personality theory
- Created by: Megoni
- Created on: 26-12-18 15:08
View mindmap
- classics in personality theory
- introduction to personality
- what is personality?
- google definition; combination of characteristics or qualities of a distinctive character
- lecture definition; dynamic organisation, inside the person, of psychophysical systems that create the persons characteristic patterns of behaviour, thoughts and feelings
- ways to think about personality
- nomothetic approach- like some other people
- idiographic approach- like no other people
- like all other people
- Kluckhohn & Murray (1953)
- aspects of personality
- person is a collection of traits, skills, and dispositions
- person is a unique individual with unique characteristics
- individuals are affected by unconscious forces
- individuals are affected by ego forces (sense of self)
- person is a biological being
- people actively think about and interpret the world around them
- why personality psychology is important
- uses scientific enquiry to:
- describe patterns of behaviour
- explain/understand behaviour
- predict behaviour
- influence behaviour
- important because:
- essential for describing, explaining, predicting and influencing peoples behaviour
- core to psychological knowledge and science
- used in applied practice
- relevant to everyday life
- uses scientific enquiry to:
- personality theories
- relevant importance of past, present and future?
- importance of unconscious mechanisms?
- behaviour chosen or determined?
- consistence of human behaviour?
- what motivates human behaviour?
- nature of human behaviour?
- heritability
- degree of genetic heritability
- 0% adoptive siblings or parent and child
- 50% dizygotic twin s, sibling, parent and child
- 100% monozygotic twins
- family studies, adoption studies, twin studies
- genes important?
- yes
- identical twins raised apart = non identical twins raised together
- adoptive child + biological parent more similar than adoptive child + adoptive parent
- no - family environment important
- biological siblings raised together = more similar than biological siblings raised apart
- yes
- degree of genetic heritability
- nature
- behavioural genetics; study of how genes contribute to behaviour
- heritability estimate; estimate of the average proportion of variance (in a personality trait the can be attributed to genetic influence in the population studied)
- Riemann, Angeleinter and Strelau (1997) twin study
- MZ twins more likely similar in personality traits than DZ twins e.g. extraversion h2= (.56-.28) X 2 = .5 and just over half the variance in extraversion is genetic
- critical of evidence
- problems with adoption studies
- adoptive families are screened and selected carefully- more homogenous than general population
- problem with twin studies
- studies use volunteers therefore biased
- Mz twins share more environment than Dz twins (closer, treated similarly, share friends)
- twins reared apart are very rare, not always separated at birth and have some contact
- genetic influences may be overestimated
- what about prenatal development?
- dichorionic vs monochorionic
- problems with adoption studies
- Nurture
- shared environment
- shared by siblings in a family situation = socioeconomic status, parental style, home diet/routine
- non shared environment
- unique to each sibling = prenatal complications, birth order, gender specific treatment, different peer groups
- critical of nurture
- assimilation effects= "do I worry about them dressing the same? no. they're identical twins, and I think its an important part of who they are"
- contrast effect= "well, you know, I want them to have their own identities. they are different people, and I think its important that they carve their own identity"
- shared environment
- nature + nurture
- evidence
- Dunn & Plomin (1990)
- unique environments are more important for most personality development than a shared environment
- Jang et al (1996)
- Riemann et al (1997)
- Dunn & Plomin (1990)
- evidence
- gene X environment interactions
- Scarr & McCartney (1983)- genes may influence the environment
- passive - parents personality trait means genes for trait and provide environment which encourages that trait
- executive - genes for trait, behaviour affects child, child evokes reaction in parent
- active - parents personality trait means genes for trait and so seeks environment which suits (thus encouraging that trait)
- Scarr & McCartney (1983)- genes may influence the environment
- what is personality?
- psychodynamic approaches
- key influences on Freud's ideas
- motivation to make his mark (persecuted minority, eldest son)
- medical training and practice (neurologist)
- observed 'talking therapy' used with patient Anna O (traced causes back to forgotten/repressed trauma)
- observed that hypnosis 'cured' hysteria (no physical cause)
- free association could achieve the same result
- analysed own anxiety, dreams and free association
- unconscious mind
- internal (intra-psychic) conflict
- structure of the mind
- topographic model
- human experience takes place on 3 levels of consciousness
- many motives and drives that affect behaviour are not consciously accessible
- understand someones personality we must tap into their unconscious
- structural model
- personality influenced by conflict between 3 structures of the mind, constantly pushing and pulling in different directions
- super ego; conscious, morals, ideals, guilt, others' standards (3-5 years)
- ego; the self, reality principle, negotiates balance (1 year old)
- id; immediate gratification, pleasure principle, unconscious (present at birth)
- intrapsychic conflict; I should but I don't
- topographic model
- defence mechanisms
- used by ego to avoid anxiety and maintain self esteem
- unwanted impulse, thought feeling or event
- repression; suppress/push outside of awareness
- denial; pretend/act as if its not true
- rationalisation; give justification/explanation
- projection; project impulse onto someone else
- sublimation; channel into acceptable behaviour
- reaction formation; exaggerate opposite behaviour
- development of individual differences (stages of development in early childhood shape personality)
- oral stage
- less than 1 years old
- instant gratification (driven by id) and pleasure through feeding and weaning
- oral receptive (gullible) and oral aggressive (spiteful)
- anal
- 1-3 years old
- toilet training (ego control develops)
- anal expulsive (messy) and anal retentive (orderly)
- phallic
- 3-5 years old
- genitals and sex roles (superego develops), boys = castration anxiety, Oedipus complex and girls = penis envy, Electra complex
- promiscuity and homosexuality
- latency
- 5-12 years old
- socialisation with peers (defence mechanisms involved)
- genital
- 12+
- puberty, sexual attachment to opposite sex
- oral stage
- evaluation of freud
- supported evidence
- unconscious motives/perceptions affect behaviour (e.g. Patton, 1992) but not always caused by urges
- ego strength/self control (Baumeister et al., 2007; Block, 1993)
- defence mechanisms (e.g. repressive coping, ,yers, 2000; self esteem protection, happen et al., 2010)
- dreams can reflect goals and emotional mechanisms (solos, 2000)
- unsupported
- fixation and its effect on personality (fisher & Greenberg, 1996)
- oedipus/ Electra complex
- Friedan psychoanalysis (no better than others; Fonagy et al., 1999)
- many ideas not tested/not testable (pseudoscience)
- supported evidence
- beyond freud -psychodynamic developments
- Anna Frued (1895- 1982)
- sigmunds eldest daughter
- child psychoanalysis; studied 'normal' and deprived young children
- ego and defence mechanisms
- Alfred Adler (1870-1937)
- initially followed freud, but disagreed with his negative/ conflict based view of humanity
- importance of social world in personality development- motivated by social relationships
- emphasised equality of gender/parental control
- birth order and inferiority complexes
- Karen Horney (1885-1952)
- rejected frauds sexual theory and male focus
- emphasised social/cultural influences on personality
- women envy mens social power not penis
- Anna Frued (1895- 1982)
- Carl Jung (1875-1961)
- worked with freud but disagreed with psychosexualaspects of his theory
- personality continues to develop throughout life and is influenced by future goals to achieve potential
- personal and collective unconscious; personality types based on ways of seeing and responding to the world
- 3 parts of personality; persona, shadow, opposites within personality
- believed personality is the process of becoming whole-becoming 'self'
- personality continues throughout whole life
- proposed 4 opposites (see notes)
- key influences on Freud's ideas
- introduction to personality
- problem with twin studies
- studies use volunteers therefore biased
- Mz twins share more environment than Dz twins (closer, treated similarly, share friends)
- twins reared apart are very rare, not always separated at birth and have some contact
Comments
No comments have yet been made