Here are my notes on this topic:
1. Trait Theory
You are what you were destined to be
You cannot change who you are
Ancient Trait Theory
Chinese Zodiac (3500 years ago)
- Shun Dynasty
- Complicated system of prediction
- 12 animals
- 5 elements
- 2 phases: yang & yin
- 60 year cycle
- Plus
- year born: how others see you
- month born: how see self (wish to be)
- 2 hr block of time: secret self
- heavenly sign
- earthly sign
- combination sign
Hippocrates. (2500 years ago)
- Greek physician
- Father of medicine
- Hippocratic oath named in his honor
- 4 elements of life
- 4 body fluids (humors)
- Good humor = fluids in balance
Galen (2000 years ago)
- Builds on Hippocrates
- 4 personality types
- Choleric: yellow bile from the liver
- Melancholic: black bile from kidneys
- Sanguine: red blood from heart
- Phlegmatic: white bile from lungs
Modern Trait Theory
Gall
- phrenology
Hans Eysenck
- “Personality is determined in Large Part by a Person’s Genes.”
- emphasize temperature (genetic), not character (learned)
- PEN
- psychoticism
- extroversion
- neuroticism
William Sheldon
- photos of 4000 men
- 3 body types & personality types
- endomorph = social, affectionate
- mesomorph = energetic, competitive
- ectomorph = inhibited, intellectual
Terror Management Theory
Self-esteem as an anxiety buffer.
- Individualism vs. collectivism
Big Five
- Build on Raymond Cattell’s work
- factor analysis
- correlations between variables
- identify closely related clusters
- Personality is a person’s unique constellations of consistent behavior traits
- durable disposition
- Robert McCrae & Paul Costa
- Extraversion – Outgoing, Sociable, Upbeat, Friendly, Assertive.
- Neuroticism – Anxious, Hostile, Self-Conscious, Insecure, Vulnerable.
- Openness to Experience – Curiosity, Flexibility, Imagitiveness, Artistic, Unconventional.
- Agreeableness – Sympathetic, Trusting, Cooperative, Modest, Straightforward.
- Conscientiousness – Diligent, Disciplined, Organized, Punctual, Dependable.
- The Big 5 traits are similar across cultures
- OCEAN or CANOE
2. Psychodynamic Perspectives
- unconscious mental forces
Sigmund Freud
- Structure of personality
- ID
- pleasure principle
- demands instant gratification
- urges
- Ego
- reality principle
- decision making
- deals with outside world
- searches for things to appease id
- Superego
- moral regulator
- upholds social standards
- conscience = punishes for things done wrong
- ego ideal = punishes for things not perfect
- Levels of Awareness
- conscious
- preconscious
- unconscious
- Anxiety & Defense Mechanisms
- unconscious conflicts between id, ego & superego produces anxiety
- defense mechanisms are automatic unconscious reactions that “defend” the ego & lower anxiety temporarily
- rationalization = reason for having done something
- sang out of tune because microphone was pink
- lost game because didn’t have lucky socks
- repression = unconsciously bury distressing thoughts, feelings and memories
- projection = see unwanted self in others
- displacement = kick desk instead of boss
- reaction formation = super nice to people you hate
- regression = revert to immature behavior
- identification = gain self esteem by association
- being a fan of a celebrity makes me feel better about myself
- being supporter of team makes me a winner
- stage mother
- Psychosexual Stages
- fixation: get stuck at one stage
- oral stage – 1st year
- anal stage – 2nd year
- phallic stage – 3-5 years
- Oedipal complex = sexual desire for opposite parent
- latency stage – 6 to puberty
- genital stage – puberty+
Carl Jung
- analytical psychology
- personal unconscious
- collective unconscious
- archetypes
- introverts & extraverts
Alfred Adler
- individual psychology
- striving for superiority: drive to improvement
- compensation
3. Behavioral & Social Cognitive
Skinner, BF
- behaviorism
- study only observable behavior.
- no free will.
- personality is a product of conditioning.
Albert Bandera
- social cognitive theory
- reciprocal determinism
- observational learning
- model
- self-efficacy
Walter Michel
- marshmallows
- delaying self-gratification
- cognitive strategies
4. Humanism & Existential
- reaction to behaviorism
- emphasizes importance of being human
- we are more than conditioning
- potential of personal growth
- phenomenological approach
Carl Rogers
- person centered theory
- self-concept
- incongruence: self-concept vs actual experience
Abraham Maslow
- self-actualization
- hierarchy of needs pyramid
- safety to self-actualization
Viktor Frankl
- existentialism
- the importance of being
- Man’s Search For Meaning
5. Cognitive Behavioral
Aaron Beck (1921-)
- Theory
- no fixed personality structures
- dreams reflect 3 common themes: defeat, deprivation and loss\
- schemas = assumptions about how world operates
- philosophy = 3 main sources: Kant, Freud, & Kelly
- How one thinks determines how one feels and behaves
- choose to be rational
- targets assumptions
- Schemas
- cognitive structures
- superordinate schemas = central values
- cognitive structures = core beliefs & assumptions about how the world operates
- schemas can be adaptive or maladaptive
- schemas can be general or specific
- Cognitive distortions = systematic errors in reasoning
- sociotropic dimension = dependence on others
- autonomous dimension = independence
Albert Ellis (1913-2007)
- Theory
- confront people with their irrational beliefs, persuade them to adopt rational ones
- rational psychotherapy = focus on rational, not irrational thinking
- Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy; primarily a cognitive behavioral therapy
- 4 fundamental processes: perception, movement, thinking, emotion
- Thoughts and emotions frequently overlap, so much of emotion is evaluative thinking
- self-talk; internalized sentences determine our thoughts and emotions
- emotional disturbance = caring too much what others think
- ABC theory of personality
- Activating event
- Belief system
- Emotional consequence
- Musturbatory belief system = absolute musts
- Myths:
- personality disorders mainly stem from parental rejection
- feelings of worthlessness arise from constant criticism
- sexual abuse victims invariably continue to suffer as adults;
- Increasingly believes that heredity has a large influence on humans (80%)
- Therapy
- Very directive approach, people must judge behavior in terms of what right for them
- Goal of therapy is to:
- enable clients to commit themselves to actions that correspond to true value system
- free individuals to develop a constructive and confident image of self-worth
- Highly active, directive, didactic, philosophic, homework assigning therapy
- how to recognize Should and Must thoughts
- how to separate rational from irrational beliefs
- how to accept reality
- reduce disturbance-creating ideas to absurdity
- Cognitions, emotions and behaviors are consistently interactional and transactional
- Techniques
- in vitro desensitization = imagined exposure to noxious stimuli paired with relaxation
- in vivo desensitization = gradual exposure to actual tasks or circumstances
- client told to deliberately fail at a small task (show can survive a failure)
- implosive desensitization = sudden confrontation of phobic situation (ethical?)
