Trait Theories and Their Biological Basis

Trait Theories and Their Biological Basis

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Trait Theories and Their Biological Basis

Discussion: posting due 6/28; – Personality

On to this week’s discussion on PERSONALITY! I can’t think of this word without thinking of this hit from 1959 by Lloyd Price! No, I’m not that old, I just had old parents! 🙂

The parts of Chapter 11 we’ll cover include:

• What is personality?
• Psychoanalytic Theories (excluding Freud’s Stages of Development)
• Humanistic Theories
• Trait Theories and Their Biological Basis
• Personality Assessment

Ah, personality! We all know what it is, but do we really? What is personality, exactly? Is it how we act or think? Is it what we desire or have? Is it what we project or keep deep inside? How does one study personality?  These two questions: (1) what is personality? and (2) how do we study it? are the focus of this week’s discussions.

I want to start out with some quotes  (Links to an external site.)on personality. I want you to read these here, and then circle back to these quotes after you read the chapter. These quotes are talking about many of these things we’ll discuss this week: how is personality created? Is it stable? Do we know what it is? What shapes our personality? Remember the questions of nature vs nurture and stability versus change from last week’s development chapter? Those ideas are very much in play this week as well.

• Personality is like a charioteer with two headstrong horses, each wanting to go in different directions. -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Never underestimate personality. A sense of humor will make you popular; a little confidence will win you jobs; and the right amount of sass or cockiness will score you dates. Personality shines from within, mingling spirit and intelligence, so it’s safe to assume it originates in the brain.-Susan Scutti
• We continue to shape our personality all our life. If we knew ourselves perfectly, we should die.   -Albert Camus
• I want freedom for the full expression of my personality. -Mahatma Gandhi
• Our lives are shaped as profoundly by personality as by gender or race. And the single most important aspect of personality … is where we fall on the introvert-extrovert spectrum. -Susan Cain

What is Personality?

Your book defines personality as

“…the unique, core set of characteristics that influence the way one thinks, acts, and feels — characteristics that many psychologists would agree are relatively consistent and enduring throughout the life span and in a variety of settings.” (page 456)

Think about that. How would you describe your personality or someone else’s?

Theoretical Perspectives on Personality

Table 11.1 details the main points and criticisms of many of the theoretical perspectives that we’ll be talking about this week. While no perspective can claim to be the “correct” perspective, each perspective helps to describe, explain, and predict our behavior that is the result of our personality. These approaches include:

• Psychoanalytic
• Behavioral
• Humanistic
• Social-cognitive
• Biological
• Trait

These approaches shouldn’t sound unfamiliar to you since these are the same perspectives we’ve been talking about all semester long. In this chapter, we’ll use each perspective to try to explain personality development. We won’t cover all of these perspectives, but instead will focus on the psychoanalytic, humanistic, biological, and trait perspectives.

Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic Perspective

When you think of psychology – really, whenever anyone thinks of psychology – they think of Sigmund Freud (Links to an external site.). While much of what Freud talked about was not based in the scientific method (Links to an external site.) and/or cannot be supported by empirical evidence (Links to an external site.), he did make some major contributions to psychological thinking. He is credited with being the founder of psychoanalysis – a field of psychotherapy where people talk about their unconscious thoughts and desires in order to bring them to the surface to feel the catharsis of feeling better (more on this in the therapy discussion in a few weeks). According to Freud, people’s unconscious thoughts and desires are the root of their problems. Freud also was one of the first to discuss how early childhood experiences shape our future selves.

Freud’s psychoanalytic theories were premised on the idea that we have these negative inner conflicts (usually of a sexual or aggressive nature and unconscious) that lead to our various neuroses. Our personalities are shaped by these inner conflicts.  Various neuroses include anything that leads to mental illness or unwellness (anxiety, depression, etc). The point of psychoanalysis is to bring our unconscious conflicts to the surface and deal with them in a healthy manner so that we can be “cured” of our neuroses.

Freud proposed a structural model of the mind (Links to an external site.) (again, not based on empirical evidence, but limited observations) which consisted of the id, ego, and superego. (Figure 11.1 in your text looks like this one (Links to an external site.).) These 3 components of the mind are like warring factions in the mind that seek to help a person solve their internal conflicts.

• The most primitive component is the idwhich relies on the pleasure principle. Think Veruca Salt in Willie Wonka (Links to an external site.) – “Daddy I want a golden egg and I want it now! (Links to an external site.) ”.
• From the id, the egois developed and the person goes from understanding that they can’t always get what they want, but rather they must be able to delay gratification. The ego relies on the reality principlethat allows us to understand the consequences of our actions.
• Finally, there is the superegothat internalizes the rules that are set by society and the various authority figures in our lives (parents, bosses, teachers, etc).

The ego is constantly balancing the desires of the id with the strict rule following of the superego. The ego uses defense mechanisms to achieve this. Infographic 11.1: Ego Defense Mechanisms goes through some of these, and this website (Links to an external site.) lists 15 common ones.

RUBRIC
Excellent Quality 95-100%	Introduction 45-41 points The background and significance of the problem and a clear statement of the research purpose is provided. The search history is mentioned.		Literature Support 91-84  points The background and significance of the problem and a clear statement of the research purpose is provided. The search history is mentioned.			Methodology 58-53 points Content is well-organized with headings for each slide and bulleted lists to group related material as needed. Use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. to enhance readability and presentation content is excellent. Length requirements of 10 slides/pages or less is met.
Average Score 50-85%	40-38 points More depth/detail for the background and significance is needed, or the research detail is not clear. No search history information is provided.		83-76  points Review of relevant theoretical literature is evident, but there is little integration of studies into concepts related to problem. Review is partially focused and organized. Supporting and opposing research are included. Summary of information presented is included. Conclusion may not contain a biblical integration.			52-49  points Content is somewhat organized, but no structure is apparent. The use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. is occasionally detracting to the presentation content. Length requirements may not be met.
Poor Quality 0-45%	37-1 points The background and/or significance are missing. No search history information is provided.		75-1 points Review of relevant theoretical literature is evident, but there is no integration of studies into concepts related to problem. Review is partially focused and organized. Supporting and opposing research are not included in the summary of information presented. Conclusion does not contain a biblical integration.			48-1 points There is no clear or logical organizational structure. No logical sequence is apparent. The use of font, color, graphics, effects etc. is often detracting to the presentation content. Length requirements may not be met
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