In this unit, we focus on personality psychology, which studies how our personalities develop and how our experiences and circumstances shape who we are. We will examine some theories that explain why we behave and think in consistent ways and discover how psychologists assess personality traits.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 5 hours.
Let's explore some basic concepts psychologists explore when they study motivation. This includes intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, the main theories of motivation, and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, which Abraham Maslow (1908–1970) first proposed in 1943.
Read this text. How do you think someone who espouses an arousal theory of motivation explains visiting an amusement park? Teachers often use concrete rewards to increase adaptive behaviors. Do you think these rewards could disadvantage students who are intrinsically motivated to learn? Can you point to the educational implications of this situation?
Watch this video, which compares intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
Watch this video, which describes Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.
Let's explore the biological and psychological factors that govern hunger and eating. For example, how do we distinguish between overweight and obesity and determine their related health consequences? What about the eating disorders anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa?
Read this text. Many scientists use the BMI index to classify people in terms of weight and body fat. Since we calculate BMI solely on weight and height, how can this number be misleading? Why are White women from industrialized, Western cultures at the highest risk for suffering from eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia nervosa?
Watch this video, which describes Anorexia Nervosa.
Humans have biological mechanisms that regulate sexual behavior and motivation. In this section, we discuss the research Alfred Kinsey (1894–1956) conducted on sexual behavior, the investigations Masters and Johnson conducted from 1957 to the 1990s on the sexual response cycle, and the concepts of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Read this text. Many scientists question the validity and quantity of past research that focused on how individuals develop their sexual orientation. For example, they are concerned the participants were not representative of the population. Do you think their skepticism is warranted? There is no reliable, scientific evidence that conversion therapy works. What evidence would convince you that an individual has successfully converted their sexual orientation?
Watch this video, which describes the sexual response cycle.
In this section, we explore some major theories of emotion. First, we investigate the role of the limbic system in emotional processing and the production and recognition of emotional expression.
Read this text. Imagine a venomous snake crawls up your leg after you take a drug that prevents your body from activating its sympathetic nervous system. What would the James-Lange theory predict about your experience? Why should we avoid making causal claims regarding the relationship between the volume of the hippocampus and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?
Watch this video, which describes the adaptive value of emotions.
How do we define personality and the role it plays in our everyday life and interactions? Let's begin by looking at the historical context. Aelius Galenus (known today as Galen) was an ancient Greek physician and philosopher who lived from 129 to 216.
Galen's theory on the four underlying temperaments (sanguine, choleric, melancholic, and phlegmatic) dominated these discussions for nearly 1,000 years. Can you relate to these four temperaments?
Read this text, which discusses what makes a personal quality or how something becomes a part of someone's personality.
If you ask 100 people to identify a psychologist, nearly all of them will likely name Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), the Austrian neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis. Although Freud was not a psychologist (he was a psychiatrist, which is a medical doctor), he had an enormous impact on psychology through his psychodynamic theory of personality.
Read this text, which explains the main elements of psychodynamic theory. It will give you context for understanding the theories that come later in this unit. How is the expression "daddy's girl" rooted in the idea of the Electra complex? Describe the personality of someone who is "fixated" at the "anal stage".
Watch this video on Freud's ideas on the id, ego, and superego.
Watch this video, which explains Freud's stages of psychosexual development.
Freud had many followers. Most were psychiatrists who implemented his psychoanalytic treatment method for psychological disorders. However, each of them fell out of Freud's favor due to disagreements about fundamental aspects of psychodynamic theory. In this section, we meet Alfred Adler (1870–1937), Carl Jung (1875–1961), Karen Horney (1885–1952), and revisit Erik Erikson, who we met in Unit 6 of this course.
As you read this text, pay attention to what energizes extroverts and introverts. What did Karen Horney say about Freud's concept of penis envy?
Watch this video, which explains the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, which was developed to assess traits Carl Jung described.
This video explains Erikson's stages of psychosocial development.
Freud believed that our personalities result from biological predispositions (nature) and parenting strategies (nurture). However, learning theorists believe personality is entirely the result of environmental factors (nurture). Here we study the learning theories of personality.
As you read this text, compare the personalities of someone with high self-efficacy to someone with low self-efficacy. Then compare and contrast Skinner and Freud's perspectives on personality development.
Watch this video, which explains the learning theory. Note that the presenter refers to it as behaviorism, which is another term for the learning theory of personality.
While Freud concentrated on the negative aspects of personality (such as the Id motives of sex and aggression), a humanist focuses on the positive aspects of humanity. In this section, we explore the humanistic theories of personality.
Abraham Maslow (1908–1970) and Carl Rogers (1902–1987) are two of the most influential humanistic psychologists. Maslow focused on our motives as an explanation of our personalities, whereas Rogers focused on the degree to which our parents were genuine, provided unconditional positive regard, and showed empathy towards us as we grew up.
Watch this video, which explains Carl Rogers' theory of personality.
Although nurture most certainly plays a role in personality, there is a great deal of evidence that suggests genes significantly influence at least some aspects of personality. In this section, we investigate the biological basis of personality.
As you read this text, consider how a temperament mix between parent and child can affect family life.
Trait theorists assume two primary conditions: personality is innate, and it is comprised of measurable traits. Let's investigate three predominant theories of how personality may be comprised of innate traits: Cattell, Eysenck, and the Big Five theory of personality.
Read this text. How stable are the Big Five factors of openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism during a person's lifespan? Compare the personality of someone who scores high on agreeableness with someone who scores low on agreeableness.
Watch this video, which explains the Big Five Personality Traits.
The nurture explanation of personality includes the role of culture in shaping personality. Cultures differ in the ways they encourage individualism or collectivism among their members. Let's explore these cultural perspectives and how psychologists study personality in a cultural context.
As you read this text, pay attention to why it is important for psychologists to consider cultural influences when they study personality.
Watch this video, which explains the role of culture on personality.
Psychologists need a method for assessing differences among individuals to discuss personality in a systematic, scientific way. Let's look more closely at the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (a self-report test that assesses psychological disorders plus some components of personality such as introversion and masculinity/femininity) and some common projective tests (a type of test that encourages the unconscious to relax and project itself onto the ambiguous stimuli of the test).
Read this text. Why do prospective employers use personality assessments to screen applicants? Why do clinicians give projective tests to their patients?
Watch this video, which explains personality assessment.
Take this assessment to see how well you understood this unit.