Chapter 11:
Personality and personality traits:
Personality refers to an individual’s unique set of consistent
behavioral traits.
Refers to the stability in a person’s behaviour over time and across
situations- this is known as consistency.
Refers to the behavioural differences among people reacting to the
same situation- this is distinctiveness.
Personality traits are the durable disposition to behave in a
particular manner in a variety of situations.
Fundamental traits are sometimes undertaken by superficial traits.
Theorists depend on a statistical procedure known as Factor
analysis. Factor analysis refers to correlation among many variables
that are analyzed to identify closely related clusters of variables.
Five factor model:
Theorists believe that personality traits are derived directly from five
higher-order traits.
Extraversion: People who score high in extraversion are
described as out-going, sociable, upbeat, friendly, etc. They
have a positive outlook on life and are motivated to pursue
social contact, intimacy, and interdependence.
Neuroticism: People who score high in neuroticism tend to be
hostile, anxious, insecure, vulnerable, and self- conscious.
They tend to be impulsive and more emotionally instable
among others.
Openness to experiences: Openness is associated with the
curiosity of flexibility, imaginativeness, intellectual pursuits,
interest in new ideas and unconventional attitudes. They tend
to be more tolerant of ambiguity.
Agreeableness: People who tend to be cooperative, warm,
sympathetic, trusting, compassionate, modest, and
straightforward. It is correlated with empathy and helping
behaviour.
Conscientiousness: Tendency to be diligent, well organised,
punctual, and dependable. Association with strong self-
discipline and ability to regulate one’s self regularly.
Extraversion (positive Sociable vs retiring
personality)
Neuroticism (negative Warm vs calm
personality)
Openness to experiences Imaginative vs down- to - earth
Agreeableness Soft hearted vs ruthless
Conscientiousness Careful vs careless
They remain relatively stable throughout one’s life and have a 50%
chance of dealing with genetics, race, and gender. They can
determine one’s education and work occupation.
Sigmund Freud on personality structure and role of conflict and
anxiety:
He divided personality structures into three roles: The ID, EGO,
SUPEREGO
1) The id is a primitive, instinctive component of personality, and
operates according to the pleasure principle. It involves high
psychic energy and raw biological urges. The pleasure
principle demands immediate gratification of its urges.
2) Ego is the decision-making component of the personality, and
it operates according to the reality principle. It mediates
between the id. The reality principle, which tries to delay
gratification of the id’s urges until appropriate outlets and
situations can be found.
3) Superego is a moral component of personality that
incorporates social standards about what separates right and
wrong. This usually emerges during a person’s age of 3-5
years.
Levels of awareness incorporate 3 levels of consciousness, including
the preconscious, conscious, and unconscious. Freud realized that a
person’s true feelings are hidden by expressive dreams.
Preconscious contains material just beneath the surface and
can be easily retrievable.
Conscious is whatever is aware at that particular time.
Unconscious contains thoughts, memories, and desires that
are well beneath conscious awareness, but still have a great
impact on behaviour.
Conflict will linger for days, months and possibly years, creating
internal tension.
Sexual and aggressive impulses what society wants to tame; these
conflicts are played out in the conscious.
Unconscious battles produce anxiety that slips into the conscious
awareness.
There are 3 types of urges: Anxiety, sex, and aggression.
Defense mechanisms are largely unconscious reactions that protect
a person from unwanted, unpleasant emotions.
Types of Defense mechanisms:
Rationalism: Creating false but plausible excuses to justify one’s
poor behaviour.
Repression: Keeping distressing feelings and thoughts buried in the
unconscious.
Projection: Is attributing one’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions onto
another.
Displacement: Diverting emotions from an original source to a
substitute target.
Reaction Formation: Behaving in a way that is the opposite of one’s
feelings.
Regression: Reversion to immature patterns of behaviour.
Identification: Boosting self- esteem by forming an imaginary or real
alliance with someone else from a group.
Sublimination: When channeling unconscious, unacceptable
impulses into behaviour that is socially acceptable.
Developmental stages:
Oral stage happens when happens in the first year as the
main source erotic simulation is the mouth (sucking) and
could later form the basis obsessive eating or smoking.
Anal Stage occurs in the second year of life through erotic
pleasure in their bowel movements and could involve anxiety
or sexual urges later in life.
Phallic Stage occurs in the 3–5-year stages where oedipal
complex takes place, the child will manifest erotically tinged
desires for the opposite sex parent, and hostile aggression to
the same sex parent.
Latency and Genital stages: Occur from age 6 to puberty.
Jung agreed with the unconscious.
Alder agreed with childhood experiences.