THEORIES OF PERSONALITY.pdf

THEORIES OF PERSONALITY PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORIES I.

Psychoanalytic Theory – Sigmund Freud

“Turn your eyes inward, look into your own depths, learn to first know yourself.” Psychoanalysis  Attempt to explain personality, motivation and psychological disorders by focusing on the influence of early childhood experiences, on unconscious motives and conflicts, and on the methods people use to cope with their sexual and aggressive urges FOCUS: unconscious – people are not aware of the most important determinants of their behaviour/body language; and such contains the unresolved issues of one’s self *the dynamic unconscious has the motivations or energies that can influence behaviour and experience Freud:  Psychoanalysis emphasized unconscious forces, biologically based drives of sex and aggression and unavoidable conflicts in early childhood  Satisfaction of the libido  Heredity + environment = personality  unconscious consists of sexual and aggressive instincts that are unacceptable to the conscious personality Levels of Personality (The ICEBERG) 1. Conscious  Includes all the sensations and experiences of which we are aware at any given moment  A portion above the surface of the water – tip of the iceberg Freud: conscious is a limited aspect of personality because only a small portion of our thoughts, sensations and memories exists in conscious awareness at any time 2. Preconscious  Between the conscious and the unconscious  The storehouse of memories, perceptions and thoughts, of which we are not consciously aware at the moment but that we can easily summon into consciousness JAD

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3. Unconscious  Home of the instincts, those wishes and desires that direct our behaviour  Contains the driving power behind all behaviors and is the repository of forces we cannot see or control

Instincts: The Propelling Forces of Personality Instincts  The motivating force that drives behaviour and determines its direction  It aim to satisfy the need and thereby reduces tension  Homeostatic approach – people are motivated to restore and maintain a condition of physiological equilibrium or balance, to keep the body free of tension Types of Instincts 1. Life Instincts  For survival of the individual and the species by seeking to satisfy the needs for food, water, air and sex Libido  a form of psychic energy which is manifested by the life instincts, that drives a person toward pleasurable behaviors and thoughts

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Cathexis  an investment of psychic energy in an object or person 2. Death Instincts  The unconscious drive toward decay, destruction and aggression – Tanathus Aggressive Drive  one of the components of death instincts that compels us to destroy, conquer and kill Structures of Personality 1. Id  Reservoir of the instincts and libido and vitally and directly related to the satisfaction of bodily needs  Only knows instant gratification – it drives us to what we want, when we want it, without regard for anyone else’s wants  No awareness of the reality  Operates in accordance with the Pleasure Principle – increase pleasure and avoid pain  The ways that it can attempt to satisfy it needs are through reflex action and wish-fulfilling hallucinations or fantasy experience labelled as Primary Thought Process 2. Ego  Pre-conscious  Rational master of personality  Purpose: to help the id obtain the tension reduction it craves  Does not prevent the id but it postpone, delay or redirect the id in terms of the demands of reality  It perceives and manipulates the environment in a practical and realistic manner so that it will operate in accordance with the Reality Principle  Determines the appropriate and socially acceptable times, places and objects that will satisfy the id impulses which involves the Secondary Thought Process 3. Superego  Internal morality of conscience  A powerful and largely unconscious set of beliefs – we acquire through our experience, childhood, rules and regulations, do’s and don’ts  Purpose: to inhibit the id and the ego completely, particularly to those demands concerning sex and aggression

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Parts: a. Conscience  contains the behaviors for which a child has been punished  where guilt comes from b. Ego-ideal  consists of the good or correct behaviors for which children have been punished Freud:  The three parts of the psychic structure are in a perpetual conflict – the continuing conflict between the id, ego and superego  The dynamics of personality involve a continuous interaction and clash between id impulses which seeks to be released and the inhibitions or restraining forces against such impulses – these urges or impulses and counter-forces motivate personality The inevitable result of the friction between the id, ego and superego, and the ego is severely strained, is the development of anxiety. Freud:  Anxiety is the fundamental development of neurotic and psychotic behaviour  The prototype of all anxiety is the birth trauma Three Types of Anxiety 1. Reality or Objective Anxiety  Involves a fear of tangible dangers in the real world 2. Neurotic Anxiety  The unconscious fear of being punished for impulsively displaying iddominated behaviour  Doing without thinking 3. Moral Anxiety  The fear of one’s conscience Goals of Psychoanalysis  To maintain and regain an acceptable level of dynamic equilibrium that maximizes pleasure and minimizing tension Role of Psychoanalysis  Strengthen the ego; to make it independent of the overly strict concerns of the superego, and to increase its capacity to deal with formerly repressed behaviour hidden in the id JAD

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Defense Mechanism Against Anxiety 1. Repression  The unconscious denial of the existence of something that causes anxiety 2. Denial  Refusal to admit the existence of an existence of an external threat or traumatic event 3. Asceticism  The renunciation of needs  A person renounces his interest in what other people enjoy 4. Isolation / Intellectualization  Stripping the emotion from a difficult memory or threatening impulse  Something that is to be treated as a big deal is treated as if it was not – deadma 5. Reaction Formation  Expressing an id impulse that is the opposite of the one that is truly driving the person 6. Undoing  Magical gestures or rituals that are meant to cancel out unpleasant thoughts or feelings after they have already occurred  Going back to what had happened, step-by-step 7. Introjection/Identification  Taking into you own personality, characteristics of someone else, because doing so solves some emotional difficulty 8. Identification with the Aggressor  Focuses on the adoption of negative or feared traits  A person can partially overcome the fear of another by becoming more like them 9. Projection  The attributing a disturbing impulse to someone else 10. Altruistic Surrender  A form of projection; when a person attempts to fulfil his own needs vicariously, through other people 11. Regression  Retreating to an earlier, less frustrating period of life and displaying the usually childish behaviors characteristic of that more secure time JAD

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12. Rationalization  Reinterpreting our behaviour to make it more acceptable and less threatening to us 13. Displacement  Shifting id impulses from a threatening object or from one that is unavailable to an object that is available 14. Turning against the Self  A form of displacement wherein the person becomes his own substitute target, i.e. suicide 15. Sublimation  Altering and displacing id impulses by diverting instinctual energy into socially acceptable behaviors How to tap the unconscious:  Free Association – speak freely about anything  Dream Analysis – manifest and latent contents of dream/s  Everyday life – little mistakes, slips of the tongue, body language, lapses in memory  Humor – what has already been repressed thoughts in a society at approved manner; what a person finds humorous Psychosexual Stages of Personality Development Freud:  A person’s unique character develops in childhood largely from parent-child relationship  Development consists of several stages and each psychological stage is defined by an erogenous zone of the body Erogenous zones  Areas of the body that are sensitive to pleasant and sensual feelings, hence giving rise to sexual feeling when simulated *the conflict that exists in each developmental stage must be resolved before the infant/child can progress to the next stage *if the conflict has not been resolved or when the needs have been supremely satisfied by the parent, the individual is said to be fixated at his stage of development Fixation  A portion of the libido or psychic energy remains invested in a that developmental stage, leaving less energy for the following stage JAD

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A.

Oral Stage  0-18 months  Erogenous zone: Mouth  Activity: sucking, biting and swallowing  Primary Object of Libido: mother or caregiver  Conclusion/Developmental Milestone: time of weaning  Fixations: a. Oral Passive Personality – oral incorporative behaviour (taking in) b. Oral Aggressive Behaviour – oral aggressive or sadistic behaviour (biting or spitting out)

B.

Anal Stage  2-3 years old  Erogenous zone: anus  Activities: retention of feces and wilful defecation  Developmental Milestone: Toilet Training – gratification of an instinctual impulse is interfered with as parents attempt to regulate the time and place of defecation  Fixations: a. Anal Expulsive/Aggressive Personality – defying attempts at regulation, anal expulsion  over generous b. Anal Retentive Personality – holding the feces in  problem with discipline, perfectionist, orderly, stingy

C.

Phallic Stage  2-6 years old  Erogenous zone: genitals  Activities: exploring and manipulating the genitals, i.e. masturbation  Oedipus Complex – the unconscious desire of a boy for his mother accompanied by a desire to replace or destroy his father; he interprets his fear to his father as becoming fearful that his father will cut off the offending organ (penis)  castration anxiety  Electra Complex – the unconscious desire of a girl for her father accompanied by a desire to replace or destroy her mother; she comes to envy her father and transfers her love to him because he possesses the highly valued sex organ  penis envy  Phallic Personality – strong narcissism, difficulty in establishing mature heterosexual relationships,  Separation Individuation – separation of the child to the mother, with the help of the father; establishing own identity which may results to promiscuity seductivity or masculinity

D.

Latency Stage  6 years old – puberty  Sex instinct is dormant, sublimated in school activities, sports and hobbies, and in developing friendships with members of the same sex  Conflict: social interaction with others

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E.

Genital Stage  12 years old – adulthood  Erogenous zone: genital area  Genital Personality – person enjoys a satisfying adult sexuality  full development; reciprocity  being capable of genuine love, the narcissism on the pregenital stages is overcome and the individual begins to love others for altruistic behaviour  Fixation: exhibitionist behaviour/sexual deviant behaviour

II.

Individual Psychology – Alfred Adler “The goal of the human soul is conquest, perfection, security, superiority. Every child is faced with so many obstacles in life that no child ever grows up without striving for some form of significance.’

*Adler’s theory focused on the uniqueness of each person, and not by the biological motives and goals as ascribed by Freud Adler:  Each individual is primarily a social being  Personality is shaped by people’s unique social environments and interactions  The conscious is the core of personality  people are actively involved in creating themselves and directing their future The Source of Human Striving 1. Inferiority Feelings  Motivating forces in behaviour  “To be human being means to feel oneself inferior 2. Compensation  Individual growth results from people’s attempt to overcome real and imagined inferiorities 3. Inferiority Complex  Poor opinion of one’s self and feels helpless and unable to cope with the demands of life Three Sources: i.

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Organ Inferiority  defective parts or organs of the body through person’s efforts to compensate for the defect or weakness

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ii.

Spoiling or Pampering  this child naturally develops the idea that he is the most important person in any situation and that other people should always defer to him  when confronted with obstacles to gratification, a spoiled child comes to believe that he has some personal deficiency that is thwarting him  delayed gratification, tolerance and no sense of autonomy

iii.

Neglect and Rejection  lack of love and security  this child develops the feelings of worthlessness, or even anger, and view others with distrust, i.e. street children

4. Masculine Protest  Inferiority was akin to femininity, however, Adler widened and strengthened it to include the generalized idea that all mankind is inferior at birth and that inferiority has nothing to do with femininity, but it is the result of hereditary condition, followed after birth by a feeling of being incomplete 5. Superiority Complex  A person may tend to overcompensate; the exaggeration of opinions of one’s capability  Boasting, vanity, self-confidence and a tendency to denigrate others Striving for Superiority or Perfection Superiority  The ultimate goal towards which a person strives  An effort to perfect one’s self and to make his self complete or whole A.

Fictional Finalism  People have an ultimate goal, a final state of being and a need to move towards it according to their cognitive constructs  “AKALA” – own understanding

B.

Teleology  Motivation is a matter of moving towards the future  People are drawn towards their goals, purposes and ideals

C.

Style of Life  Through many different behaviour patterns  People develop a unique pattern of characteristics, behaviours and habits i.

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The Creative Power of the Self  choose personality and character  the person creates the style of life – creates himself, his personality and his character 06/2014

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 the way a person interprets his heredity and environment form the basis of the creative construction of his attitude towards life ii.

Mistaken Styles of Life  people develop strategies for improving their situations that are maladaptive a. Ruling Type  seek to dominate others, may actively confront life’s problems in a selfish way  becoming delinquents, tyrants, sadists  deprecation complex – people express their sense of superiority over others by belittling them b. Getting Type  leaning on others; dependent  adopt a passive attitude towards life  becoming user-friendly c. Avoiding Type  try not to deal with problems, thereby, avoiding the possibility of defeat  tends to be isolated and nay strike others as cold  avoids commitments

iii.

The Healthy Style of Life  the lifestyle is adaptive therefore, the person is said to be the socially useful type  the person must act in ways beneficial to others – those persons who taught us how to see, how to think and how to feel  such persons have a well-developed sense of social interest

Social Interest  German: Gemeinschaftgefuhl – Community feeling  Individual’s innate potential to cooperate with other people to achieve personal and social goals Adler:  The importance of mother – through her behaviour towards the child, she can either foster interest or thwart its development Birth Order  Being order or younger among siblings and being exposed to different parental attitudes create different childhood conditions that help determine personality

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III.

Analytical Psychology – Carl Jung “My life is a story of the self-realization of the unconscious. Everything in the unconscious seeks outward manifestations, and the personality too desires to evolve out of its unconscious conditions.” *Jung’s theory focused on middle and late ages of life – self-actualization. It is a hopeful theory. Man is gradually becoming through the ages, a better and more civilized human being, operating in a better frame of reference. *Jung preferred the work psyche which means spirit or soul. It also suggests the integration of all aspects of personality.

Jung:  Total personality or psyche is composed of several systems or structures that can influence one another Major Systems of the Psyche 1. Ego  Ego with the conscious mind  The part concerned with perceiving, thinking, feeling and remembering  Person’s awareness of himself and is responsible for carrying out the normal activities of waking life  gatekeeper of the consciousness – as it acts in a selective way, admitting into conscious awareness only a portion of the stimuli to which a person is exposed  the center of an individual’s will, enabling him to strive for conscious goals  Ego inflation – overly focused on the ego and identifying too closely with one’s conscious experience and intentions especially in the first half of life which puts the person out of balance A.

Attitudes a. Extraversion  attitude of the psyche characterized by an orientation toward the external world and the other people  open, sociable, socially assertive and prefer the external world things, people and activities b. Introversion  attitude of the psyche characterized by an orientation toward one’s own thoughts and feelings  withdrawn and often shy, tend to focus on themselves and prefer their internal world of thoughts, feelings, fantasies and dreams

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B.

Psychological Functions of the Psyche  different and opposing ways of perceiving and apprehending both the external and real world and one’s subjective inner world a. Sensing  irrational function – involved perception rather than judging of information  getting of information by means of the senses b. Thinking  rational function – involves decision making or judging rather than simple intake of information  evaluating information or ideas rationally or logically c. Intuiting  irrational or perceptual but comes from the complex integration of large amounts of information rather than simple hearing or seeing  the kind of perception that work’s outside of the usual conscious processes d. Feeling  rational  matter of evaluating information, this time, by weighing one’s overall emotional response *People all have these functions but in different proportions  Superior Function – preferred and best developed in a person  Secondary Function – one is aware of and uses in support of the superior function  Tertiary Function – slightly less developed but not very conscious  Inferior Function – poorly developed and so unconscious that the person might deny its existence in himself

C.

Psychological Types a. Extraverted Thinking Type  lives according to fixed values and society’s rules  feelings are repressed to be objective in all aspects of life and to be dogmatic in thoughts and opinions  may be perceived as rigid and cold b. Extraverted Feeling Type  very emotional and conforms to the traditional values and moral codes he has been taught

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 thinking mode is repressed hence, the person is unusually sensitive to the opinions and expectations of others  emotional responsive, make friends easily and sociable c. Extraverted Sensing Type  focuses on pleasure and happiness and on seeking new experiences  strongly oriented to the real world and adaptable to different kinds of people and changing situations  intuiting function is repressed  outgoing and enjoys life d. Extraverted Intuiting Type  with keen ability to exploit opportunities, creative and attracted to new ideas  person is able to inspire others to accomplish and achieve  making decisions based more on hunches than on reflection  sensation is repressed e. Introverted Thinking Type  focuses on thought rather than on feelings and has poor practical judgment  feeling is repressed  concerned with privacy and prefers to understand himself  does not get along well with others and has difficulty communicating ideas  stubborn, aloof, arrogant and inconsiderate f. Introverted Feeling Type  rational thought is repressed  person avoids outward expression of deep emotion  has little consideration for other’s feelings and thoughts and appears withdrawn, cold, self-assured, mysterious, inaccessible, quiet, modest and childish g. Introverted Sensing Type  looks most on human activities with benevolence and amusement  aesthetically sensitive but appears positive, calm and detached from the everyday world  intuition is repressed h. Introverted Intuiting Type  focuses on the intuition that leads to little contact with reality  visionary and daydreamer – aloof, unconcerned with practical matters and poorly understood by others JAD

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 odd and eccentric, has difficulty coping with everyday life and planning for the future 2. Personal Unconscious  Anything which is not presently conscious but can be made conscious anytime  It includes both memories that are easily brought to mind and those that have been forgotten or suppressed for some reason  Focuses on information not vivid, repressed or forgotten but are easily recalled Complex  a core or pattern of emotions, memories, perceptions and wishes organized around a common them *Preoccupation of certain theme directs thoughts and behaviour in various ways, thus determining how the person perceives the world. 3. Collective Unconscious  Man’s “psychic inheritance”  Reservoir of man’s experiences as a species, a kind of knowledge people are all born with  Deepest and least accessible level of psyche A.

Archetypes  contents of the collective unconscious  unlearned tendency to experience things in a certain way i.

ii.

iii.

Shadow  sex and the life instincts in general  the dark side of the ego and the evil that people are capable of is often stored here  unwanted part of the body / repressed part of the person’s life Persona  man’s public image / external self  the mask that a person puts before he shows himself to the outside world Anima and Animus  anima – female aspect present in the collective unconscious of men  animus – male aspect present in the collective unconscious of women  together, they are called syzygy / androgyny *Anima may be personified as a young girl, very spontaneous and intuitive, or as a witch or as the mother earth.

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*Animus may be personified as a wise old man, or often a number of males, and tends to be logical, often rationalistic, even argumentative. iv.

The Self  most important archetype  represents the transcendence of all opposites, so that every aspect of the personality is expressed equally  through developing the self results to self-realization  a new center, a more balanced position for the psyche

Jung:  Perfection of the personality is only achieved in death The Dynamics of the Psyche A.

Libido  the life energy or the psychic energy by which the work of the personality is performed  the creative life force that could be applied to the psychological growth of the person  the driving force behind the psyche which is focused on the needs, whether psychological or spiritual Three principles that describe how the psyche operates: A.

B.

C.

B.

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Principe of Opposites  it is the opposition that creates the power or libido of the psyche  in order to have a concept of the good, one must have a concept of the bad, just like one cannot have up without down or black without white Principle of Equivalence  the energy, created from the opposition, is given to both sides equally Principle of Entropy  tendency of the oppositions to come together, and so for the energy to decrease over a person’s lifetime  tendency of all physical systems to run down, that is, for all energy to become equally distributed  transcendence – the process of rising above one’s opposites, of seeing both sides of who one is (metaphysical aspect)

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Development of Personality A.

Childhood  a little more than reflection of the parents’ personalities  consciousness forms when the child is able to say “I” or when the child becomes able to distinguish between himself and other people or objects in the world

B.

Teenage to Young Adulthood  psychic birth (first transition) – the psychic assumes a definite form and content; marked by difficulties and the need to adapt  the aim of life is to achieve goals and establish a secure, successful place for oneself in the world

C.

Middle Age  time of personal crisis (second transition)  shift of focus on the objective world of reality – education, career and family – to one’s inner, subjective world that had earlier been neglected  when one naturally begins the process of self-actualization to a new level of positive psychological health called individuation *Individuation  the process of restoring wholeness to the psyche in adult development  goal: to move the center of personality from the ego to some midpoint between the ego and the unconscious

IV.

*Transcendence Function  occurs in the later phase of the individuation process  an aspect of personality that integrates the diverse aspects into a unified whole  restoration of the balance in the psyche Personology – Henry Murray “For me, personality is a judge without boundaries.” Personology  The study or system of personality

Murray:  Personality is rooted in the brain which guides and governs every aspect of the personality.  The ideal state of human nature involves always having a certain level of tension to reduce. It is the process of acting to reduce the tension that is satisfying, rather than the attainment of condition free of all tension.  Individual’s personality continues to develop over time and is constructed of all the events that occur during the course of that person’s life  Personality changes and progresses JAD

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 Emphasized the uniqueness of each person while recognizing similarities among all people Division of Personality A.

Id  contains the primitive, amoral and lustful impulses described by Freud, but it also contains desirable impulses such as empathy and love

B.

Superego  the internalization of the culture’s values and norms  shaped not only by parents and authority figures, but also by the peer group and culture Ego-ideal  a component of the superego that contains the moral or ideal behaviour for which a person should strive *While the superego is developing, so is the ego-ideal, which provides people with long-range goals for which to strive.

C.

Ego  the central organizer of behaviour  consciously reasons, decides and wills the direction of behaviour

Needs: The Motivation of Behaviour Need  A physiochemical force in the brain that organizers and directs intellectual and perceptual abilities Types of Needs

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A.

Primary Needs  A.K.A. viscerogenic needs  arise from internal bodily states and include those needs required for survival, as well as such needs as sex and sentience

B.

Secondary Needs  A.K.A. psychogenic needs  arise indirectly from primary needs and are concerned with emotional satisfaction and include psychological needs such as achievement and affiliation

C.

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D.

Proactive Needs  spontaneous needs that elicit appropriate behaviour whenever they are aroused, independent of the environment or of the presence of a particular object

Characteristic of Needs A.

Prepotency  urgency with which needs impel behaviour  basic needs

B.

Fusion  when some needs are complementary and can be satisfied by one behaviour or a set of behaviours

C.

Subsidiation  a situation in which one needs is activated to aid in the satisfaction of another need  i.e., dependant and dominant

D.

Press  the pressure caused by environmental objects or past events to behave in a certain way

E.

Thema  the combination of press (the environmental factor) and need (the personal factor) that brings order to a person’s behaviour

PSYCHOSOCIAL THEORIES OF PERSONALITY I.

Feminine Psychology – Karen Horney “The basic evil is invariably a lack of genuine warmth and affection.”

Horney:  Men are envious of women for their capability to give birth (womb envy)  Gives great emphasis on social relationships as significant factors in personality formation  People are motivated not by sexual or aggressive factors but by needs of security and love Parental Behaviour and Development The key factor in personality development is the social relationship between the child and his or her parents. JAD

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Childhood was dominated by the safety need (if satisfied will result to trust) which means that the needs for security and freedom from fear determines the normality of one’s personality development. A child’s security depends entirely on how the parents treat the child. Parental Indifference / Basic Evil  A major way parents weaken or prevent security in the child’s perception Basic Hostility  Children’s first reaction to parental indifference  Often, it is anger – an aggressive coping strategy  “If I have power, no one can hurt me.” Basic Anxiety  Children’s fear of helplessness and abandonment *for survival’s sake, basic hostility is suppressed and let the parents win; if this seems to work for the child, it may become a coping strategy called compliance *”If I can make you love me, you will not hurt me.” Some children find that neither aggression nor compliance eliminates the perceived parental indifference. They solve the problem by withdrawing from family involvement into themselves, eventually becoming sufficient unto themselves. “If I withdraw, nothing can hurt me.” Anxiety: The Foundation of Neurosis Anxiety  Insidiously increasing, all pervading feeling of being lonely and helpless in a hostile world – Free -floating anxiety  the foundation on which later neurosis develop, and it is inseparably tied to feelings of hostility ways:

In childhood, people try to protect themselves against basic anxiety in four (4)

1. Securing affection and love from other people 2. Being submissive as a means of self-protection which involves complying with the wishes of wither of one particular person or of everyone in the social environment 3. Attaining power over others wherein a person compensate for helplessness and achieve security through success or through a sense of superiority 4. Withdrawing psychologically from other people wherein the person attempts to become independent of others, not relying on anyone else for the satisfaction of internal and external needs JAD

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Goal of these four self-protective mechanisms: to defend against basic anxiety Neurotic Needs / Neurotic Trends / Neurotic Solutions / Interpersonal Orientations NEEDS

TRENDS/SOLUTIONS/ORIENTATIONS

 

Affection and Approval Dominant partner

Movement towards People: The Self-Effacing Solution (Compliant Personality)

    

Power Exploitation Prestige Admiration Achievement

Movement against People: The Expansive Personality (Aggressive Personality)

  

Self-sufficiency Perfection Narrow limits to life

Movement away from People: The Resignation Solution (Detached Personality)

a. Complaint Personality – adopts the self-effacing solution to neurotic conflict and displays attitudes and behaviours that reflect an intense and continuous need for affection and approval, an urge to be loved, wanted and protected b. Aggressive Personality – adopts the expansive solution to neurotic conflict whereby mastery of tasks and power over others are emphasized even if close relationships are impeded c. Detached Personality – adopts the resignation solution to neurotic conflict whereby freedom is sought even at the expense of relationships and achievement Horney:  The dominant neurotic trend is the one that determines the person’s behaviours and attitudes toward others which is the mode of acting and thinking that best serves to control basic anxiety and any deviation from it is threatening to the person  Any indication that a repressed trend is pushing for expression causes conflict within the individual Conflict  The basic incompatibility of the three neurotic trends  Becomes the core of neurosis JAD

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In a healthy, normal person, all three trends can be expressed as circumstances warrant. There is flexibility in behaviours and attitudes and he/she can adapt to changing situations. Self Theory Horney’s another way of looking at neurosis – Self-image because the self is the core of one’s being and one’s potential. If a person is free to realize his/her full potential which is a state of selfrealization, the self-image must clearly reflect the true self. A neurotic has a different view of things. The neurotic self is split into a despised self and ideal self. The neurotic’s ideal self is not a positive goal. It is unrealistic and ultimately impossible. It is based on illusion, an unattainable ideal of absolute perfection. self-realization

vacillation

Despised self

real self

Healthy Person

Ideal self

Neurotic Person

While vacillating between the two impossible selves, the real self is distorted or denied and the ideal self escapes the real self. The neurotic is alienated from his/her true core and prevented from actualizing his/her potentials. The neurotic’s self-image is an unsatisfactory substitute for a reality-based sense of self-worth, i.e. being paranoid. Externalization  A way in which neurotic attempt to defend themselves against the inner conflicts caused by the discrepancy between idealized and real self-images  This is through projecting the conflicts unto the outside world  i.e. internalizing the insecurity Protective Structures (lower level of efforts) A.

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Blind Spots  being unaware of aspects of behaviour that are blatantly incompatible or inconsistent with the idealized-self (repression)

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B.

Compartmentalization  allowing the incompatible behaviours to be consciously recognized, but not at the same time; each is allowed to experience in a separate “compartment” of life  dividing one’s life into various compartments

C.

Rationalization  explaining behaviour in a way that it seems consistent with what is socially acceptable and with the desirable qualities one has accepted as part of the personality  giving good reasons to excuse conduct, rather than giving the real reason to explain conduct  sour-graping

D.

Excessive Self-control  avoiding emotion; the person prevents being overwhelmed by a variety of emotions, including “enthusiasm, sexual excitement, self-pity or rage”  living life within narrow limits

E.

Arbitrary Rightness  attempting to settle conflicts once and for all by declaring arbitrarily and dogmatically that one is invariably right; rigidly declaring that one’s own view is correct  inner doubts are denied and extreme challenges are discredited  everything is final; authoritarian

F.

Elusiveness  avoiding commitment to any opinion or action because of “having established no definite idealized image” to avoid the experience of conflict

G.

Cynicism  avoiding conflict by “denying and deriding moral values”  some people use this unconsciously; they consciously accept society’s values but do not live them  do not believe in anything to protect one’s self

Basic Principles in Horney’s Theory 1. Optimism-Positivism Principle  Each individual has the capacity to grow and the capacity to change for the better  Each one has the capacity to consciously shape and change his/her personality  An individual could resolve his/her neurotic conflict and lead a happier life by striving for perfection which results to self-realization

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2. Society-Culture Principle  An individual’s personality is a product of his/her interactions with other people or social forces; these interactions are affected by the traditions, folkways and mores that are taught by his/her culture  These interactions are bounded not only by the society in which he/she lives but as well as the past societies in which he/she had lived and the cultural rules he/she had to follow 3. Character-Structure Principle  Throughout an individual’s life, he/she creates a structural character which may be changed; such character sets the limits within which the individual has a free choice on how to behave 4. Self-Concept Principle  Awareness of oneself as a human being and the importance or the significance of oneself in the roles of life  Distinguishes the person’s self from all the other selves he/she sees around  The actual or real self is all that people have to operate within life 5. Complementation-Conflict Principle  A protective mechanism  Disturbances in the parent-child relationship produce conflict and anxiety  An individual has at its disposal, major and minor techniques 6. Self-Analysis Principle  Acceptance of what is real  Individual has the capacity to analyse his/her own defects and with rough skills to solve many of his/her problems  An individual must learn to use his innate creative powers through developing his/her ability to analyse his/her role BEHAVIORAL APPROACH TO PERSONALITY I.

Operant Reinforcement Theory – Burrhus Frederic Skinner “It is the environment which must be changed.”

Skinner:  Personality – condition reflex  Behaviour is explained and controlled by manipulating the environment Reinforcement: The Basis of Behaviour An animal or human could be trained to perform virtually any act and that the type of reinforcement that followed the behaviour would be responsible for determining it. Thus, whoever controls the reinforcers has the power to control human behaviour. JAD

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A. Respondent Behaviour  A response made to or elicited by a specific stimulus Reflex Behaviour  an example of respondent behaviour  this behaviour is unlearned as it occurs automatically and involuntarily Respondent behaviour can also be learned through conditioning which involves the substitution of one stimulus to another. Pavlov:  A conditioned response cannot be established in the absence of reinforcement  The act of reinforcing a response strengthens it and increases the likelihood that the response will be repeated Reinforcement is the act of strengthening a response by adding a reward, thus increasing the likelihood that the response will be repeated. An established conditioned response will not be maintained in the absence of reinforcement. Extinction is the process of eliminating a behaviour by withholding reinforcement. The learned response can be extinguished if reinforces or rewards are no longer provided. B. Operant Behaviour  Behaviour emitted spontaneously or voluntarily that operates on the environment to change it Operant Conditioning  the behaviour is followed by a consequence, and the nature of the consequence modifies the organisms’ tendency to repeat the behaviour in the future *a reinforcing stimulus has the effect of increasing the operant – the behaviour occurring just before the reinforce Schedules of Reinforcement  Patterns or rates of providing or withholding reinforcers A. Continuous Reinforcement Schedule  Every time that an organism or an individual does the desired behaviour, he gets a reward  Produces a quick learning, provided that reinforcement follows the desired behaviour immediately  Although learning is fast, extinction is also rapid B. Partial Reinforcement Schedule  Only some of the response or behaviours are followed by reinforcement  Slow learning but greater resistance to extinction JAD

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i.

Fixed Ratio Schedule  if the individual or organism emits the desired behaviour x number of times, he gets a reward

ii.

Fixed Interval Schedule  if the organism or individual emits the desired behaviour at least once during a particular stretch of time (i.e. 20 seconds), then he gets a reward; if he fails to do so, he doesn’t get a reward  even if he emits the desired behaviour a hundred times during the 20 seconds, he still gets only one reward

iii.

Variable Ratio Schedule  the reinforce change the “x” each time  i.e. first it takes 3 repetitions of the desired of the desired behaviour to get a reward, then 10, then 1, then 7…..

iv.

Variable Interval Schedule  the reinforce keep on changing the time period  i.e. first 20 seconds, then 5, then 35, then 10…..

Successive Approximation: The Shaping of Behaviour  Explains the acquisition of complex behaviour  Involves first reinforcing a behaviour that is only vaguely similar to the one desired  Once the behaviour is established, look out for and reinforce variations that come a little closer to the desired behaviour, and so on, until you have the animal or individual performing the final desired behaviour Discrimination Learning  An individual responding to discriminative stimuli in order to acquire adaptive behaviour  The behaving organism or person, learns to behave in ways appropriate to a changing situation  If a behaviour sometimes leads to desirable outcomes and sometimes not, the organism or person learns to take advantage of stimuli in the environment that signal whether the behaviour will pay off this time Discriminative Stimuli  the environmental signals Stimulus Generalization  Responding to stimuli similar to the discriminative stimulus  The more closely the stimulus resembles the discriminative stimulus that was present during conditioning, the more likely the desired behaviour is to occur  Stimulus Generalization + Stimulus Discrimination = personality consistency and change JAD

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Superstitious Behaviour  Persistent behaviour that has a coincidental relationship to the reinforcement received  Accidental reinforcement happens after a display of some behaviour The Self-Control of Behaviour  The individual has the ability to use self-control or the ability to exert control over the variables that determine behaviour  Self-control alters the impact of external events  Rationale: behaviour can be directed by manipulating the application of reinforcement contingencies A. Stimulus Avoidance  one removes himself from an external variable that affects his behaviour  avoiding a person or situation reduces the control that person or situation has over one’s behaviour B. Self-administered Satiation  One exerts control to cure one’s self of bad habits by overdoing the behaviour until one becomes disgusted, uncomfortable or ill, so that one quits engaging in the undesirable behaviour C. Aversive Stimulation  Unpleasant or repugnant consequences are involved  One engages in the desired behaviour so as to prevent unpleasant consequences D. Self-reinforcement  One rewards the self for displaying good or desirable behaviours Aversive Stimulus  Opposite if a reinforcing stimulus; something one might find unpleasant or painful  A behaviour followed by this kind of stimulus results in a decreased probability of the behaviour occurring in the future Punishment  The application of an aversive stimulus following a behaviour in an effort to decrease the likelihood that the behaviour will recur Skinner:  Punishment is ineffective in changing behaviour from undesirable to desirable or from abnormal to normal

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Positive Reinforcement  Administered for desirable behaviours is much more effective than punishment Negative Reinforcement  An already aversive stimulus is removed after one performs a certain behaviour  It makes one “feel good” when the aversive stimulus stops or is removed, so this serves as a reinforce  Behaviour followed by the removal of an aversive stimulus results in an increased probability of that behaviour occurring in the future Skinner’s Theory: Developmental Goal: Self-control of Behaviour Dynamics: reinforcement and extinction TRAIT THEORIES OF PERSONALITY  The influence of genetic factors in the formation of traits, however, there is also recognition that behaviour is a function of the interaction between both personal and situational variables I.

Trait Theory – Gordon Allport “As the individual matures, the bond with the past is broken.” Functional Autonomy: motives and motivation Structure: personality traits, conditions/dispositions, habits Dynamics: result of interaction between heredity and environment Developmental Goal: Healthy Personality The self must be the major focus of personality growth.

The Nature of Personality Allport:  Personality – as the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his characteristic behaviour and thought; thus, each person is unique  People reflect both their heredity and environment Heredity provides the personality with raw materials, such as physique, intelligence and temperament, that may be shaped, expanded or limited bu the conditions of one’s environment. JAD

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As the genetic endowment interacts with one’s social environment, the inevitable result is a unique personality.  Considered personality to be discrete or discontinuous; there is no continuum of personality There are two (2) personalities: 1. For childhood whereby primitive biological urges and reflexes drive infant behaviour 2. For adulthood whereby psychological forces drive adult functioning  Emphasized the conscious rather than the unconscious, the present and future rather than the past  Recognized uniqueness of personality rather than proposing generalities or similarities for large groups of people  Chose to study normal rather than the abnormal Personality Traits as distinguished from Personality Disposition, Habits and Attitudes Personality Traits  Predispositions to respond, in the same or a similar manner, to different kinds of stimuli  Consistent and enduring ways if reacting to the environment  Common among humans Characteristics of Traits: a. Real and exist within each of us b. Determine and cause behaviour c. Can be demonstrated empirically d. Interrelated; they may overlap even though they represent different characteristics e. May vary with the situation Personality Dispositions  Traits that are peculiar to an individual as opposed to traits shared by a number of people a. Cardinal Traits  Most pervasive and powerful or influential human traits, that they touch almost every aspect of a person’s life Allport:  The “ruling passion” – a powerful force that dominates behaviour JAD

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b. Central Traits  The handful outstanding traits that describe a person’s behaviour c. Secondary Traits  The least important and least influential individual traits, which a person may display inconspicuously and inconsistently Habits  Specific or inflexible responses to stimuli in order to initiate and guide behaviour  Have a more limited impact on traits and personal dispositions  Several habits that share some adaptive function combine, these may form a single trait Attitudes  These are similar to traits, attitudes differ from traits in two (2) general ways: attitudes have some specific object of reference and attitudes involve either positive or negative evaluations Personality and Motivation A. The influence of a person’s present situation not only in personality but also in the view of motivation; the past is no longer active and does not explain adult behaviour unless it exists as a current motivating force B. Cognitive processes – one’s conscious plans and intentions – are also important. Deliberate Intentions/Personality Traits are an essential part of one’s personality. What one wants and what one strives for are the keys to understanding human behaviour. C. Functional Autonomy of Motives  Motives of normal, mature and emotionally healthy adults are independent of or not functionally connected to the prior experiences in which they initially appeared  Forces that motivated an individual early in life become autonomous or independent of their original circumstances

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Pervasive Functional Autonomy  elementary level of functioning autonomy that is concerned with such behaviours as addictions and repetitive physical actions such as habitual ways of performing some everyday task  the behaviours continue or persevere on their own without any external reward

ii.

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 essential to the understanding of adult motivation  the ego determines which motives will be maintained and which will be discarded  an individual retains motives that enhance his self-image or selfesteem; thus, a direct relationship exists between one’s interests and one’s abilities Propriate Motives  aspects which are unique to each person; hence, these unite one’s attitudes, perceptions and intentions Propriate Functioning  an organizing process that maintains one’s sense of self  determines how one perceives the world, what one remembers from his experiences and how one’s thoughts are directed Three (3) Principles: a. Organizing and energy level  explains how one acquires new motives b. Mastery and competence  refers to the level at which one chooses to satisfy motives c. Propriate patterning  describes a striving for consistency and integration of the personality Personality Development: The Unique Self A. Stages of Development of the Propium (Self/Ego) a. Bodily Self  the infants become aware of their own existence and distinguish their own bodies from objects in the environment b. Self-identity  children realize that their identity remains intact despite the many changes that are taking place c. Self-esteem  children come to recognize the objects and people that are part of their own world d. Extension of self  children come to recognize the objects and people that are part of their own world JAD

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e. Self-image  children develop actual and idealized images of themselves and their behaviour and become aware of satisfying or failing to satisfy parental expectations f. Self as a rational coper  children begin to apply reason and logic to the solution of everyday problems g. Propriate Striving  young people begin to formulate long-range goals and plans B. Parent0child relationship is vitally important. Of particular significance is the infant-mother bond as a source of affection and security. If the mother or primary caregiver provides sufficient affection and security, the propium will develop gradually and steadily, and the child will achieve positive psychological growth. A pattern of personal dispositions will form and the result will be a mature, emotionally healthy adult. If the childhood needs are frustrated, the propium will not mature properly. The result is a neurotic adult who functions at the level of childhood drives. Adult motives do not become functionally autonomous but remain tied to their original conditions. Traits and personality dispositions do not develop and the personality remains undifferentiated, as it was in infancy. C. In adulthood, normal and mature adults are functionally autonomous, independent of childhood motives. They function rationally in the present and consciously create their own lifestyle. The self has become the knower. The Healthy Adult Personality Six (6) Criteria: 1. The mature adult extends his sense of self to people and to activities beyond himself. 2. The mature adult related warmly to other people, exhibiting intimacy, compassion and tolerance. 3. The mature adult’s self-acceptance helps him achieve emotional security. 4. The mature adult holds a realistic perception of life, develops personal skills and makes a commitment to some type of work. 5. The mature adult has a sense of humor and self-objectification. 6. The mature adult subscribes to a unifying philosophy of life, which is responsible for directing the personality toward future goals.

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PARENT-CHILD ATTACHMENT Propium  propriate motives  propriate functioning/striving  propriate patterning (healthy personality) PHENOMENOLOGICAL THEORIES OF PERSONALITY  Focus on the individual’s immediate and subjective experiences, his personal view of the world and of himself and his private concepts I.

Person-Centered Theory – Carl Rogers “The organism has one basic tendency and striving – to actualize, maintain and enhance the experiencing organism.” Dynamics: organisms valuing process  evaluate life experiences (+/-) Developmental Goal: self-actualization Developmental Task: fully functioning person

Rogers:

 Attention to the concept of the self and experiences related to the self  Illustrates a conscious focused effort to combine clinical intuition with objective research  Humanistic psychologist: emphasized the importance of considering the whole person, and the special need to pay attention to subjective experience, the self and purpose striving  Existentialist: shared the focus upon present conscious, experiences but especially those “emotionally tinged” experiences that he called “feelings”  Theory – emphasizes the uniquely experienced reality of the person  Behaviour is the result of immediate perceptual events as the individual actually experiences them  Behaviour is basically the goal-directed attempt of the organism to satisfy its needs as experienced in the filed perceived

The Actualization Tendency People are motivated by an innate tendency to actualize, maintain and enhance the self. The governing process throughout the life span is the organismic valuing process. Through this process, we evaluate all life experiences by how they serve the actualization tendency.

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Positive Value  Experiences that we perceive as promoting actualization are evaluated as good and desirable Negative Value  Experiences perceived as hindering actualization are undesirable The Development of the Self in Childhood The separate part of the experiences as defined by the words – I, me and myself – is the self or self-concept. a. Positive Regard  Acceptance, love and approval from others b. Positive Self-regard  Self-esteem, self-worth, a positive self-image c. Unconditional Positive Regard  Approval granted regardless of a person’s behaviour d. Conditions of Worth  A belief that we are worthy of approval only when we express desirable behaviours and attitudes and refrain from expressing those that bring disapproval from others e. Conditional Positive Regard  Approval, love or acceptance only when a person expresses desirable behaviours and attitudes f. Conditional Positive Self-regard  Liking oneself only if one meets the standards others have applied to us, rather than if one is truly actualizing his/her potentials g. Incongruence  A discrepancy between a person’s self-concept and aspects of his or her experience Defenses  Used to psychologically avoid the situation where there is incongruity between the ideal and the real self which results to the feeling anxiety Anxiety  A signal indicating that there is trouble ahead and that the situation should be avoided JAD

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a. Denial  Block out the threatening situation altogether  Includes repression – keeping a memory or an impulse out of awareness which are being refused to be perceived b. Perceptual Distortion  Reinterpreting the situation so that it appears less threatening  Accepting life’s realities

Self-actualization Process Characteristics of Fully Functioning Person 1. Openness to Experience  Not only aware of all experiences but has accurate perception of his/her experiences in the world, including his/her feelings JAD

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 There is acceptance of reality and of his/her feelings  The person is open to positive feelings and to negative feelings 2. Existential Living  Freshness of appreciation for all experiences / all experiences are potentially fresh and new  The person lives in here-and-now  Experiences cannot be predicted or anticipated, but are participated fully  Each moment allows the self to emerge, possibly changed by the new experience wherein the self becomes experiences as a fluid 3. Organismic Trusting  There is trust in one’s own behaviour and feelings  Inner experience is used at each moment to guide behaviour  Trust own reactions rather than being guided by the opinions of others, by a social code or by their intellectual judgments 4. Experiential Freedom  Freedom of choice, without inhibitions but takes responsibility for his/her choices  Sense of power – they do not feel compelled, wither by themselves or by others, to behave in only one way 5. Creativity and Spontaneity  Creative and live constructively and adaptively as environmental conditions change  Flexible and seek new experiences and challenges which includes participating in the world and as one self-actualizes, one also feels obliged to contribute to the actualization of others, or of even life itself 6. Continual need to grow, to strive, to maximize one’s potential  Continually testing, growing, striving and using all of one’s potential, a way of life that brings complexity and challenge II.

Search for Meaning – Viktor Frankl “Without suffering and death, human life cannot be complete.”

Frankl:  Human motivation arise from the will to meaning – for his life and to transcend himself – to go beyond the limitations of and concern of himself  A will to meaning is not only equal but also ultimately more fundamental than the theories of Freud and Adler; this is on the observation that man can live or die for his ideals or that man can be heroic  The person himself does not invent the meaning of existence, rather, he discovers it and it is “out there” in some sense JAD

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The Meaning of Life Life is unconditionally meaningful in every person’s life; there are unique situations in which he/she has a unique person can find a unique meaning. It is up to the person to find the meaning that each situation holds for him/her. Conscience is the guide. Conscience  Unconscious spirituality  The core of the human being and the source of personal integrity  Intuitive and highly personalized  A real person in a real situation and cannot be reduced to simple “universal laws” The Experience of Finding the Meaning of Life 1. Experiential Values  By experiencing someone or something that is valued  Most important: the love towards another Frankl:  Love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Through love, the loving person may make the beloved aware of his potentials and enable him to make these come true. 2. Creative Values  By doing a deed  By becoming involved in one’s projects or better, in the projects of one’s own life  Includes the creativity involved in art, music, writing, invention and so on 3. Attitudinal Values  Includes virtues such as compassion, bravery, a good sense of humor  Achieving meaning by way of suffering Transcendence – developmental goal  A.K.A. supra-meaning  The idea that there is in fact an ultimate meaning in life – meaning that is not dependent on others, on projects or even on dignity  A reference to God and spiritual meaning Self-transcendence  Human existence is always directed to something or someone, other than itself JAD

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The Experience of Frustration of the Will to Meaning A. Noogenic Neurosis / Spiritual or Existential Neurosis / Spiritual Distress  People of today’s world are suffering from a frustration of their will to meaning Existential Vacuum  A sense of futility, purposelessness, aimlessness, emptiness of life and meaninglessness in life, in spite of success  Common sign: boredom B. Sunday Neurosis  A prevalence of existential vacuum is seen  A person does not seem to want to do anything when he/she finally has the time to do what he/she wants  Reflected in the plight of the aged and retired people, in juvenile delinquency, in alcoholism and suicide Neurotic Vicious Cycle  Such as obsession with germs and cleanliness or fear-driven obsession with a phobic object  Whatever we do, it is never enough C. Anticipatory Anxiety  Where neurotic vicious cycle are founded  Causes the very thing that is feared Hyperintention  A matter of trying too hard, which itself prevents the person fro, succeeding at something Hyperreflection  Matter of thinking too hard D. Mass Neurotic Triad  Depression, addiction and aggression III.

Humanistic Theory – Abraham Maslow “What humans can be, they must be. They must be true to their own nature.”

Maslow:  Every person there is an active will toward health, an impulse toward growth or toward the actualization of human personalities JAD

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 In every self-actualizing personality, there is a hierarchy of need priorities wherein on person must successfully achieve the first degree in order to go on the second degree  The man is more intended in need gratification than in need of frustration  Man is essentially and innately good  The badness in man’s behaviour comes out of a bad environment rather than an inherent rottenness Personality Development: The Hierarchy of Needs These needs are called instinctoid which he meant that they have a hereditary component. However, these needs can be affected or overridden by learning, social expectations and fear of disapproval.

Psychosocial Needs

Physical Needs

a. The Physiological Needs  Include the needs for oxygen, water, protein, salt, sugar and other minerals and vitamins  Include the need to maintain pH balance and temperature  The needs to sleep, rest, get rid of wastes, avoid pain and have sex b. The Safety and Security Needs  The needs in finding safe circumstances, stability, protection, structure, order and some limits c. The Love and Belonging Needs  Include the needs for friends, sweetheart, children, affectionate relationships in general and even a sense of community d. The Esteem Needs  Two versions: JAD

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i. Lower Form  the need for respects of others  the need for status, fame, glory, recognition, reputation, appreciation, dignity, dominance ii. Higher Form  the need for self-respect  feelings of confidence, independence and freedom

competence,

achievement,

mastery,

e. The Self-Actualization Need i. Cognitive Needs  the innate needs to know and to understand ii. Aesthetic Needs  the needs for aesthetically pleasing experiences and beautiful surroundings  the continuous desire to fulfil potentials, to “be all that you can be”, to become the most complete and the fullest “you” Characteristics of the Needs A. Higher needs appear later in life. Physiological and safety needs arise in infancy. Belongingness and esteem needs arise in adolescence. The need for self-actualization arises in midlife. B. Failure to satisfy a higher need does not produce a crisis. Failure to satisfy a lower need does produce a crisis. Maslow:  Called the lower needs – deficit or deficiency needs; failure to satisfy these produces a deficit or lack in the individual  Called the higher needs – growth or being needs; although these are less necessary for survival, these contribute to survival and growth – satisfaction of the higher needs leads to improve health and permanency Note: A need does not need to have be satisfied fully before the next need in hierarchy becomes important. The Study of Self-Actualizers Metamotivation / B-motivation / Being-motivation  A motivation for self-actualizers  Involves the maximizing personal potential rather than striving for a particular object JAD

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Metaneeds  The states of growth or being – such as goodness, uniqueness and perfection –toward which self-actualizers evolve Metapathology  Failure to satisfy metaneeds  Thwarts the full development of the personality D-motivation / Deficiency Motivation  Motivation of people who are not self-actualizers  Involves the striking for something specific to make up for something that is lacking within Characteristics of Self-Actualizers a. An efficient perception of reality  They perceive their world, including other people, clearly and objectively, unbiased by prejudgments or preconceptions b. An acceptance of themselves, others and nature  Accept their own and others’ strengths and weaknesses  They do not try to distort or falsify their self-image and they do not feel guilty about their failures c. A spontaneity, simplicity and naturalness  Behaviour is open, direct and natural  Feel secure enough to be themselves without being overly assertive d. A focus on problems outside themselves  Have a sense of mission, a commitment, to which they devote their energy e. A sense of detachment and the need for privacy  Experience isolation without harmful effects and seem to need solitude more than persons who are not self-actualizers f. A freshness of appreciation  Have the ability to perceive and experience their environment with freshness, wonder and awe  Appreciate what they have and take little for granted g. Mystical and peak experiences  Know moments of intense ecstasy that can occur with virtually any activity  During these experiences, the self is transcended and the person feels supremely powerful, confident and decisive h. Social Interest  Have sympathy and empathy for all humanity JAD

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 Feel a kinship with and an understanding of others as well as a desire to help them i. Profound interpersonal relations  Circle of friends is not large but have a deep, lasting friendships j. A democratic character structure  Unconditional acceptance  Tolerant and accepting of the personality and behaviour of others  Willing to listen to and learn from anyone capable of teaching them and are rarely condescending k. Creativeness  Highly creative and exhibit inventiveness and originality in their work and other facets of life  Flexible, spontaneous and willing to make mistakes and learn from them l. Resistance to enculturation  Autonomous, independent and self-sufficient  Do not openly rebel against cultural norms or social codes, but they are governed by their own nature rather than the structures of society Jonah Complex  Failure to become self-actualizer  One’s doubts about his own abilities  There is a fear that maximizing one’s potential that will lead to a situation with which one will be unable to cope COGNITIVE APPROACH TO PERSONALITY  Focuses on the ways in which people come to know their environment and themselves, how they perceive, evaluate, learn, think, make decisions and solve problems  Focuses exclusively on conscious mental activities because it believes that all aspects of personality, including its emotional components, are under the control of cognitive processes I.

Cognitive Theory of Personality – George Kelly “It occurred to me that what seemed true of myself was probably no less true of others. It I initiated my actions, so did they.”

Kelly:  Each person creates a set of cognitive constructs about the environment which involves interpreting and organizing events and social relationships into a system or pattern JAD

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 On the basis of the pattern, the person makes predictions about one’s self and about other people and events, then these predictions are used to formulate one’s responses and guide one’s actions  Model of human nature reflects that people function in the same way scientists do – like scientists, a person constructs theories or personal constructs, by which he tries to predict and control the events in his life  Constructs can become known only through behaviour which means that to study an individual’s constructs, one has to find behavioural examples or referents for them Personal Construct Theory Construct System  A unique pattern created by an individual wherein his personal interpretation, explanation and in construing his experiences represent his unique view of events within which he places his experiences Construct  An intellectual hypothesis devised to explain and interpret events  Basis of behaviour which later on evaluates the effects  Anticipatory – used to predict the future so that an individual has some idea of the consequences of his actions or of what is likely to occur if he behaves in a certain way Constructive Alternativism  An individual is free to revise or replace his constructs with alternatives as needed  Enables a person to cope with new situations Anticipating Life Events 1. Fundamental Postulates  An individual’s psychological processes are directed by the ways in which he anticipates events Processes  individual’s feelings, thoughts, experiences and behaviours which are determined by the individual’s efforts to anticipate the world, other people and himself 2. Eleven Corollaries / Characteristics of Constructs a. Construction  because of repeated events, an individual can predict or anticipate how he will experience such event in the future b. Individuality  people perceives events in different ways JAD

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c. Organization  an individual arranges his constructs in patterns, according to his view of his constructs’ similarities and differences d. Dichotomy  constructs are bipolar e. Choice  an individual chooses the alternative for each construct that works best for him, the one that allows him to predict the outcome of anticipated events f. Range  an individual’s constructs may apply to many situations or people, or these may be limited to a single person or situation g. Experience  an individual continually tests his constructs against life’s experiences to make sure these remain useful h. Modulation  an individual may modify his constructs as a function of new experiences i. Fragmentation / Discrimination  an individual may sometimes have contradictory or inconsistent subordinate constructs within his overall construct system j. Commonality  although people’s individual constructs are unique to them, people in compatible groups or cultures may hold similar constructs k. Sociality  in individual tries to understand how other people think and also predicts what they will do and he modifies his behaviour accordingly

interpret Fundamental Postulate > < CONSTRUCTS

Behaviour predict

Anticipates Events

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Cause > Effect

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