Personality
the unique characteristics that account for all patterns of inner experience and outward behaviour
- collection of thoughts and beliefs
- varies from one individual to another
historic perspective on personality
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Freud and Psychoanalytic Theory
Freud and others shared the same view- personality and — is shaped by interacting or — underlying forces
Based on his clinical practice be decided that people are influenced by their “—-“
-developed — -type of therapy based on this theory of discovering one’s unconscious
-one of the first to state that the parent-child relationship influences how people feel about themselves and how they handle intimacy as adults
Personality is based on 3 levels of —-
- the thought and — that we are aware of at any given moment
- holds memories or feeling that we aren’t consciously thinking about, but can be brought to consciousness
- holds memories or feelings that are so unpleasant or anxiety provoking that they are repressed
3 foces in Personality
- — basic instinctual drives
- — rational thoughts, develops due to learning
- — moral limits, develops during childhood
Psychosexual Stages
- Oral(0-18months)- dependent on pleasures fo mouth and on mother
- Anal(18months-3years)- excessive neatness, stubbornness, stingy, controlling
- Phallic(3-6yrs)- Sexual role rigidity or confusion
- Latency(6-puberty)- no fixations for this stage
- Genital(puberty-adult)- Sexual dysfunction and unsatisfactory relationships
Defence Mechanisms
unconscious tactics to protect us from anxiety and internal conflict by dealing with id impulses
Trait Theories- Strength:
- traits become increasingly stable across the adult years
- relatively stable across many situations and cultures
- traits predict other personal attributes and often other behaviours
- there appears to be a strong genetic contribution to personality traits
Trait Theories- Criticism:
- Oversimplify personality
- portray personality as fixes rather than changing
Situationalism
behaviour is governed by situation rather than internal traits
Interactionalism
emphasizes the relationship between a person’s underlying personality traits and the reinforcing aspects of the situations in which people choose to put themselves
Reciprocal Determinism (Bandura)
- exists among environmental, behavioural and internal mental events
- self-efficacy people’s personal beliefs about their ability to achieve the goals they pursue
- advantage- these variables are testable
do genetics contribute to personality?
- separate genetics and environment
- genes are more important than shared environment in development of temperament and traits
- some behaviour tendencies and addictions have genetic components
- environmental experiences may affect the development of psychotic illness in individuals with a genetic predisposition
Phrenology
evaluate mental and moral qualities by examining skull skull shape
Amygdala
- emotionality, motivation, processing negative stimuli
- inhabited children may have an easily activated amygdala in unfamiliar situations, which activates fear and shyness
Hemisphere Dominance
- people with right hemisphere dominance experience increased sadness, inhibition, withdrawal
- people with left hemisphere dominance have more positive emotional and traits such as extraversion
Neurotransmitter Activity- Dopamine
high levels=positive emotions, high energy
low levels= anxiety, inhibition, low energy
Neurotransmitter Activity-Serotonin
low levels=depression violence, impulsivity
Neurotransmitter Activity-Cortisol
High levels=inhibition
