors like smoking or nail-biting.
  2. Anal Stage:

    • Control over bodily functions; satisfaction from control leads to pride.
    • Fixation may result in being overly neat or controlling.
  3. Phallic Stage:

    • Exploration of sexual identity; children direct feelings towards opposite-sex parent.
    • Fixation results in issues with relationships and sexual identity.
  4. Latency Stage:

    • Sexual urges become dormant; focus shifts to peer relationships.
    • Development of superego and morality.
  5. Genital Stage:

    • Re-emergence of sexual desires directed towards appropriate partners.

Defense Mechanisms in Freud's Theory

  • Unconscious strategies to protect the ego from anxiety:
    • Repression: Burying uncomfortable thoughts.
    • Denial: Refusal to accept reality.
    • Sublimation: Channeling impulses into socially acceptable activities.
    • Rationalization: Justifying actions.
    • Regression: Reverting to earlier behaviors.
    • Displacement: Redirecting emotions to safer targets.
    • Projection: Attributing undesirable feelings to others.
    • Reaction Formation: Displaying opposite emotions.

Humanistic Theory

  • Emerged as a response to Freudian and behavioral theories.
  • Posits that humans are inherently good and motivated to reach their full potential.
  • Focus on the present and future rather than past experiences.
  • Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow):
    • Basic biological needs must be satisfied before higher-level needs.
    • Self-actualization as the ultimate goal.

Trait Theory of Personality

  • Assumes personality consists of stable traits present from birth.
  • Gordon Allport's Classification:
    • Identified traits and created clusters.
  • Eysenck's Model:
    • Psychoticism, extraversion, neuroticism.
  • Big Five Personality Traits (OCEAN):
    • Openness: Creativity and willingness to try new things.
    • Conscientiousness: Work ethic and organizational skills.
    • Extraversion: Sociability and engagement.
    • Agreeableness: Compassion and cooperativeness.
    • Neuroticism: Emotional stability.
  • Job Success: Conscientiousness is the strongest predictor of job performance.

Interpersonal Theory of Personality

  • Personality is shaped by interactions with others.
  • Self-concept vs. Self-esteem:
    • Self-concept: how one views themselves.
    • Self-esteem: how one feels about themselves relative to others.

Personality Assessment Techniques

Johari Window

  • A tool for self-discovery and understanding personality through feedback from others.
    • Known Self: Known to self and others.
    • Hidden Self: Known to self but not others.
    • Blind Self: Known to others but not self.
    • Unconscious Self: Not known to self or others.

Personality Tests

  • Reliability and Validity:
    • Reliability: Consistency of results over time.
    • Validity: Accuracy of what the test measures.
  • Objective Tests: Standardized questionnaires (e.g., MMPI).
  • Projective Tests: Ambiguous stimuli to reveal unconscious processes (e.g., Rorschach, TAT).

Conclusion

  • Overview of personality theories provides a foundation for understanding human behavior and personality.
  • Theories serve to explain individual differences and similarities in personality traits and behaviors.