Personality and Social Psychology

Unit Five
Psychology 12
 Personality: Some Terms

Personality: a persons internally based characteristic way of

acting and thinking
Character: Personal characteristics that have been judged or
evaluated
Temperament: Hereditary aspects of personality, including
sensitivity, moods, irritability, and distractibility
Personality Trait: Stable qualities that a person shows in most
situations
Personality Type: People who have several traits in common
 Types of Personality Theories

Trait Theories: Attempt to learn what traits make up personality

and how they relate to actual behavior
Psychodynamic Theories: Focus on the inner workings of
personality, especially internal conflicts and struggles
Humanistic Theories: Focus on private, subjective experience
and personal growth
Social-Cognitive Theories: Attribute difference in personality to
socialization, expectations, and mental processes
Personality Theory: System of concepts, assumptions, ideas,
and principles proposed to explain personality.
 Jungs Theory of Two Types

Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist who was a Freudian disciple,

believed that we are one of two personality types:

Introvert: Shy, self-centered person whose attention is

focused inward

Extrovert: Bold, outgoing person whose attention is directed

outward
 Eysencks Three Factor Theory

Hans Eysenck, English psychologist, believed that there are

three fundamental factors in personality:
Introversion versus Extroversion
Emotionally Stable versus Unstable (neurotic)
Impulse Control versus Psychotic
 Eysencks Theory, continued

The first two factors create 4 combinations, related to the four

basic temperaments recognized by ancient Greeks:
Melancholic (introverted + unstable): sad, gloomy
Choleric (extroverted + unstable): hot-tempered, irritable
Phlegmatic (introverted + stable): sluggish, calm
Sanguine (extroverted + stable): cheerful, hopeful
 Show Video

http://www.learner.org/series/disc
overingpsychology/16/e16expand.
html
 Freuds Psychoanalytic Theory

Sigmund Freud, M.D.,a Viennese physician who thought his

patients problems were more emotional than physical.
Freud began his work by using hypnosis and eventually
switched to psychoanalysis.
Freud had many followers: Jung and Adler, to name a few.
More than 100 years later, his work is still influential and very
controversial
 The Id, Ego, and Superego

Id: Innate biological instincts and urges; self-serving &

irrational
Totally unconscious
Works on Pleasure Principle: Wishes to have its desires
(pleasurable) satisfied NOW, without waiting and regardless
of the consequences

Ego: Executive; directs id energies

Partially conscious and partially unconscious
Works on Reality Principle: Delays action until it is practical
and/or appropriate
 The Id, Ego, and Superego,
continued
Superego: Judge or censor for thoughts and actions of the
ego
Superego comes from our parents or caregivers; guilt
comes from the superego
Two parts
- Conscience: Reflects actions for which a person has
been punished (e.g., what we shouldnt do or be)
- Ego Ideal: Second part of the superego; reflects
behavior ones parents approved of or rewarded (e.g.,
what we should do or be)
 Levels of Awareness

Conscious: Everything you are aware of at a given moment

Preconscious: Material that can easily be brought into awareness
Unconscious: Holds repressed memories and emotions and the ids
instinctual drives
 Cause of Anxiety

Ego is always caught in the middle of battles between superegos

desires for moral behavior and the ids desires for immediate
gratification
Neurotic Anxiety: Caused by id impulses that the ego can
barely control
Moral Anxiety: Comes from threats of punishment from the
superego
Defense mechanism: a process used by the ego to distort
reality and protect a person from anxiety
 Examples of Defense Mechanisms
Regression: Ego seeks the security of an earlier developmental
period in the face of stress.
Displacement: Ego shifts unacceptable feelings from one object to
another, more acceptable object.
Sublimation: Ego replaces an unacceptable impulse with a
socially acceptable one
Reaction Formation: Ego transforms an unacceptable motive or
feeling into its opposite.
Projection: Ego attributes personal shortcomings, problems, and
faults to others.
Rationalization: Ego justifies an unacceptable motive by giving a
false acceptable (but false) reason for behavior
 Personality Development

According to Freud, personality develops in stages; everyone

goes through same stages in same order. Majority of
personality is formed before age 6
Erogenous Zone: Area on body capable of producing
pleasure
Fixation: Unresolved conflict or emotional hang-up caused by
overindulgence or frustration
 Stages of
Personality Development
Oral Stage: Ages 0-1. Most of infants pleasure comes from stimulation
of the mouth. If a child is overfed or frustrated, oral traits will develop.
Oral Dependent Personality: Gullible, passive, and need lots of
attention. Fixations create oral-aggressive adults who like to argue
and exploit others.
Erogenous zone: mouth (oral)
Anal Stage: Ages 1-3. Attention turns to process of elimination. Child
can gain approval or express aggression by letting go or holding on. Ego
develops. Harsh or lenient toilet training can make a child either:
Anal Retentive: Stubborn, stingy, orderly, and compulsively clean
Anal Expulsive: Disorderly, messy, destructive, or cruel
Erogenous zone: anus
 Stages of Personality
Development, continued
Phallic Stage: Ages 3-6. Child now notices and is physically attracted
to opposite sex parent. Can lead to:
Oedipus Conflict: For boys only. Boy feels rivalry with his father for
his mothers affection. Boy may feel threatened by father (castration
anxiety). To resolve, boy must identify with his father (i.e., become
more like him and adopt his heterosexual beliefs).
Electra Conflict: Girl loves her father and competes with her
mother. Girl identifies with her mother more slowly because she
already feels castrated.
Erogenous zone: phallus
 Stages of Personality
Development, continued
Latency: Ages 6-Puberty. Psychosexual development is dormant.
Same sex friendships and play occur here.

Genital Stage: Puberty-on. Realization of full adult sexuality occurs

here; sexual urges re-awaken.
 Evaluation of
Psychoanalytic Theory
Freud overemphasized sexuality and placed little emphasis
on other aspects of the childs experience.
Freuds theory is largely untestable. Particularly, the
concept of the unconscious is unprovable.
According to Freud, the only way that people in
psychological distress can get relief is to undergo length
therapy, to identify unresolved conflicts from infancy and
childhood.
Freuds view of people is overly negative and pessimistic.
 Banduras Theory

Self-system: the set of cognitive processes by which a person

observes, evaluates, and regulates his/her behavior. Bandura
proposed that what we think of as personality is a product of this
self-system.

Children observe behavior of models (such as parents) in their

social environment. Particularly if they are reinforced, children
will imitate these behaviors, incorporating them into personality.

Bandura also proposed that people observe their own behavior

and judge its effectiveness. Self-efficacy: a judgment of ones
effectiveness in dealing with particular situations.
 Show Video

http://www.learner.org/series/disc
overingpsychology/15/e15glossar
y.html
 Rotters Theory of
Locus of Control
Julian Rotter: American psychologist, began as a Freudian!
His personality theory combines learning principles, modeling,
cognition, and the effects of social relationships

External locus of control: perception that chance or

external forces beyond personal control determine ones fate

Internal locus of control: perception that you control your

own fate.

Learned Helplessness: a sense of hopelessness in which a

person thinks that he/she is unable to prevent aversive events
 Evaluation of
Social-Cognitive Theories
Social-cognitive theories tend to be overly-mechanical.
Overemphasizes environmental influences; gives little or no
consideration to the possibility of innate personality
differences or the effects of genetics.
Does not recognize internal human qualities such as hope,
aspiration, love, self-sacrifice
 Humanism

Humanism: Approach that focuses on human experience,

problems, potentials, and ideals
Human Nature: Traits, qualities, potentials, and behavior
patterns most characteristic of humans
Free Choice: Ability to choose that is NOT controlled by
genetics, learning, or unconscious forces
Subjective Experience: Private perceptions of reality
 Maslows Theory

Abraham Maslow is considered father of the humanistic

movement. He observed the lives of (purportedly) healthy and
creative people to develop is theory.
Hierarchy of needs: the motivational component of Maslows
theory, in which our innate needs, which motivate our actions,
are hierarchically arranged.
Self-actualization: the fullest realization of a persons
potential
Graphic: Hierarchy of Needs
 Carl Rogers Self Theory
Carl Rogers: American psychologist; believed that personality
formed as a result of our strivings to reach our full human
potential.
Fully Functioning Person: Lives in harmony with his/her deepest
feelings and impulses
Self-Image: Total subjective perception of your body and
personality
Conditions of Worth: behaviors and attitudes for which other
people, starting with our parents, will give us positive regard.
Unconditional Positive Regard: Unshakable love and approval
Positive Self-Regard: Thinking of oneself as a good, lovable,
worthwhile person
Evaluation of Humanistic Theories

Many of the Humanists claims are untestable.

Humanists may have an overly-positive, rosy view of
humankind. They do not look at the dark side.
For the Humanists, the cause of all our problems lies not in
ourselves, but in others.
Maslows characterization of self-actualized individuals is
very biased toward a certain philosophical position.
Most of the people Maslow identified as self-actualized had
rather serious psychological problems.
 Persuasion

The process by which a message induces change in

feelings, attitudes, or behaviours.

How do we get people to feel, believe, and do what we

want them to feel, believe, and do?
 Elaboration Likelihood Model
Persuasion via the Central Route:
A focus on the actual content of the arguments that
stimulates thinking about the new attitude (also
known as systematic processing)

Persuasion via the Peripheral Route:

Acceptance is triggered by incidental cues (e.g.,
attractiveness of the speaker) without much thinking
(also known as heuristic-based processing)
 Increasing Minimum Wage

Central Route Peripheral Route

Great arguments. He sounds smart.

Im convinced! Im convinced!
Central Route Peripheral Route
 Motivation x Ability

Motivation to process the arguments

Factors related to motivation that influence the
likelihood that you will elaborate on the issues
Personal relevance
Responsibility for evaluating message
Need for cognition/Need for Closure
Incongruent information
 Motivation x Ability

Ability to process the arguments

Factors related to ability that influence if you can
process the information in the arguments
Message clarity
Repeating the message
Distraction/time pressure
Channel of communication (print)
Individual differences in intelligence
 Argument quality is important
to the Central Route:

Strong arguments make you more favourable

toward the object/issue

Weak arguments make you less favourable toward

the object/issue
 Attitudes changed via the Central
Route are:

longer lasting

more predictive of behavior

more resistant to change

 Argument quality is less
important to the Peripheral
Route:

Strong arguments and weak arguments can have the

same effect.

Weak arguments are less damaging.

 Attitudes changed via the
Peripheral Route are:

less longer lasting; more temporary

less predictive of behaviour

less resistant to other people trying to influence our

attitudes
 Communicator

Credibility

Expertise

Trustworthiness/Self-Interest

Likeability

Attractiveness

Physical Appeal

Similarity
 Message
Two-sided versus one-sided arguments
Two-sided are better if you can refute the other side

Emotion
positive feelings (peripheral processing)

fear (motivating especially if have plan)

Discrepancy
Credibility of communicator

Involvement of audience

Primacy versus recency

Primacy normally better
 Message Primacy/Recency

Primacy Effects: Information presented first has the most influence

Message1Message2..Response

Recency Effects: Information presented last has the most influence

Message 1Message2Response
 Audience

What are they thinking?

The ability and motivation to counter-argue is the key to whether
persuasion works (via the central route)
Forewarned
Distraction
Involvement
Need for Cognition/Need for Closure
Innoculation
 Six Persuasion Principles
Robert Cialdini (2001)
1. Consistency
foot-in-the door

bait and switch

low-ball

legitimizing paltry favors

how are you feeling technique

 Foot-in-door

Presented with a small request (that almost

everyone would agree to), followed by a larger
request
Operates due to the consistency principle (if I
act in a certain way initially, I have to continue
to act in a similar way)
 Six Persuasion Principles
Robert Cialdini (2001)
2. Social Validation
List technique

Littering studies (Cialdini, Reno & Kallgren, 1990)

Norms
Salience of norms (whether notice norms or not)
 Six Persuasion Principles
Robert Cialdini (2001)
3. Reciprocity
Reciprocation of favours
Name stickers, flower seeds,

Reciprocation of concessions
Door in face
Delinquent kids study (Cialdini, Vincent, Lewis, Catalan,
Wheeler, & Darby, 1975)
 Door-in-the-face

Presented with a LARGE request (expected to

refuse), followed by a smaller, more reasonable
request (expected to accept)
Operates due to the reciprocity norm (if I do
something nice for you, you should do
something nice for me)
Not to be confused with foot-in-the-door
 Six Persuasion Principles
Robert Cialdini (2001)
4. Friendship/Liking
Tupperware and Lingerie Parties

Neighbourhood Breast Cancer Garage Sale

Save the Children Campaign

 Six Persuasion Principles
Robert Cialdini (2001)
5. Scarcity limit on products, time, etc
Dwaze Dagen/Boxing Day

Only This Weekend!

Gone is gone
 Six Persuasion Principles
Robert Cialdini (2001)
6. Authority
Milgram Studies next week, military, etc
 Six Persuasion Principles
Robert Cialdini (2001)
If you wanted to get some money from your parents,
would you first:
a) ask for $20 and then ask for $100 (start small)

or would you

b) ask for $100 and then ask for $20 (start big)

Principle of reciprocity of concessions

 Six Persuasion Principles
Robert Cialdini (2001)
If you want to get someone to help you move, would you
first:
a) tell them that you only have a little bit of stuff and then
later tell them that you have a lot of stuff? (start small)

or would you

b) tell them that you have a lot of stuff and then later tell
them that you dont have too much stuff? (start big)
 Show Videos
http://www.learner.org/series http://www.learner.org/series
/discoveringpsychology/19/e /discoveringpsychology/11/e
19expand.html 11expand.html
 Is Conformity Good or Bad?

Due to our upbringing in North American

culture, individuality has a certain allure
But
Another word for individualist is deviant
Another word for conformist is team player
Obviously, there are times where conformity,
and obedience, are crucial
Despite Hollywoods depiction, research
(Schacter; Kruglanski) shows that the
conformist is liked more
Why Conform?

Our sanity depends to

some degree on the belief
that everyone sees the
same world that we see
If this belief is challenged,
wed rather change what
we see (or what we say we
see) than admit to
ourselves (or others) that
we see a different world
 Definitions

Conformity: a change in attitude

or behavior due to the real or
imagined presence of others.
Compliance: a change in behavior, but not attitude, due to the
results of social pressure.
Acceptance: a change in both behavior and attitude.
Asch Line Judgment Experiments

Stimulus A B C
 Solomon Asch
Asch (1951;1956) completed two studies that
demonstrate how easily conformity occurs
Nave subject is brought into lab with 6-8
confederates
Asked to make a judgment about line length
Subject is seated next to last
In 12 of 18 trials confederates provide the
wrong answer DV is whether subject follows
Ordinarily subjects make mistakes 1% of the
time, in this experiment 36.8% of the time
You cannot be serious!
 Asch

Results:
33% went along with the group on a majority of the trials
25% remained completely independent
75% conformed at least once
When tested alone (no confederates), subjects got
more than 98% of the judgments correct
When tested with confederates, they only got 66%
of the judgments correct
 Why conform?

Confusion
Informational pressure
Embarrassment
Normative pressure
2 more versions of the experiment
Compliance, NOT internalization
 Influences on Conformity in Asch
Size of group: as group size increases to 3 others,
conformity increases. After that, little change
Presence of one dissenter decreases conformity
immensely
If dissenter disagrees with both it still reduces
conformity
The more wrong the majority was, the less influence
The greater the privacy, the less conformity
Accuracy versus approval issue
Also known as informational vs. normative influence.
 Videos

Asch Conformity (~6:00)

Dangerous Conformity (~8:00)
Marry a Stranger (~5:00)
Obeying a man in uniform (~4:30)
Fast Food Strip Seach (~8:00)
Millgram Study (~6:00)
http://heroicimagination.org/public-resources/video-library/
 What and Why of Emotions
A subjective sensation experienced as a type of psycho-
physiological arousal

Result from the interaction of

perception of environmental stimuli

neural & hormonal responses to perceptions (feelings)

a cognitive appraisal of the situation arousing the state
an outward expression of the state
 What is the Value of Emotion?
Emotions
determine personal viability
prepare us for action
shape our behavior (emotions are reinforcing)
regulate social interaction
facilitate communication nonverbally
facilitate adult-child relations and thus development
make life worth living by adding value to experience
allow us to respond flexibly to our environment
(approaching good, avoiding bad)
 What is the Value of Emotion?
Emotions
largely a conscious phenomena
involve more bodily manifestations than other
conscious states
vary along a number of dimensions: intensity, type,
origin, arousal, value, self-regulation, etc.
are reputed to be antagonists of rationality.
have a central place in moral education and moral
life through conscience, empathy, and many
specific moral emotions such as shame, guilt, and
remorse; inextrictably linked to moral virtues
 Theories of Emotions
Theories of emotion
James-Lange theory of emotion
The theory that emotional feelings result when an
individual becomes aware of a physiological response to
an emotion-provoking stimulus
Requires separate and distinct physiological activity for
each emotion
 Theories of Emotions
Theories of emotion
Cannon-Bard theory of emotion
The theory that an emotion-provoking stimulus is
transmitted simultaneously to the cortex, providing the
feeling of emotion, and to the sympathetic nervous
system, causing the physiological arousal
Cognitive labeling and action would follow
consciousness of feeling and physiological arousal
 Theories of Emotions
Theories of emotion
Schachter-Singer theory of emotion
A two-stage theory stating that for an emotion to occur,
there must be (1) physiological arousal and (2) an
explanation for the arousal
Accounts for subjective interpretation
Does not account for specific physiological states
associated with some emotions
 Theories of Emotions
Theories of emotion
Lazarus theory of emotion
The theory that an emotion-provoking stimulus triggers a
cognitive appraisal, which is followed by the emotion and
the physiological arousal
Three aspects of appraisal
Primary (relevance)
Secondary (options)
Reappraisal (anything changed)
 Videos

Brown Eyes vs Blue Eyes (~9:00)

Halo Effect (~5:00)
Group Identity (~5:00)
http://heroicimagination.org/public-resources/video-library/
 Three Ways to Measure Emotion
Body/Physical
blood pressure
heart rate
adrenaline levels
muscle activity when smiling, frowning, etc.
neural images
posture
tears,
perspiration
lie detector readings
 Three Ways to Measure Emotion
Thoughts (observed indirectly through)
spoken and written words on rating scales
answers to open-ended questions on surveys and during
interviews
responses to projective instruments, sentence stems, etc.
self-assessments or perceptions regarding the behavior
and intentions of others
other cognitive operations such as rational/logical
thinking
 Three Ways to Measure Emotion
Behavior
facial expressions aggression
activity level approach/avoidance
alertness attention/distraction
screaming insomnia
laughing anhedonia
smiling
 Emotion and the Brain

Emotion associated with

the limbic system
The brain structure most
closely associated with
fear is the amygdala
When the emotion of fear
first materializes, much of
the brains processing is
nonconscious
 Basic Emotions
Paul Ekman and Carroll Izard
Insist that there are a limited number of basic emotions
Basic emotions
Emotions that are found in all cultures, that are reflected in the
same facial expressions across cultures, and that emerge in
children according to their biological timetable
Ekman
Suggested considering emotions as families
The anger family might range from annoyed to irritated, angry,
livid, and, finally, enraged
If perceived as a family, anger should also include various
forms of its expression
 Plutchik
Three-dimensional Circumplex
Model
Protypical Behavior
 Expression of Emotion

Range of emotion
Ekman and Friesen
Claim there are subtle distinctions in the facial expression
of a single emotion that convey its intensity

Development of facial expressions

Like the motor skills of crawling and walking, facial
expressions of emotions develop according to a
biological timetable of maturation
Consistency of emotional development across
individual infants and across cultures supports the
idea that emotional expression is inborn
 Expression of Emotion
Universality of facial expressions
Charles Darwin
First to study the relationship between emotions and facial
expressions
Believed that the facial expression of emotion was an aid to
survival because it enabled people to communicate their
internal states and react to emergencies before they
developed language
Maintained that most emotions, and the facial expressions
that convey them, are genetically inherited and
characteristic of the entire human species
Concluded that facial expressions were similar across
cultures
 Expression of Emotion
Universality of facial expressions
Scherer and Wallbott
Found very extensive overlap in the patterns of emotional
experiences reported across cultures in 37 different
counties on 5 continents
Also found important cultural differences in the ways
emotions are elicited and regulated and in how they are
shared socially
 Expression of Emotion
Cultural rules for displaying emotion
Display rule
Cultural rules that dictate how emotions should be
expressed and when and where their expression is
appropriate
Often, a societys display rules require people to
give evidence of certain emotions that they may not
actually feel or to disguise their true feelings
Cole
Found that 3-year-old girls, when given an unattractive gift,
smiled nevertheless
They had already learned a display rule and signaled an
emotion they very likely did not feel
 Experiencing Emotion

Facial-feedback hypothesis
Sylvan Tomkins
Claimed that the facial expression itself that is, the
movement of the facial muscles producing the expression
triggers both the physiological arousal and the conscious
feeling associated with the emotion
Facial-feedback hypothesis
The idea that the muscular movements involved in certain
facial expressions trigger the corresponding emotions
 Experiencing Emotion

Facial-feedback hypothesis
Ekman and colleagues
Documented the effects of facial expressions on
physiological indicators of emotion using 16 participants
Reported that a distinctive physiological response pattern
emerged for the emotions of fear, sadness, anger, and
disgust, whether the participants relived one of their
emotional experiences or simply made the corresponding
facial expression
Researcher found that both anger and fear accelerate
heart rate, but fear produces colder fingers than does
anger
 Experiencing Emotion

Facial-feedback hypothesis
Izard
Believes that learning to self-regulate emotional expression
can help in controlling emotions
Proposes that this approach to the regulation of emotion
might be a useful adjunct to psychotherapy

Gender differences in experiencing emotion

David Buss
Has reported that women are far more likely to feel anger
when their partner is sexually aggressive
Men experience greater anger than women when their
partner withholds sex
 Experiencing Emotion

Gender differences in experiencing emotion

Research by evolutionary psychologists also
suggests clear and consistent differences between
the sexes concerning feelings of jealousy
Men, more than women, experience jealousy over
evidence or suspicions of sexual infidelity
A women is more likely than a man to be jealous of her
partners emotional attachment and commitment to another
and over the attention, time, and resources diverted from
the relationship
 Experiencing Emotion
Emotion and cognition
Emotion allows us to detect risk more quickly than
we could with rational thought alone
It is possible that the anger-optimism link arises
from confidence, whether justified or not, in concrete
measures directed towards people who are
perceived as potentially threatening
 Fostering Emotional Functioning

Emotional understanding
discern ones own emotional states
discern others emotional states
properly use emotional vocabulary.
 Fostering Emotional Functioning
Emotional expression
use of gestures to display emotional messages nonverbally
demonstrate empathy by connecting ones emotions to those of
others
display both self-conscious as well as complex social emotions
Distinguishing between experiencing an emotion and action
Emotional regulation and management
coping with both pleasurable and aversive/distressing emotions
regulation of those situations that elicit emotions
ability to use an experience to strategically organize the
experience in terms of setting goals and learning to motivate
oneself and others
 Triangular Theory of Love
Robert Sternbergs theory that three
components intimacy, passion, and
decision/commitment singly and in various
combinations produce seven different kinds of
love:
1. Liking (I)
2. Infatuated love (P)
3. Empty love (C)
4. Romantic love (I, P)
5. Fatuous love (C, P)
6. Companionate love (C, I)
7. Consummate love (I, C, P)