chapter 14: theories of personality id, ego, and superego freud explained human personality by...

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Chapter Overview Visit the Understanding PsychologyWeb site at psychology.glencoe.comand click on Chapter 14ChapterOverviews to preview the chapter.

PSYCHOLOGY

Psychology JournalThink of a person you have

had a chance to observe in avariety of social settings. Writean entry in your journal de-scribing that persons way ofinteracting with people. Howdo others respond to this per-son? How does this personinfluence others? How do theyinfluence him or her?

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Why did Shelly and Deirdre act so differently in similar situa-tions? There is something inside people that makes them think,feel, and act differently, and that something inside is what wemean by personality. When psychologists talk about aspects of personali-ty, most agree that personality consists of the consistent, enduring, andunique characteristics of a person.

PURPOSES OF THEORIESThe first purpose of personality theories is to provide a way of orga-

nizing the many characteristics you know about yourself and other people. You know people may be outgoing or shy, bossy or meek, quick-tempered or calm, witty or dull, fun-loving or gloomy, industrious or lazy.These words describe general ways of behaving that characterize an indi-vidual. Personality theorists try to determine whether certain traits go

Purposes of PersonalityTheories

personality: the consistent,enduring, and unique character-istics of a person

Main IdeaPersonality theories provide a way oforganizing the many characteristics thatpeople have.

Vocabulary personality

Objectives Describe the major purposes of

personality theories. List the major schools of personality

theory.

Readers GuideExploring Psychology

Its in the PersonalityShelly and Deirdre both failed their

semester examinations in psychology, butthey reacted in very different ways. WhenShelly saw her grade, she felt sick to herstomach and had to fight back tears. Sherushed home, and shut herself up in herroom to lie in bed, stare at the ceiling, and feel inadequate. Deirdre, on the other hand, was all bluster. She ran to the cafeteria to join her friends and makeloud jokes about the stupid questions on the test.

from Understanding Psychology, Richard A.Kasschau, 1995

Chapter 14 / Theories of Personality 375

together, why a person has some traits and not others, and why a personmight exhibit different traits in different situations. There is a good deal of dis-agreement among theorists as to which traits are significant. Nevertheless, alltheorists look to discover patterns in the ways people behave.

A second purpose of any personality theory is to explain the differ-ences among individuals. In so doing, theorists probe beneath the surface.Some theorists might explain different behaviors in terms of motives.Others might try to find out how motives were established in the firstplace. Still other theorists might seek less obvious causes for individualdifferences, arguing, for example, that the roots of these differences couldbe traced back to childhood conflicts.

A third goal of personality theory is to explore how people conducttheir lives. It is no accident that most personality theorists began as psy-chotherapists. In working with people who had difficulty coping witheveryday problems, psychotherapists inevitably developed ideas aboutwhat it takes to live a relatively happy, untroubled life. Personality theo-rists try to explain why problems arise and why they are more difficult forsome people to manage than for others.

In addition, the fourth purpose of personality theory is to determinehow life can be improved. It seems obvious that some people are dissat-isfied with themselves, their parents, their husbands, wives, and children,or their home lives. People resign themselves to unrewarding jobs, andthere is a widespread feeling that much is wrong with society and theworld. Almost everyone recognizes that we need to grow and change,both individually and collectively. But what are the proper goals of growthand change? How can we cope with the inevitable conflicts of life?

Personality psychologists attempt to answer these questions with sys-tematic theories about human behavior. These theories are used to guideresearch. Research, in turn, can test how well a theory explains behavior.Thus, formal personality theories try to make ideas about why people actin certain ways more scientific by stating them precisely and testing themsystematically.

MAJOR SCHOOLS OF PERSONALITY THEORY

Psychology is a young discipline, and the development andtesting of personality theories are still gaining sophistication.There are now many conflicting theories of personality, eachwith positive and negative aspects. Discussing both sides of vari-ous theories helps invigorate the discussion about personality.

In this chapter, we will describe major schools of thoughtamong personality theorists. Psychoanalytic theories, devel-oped by Sigmund Freud and his followers, emphasize theimportance of motives hidden in the unconscious. B.F.Skinner and the behaviorists study the way rewards and pun-ishments shape our actions. Social learning theories examinethe impact of observational learning on personality. Cognitive

376 Chapter 14 / Theories of Personality

Reading CheckHow might psychologists

explain differences in personalities?

PersonalityPsychologists who study person-ality explore whatever it is thatmakes one person think, feel, andact differently from another. Whatare the purposes of personality theories?

Figure 14.1

theorists focus on how our thoughts, perceptions, and feelings shape ourpersonalities. Humanistic theorists, like Abraham Maslow and CarlRogers, stress ones potential for growth, such as creativity and spontane-ity. Finally, trait theorists, like Gordon Allport and Hans Eysenck, empha-size the importance of understanding basic personality characteristics suchas friendliness and aggression.

Each of the theories we will discuss has a different image of humannature. What they have in common is a concern with understanding thedifferences among people.


1. Review the Vocabulary Write yourown definition of personality. How doesyour definition compare to the text-books definition?

2. Visualize the Main Idea Use a graphicorganizer similar to the one below tolist the purposes of personality theories.

3. Recall Information What are themajor schools of personality, and howdo they differ?

4. Think Critically Do you think that youchoose your own behaviors freely, ordo you believe that your current be-haviors are determined by previousbehaviors and events? Explain.

Assessment

5. Application Activity Work with a small groupof students and take turns recalling some earlymemories. Jot down those memories, and discussthe following question: Do these early memoriesrelate to your present personality?

Characteristics of PersonalityFigure 14.2

In psychology, personality refers to the essential characteristics of aperson. Cathy Guisewite, a cartoonist, has given personality charac-teristics to an animala dog. What factors do you think are influ-encing the personality of the dog in this cartoon?

Purposes ofPersonality

Theories

Slips in speaking are common. People usually laugh at them, even ifthey are meaningful; sometimes, however, they are disturbing.Everyone has made a remark that hurt a friend and has later askedhimself, Why did I say that? I didnt mean it. Yet, when he thinks about it, he may realize that he was angry at his friend andwanted to get back at him.

SIGMUND FREUD AND THE UNCONSCIOUSIt was Sigmund Freud who first suggested that the little slips that peo-

ple make, the things they mishear, and the odd misunderstandings theyhave are not really mistakes at all. Freud believed there was something

Psychoanalytic Theories

Main IdeaFreuds psychoanalytic theory proposesthat personality is made up of threecomponents: the id, ego, and superego.

Vocabulary unconscious id ego superego defense mechanisms collective unconscious archetype inferiority complex

Objectives Explain Sigmund Freuds structural

concepts of personality. Describe Carl Jungs theory of

personality.


Just a SlipOne of my colleagues was lecturing

on the importance of regular health care.She said, It is important to visit a veteri-narian for regular checkups. According toFreud, mistakes like substituting veterina-rian for physician are not accidental butrather intentional ways of expressingunconscious desires.

As it turns out, my colleague, who isin very good health, was having seriousdoubts about her relationship with a per-son who happened to be a veterinarian.

from Introduction to Psychology by RodPlotnik, 1999


behind these mistakes, even though people claimed they were just acci-dental and quickly corrected themselves. Similarly, when he listened topeople describe their dreams, he believed the dreams had some uncon-scious meaning, even though the people who dreamed them did notknow what they meant.

Freud was a neurologist who practiced in Vienna in the late 1800sand early 1900s. Since he specialized in nervous disorders, a great manypeople talked to him about their private lives, conflicts, fears, and desires.He concluded that some of the most powerful influences on human per-sonality are things outside our conscious awareness.

Freud was the first modern psychologist to suggest that every per-sonality has a large unconscious, or unaware, component. For Freud,experiences include feelings and thoughts as well as actual events. Freudbelieved that many of our experiences, particularly the painful episodes ofchildhood, are not forgotten but are stored in the unconscious. Althoughwe may not consciously recall these experiences, they continue to influ-ence our behavior. Freud believed that unconscious motives and the feel-ings people experience as children have an enormous impact on adultpersonality and behavior. Between the unconscious and the conscious isthe preconsciousthoughts that can be recalled with relatively little effort. These thoughts consist of information just below the surface ofawareness. Preconscious thoughts may include memories of recentevents, recollections of friends, and simple facts.

THE ID, EGO, AND SUPEREGOFreud explained human personality by saying that it was a kind of

energy system, like a steam engine or an electric dynamo. The energy inpersonality comes from two kinds of powerful instinctsthe life instinctand the death instinct. Freud theorized that all of life moves toward deathand that the desire for a final end shows up in human personality asdestructiveness and aggression. It is important to remember, however,that life instincts were more important in Freuds theory and he saw themprimarily as erotic or pleasure-seeking urges. By 1923, Freud haddescribed what became known as thestructural concepts of the personality: id,ego, and superego (see Figure 14.3). Freudintroduced them as a model of how themind works. In other words, the id, ego,and superego are not actual parts of thebrain; instead, they explain how the mindfunctions and how the instinctual energiesare organized and regulated.

In Freuds theory, the id is the reservoiror container of the instinctual and biologicalurges. At birth, all your energy is invested inthe id, responding unconsciously to inborninstinctive urges for food and water. The id

unconscious: the part of the mind that contains materialof which we are unaware butthat strongly influences con-scious processes and behaviors


PSYCHOLOGY

Student Web Activity Visit the UnderstandingPsychology Web site at psychology.glencoe.comand click on Chapter 14Student Web Activitiesfor an activity on theories of personality.

id: the part of the unconsciouspersonality that contains ourneeds, drives, instincts, andrepressed material

Freuds ModelFigure 14.3

The ego tries to balancethe demands of the id andthe superego and the reali-ties of the world. Theseinteractions and conflictsare represented by arrowsin the figure. Which ofthese components is thesource of guilt feelings?

UNCONSCIOUS

CONSCIOUSEgo

Super-ego

Id

PRECONSCIOUS

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defense mechanisms: cer-tain specific means by whichthe ego unconsciously protectsitself against unpleasantimpulses or circumstances

ego: the part of the personalitythat is in touch with reality andstrives to meet the demands ofthe id and the superego insocially acceptable ways

superego: the part of the per-sonality that is the source ofconscience and counteracts thesocially undesirable impulses of the id

is the lustful, impulsive, fun, or drive-ridden part of the unconscious. Thedemand of Sesame Streets Cookie MonsterMe want cookie!ispure id. It operates in terms of the pleasure principle, seeking immediategratification of desires, regardless of the consequences. Doing something that may hurt someones feelings, lying, and having fun areexamples of the ids influence.

The personality process that is mostly conscious is called the ego.Gradually forming during the second and third years of life and drivenby psychic energy borrowed from the id, the ego is the rational,thoughtful personality process that operates in terms of the reality prin-ciple. If, for example, a person is hungry, the id might drive her to seekimmediate satisfaction by dreaming of food or by eating all the availablefood at once instead of keeping some of it for a later time. The egowould recognize that the body needs real food and that it will continueto need food in the future. It would use the ids energy to preserve someof the food available now and to look for ways of finding more.

Suppose you thought of stealing the desired food from someoneelse. The superego, which represents the learning and incorporation ofyour primary caretakers ideals, is the part of the personality that wouldstop you. The id represents what the person wants to do, the ego planswhat she can do, and the superego advocates what she should do. It isthe moral part of the personality, the source of conscience and of highideals that operates in terms of a moral principle. The superego can alsocreate conflicts and problems. It is sometimes overly harsh, like a verystrict parent. Hence, it is the source of guilt feelings, which come from deviations from what it defines as rightbetter known as the conscience.

The id and the superego frequently come into conflict with each other.Because neither is concerned with reality, they may both come into con-flict with the outside world as well. Freud saw the ego as the part of theperson that must satisfy the demands of the id without offending thesuperego. If the id is not satisfied, the person feels an intolerable tension oflonging or anger or desire. If the superego is not obeyed, the person feelsguilty and inferior. If outside reality is ignored, the person suffers such out-comes as starvation or dislike by other people.

DEFENSE MECHANISMS The egos job is so difficult that all people unconsciously resort to psy-

chological defenses. Rather than face intense frustration, conflict, or feel-ings of unworthiness, people deceive themselves into believing nothing iswrong. If the demands of the id and the ego cannot be resolved, it may benecessary to distort reality. Freud called these techniques defense mechanisms because they defend the ego from experiencing anxietyabout failing in its tasks (see Figure 14.5). Freud believed that these defensemechanisms stem mainly from the unconscious part of the ego. They ordi-narily become conscious to the individual only during a form of psy-chotherapy called psychoanalysisand then only with great difficulty.


To some degree, defense mechanisms are necessary for psychologicalwell-being. They relieve intolerable confusion and stress, help peopleweather intense emotional crises, and give individuals time to work outproblems they might not be able to solve if they allowed themselves tofeel all the pressures at work within them. However, if a person resorts todefense mechanisms all of the time, he will avoid facing and solving hisproblems realistically. A few of the defense mechanisms Freud identifiedare discussed below.

RationalizationIf you explained your poor performance on your last math test by

saying, The test questions were bad; they didnt make sense, rather thanadmitting that you did not study for the test, you practiced rationalization.Rationalization involves making up acceptable excuses for behaviors thatcause us to feel anxious.

RepressionWhen a person has painful memories and unacceptable thoughts and

motives that cause the ego too much anxiety, she may push those thoughtsor urges out of consciousness down into the unconscious. This process iscalled repression. The person simply pushes the disturbing thoughts andmemories out of awareness without ever realizing it. For example, agrown woman whose father is meddling in her life may have the impulseto say, I hate you, Dad. The woman may feel so anxious and afraidabout having such an impulse that she unconsciously will come to believethat what she feels is not hatred. She replaces the feeling with apathy. Shesays, I dont hate you. I have no special feelings at all about you.Nevertheless, the feelings of anger and hostility remain in the uncon-scious and may show themselves in cutting remarks, sarcastic jokes, slipsof the tongue, or dreams.

DenialYou are in denial if you refuse to accept the

reality of something that makes you anxious. Forexample, it is a stormy and frightening night, andthe local television and radio announcers are advis-ing citizens to take cover and observe the tornadowarnings in effect. David does not believe that histown will get hit (he is in denial) and is severelyinjured after failing to heed the warnings.

ProjectionAnother way the ego avoids anxiety is to believe

that impulses coming from within are really comingfrom other people. For example, a boy who isextremely jealous of his girlfriend but does not


Freudian SlipFreudian slips are mistakes or slips of thetongue that we make in everyday speech.Freud believed that these slips reflect ourunconscious thoughts or wishes. What is theFreudian slip that this turkey makes?

Figure 14.4

Reading CheckAccording to Freud, why

do people create defensemechanisms?

want to admit to himself that he is threatened by her independence mayclaim, Im not jealousshes the one whos always asking where Ivebeen, who that girl was I was talking to. Shes the one whos jealous. Thismechanism is called projection because inner feelings are thrown, or pro-jected, outside the self and assigned to others. If a person thinks, forexample, that others dislike him when in reality he dislikes himself, he issaid to be projecting. This is a common mechanism, which you may haveused yourself from time to time.

Reaction FormationReaction formation involves replacing an unacceptable feeling or urge

with an opposite one. For example, a divorced father may resent havinghis child for the weekend. Unconsciously, he believes it is terribly wrongfor a father to react that way, so he showers the child with expressions oflove, toys, and exciting trips. A woman who finds her powerful ambitionsunacceptable may play the role of a weak, helpless, passive female who


Defense MechanismsFigure 14.5

Projection refers to a person seeing attributes of his own personality inothers. Repression is shown by a woman who is not only restraining a

monstrous impulse but alsotrying to conceal from her-self that she is doing so.The displacement of awidows love for her losthusband onto her pets isanother defense mecha-nism. In what ways aredefense mechanismshelpful?

Projection: a person believes that impulses really coming from within himself are coming from other people. (He is jealous of his girlfriendbut claims that shes the one who is jealous.)

Displacement: a widow transfers herlove for her late husband to her cats.

Repression: a person pushes painful memories or anxiety out of her consciousness; a person denies or forgets what is disturbing her.

wants nothing more than to please the men in her lifeunconsciouslycovering up her true feelings. Have you ever put on a front and actedstrong and confident when you were really scared?

RegressionRegression means going back to an earlier and less mature pattern of

behavior. When a person is under severe pressure, he may start acting inways that helped him in the past. For example, he may throw a tempertantrum, make faces, cry loudly, or revert to eating and sleeping all the timethe way he did as a small child. If you have ever been tempted to stick outyour lower lip and pout when you know that you should really accept thatyou cannot have your own way, you have experienced regression.

DisplacementDisplacement occurs when you cannot take out your anger on the

source of your frustrations, so you displace it or take it out on a less pow-erful person. For example, if you wanted to hit your father but were afraidto, you might hit your little brother instead. Your poor brother getsslapped around partly because he reminds you of yourfather and partly because he is not as likely to hit back.

SublimationSublimation refers to redirecting a forbidden desire

into a socially acceptable desire. For example, you maybe so frustrated by your friends arrogant attitude thatyou work extra hard at soccer practice, pushing your-self to your physical limits. You have channeled youraggressive feelings into physical activities.

EVALUATING FREUDS CONTRIBUTIONThe recognition of the tremendous forces that exist

in human personality and the difficulty of controllingand handling them were Freuds great contributions tounderstanding human life. After Freud, it became easierto understand why human life contains so much con-flict. It is a matter, Freud thought, of a savage individ-ual coming to terms with the rules of society. The id isthe savage part, and the superego is the representativeof society. In a healthy person, the ego (the I) isstrong enough to handle the struggle (Hall, 1954).

Freud was also the first psychologist to claim thatinfancy and childhood are critical times for forming apersons basic character structure. In his theory of psy-chosexual development, Freud reasoned that a childgoes through five stages of developmentoral, anal,phallic, latency, and genital. Conflicts arise in each of


Birth OrderAre you either the oldest child in the family

or the youngest? Does this affect your per-sonality? Frank Sulloway (1996) studiedbirth-order effects on personalities, comingup with the following characteristics:

Firstborns are interested in preserving thestatus quo; later-borns are more open tonew experiences and ideas.

Firstborns are usually more responsible,achievement-oriented, and organized thanthose born later.

Later-borns are usually more agreeablethan firstborns.

Firstborns are more jealous and fearfulthan later-borns.

Firstborns have more assertive and domi-nant personalities but may not be as socia-ble as later-borns.

It is important to note that Sullowaysresearch focused on middle- to upper-classpeople in Western cultures and thereforemay not apply to other cultures. Sullowaysresearch also is generalized, meaning it maynot apply to every individual or every family.

the stages. Freud claimed that a childs personality largely developed inthe first five years, during which the child went through the stages ofdevelopment. That childs personality became the result of how the childdealt with the conflicts that arose in each stage of development. Freudbelieved that personality was well formed by the time the child enteredschool and that subsequent growth consisted of elaborating this basicstructure. Freud was the first person to demonstrate how the personalitydevelops in a person. (See Chapter 3 for a more detailed discussion ofFreuds stages of development.)

Freud was also the first person to propose a unified theory to under-stand and explain human behavior. No other theory has been more complete, complex, or controversial. Some psychologists treat Freudswritings as a sacred text. At the other extreme, many have accused Freudof being unscientific by proposing a theory that is too complex to be tested. Freuds theories continue to be debated. Psychoanalysis was thepredecessor of all later theories of personality, which were either exten-sions of Freuds work or reactions against it.

IN FREUDS FOOTSTEPS Freuds revolutionary ideas attracted many followers who disagreed

with him, and a number of these psychoanalysts developed importanttheories of their own.

Carl JungAt one time, Carl Jung (18751961) was Freuds closest associate.

When Freud and Jung started to argue about psychoanalytic theory,though, their personal relationship became strained. They stopped speak-ing to each other entirely a mere seven years after they met.

Jung disagreed with Freud on two major points. First, he took a morepositive view of human nature, believing that people try to develop theirpotential as well as handle their instinctual urges. Second, he distinguishedbetween the personal unconscious, which was similar to Freuds idea ofthe unconscious, and the collective unconscious, which is a storehouseof instincts, urges, and memories of the entire human species throughouthistory. He called these inherited, universal ideas archetypes. The same

archetypes are present in every person. Theyreflect the common experiences of humanityregarding mothers, fathers, nature, war, and so on(see Figure 14.7).

Jung went on to identify the archetypes bystudying dreams and visions, paintings, poetry, folkstories, myths, and religions. He found that the samethemesthe archetypesappear again and again.He found that many cultures share certain myths,dreams, religious beliefs, and symbols separated bytime. For example, the story of Jack and theBeanstalk is essentially the same as the story of


collective unconscious:the part of the mind that con-tains inherited instincts, urges,and memories common to allpeople

Carl JungFigure 14.6

Carl G. Jung was oneof the most mysticaland metaphysical of thepioneer theorists. What is the collective unconscious?

archetype: an inherited idea,based on the experiences ofones ancestors, which shapesones perception of the world

David and Goliath. Both tell how a small, weak, good person triumphsover a big, strong, bad person. Jung believed such stories are commonand easy to understand because the situations they describe haveoccurred over and over again in human history and have been stored asarchetypes in the unconscious of every human being (Jung, 1963). Jungargued that these archetypes influence our thoughts and feelings and helpus build the foundation of our personalities. For example, one archetypeis our sense of self. Our sense of self gives us direction and provides asense of completeness. We use the concepts in our personal unconsciousand collective unconscious to develop our personalities. We fit ourpersonalities to these concepts. In the process of fitting our person-alities to these beliefs, we may hide our real feelings and our realpersonalities, though.

Alfred AdlerLike Jung, Alfred Adler (18701937) was an associate

of Freud who left his teacher in the early part of the twen-tieth century to develop his own approach to personalitytheory. Adler believed that the driving force in peopleslives is a desire to overcome their feelings of inferiority.Classic examples are Demosthenes, who overcame aspeech impediment by practicing speaking with pebbles inhis mouth and became the greatest orator of ancientGreece; Napoleon, a short man who conquered Europe inthe early 1800s; and Glenn Cunningham, an Olympic run-ner who, as a child, lost his toes in a fire and had to pleadwith doctors who wanted to amputate his legs becausethey thought he would never be able to use them again.

Everyone struggles with inferiority, said Adler. He describes a personwho continually tries to compensate for his weakness and avoid feelingsof inadequacy as having an inferiority complex. Children first feelinferior because they are so little and so dependent on adults. Graduallythey learn to do the things that older people can do. The satisfaction thatcomes from such simple acts as walking or learning to use a spoon setsup a pattern of overcoming inadequacies, a pattern that persists through-out life. Adler called these patterns lifestyles.

Adler believed that the way parents treat their children influences thestyles of life they choose. Overpampering, in which the parents attempt tosatisfy the childs every whim, tends to produce a self-centered person whohas little regard for others and who expects everyone else to do what he orshe wants. On the other hand, the child who is neglected by his or her par-ents may seek revenge by becoming an angry, hostile person. Both thepampered and the neglected child tend to grow into adults who lack con-fidence in their ability to meet the demands of life. Ideally, said Adler, achild should learn self-reliance and courage from the father and generosityand a feeling for others from the mother (Adler, 1959). Adler believed thatall humans are motivated by social urges and that each person is a socialbeing with a unique personality.


inferiority complex: a pat-tern of avoiding feelings ofinadequacy rather than trying toovercome their source

Archetypes

According to Jungs theory, LukeSkywalker can be considered anarchetype of a hero and of good-ness. What are archetypes?

Figure 14.7


Other TheoristsAlthough Jung and

Adler were the first figuresto break with Freud, manyothers have followed. ErichFromms (19001980) the-ory centered around theneed to belong and theloneliness that freedom can bring. Karen Horney(18851952) stressed theimportance of basic anxi-ety, which a child feelsbecause she is helpless, andbasic hostility, a resent-ment of ones parents thatgenerally accompanies thisanxiety. She also disagreedwith Freud on several basicbeliefs. Horney believedthat if a child is raised in an

atmosphere of love and security, that child could avoid Freuds psycho-sexual parent-child conflict.

Erik Erikson (19021994) accepted Freuds basic theory, but he out-lined eight psychosocial stages (described in Chapter 3) that every persongoes through from birth to old age and that describe the importance ofinteracting with other people. These and other neo-Freudians have helpedkeep psychoanalytic theory alive and debated (Friman et al., 1993).

1. Review the Vocabulary Explain howthe id, ego, and superego work togetherin a person.

2. Visualize the Main Idea Using a dia-gram similar to the one below, describethe basic views of personality of the following psychoanalysts: Carl Jung,Alfred Adler, and Sigmund Freud.

3. Recall Information What is the differ-ence between personal unconscious andcollective unconscious? How does theunconscious affect our personalities?

4. Think Critically What part of a per-sonalityid, ego, or superegodo youthink is the most important? Explainyour answer.

Assessment

5. Application Activity Create a cartoon thatillustrates the use of one of the defense mecha-nisms discussed in this section.

Psychoanalyst Views of Personality

Finding Individual Fulfillment

According to Adler, each person creates a plana lifestyleforachieving superiority. The lifestyle of this Buddhist monk differs fromthat of Bill Gates. Each may have a different path to fulfillment. Howdoes Adlers theory differ from Freuds?

Figure 14.8


In the excerpt above, Martin Luther King, Jr., described the behavior ofsome African Americans in the 1950s. King, a leader in the strugglefor civil rights, observed this behavior and looked to the environmentto see what was causing it. King recognized that an oppressive systemmaintained these behaviors. Like King, behaviorists look to the environ-ment to see what is reinforcing behavior.

American psychology has long been dominated by the study ofhuman and animal learning. John Watson believed that the proper subjectmatter of psychology ought to be observable behavior. He believed that ifit could not be seen, then it could not be studied. His beliefs led to thestudy of behavior and what is called behaviorism. Behaviorists believethat as individuals differ in their learning experiences, they acquire differ-ent behaviors and, hence, different personalities.

Learning Theories

behaviorism: belief that theproper subject matter of psy-chology is objectively observ-able behaviorand nothing else

Main IdeaBehaviorists are interested in howaspects of personality are learned.

Vocabulary behaviorism contingencies of reinforcement

Objectives Describe Skinners concept of

personality. Explain Banduras social cognitive

theory of personality.


Responding to OppressionThere is such a thing as the freedom

of exhaustion. Some people are so worndown by the yoke of oppression that theygive up. A few years ago in the slum areasof Atlanta, a Negro guitarist used to singalmost daily: Been down so long thatdown dont bother me. This is the type of negative freedom and resignation thatoften engulfs the life of the oppressed.

But this is not the way out. To acceptpassively an unjust system is to cooperatewith that system; thereby the oppressedbecome as evil as the oppressor. . . .

from Stride Toward Freedom: The MontgomeryStory by Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963


B.F. SKINNER: BEHAVIORISMAlthough his behaviorism was not pro-

posed as a theory of personality, B.F.Skinner had a major impact on personalitytheory. Skinner saw no need for a generalconcept of personality structure. Hefocused instead on precisely what causes aperson to act in a specific way. It is a verypragmatic approach, one that is less con-cerned with understanding behavior thanwith predicting it and controlling it. Hewas interested in how aspects of ones per-sonality are learned. (See Chapter 9 formore discussion of behaviorism.)

Consider the case of Ruben, a collegesophomore who has been rather depressedlately. Sigmund Freud would likely seek theroots of Rubens unhappiness in events inhis childhood. Skinners approach is moredirect. First, Skinner would reject the vaguelabel depressed. Instead, he would ask exactlyhow Ruben behaves. The answer may bethat Ruben spends most of the day in his

room, cuts all his classes, rarely smiles or laughs, and makes little effort totalk to anyone.

Skinner would try to understand the contingencies of reinforce-ment. What conditions are reinforcing these behaviors? What rewardsdoes Ruben receive for never leaving his room? One hypothesis is thatRubens girlfriend Brandi has unintentionally reinforced this behavior byspending a lot of time with him, trying to cheer him up. Perhaps she didnot pay enough attention to Ruben before he was depressed. Note thatSkinners approach immediately suggests a hypothesis that can be provedtrue or false. If paying attention to Ruben encourages his depression, thenignoring him should decrease the likelihood of this behavior. Brandi,therefore, might try ignoring Ruben for a few days. If he then starts leav-ing his room, which she should reinforce, she has discovered the contin-gencies of reinforcement that govern Rubens behavior. If he does notleave his room, she will know that the hypothesis is wrong, and she cantry something else. Perhaps Ruben is glued to the television in his roomall day and has become a game show addict. Take away the television,and you will find out whether that is the reinforcer.

At first, behaviorism may seem to imply that Ruben is somehow fak-ing his depression so that he can watch game shows or see more of hisgirlfriend. Skinner does not make this assumption. Ruben may be entire-ly unaware of the rewards that are shaping his behavior. In any case,Rubens feelings are beside the point. What matters is not what is goingon inside Rubens head but how he is behaving. The point is to specifyhis behavior and then find out what causes it.

contingencies of reinforcement: the occurrence of rewards or punishments following particular behaviors

Skinner devised a box to test the observable behavior of rats. According to Skinner, what motivates behavior?

Reading CheckHow do behaviorists

study personality?

B.F. Skinners BoxFigure 14.9

IF WE DIDNT DO SO WELL IN THE EASY BOX, THEYWOULDNT HAVE GIVEN US THIS COMPLICATED BOX.


Skinners approach has becomevery popular among psychologists,partly because it is so action-oriented.Followers of Skinner have appliedthe techniques to a wide range ofbehaviors, from teaching pigeons toplay table tennis to teaching severelymentally handicapped people todress themselves and take part insimple activities once believedbeyond their abilities. Therapies havealso been devised to help people withspecific behavioral problems, such asphobias and obsessive-compulsivebehavior.

Other human behavior, too, canbe changed using rewards and punish-ments. The success of behavioristswith most people has been limited,however, partly because our rein-forcers are so complex. To behavior-ists, behavior in general is a combina-tion of specific behaviors that havebeen reinforced, or learned. To changebehavior, you change the reinforcer.

ALBERT BANDURA: SOCIALCOGNITIVE THEORY

Skinner emphasized reinforcement in his description of how person-alities develop. Albert Bandura and his colleague Richard Walters (1963),however, argued that personality is acquired not only by direct reinforce-ment of behavior but also by observational learning, or imitation. As youremember from Chapter 9, in observational learning a person acquires anew behavior by watching the actions of another person. For example, toteach a child how to hit a baseball with a bat, you could hand the childthe bat and ball and reinforce him every time he used the bat and ball cor-rectly. However, you would probably demonstrate the correct way tohold the bat and swing at the ball instead because this way the childwould acquire the behavior more quickly. Bandura and Walters believedthat much of a young childs individual behavior and personality isacquired by exposure to specific everyday models.

In Banduras view, people direct their own behavior by their choiceof models. In part, when your parents object to the company you keep,they are trying to change the models you use. The most effective modelsare those who are the most similar to and most admired by the observer.Thus, you are more likely to learn new behaviors from friends of yourchoosing than from friends your parents choose for you.

What Is Your Locus of Control?

Julian Rotter wrote the first book describing the socialcognitive approach to personality. Rotter argued that a per-sons behavior depends not only on objective, situationalfactors but also on that persons subjective beliefs. Our locusof control refers to our beliefs about how much control wehave over certain situations. If you believe that you do havecontrol over situations, you have an internal locus of con-trol. If you think that your fate is determined by forcesbeyond your control, you have an external locus of control.People with an internal locus of control are, on average, lessanxious and more content with life than those with anexternal locus of control.

To find a persons locus of control, a psychologistmight ask the person if he believes the following:

1. In the long run, people get what they deserve.

2. Most tests are fair if a student is prepared.

3. Many times, tests are so unfair that studying is wasted energy.

4. It is better to make decisions and take action than to trust fate.


1. Review the Vocabulary According tobehaviorism, what is the proper subjectmatter of psychology? How does thisrelate to the study of personality?

2. Visualize the Main Idea Using a dia-gram similar to the one below, compareand contrast the following theories ofbehavior: behaviorism and social cognition.

3. Recall Information Why do you thinkpeople have different personalities?How would behaviorists explain the differences?

4. Think Critically How would behavior-ists and social learning theorists explaina persons persistence in becoming anaccomplished tennis player?

Assessment

5. Application Activity Choose a behavior of ayounger sibling or of a friend that you would liketo see change. Suggest a way to do so, using rein-forcers to change the particular behavior.

Behaviorism Social Cognition

Similarities

Bandura has made sig-nificant contributions to thedevelopment of behavioraltheories of personality. Hissocial cognitive theory(1986) recognizes the inter-action called reciprocal deter-minism that occurs amongthe observing individual,the behavior of that individ-ual, and the environment inwhich the behavior occurs(see Figure 14.10). Oneimportant concept thatgoverns our behavior is ourview of our ability to suc-

ceed, which Bandura called self-efficacy. You decide whether to go on adate by assessing the environmentthe weather, your parents currentstate of mind, your potential dates recent behaviorsthe effects of yourown past behavior, and your long-term past successes and failures. Thisleads to the development of an expectancy of success. As the behaviorunfolds, you also develop outcome expectations. As long as they remain pos-itive, you will keep trying.

Whereas psychoanalytic theories emphasize the influence of child-hood experiences, irrational thoughts, and unconscious forces, the advan-tage of learning theories of personality is that they focus on concreteactions that can be tested and measured. However, critics argue that thelearning theories do not explain personality, nor do they give enoughattention to the influence of genetic factors, emotions, and childhoodexperiences on personality.

Banduras Social Cognitive TheoryAccording to Banduras theory, a persons personality is shaped byan interaction among three forcescognitive factors, behaviors, andenvironmental factors. What are the cognitive factors?

Figure 14.10

Personality Development

1. Cognitive-Personal Factors:our beliefs, expectations, values, intentions,social roles, as well as our emotional makeupand biological and genetic influences

2. Behaviors:our personal actions

3. Environmental Factors:our social, political, and cultural influencesand our personal learning experiences


In 1947 life in America was one of segregation. There were separateschools for African Americans and whites, separate restaurants, sepa-rate hotels, separate drinking fountains, and even separate baseballleaguesthat is, until Jackie Robinson began playing for the BrooklynDodgers. Robinson played the game passionately and, despite colossalobstacles, changed the face of baseball. His experience shows the impactthat believing in ones own abilities can have on personal success. Theidea that individuals perceptions of themselves can become their realityis part of the humanistic and cognitive theories of personality.

Humanistic and CognitiveTheories

Main IdeaHumanistic and cognitive theories ofpersonality stress the positive aspects ofhuman nature.

Vocabulary humanistic psychology self-actualization self positive regard conditions of worth unconditional positive regard fully functioning

Objectives Explain Maslows idea of self-

actualization. Describe Carl Rogerss view of human

behavior.


Changing a NationJackie Robinson had to be bigger

than life. He had to be bigger than theBrooklyn teammates who got up a peti-tion to keep him off the ball club, biggerthan the pitchers who threw at him or thebase runners who dug their spikes into hisshin, bigger than the bench jockeys whohollered for him to carry their bags andshine their shoes, bigger than the so-calledfans who mocked him with mops on theirheads and wrote him death threats. . . .Somehow, though, Jackie had the strengthto suppress his instincts, to sacrifice hispride for his peoples. It was an incredibleact of selflessness that brought the racescloser together than ever before andshaped the dreams of an entire generation.

from Jackie Robinson by Henry Aaron inTIME magazine, June 14, 1999


HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGYHumanistic psychology may be viewed as a rebellion against the

rather negative, pessimistic view of human nature that dominated person-ality theory in the early 1900s. Psychoanalysts emphasized the struggle tocontrol primitive, instinctual urges on the one hand and to come to termswith the demands of the superego, or conscience, on the other. Thebehaviorists, too, saw human behavior in mechanistic terms: our actionsare shaped by rewards and punishments. Humanistic psychologists objectto both approaches on the grounds that they demean human beingsFreud by emphasizing irrational and destructive instincts, Skinner byemphasizing only external causes of behavior. In contrast, the humanistsstress our ability to create and live by personal standards and perceptions.

Humanistic psychology is founded on the belief that all human beingsstrive for self-actualizationthat is, the realization of our potentialitiesas unique human beings. Self-actualization involves an openness to a widerange of experiences, an awareness of and respect for ones own and otherpeoples uniqueness, accepting the responsibilities of freedom and com-mitment, a desire to become more and more authentic or true to oneself,and an ability to grow.

ABRAHAM MASLOW: GROWTH AND SELF-ACTUALIZATION

Abraham Maslow (19081970) became one ofthe guiding spirits of the humanistic movement inpsychology. He deliberately set out to create whathe called a third force in psychology as an alter-native to psychoanalysis and behaviorism. Maslowtried to base his theory of personality on studies ofhealthy, creative, self-actualizing people who fullyutilize their talents and potential rather than onstudies of disturbed individuals.

When Maslow decided to study the most pro-ductive individuals he could findin history as wellas in his social and professional circleshe brokenew ground. Psychotherapists developed the theo-ries of personality discussed earlier after years ofworking with people who could not cope witheveryday frustrations and conflicts. In contrast,Maslow was curious about people who not onlycoped with everyday problems effectively but who also created exceptional lives for themselves,people like Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, andEleanor Roosevelt.

Maslow found that although these peoplesometimes had great emotional difficulties, theyadjusted in ways that allowed them to become

humanistic psychology:a school of psychology thatemphasizes personal growthand the achievement of maximum potential by eachunique individual

self-actualization: thehumanist term for realizingones unique potential

Jackie Robinson was the first AfricanAmerican to play in major league baseball and became a hero to millions. Here he stealshome. How does Robinsons life reflect thehumanist ideal of self-actualization?

An American FirstFigure 14.11


highly productive. Maslow also found that self-actualized individuals sharea number of traits (see Figure 14.12). First, they perceive reality accu-rately, unlike most people who, because of prejudices and wishful think-ing, perceive it rather inaccurately. Self-actualized people also acceptthemselves, other people, and their environments more readily than mostpeople do. Without realizing it, most of us project our hopes and fearsonto the world around us. We deny our own shortcomings and try to ratio-nalize or change things we do not like about ourselves. Self-actualizingindividuals accept themselves as they are.

Characteristics of Self-Actualized People

Maslow proposed the concept of a self-actualized personality, which is a personalitywith high productivity and enjoyment of life.Do you think any person can develop aself-actualized personality, regardless of his or her social or economic status?Explain.

Figure 14.12

They are realistically oriented.

They accept themselves, other people, and the natural world for what they are.

They have a great deal of spontaneity.

They are problem-centered rather than self-centered.

They have an air of detachment and a need for privacy.

They are autonomous and independent.

Their appreciation of people and things is fresh rather than stereotyped.

Most of them have had profound mystical or spiritual experiences, although notnecessarily religious in character.

They identify with humanity.

Their intimate relationships with a few specially loved people tend to be pro-found and deeply emotional rather than superficial.

Their values and attitudes are democratic.

They do not confuse means with ends.

Their sense of humor is philosophical rather than hostile.

They have a great fund of creativeness.

They resist conformity to the culture.

They transcend the environment rather than just coping with it.

Source: Abraham Maslow, Motivation and Personality, New York: Harper & Row, 1970.


Because they are secure in themselves, self-actualized individuals aremore problem-centered than self-centered. They are able to focus ontasks in a way that people concerned about maintaining and protectingtheir self-image cannot. They are more likely to base decisions on ethicalprinciples rather than on calculations of the possible costs or benefits tothemselves. They have a strong sense of identity with other humanbeings, and they have a strong sense of humor but laugh with people, notat them.

Maslow also found that self-actualized people are exceptionallyspontaneous. They do not try to be anything other than themselves, andthey know themselves well enough to maintain their integrity in the faceof opposition, unpopularity, and rejection. They are autonomous. Theyvalue privacy and frequently seek out solitude. This is not to say thatthey are detached or aloof; rather than trying to be popular, they focus on deep, loving relationships with the few people to whom theyare truly close.

Finally, the people Maslow studied had a rare ability to appreciateeven the simplest things. They approached their lives with a sense of discovery that made each day a new day. They rarely felt bored or unin-terested. Given to moments of intense joy and satisfaction, or peak ex-periences, they enjoyed life itself. Maslow believed this to be both a causeand an effect of their creativity and originality (Maslow, 1970).

Maslow believed that to become self-actualized, a person must first satisfy his or her basic, primary needsfor food and shelter, physicalsafety, love and belonging, and self-esteem. Of course, to some extent theability to satisfy these needs is often beyond our control. Still, no amountof wealth, talent, or beauty can totally shield someone from frustrationand disappointment. All people have to adjust to maintain themselvesand to grow.

Many psychologists have criticized Maslows work. His claim thathuman nature is good, for example, has been called an intrusion of sub-jective values into what should be a neutral science. The levels of specificneeds, such as physical contact comfort, discussed in Chapter 12, havenot been defined (Feist, 1985). His study of self-actualizing people has

been criticized becausethe sample was chosenon the basis of Maslowsown subjective criteria.How can one identifyself-actualized peoplewithout knowing thecharacteristics of suchpeople? But then, if oneknows these characteris-tics to begin with, whatsense does it make to list them as if they werethe results of an empiri-cal study?

Proclaiming Your Self-Worth

You can progress toward self-actualization after you have developed asense of self-esteem, or self-worth. What traits associated with Maslowsdefinition of a self-actualized person does Charlie Brown display?

Figure 14.13

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nuts

rep

rinte

d b

y p

erm

issi

on o

f U

nite

d F

eatu

re S

ynd

icat

e, In

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self: ones experience orimage of oneself, developedthrough interaction with others

positive regard: viewingoneself in a positive light due topositive feedback received frominteraction with others

conditions of worth: theconditions a person must meetin order to regard himself orherself positively

CARL ROGERS: SELFTHEORY

Carl Rogers (19021987)called the people he counseledclients, not patients. Theword patient implies illness, anegative label that Rogersrejected. As a therapist, Rogerswas primarily concerned withthe path to self-actualization,or full functioning, as hecalled it. Rogers believedthat many people sufferfrom a conflict betweenwhat they value in them-selves and what theybelieve other people valuein them. There are twosides or parts to every per-son. Rogers believed thateach person is constantlystruggling to become moreand more complete andperfect. Anything that fur-thers this end is goodtheperson wants to becomeeverything he or she canpossibly be. Different peo-ple have different potential-ities, but every personwants to realize thesepotentialities, to makethem real, whatever theyare. Whatever you can do,you want to doand do aswell as possible. This opti-mism about human natureis the essence of humanism.

Each individual also has what Rogers called a self. The self is essen-tially your image of who you are and what you valuein yourself, inother people, in life in general. The self is something you acquire gradu-ally over the years by observing how other people react to you. You wantapproval or positive regard. You ask yourself, How does she see me?If the answer is She loves me. She likes what I am and what I do, thenyou begin to develop positive regard for yourself.

Yet often this does not happen. In other words, she places conditionson her love: If you do what she wants, she likes you. Young and impres-sionable, you accept these verdicts and incorporate conditions of worth

C arl Rogers is best known for his role in the development ofcounseling. Rogers believed that therapy should focus on presentproblemspsychologists should not dwell on the past and the causesof present problems. Rogers believed that people are basically goodand can solve their own problems once they realize that they can.

Rogers started out by rejecting two principles. He first beganstudying to become a minister, but then he started to doubt thatthe religious approach was the most effective way of helping peo-ple. Then, while training to become a psychoanalyst, Rogers real-ized that psychoanalysts focused on gaining insight into the causesof a patients problems. Rogers rejected this approach, finally creat-ing his client-centered approach. Rogers used his approach to helpclients better understand their subjective experiences and thenwork to change their own subjective views of themselves, theworld, and other people.

Rogers was also a teacher. He advocated one-on-oneapproaches to teaching. He saw the role of the teacher as onewho creates an environment for engagement; that is, the teacherinspires an exploratory atmosphere in which students seekanswers to problems.

Carl Rogers19021987

[T]he client knows whathurts, what directions to

go, what problems arecrucial, what experi-

ences have been buried.

Profiles In Psychology


into yourself. You begin to see yourself as good and worthy only if youact in certain ways. You have learned from your parents and from otherpeople who are significant to you that unless you meet certain conditions,you will not be loved.

Rogerss work as a therapist convinced him that people cope withconditions of worth by rejecting or denying parts of their person that donot fit their self-concept. For example, if your mother grew cold and dis-tant whenever you became angry, you learned to deny yourself the rightto express or perhaps even feel anger. In effect, you are cutting off a partof your whole being; you are allowing yourself to experience and expressonly part of what you are.

The greater the gap between the self and the person, the more limited and defensive a person becomes. Rogers believed the cure for this situationand the way to prevent it from ever developingisunconditional positive regard. If significant others (parents, friends, amate) convey the feeling that they value you for what you are in yourentirety, you will gradually learn to grant yourself the same uncondi-tional positive regard. The need to limit yourself declines or never devel-ops in the first place. You will be able to accept your person and becomeopen to all your feelings, thoughts, and experiencesand hence to otherpeople. This is what Rogers meant by fully functioning. The person and

the self are one. The individual is free to develop all ofhis or her potentialities. Like Maslow and other human-istic psychologists, Rogers believed that self-regard andregard for others go together and that the human poten-tial for good and self-fulfillment outweighs the potentialfor evil and despair (Rogers, 1951, 1961, 1980).

Humanistic approaches to personality emphasizethat life is a conscious experiencethat is, we freelychoose how we spend our lives. Our conscious experi-ence, though, is private and subjective. Critics argue thatthe humanistic theories cannot be tested. These theoriesdescribe behavior rather than explain it. Humaniststhemselves argue that each individual is unique, andtherefore their theories cannot predict behavior.

COGNITIVE THEORYCognitive theory is based on analysis of our own

perceptions, thoughts, and feelings. George Kelly(19051967) based his theory simply on an analysis ofour perception of ourselves and our environment. InKellys view, our personality consists of our thoughtsabout ourselves.

The fundamental idea of Kellys personal construct theory of personality is that our processes are psycholog-ically channelized by the ways in which (each of us)anticipates events (Kelly, 1958). He was concerned with

fully functioning: an indi-vidual whose person and selfcoincide

Culture and PersonalityAs you read this chapter, you should

realize that the personality theories presentedhere do not apply to all humans. The obser-vations on which these theories are basedcenter primarily on studies of people in NorthAmerica and Western Europe. Those studied,then, represent only a minority of the humanson Earth. People in non-Western culturesmay look at themselves differently. For in-stance, such a person may not view herselfas a separate entity from her family or com-munity. Concepts such as internal locus ofcontrol, self-efficacy, and optimism may havedifferent meanings depending on ones cul-ture. In one study of Asian Americans, forexample, those who expressed pessimismabout their abilities performed better at solv-ing problems than those who expressedoptimism (Chang, 1996). In studies ofCaucasian Americans, just the oppositeresults occurredan optimistic belief inones abilities correlates positively with problem solving.

unconditional positiveregard: the perception that individuals significant othersvalue them for what they are,which leads the individuals togrant themselves the sameregard

Reading CheckWhat is the self as

Rogers defines it?


individual people and their cognitive behav-ior. He emphasized psychological processeswithin each of us, noting that these pro-cesses are channeled. By that he meant thatthere is organization to how we behave, gov-erned by a network of potential but limitedresponses. The emphasis is on the individualand his or her plansincluding biases,errors, mistakes, and false conclusions. Theprimary feature of these personally con-structed ideas about the world and how tobehave in it is the individuals anticipationsor predictionsabout his or her world. Allof this is focused on governing the individ-uals behavior in real events. In effect, ourideas of ourselves, of others, and of our worldshape our behavior and our personalities.

Kelly went on to develop ideas involv-ing our individuality in how we developour personal constructs. Our personal con-structs are basically our schemasour mentalrepresentations of people, events, and con-cepts. These constructs, or schemas, influence what we pay attention to,how we interpret events and people, and how we respond to events andpeople. Our constructs may bias our thoughts or distort our perceptions.Kelly took an optimistic view of humans. In his theory, we are mastersrather than victims of our destiny. Our personal constructs tend to be sta-ble, but we are able to change them in light of new evidence. All in all,Kellys is a very flexible model of human behavior.

Im OKYoure OKFigure 14.14

Rogers proposed that people should relate to oneanother with unconditional positive regard. What isunconditional positive regard?

1. Review the Vocabulary What is self-actualization? How does one achieve it?

2. Visualize the Main Idea Using a dia-gram similar to the one below, illustratethe steps an individual needs to take tobe fully functioning, according toRogerss theory.

3. Recall Information How do conditionsof worth influence your personality,according to Rogers?

4. Think Critically Do you think uncon-ditional positive regard is important forhealthy personality development? Whyor why not?

Assessment

5. Application Activity Think of a close friend,family member, or one of your heroes. Using theinformation in Figure 14.12, evaluate which traitsof self-actualized individuals he or she shares.

1

2

3Fully Functioning Individual

Terms such as nice, smart, and arrogant refer to personality traits.Some theorists have argued that studying such traits in detail isthe best approach to solving the puzzle of human behavior.A trait is any relatively enduring way in which one individual differs

from another (Guilford, 1959). A trait, then, is a predisposition torespond in a certain way in many different kinds of situationsin a den-tists office, at a party, or in a classroom. More than any other personal-ity theorists, trait theorists emphasize and try to explain the consistencyof a normal, healthy individuals behavior in different situations.

Trait Theories

trait: a tendency to react to asituation in a way that remainsstable over time

Main IdeaTrait theorists believe that charactertraits account for consistency of behav-ior in different situations.

Vocabulary trait cardinal trait factor analysis surface trait source trait extravert introvert

Objectives Explain the main features of trait

personality. Describe Allports, Cattells, and

Eysencks theories of personality.


Characteristics of PersonalityTell me about Nelson, said Johnetta. Oh, hes just terrific. Hes the friend-

liest guy I knowgoes out of his way tobe nice to everyone. He hardly ever getsmad. Hes just so even-tempered, no mat-ter whats happening. And hes reallysmart, too. About the only thing I dontlike is that hes always in such a hurry toget things done. He seems to have bound-less energy, much more than I have.

He sounds great to me, especially incomparison to Rico, replied Johnetta. Heis so self-centered and arrogant it drivesme crazy. I sometimes wonder why I everstarted going out with him.

from Understanding Psychology by Robert S.Feldman, 2002


WHAT IS THE TRAIT THEORY OF PERSONALITY?

Trait theorists generally make two basicassumptions about these underlying sourcesof consistency. First, every trait applies to allpeople. For example, everyone can be classi-fied as more or less dependent. Second, thesedescriptions can be quantified. We might, forexample, establish a scale on which anextremely dependent person scores 1, while avery independent person scores 10.

Thus, every trait can be used to des-cribe people. Aggressiveness, for example, ismeasured on a continuum; a few people areextremely aggressive or extremely unaggres-sive, and most of us fall somewhere in themiddle. We understand people by specifyingtheir traits, and we use traits to predict peo-ples future behavior.

Trait theorists go beyond this kind ofcommon-sense analysis, however, to try todiscover the underlying sources of the consis-tency of human behavior. What is the bestway to describe the common features ofsomeones behavior? Is he friendly, or sociallyaggressive, or interested in people, or self-confident, or something else? What underly-ing trait best explains his behavior?

Most (but not all) trait theorists believethat a few basic traits are central for all people.An underlying trait of self-confidence, forexample, might be used to explain moresuperficial characteristics like social aggressiveness and dependency. If thiswere true, it would mean that a person would be dependent because he orshe lacked self-confidence. Psychologists who accept this approach set outon their theoretical search for basic traits with very few assumptions.

This is very different from the starting point of other personality the-orists we have considered. Freud, for example, began with a well-definedtheory of instincts. When he observed that some people were stingy, heset out to explain this in terms of his theory. Trait theorists would notstart by trying to understand stinginess. Rather, they would try to deter-mine whether stinginess was a trait. That is, they would try to find outwhether people who were stingy in one type of situation were also stingyin others. Then they might ask whether stinginess is a sign of a morebasic trait like possessiveness: Is the stingy person also very possessive inrelationships? Thus, the first and foremost question for the trait theoristsis, What behaviors go together?


Reading CheckHow does trait theory

differ from psychoanalytic theo-ries of personality?

Thats Mr. Brock. He didnt have a happy New Year, a happy Valentines Day, a happy St. Patricks Day, a happy Easter, a happy Fathers Day, a happy Halloween, a happy Thanks-giving, or a merry Christmas. He did have, however, a safe

and sane Fourth of July.

This cartoon highlights personality traits. Often wedescribe a persons personality in terms of traits.Which personality traits does this cartoon emphasize?

Personality TraitsFigure 14.15

GORDON ALLPORT: IDENTIFYING TRAITSGordon W. Allport (18971967) was an influential psychologist in

his day. A trait, Allport said, makes a wide variety of situations func-tionally equivalent; that is, a persons traits will be consistent in differ-ent situations. Allport, along with H.S. Odbert, probed an English dictionary, searching for words that described personality traits. Theyfound almost 18,000 such words. They then narrowed the list by group-ing synonyms and keeping just one word for each cluster of synonyms.Finally, they found the opposites of each word and eliminated them. Forexample, if they found honesty and dishonesty, they eliminated dishonestybecause it is the opposite of honesty. Allport defined common traits asthose that apply to everyone and individual traits as those that applymore to a specific person.

Allport described three kinds of individual traits. A cardinal trait isone that is so pervasive that the person is almost identified with that trait.An example would be Scrooge, who is identified as stingy and cold-hearted in Charles Dickenss tale A Christmas Carol. A central trait makes

us predictable (shes assertive; hes aflirt) in most situations. Secondarytraits, such as our preferences infood and music, are least importantto Allport and have a less consistentinfluence on us.

An example of an individualtrait is found in Allports book let-ters from Jenny (1965), which con-sists of hundreds of letters that awoman whom Allport calls JennyMasterson wrote to a friend (seeReadings in Psychology, p. 408).Jenny reveals herself in these let-ters, which she wrote between theages of 58 and 70, as a complex andfiercely independent woman. In hispreface to the book, Allport wrote:

[The] fascination of theLetters lies in their challenge tothe reader (whether psycholo-gist or layman) to explainJennyif he can. Why does anintelligent lady behave so persis-tently in a self-defeating manner?

Allports own attempt to under-stand Jenny began with a search forthe underlying traits that wouldexplain the consistency of herbehavior.


Reserved Outgoing

Less intelligent More intelligent

Affected by feelings Emotionally stable

Submissive Dominant

Serious Happy-go-lucky

Expedient Conscientious

Timid Venturesome

Tough-minded Sensitive

Trusting Suspicious

Practical Imaginative

Forthright Shrewd

Self-assured Apprehensive

Conservative Experimenting

Group-dependent Self-sufficient

Uncontrolled Controlled

Relaxed Tense

Cattells Sixteen Source Traits

Cattell used his sixteen source traits to develop a person-ality questionnaire, which was used to measure the traitsin an individual. Each trait is listed as a pair of oppositeson a continuum. What did Cattell believe measuring thesource traits could predict?

Figure 14.16

cardinal trait: a characteris-tic or feature that is so pervasivethe person is almost identifiedwith it

RAYMOND CATTELL: SIXTEEN TRAIT THEORYMore recent theorists have concentrated on what Allport

called common traits, which they try to quantify in a precise,scientific manner. Their primary tool in this task has been asophisticated mathematical technique called factor analy-sis, which describes the extent to which different person-ality variables are related.

Using Allports list of traits, Raymond Cattell(19051998) proposed that characteristics that can beobserved in certain situations make up 46 traits, calledsurface traits, of observable behavior. These traits makeup behavior that is based on peoples perceptions of per-sonality. Using further factor analyses, Cattell found thatcertain surface traits seem to occur in clusters. Cattell fur-ther researched what these clusters had in common. Thisanalysis resulted in 16 source traitstraits that he con-sidered to be at the core of personality (see Figure 14.16).Cattell believed that by measuring these traits, psycholo-gists could predict peoples behavior in certain situations.

HANS EYSENCK: DIMENSIONS OFPERSONALITY

Using factor analysis of personality data, HansEysenck (1916), an English psychologist, concluded that there are two basicdimensions of personality (see Figure 14.17). The first dimension, stability ver-sus instability, refers to the degree to which people have control over their feel-ings. At the emotionally stable end of the personality spectrum is a personwho is easygoing, relaxed, well-adjusted, and even-tempered. At the anxiety-dominated end of the spectrum is the moody, anxious, and restless person.

Eysencks second dimension was actually identified years earlier byCarl Jung as extraversion versus introversion. Extraverts are sociable, out-going, active, lively people. They enjoy parties and seek excitement. Onthe other end of the dimension are introverts, who are more thoughtful,reserved, passive, unsociable, and quiet.

Years after he identified the first two dimensions, Eysenck added athird, psychoticism. At one end of this dimension are self-centered, hostile,and aggressive people, who act without much thought. Individuals at theother end of this dimension have what Freud might label high superego.They tend to be socially sensitive, high on caring and empathy, and easypeople with whom to work (Eysenck, 1970, 1990).

THE ROBUST FIVEOver the years, trait theorists have devised a number of ways to mea-

sure personality. Each involves a different number of traits or factors.Trait psychologists have shown that five traits appear repeatedly in


factor analysis: a complexstatistical technique used toidentify the underlying reasonsvariables are correlated

surface trait: a stable char-acteristic that can be observedin certain situations

source trait: a stable charac-teristic that can be consideredto be at the core of personality

extravert: an outgoing, activeperson who directs his or herenergies and interests towardother people and things

introvert: a reserved, with-drawn person who is preoccu-pied with his or her innerthoughts and feelings

INTROVERTED

Quiet

Unsociable

Reserved

Pessimistic

Sober

Rigid

Anxious

Moody

Touchy

Restless

Aggressive

Excitable

Changeable

Impulsive

Optimistic

Active

Leadership

Carefree

Lively

Easygoing

Responsive

Talkative

Outgoing

Sociable

Passive

Careful

Thoughtful

Peaceful

Controlled

Reliable

Even-Tempered

Calm MELANCHOLIC

CHOLERIC

PHLEGMATIC

SANGUINE

UNSTABLESTABLE

EXTRAVERTED

Eysencks Personality TableFigure 14.17

Eysenck hypothesized that introvertedpeople share a number of traits, whileextraverted people share the oppositetraits. Eysencks theory is similar toGalens ancient theory for four tempera-ments (see the Case Study on page 23).What traits would an extraverted andstable (sanguine) person exhibit?


different research studies. Often called the fiverobust factors, or the big five, they are:

Extraversion, which is associated withwarmth, talkativeness, and being energetic.The opposite of this dimension is introver-sion, meaning being quiet or reserved.

Agreeableness, which involves being sympa-thetic to others, kind, and trusting; the oppo-site is cruel and nontrusting.

Conscientiousness, which identifies individualswho are dutiful, dedicated to completingtasks, organized, and responsible.

Openness to experience, which describes peoplewho are open-minded and willing to tryintellectual experiences, new ideas, or cre-ative experiences.

Emotional stability, which identifies individualswho experience things relatively easily andwithout getting upset. The opposite is neuroti-cisma tendency to experience unpleasantemotions a great deal of the time. (John, 1990;Costa, McCrae, & Dye, 1991)

Think of each big-five trait as a continuum. Eachtrait has many related traits. For example, conscien-

tiousness at one end includes being responsible anddependable. On the other end, though, it involves being

impulsive or careless.Trait theorists assume that traits are relatively fixed, or

unchanging. The advantage of trait theories is that by identify-ing a persons personality traits, that persons behavior can be pre-

dicted. However, critics argue that trait theories describe personalityrather than explain it. Trait theorists cannot explain or predict behaviorsacross different situations. For example, a person may be quiet andreserved in class but outgoing and wild at a party. Why? Critics of traittheories propose that personality is an interaction between a personstraits and the effects of being in a particular situation. For example,whereas most theories of personality consider the person as an individ-ual, some psychologists regard personality as a function of a personssocial environment. One of the first of these thinkers was Harry StackSullivan (18921949).

Sullivans ideas have been organized into a two-dimensional model.One dimension is power, which ranges from dominance at one end of thescale to submissiveness at the other. The second dimension is friendliness,which ranges from friendliness to hostility. Most behaviors can bedescribed as a combination of these two dimensions. For example, help-fulness is a combination of dominance and friendliness, while trust is acombination of submissiveness and friendliness.

Do we see ourselves as otherssee us?Some personality theorists talk about extra-version versus introversion as being a basicpart of personality. Do people exhibit thesetraits in all situations? Are these traits easilyidentified?

Procedure1. Choose five people (family members,

friends, or acquaintances) and observetheir behavior in several situations.

2. Record your observations by classifyingeach person as extraverted, introverted, ora combination of both.

3. Ask the five people whether they wouldconsider themselves extraverted or intro-verted, and then record their responses.

Analysis1. What do your results tell you about

extraversion and introversion as person-ality traits? Are people extraverted orintroverted in all situations all the time?

2. What do your results tell you about peoples own perceptions of their personality versus the perceptions of others? What might account for any differences?

See the Skills Handbook,page 622, for an

explanation of designing an experiment.

Researchers also noticed that a persons actions tend to elicit specificresponses from other people. A behavior and its most likely response aresaid to be complementary. For example, most people will respond to arequest for help (trusting) by offering advice (helping), regardless of howhelpful they are as individuals. Thus, many behaviors result not simplyfrom a persons personality but also from that persons social environment.


Theories of PersonalityTheories of personality are used to organize personality characteris-tics, explain differences among individuals, explore how people con-duct their lives, and determine how life can be improved. Which the-ory do you think best describes your personality? Explain.

Figure 14.18

Theory Main Ideas

Behaviorist Theories focus on the way rewards and punishment shape our actions

Social Learning cognitive-personal factors, our behaviors, and environmental factors interact toTheories shape our personalities

Psychoanalytic emphasize the importance of early childhood experiences, repressed thoughts, andTheories conflict between conscious and unconscious forces

Cognitive Theories our analysis of our own perceptions, thoughts, and feelings shape our personalities

Humanistic Theories emphasize our capacity for personal growth, development of our full potential, and freedom to make choices

Trait Theories focus on identifying, measuring, and classifying similarities and differences in per-sonality characteristics or traits

1. Review the Vocabulary What is thedifference between cardinal and centraltraits? Between surface and sourcetraits?

2. Visualize the Main Idea Using a dia-gram similar to the one below, list thetraits that make up each of Eysencksthree dimensions of personality.

3. Recall Information What is the impor-tance of common traits in Cattells theory? What are Cattells source traits?

4. Think Critically Do the five factors ofpersonality in the five robust factorsdescribe you? If not, what other charac-teristics would you want to add?

Assessment

5. Application Activity Choose a character in amovie or television show you have recentlyseen. Describe the character in terms of the per-sonality dimensions proposed by one of the traittheorists discussed in this section.

Eysencks Dimensionsof Personality


and died and I went to his funeral. Everybodyelse was crying and feeling sorry for them-selves and as they were praying to get him intoheaven, I suddenly realized that I wasnt feel-ing anything at all. He was a nice guy but whatthe hell. That night I thought about it somemore and found that I wouldnt miss my motherand father if they died and that I wasnt toonuts about my brothers and sisters for thatmatter. I figured there wasnt anybody I reallycared for but, then, I didnt need any of themanyway so I rolled over and went to sleep.

(Davison & Neale, 2001)

Results: This description detail-ing the absence of emotion clearlyindicated the possibility of a per-sonality disorder. The Diagnosticand Statistical Manual of MentalDisorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV)defines a personality disorder as an

enduring pattern of inner experienceand behavior that differs significantly

from the individuals culture, is extensiveand inflexible, has an onset in adolescence

or early adulthood, is stable over time, and leadsto distress or impairment. An individual with apersonality disorder is often capable of func-tioning normally in society, including holding ajob, maintaining some personal relationships,and, on some occasions, showing signs of emo-tions. This is what makes discovering a person-ality disorder so difficult.

Dans unusual behavior may have goneunnoticed for so long because his occupationsrequired a person to behave a certain way.Unfortunately, it is not always easy to actuallyknow if a person is acting out a role or display-ing his or her own personality traits. In Danscase, his role was his personality.

PersonalityDisorderPeriod of Study: 1967

Introduction: An actor and radio disc jockey,Dan was highly successful in his professionalroles, which required an entertaining andextremely outspoken personality. AlthoughDan had to maintain these personalitytraits at work, sometimes traces ofthose traits leaked out into his privatelife. In one situation while Dan and afriend dined at a restaurant, Danexplicitly and loudly complainedabout the condition of the food. Inactuality, according to Dans friend,the food was finethere was novalid reason for Dans public display.

Dans friend, psychologist EltonMcNeil, described Dans reactions asinappropriate. When McNeil asked Dan why hehad acted that way, Dan said he did it becausehe wanted to show how gutless the rest of theworld is. Dan then said acting like that separatesthe classy people from the ordinary and that thenext time he eats at that restaurant, he will betreated well. Concerned by his friends state-ments, McNeil asked Dan if he felt guilty at allabout treating his fellow human beings that way.Dans answer was, Who cares?

Hypothesis: For those of us who are familiarwith actors and radio disc jockeys, we know thattheir jobs require straightforward and sometimesconfrontational behavior. An excess of thesetraits, though, can prove to be too muchfor healthy functioning in life.

Method: McNeil encouraged his friendto take part in some sort of counseling ortherapy. Dan agreed. During a therapysession, Dan disclosed:

I can remember the first time in my life when I began to suspect I was a littledifferent from most people. When I was inhigh school my best friend got leukemia

Analyzing the Case Study 1. Why did McNeil encourage Dan to enter therapy?2. Why do psychologists consider Dans behavior a dis-order rather than just a personality type?

3. Critical Thinking Does everyones personality changedepending on the role they are playing (for instance, asstudent, friend, son, or daughter)? Explain.

Summary and Vocabulary

Chapter Vocabularypersonality (p. 375)unconscious (p. 379)id (p. 379)ego (p. 380)superego (p. 380)defense mechanisms (p. 380)collective unconscious (p. 384)archetype (p. 384)inferiority complex (p. 385)behaviorism (p. 387)contingencies of reinforcement(p. 388)humanistic psychology (p. 392)self-actualization (p. 392)self (p. 395)positive regard (p. 395)conditions of worth (p. 395)unconditional positive regard(p. 396)fully functioning (p. 396)trait (p. 398)cardinal trait (p. 400)factor analysis (p. 401)surface trait (p. 401)source trait (p. 401)extravert (p. 401)introvert (p. 401)

Purposes of Personality Theories Personality theorists try to organize traits by

similarities and differences, explore how peoplecope with life situations, and how people growand change.

Psychologists have proposed various theories of personality. Thetheories attempt to help explain similarities and to provide rea-sons for differences in personality.

Main Idea: Personalitytheories provide a wayof organizing the manycharacteristics that people have.

Psychoanalytic Theories Sigmund Freud believed that every personality has

an unconscious component and that childhoodexperiences, even if not consciously recalled, con-tinue to influence peoples behaviors.

The id, ego, and superego explain how the mindfunctions and how instinctual energies are regulated.

Main Idea: Freudspsychoanalytic theoryproposes that person-ality is made up of threecomponents: the id, ego,and superego.

Learning Theories Behaviorists believe that as individuals differ in

their learning experiences, they acquire differentbehaviors and different personalities.

Albert Bandura believed that personality isacquired not only by reinforcement but also byobservational learning.

Main Idea: Behav-iorists are interested inhow aspects of person-ality are learned.


Humanistic and Cognitive Theories Humanistic psychology is founded on the belief

that all human beings strive for self-actualization. Carl Rogers believed that many people suffer from

a conflict between what they value in themselvesand what they believe other people value in them.

Main Idea: Humanisticand cognitive theories ofpersonality stress thepositive aspects ofhuman nature.

Trait Theories Trait theorists believe we understand people by

specifying their traits, and we use traits to predictpeoples future behavior.

Gordon W. Allport defined common traits asthose that apply to everyone and individual traitsas those that apply more to a specific person.

Main Idea: Trait theo-rists believe that charac-ter traits account forconsistency of behaviorin different situations.

Assessment

Reviewing VocabularyChoose the letter of the correct term or conceptbelow to complete the sentence.

1. People who continuously try to compensate fortheir weakness and avoid feelings of inadequacyhave a(n) __________.

2. A(n)__________ is a person who is reserved,passive, and unsociable.

3. A(n)__________ is a tendency to react the sameway to different situations.

4. According to Carl Rogers, people require__________, or approval, from other people inorder to acquire a self.

5. Conditions that maintain certain behaviors arecalled __________.

6. __________ is composed of the consistent,enduring, and unique characteristics of a person.

7. When a person deceives herself into thinkingnothing is wrong instead of facing intense con-flict, she is using a(n)__________.

8. A(n)__________ is a person who is outgoingand lively.

9. According to humanistic psychologists, all peo-ple strive for __________, or the realiza

chapter 14: theories of personality id, ego, and superego freud explained human personality by...

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