Lecture Notes of Prof. Louie at CCSF
Psychology 11
What is Personality Theory?
According to your text, personality is defined as an individual pattern of thinking, feeling, acting.
When we say it is a "pattern," we are saying that
it is relatively enduring (or stable)
it is organized in such a way that there is a coherence in how decisions are made and under what circumstances
it is relatively predictable - even contradictory behaviors, like a man who loves his partner but also beats up on her, can be understood as a pattern of behavior that is predictable
When studying Personality, we are looking for features and dynamics that define an individual's pattern of thinking, feeling, acting. In defining an individual's pattern of thinking, feeling, acting, we are providing templates from which to understand this person and other individuals with similar patterns. If we can understand people according to these templates, we can then make predictions about their behaviors: This is the goal of Personality theories.
Personality theories? Why isn't there just one template that applies to everyone? How can you "predict" people's behaviors when there are so many theories about personality?
There have actually been attempts to create a Grand Ultimate Great Kahuna True Theory of Personality that pulls together all possible explanations for an individual's (any individual's) personality, but no attempt has been successful. The reason so many theories exist is because people are so different from each other, and we've had to create different templates for different types of people. When early theorists presented their ideas, not everyone resonated with them; so other theorists developed their own theories - theories that felt right for them. In fact, as you learn these different theories, you'll probably find yourself agreeing with some wholeheartedly, and rolling your eyes at others; your colleagues may have the exact opposite reaction. You may even find yourself accepting one aspect of one theory, and rejecting other aspects of the same theory. We are complicated beings, and our theories reflect that.
You may have heard about the legend of the 3 blind men who were touching an elephant. Each blind man touched a different part of the elephant and had a distorted view of what the elephant really looked like. One blind man was touching the elephant's leg and thought the elephant looked like a tree; another blind man was touching the elephant's tail and thought the elephant looked like a stick; the third blind man was touching the elephant's body and thought the elephant looked like a wall. None of the blind men were wrong, but none of them were right; if they had worked together, they would have had a better picture of the whole elephant.
Personality is like the elephant, and personality theorists are like the blind men who can take only one perspective. When we take one viewpoint, we close ourselves to other viewpoints. To understand Personality, each view must be considered. Over the course of these next five months, you'll be presented with many viewpoints.
Let's consider the primary perspectives that are used to explain Personality, and identify those viewpoints that we'll be covering in the class. Many of you will already be familiar with these perspectives from taking other psychology classes.
I'll be using the same example for each of the different theories so that we can see how one theory might explain a person's behaviors (i.e., his Personality) differently from another theory.
Example: A man murders his wife's lover. (It doesn't need to be too complicated).
Other than the fact that your instructor has a bizarre sense of the world, how might we explain this man's behavior? How his behavior is explained depends on one's theoretical orientation.
Biological Theory. The biological model suggests that our genes and physiology contribute to our behaviors. They would posit the idea that a person with a specific set of genes, or a specific brain chemistry, might be predisposed to violence. Given the right circumstances, the person might be pushed to express that violent tendency. In contrast, a person with a different set of genes, or a different brain chemistry, under the exact same circumstances, would not respond with murder.
Intrapsychic Model. The intrapsychic (aka psychoanalytic or psychodynamic) theorists would have us look at a person's history to see what incidents occurred in childhood that might have contributed to this violent behavior. Intrapsychic theorists believe that psychological pressures in a young child's past is carried with him into adulthood. These pressures should be expressed in order to be addressed or resolved, but they often are not. In this kind of situation, psychological pressure may create a reservoir of anger and resentment that is ready to explode (inappropriately) at any given moment, if triggered by the right circumstances.
Intrapsychic theorists would guess that this man (let's call him Tom) murdered his wife's lover because the lover represented someone in Tom's childhood history against whom Tom has harbored intense anger and resentment; perhaps it was someone who had taken away something that was important to Tom. Unfortunately, Tom, as a young child, could not challenge this Someone and was left holding his frustrations internally. Indeed, if we look back into Tom's childhood, we find that his destitute mother had married a man who became Tom's abusive step-father. As a child, Tom could not express his rage against his step-father, because Tom's mother desperately needed the step-father's financial stability; in addition, Tom was resentful that his mother's love was taken from him and given to the step-father. Thus, Tom's wife's lover became a substitute for the pent-up, simmering rage Tom carried for years against his step-father - how dare he take her love from him and treat him so badly??!! - rage he could not express... until now. (ominous music)
Cognitive Theory. Cognitive theorists consider the role of cognitions, or our thoughts, beliefs, and expectations. We tend to do what we are thinking, and Tom had thought himself into a murderous act. Perhaps he was thinking, "My wife's lover destroyed my life; I have nothing to lose;" or "My wife's lover deserves to die; look at what he did to the family;" or "I must regain my honor and prove my manhood." Compare this man's cognitions to another man's cognitions who is in a similar situation with an unfaithful wife. His thoughts are quite different in response to her infidelity: "She doesn't love me anymore, I'm all alone, I'm nothing." This man would be less likely to commit murder, although he is more likely to become depressed. (oops)
Sociocultural Theory. Socio-cultural theory assesses the role of societal norms on one's behaviors, believing that individuals are influenced by the expectations and lessons that are passed down from generation to generation. If everyone else has responded with murder in these kinds of situations, then of course, the average man will do the same. This is how our killer has learned to negotiate these kinds of conflicts; this is the model that was presented to him. Someone growing up in a different community might have a different response to infidelity. If Tom grew up with the lesson (that everyone else follows) to walk away from conflict, then murder would not have been his response.
Learning Theory. Learning theory suggests that behavior is "learned," in that people figure out what kind of behaviors will result in good consequences and what kind of behaviors will result in bad consequences. As our murderous friend was growing up, he found that the important people around him approved when he used violence to get what he wanted. This approval was especially noticeable when violence was used to uphold one's honor; as a result, Tom expected that his attack on his wife's lover would be viewed as acceptable, and possibly even praised.
Humanistic Theory. Humanists believe that people are born with a goodness and kindness that guides them appropriately forward in their lives. If something gets in the way of this "inner compass," they will lose sight of the path that they are meant for, and live in bitterness and resentment. In this situation, our murderous friend has lost his way, probably due to circumstances beyond his control. As a result of not following his "inner compass," Tom is angry and frustrated, and prone to taking a destructive path when life gets complicated. If, instead, his life had been full of happiness and contentment (because he was following his "inner compass"), his wife's infidelity would not have affected him so negatively, and he would not likely have responded with murder.
These are the primary perspectives of personality theory. However, in this course, we will not spend much time discussing the Biological model because your textbook doesn't address it. This is likely because your text focuses on how personality theories can be used to enhance your life. If personality is a product of your biology... well, there isn't a whole lot you can do to enhance things, except maybe take medication: Not one of the goals of the text. Anyway, while we do recognize the importance of biology in Personality, it will not be discussed; it is a different intellectual endeavor. You will see it pop up in some of the intrapsychic theories, but not as a major theme.
Another area of Personality theory that your textbook covers is the area of religious philosophy, particularly from regions of the world on the opposite side of the United States. I can't contribute much to the discussion on these chapters (which are at the end of your textbook), but I am very interested in hearing what you all have to say about them.
Most of our discussions then, will be on the Intrapsychic, the Cognitive, the Sociocultural, the Learning, and the Humanistic models. It will be plenty to digest over the next 5 months, and I think you will find it very interesting and challenging.
Psychology 11
Mini-Lecture on Freud
Freud's theory focuses on intrapsychic development - looking at how we carry issues from the past and how these issues affect our behaviors today as adults. Be aware that Freud's theory is referred to as Psychoanalytic theory - it is similar to, but not the same as Psychodynamic theory. Look for the link at the end of this Week 3 where I address the difference between Psychoanalytic theory and Psychodynamic theory; you will need to understand the difference to complete Assignment 1.
Anyway, let's review some of Freud's ideas.
Freud believed that the human mind has 3 levels of awareness: the Conscious, the Preconscious, and the Unconscious.
the Conscious - that which we know and are aware of
the Preconscious - is a "holding area" for Unconscious thoughts seeking expression at the Conscious level. We often "sense" these Unconscious thoughts in the Preconscious, but we don't know what it is that we are sensing; we don't know what's in our Preconscious until it is allowed into the Conscious.
the Unconscious - our hidden sexual and aggressive impulses - particularly the kind of feelings and thoughts that we don't want to acknowledge in our lives: Feelings like wanting to have sex with your mother (if you're a male) or with your father (if you're a female). (!!!) Such impulses often try to move into Consciousness, but take pause in the Preconscious first.
When Unconscious thoughts float up to the Preconscious, particularly the more disturbing thoughts, our mind wants to push them away. It's too "disgusting" for us to think about! So what do we do about it? Hold that question for a moment while I review a little more of Freud.
Freud was influenced by Darwin and aligned his theory with the ideas of the evolutionary model: we are genetically designed to seek survival. As such, feelings in the Unconscious are compelled by two sources of energy that come out of our biology to push us forward toward growth (or survival).
One source of energy is our sexual energy, or libido. Libido is life-giving and motivates us as sexual beings to procreate (or survive). According to Freud, much of our behavior stems from the wish to be sexually attractive - therefore (if you are a male), you will work hard to become financially successful so that you can "get the babes" and have sex (or from an evolutionary perspective, to reproduce and have your genes survive).
The other source of energy is our aggressive energy, or thanatos. Thanatos is life-destroying. Again, because men are pushed forward by their libido to seek sex (survival), they must use their thanatos to "kill off" those who would compete with them for sexual domination. (Yikes!)
You may be wondering how this applies to women. Freud didn't "waste his time" on theories that included women (he was quite the sexist, but that was normal for his era), but later Freudian theorists expanded his ideas to include women who are genetically designed (motivated or propelled) to want babies. Thus, women's libido sought survival through finding partners to impregnate them. Being attractive to a male would be the focus of her libido. Thanatos would be used to "kill off" those rivals who would take these potential sperm-producers from her (ouch).
Before you go off rolling your eyes, keep in mind that there are a lot of really smart people who worship Freud and believe that everything he wrote was god's truth. In addition, you will find that many of the theorists who came after Freud used his ideas as a jumping point - either by disagreeing with him outrightly, expanding on his ideas, or modifying them away from the sex and aggression. Whether or not you agree him, he was a major player in the field of personality theory.
Anyway, as I already mentioned, all those sexual and aggressive feelings are buried away in the Unconscious. The problem is that these feelings wish to be expressed, so the Unconscious will sometimes send these feelings up in hopes that you will do something about them (like carry them out - yikes! [In theory, there are ways that the Conscious mind can do something about these sexual and aggressive feelings - you'll read about it in the text when you read about the job of the Ego]).
When these "disgusting" feelings move up into the Preconscious, we sense them, but don't know quite what they are. The feelings are usually experienced as anxiety, because really, who wants to think about having sex with your mother and killing off your father (or vice versa)? So what a normal person does is try to push it away back into the Unconscious.
Now here's the deal that makes Freud so popular: in order to push an anxiety-producing thought back into the Unconscious, the average person will say and/or do things so frantically that their behavior can be inappropriate or self-destructive.
Has that ever happened to you? You're with some people you love and someone says something that triggers an issue (of course you don't know that it's an issue because it's unconscious) and suddenly you blurt out something you immediately regret. Why did I do that?!? oof.
Psychology 11
Mini-Lecture on Jung
Jung believed that Personality was made up of two components: the Conscious and the Unconscious. Let's talk about the Conscious first, and get to the Unconscious later. Then we'll discuss how they interact together.
The Conscious is controlled by the Ego, which is the rational and analytical part of Personality. It controls our behaviors in the world (helps us behave "appropriately" according to Other people's expectations), it makes sense of the world (helps us interpret what's going on), and it gives order and predictability to the world (it helps us find and create patterns and expectations).
The Ego develops from our personal experiences - primarily what Others tell us about the world as we are growing up. Others explain the world to us (from their perspective) and tell us what behaviors and attitudes are valued (from their perspective). So the job of Ego is to try to meet the standards that Others are telling us are appropriate. (You might want to note that Jung's use of the words "Conscious" and "Ego" are very different from Freud's use of these words - make sure you can differentiate!).
Another important component of the Conscious is Persona. Our Persona is the face we present to the world: how we dress, how we talk, how we carry ourselves. It is sometimes referred to as our "mask" or "false face" - it is a role that we play to fit in and be accepted.
Ego and Persona are not the same but they are tied together. Persona develops as a result of Ego learning what is valued in the world, or what is required to be an "acceptable" being; Ego creates the Persona to meet those expectations. Even so, Persona influences Ego in that Ego uses the Persona as a structure by which Ego can engage with and interpret the world.
For example, a person is treated poorly or critically growing up in the world. The Ego seeks to make sense of this experience and gain control of it, to create order and predictability. So Ego creates a Persona to gain control - Ego decides he will have a "tough" Persona - one which allows Ego to feel safe, valued, strong. (Keep in mind that a different individual might create a different Persona in similar circumstances - perhaps another individual would create a "meek" Persona - one which allows Ego to feel safe because this Persona would not take risks and hopefully avoid getting hurt).
The more "attitude" the "tough" Persona develops to protect itself (I'm a badass, don't mess with me), the more Ego maintains this attitude to negotiate the world. Ego uses Persona as a filter to interpret interactions with others - in this case, from a badass perspective: "You can't hurt me - I'm tougher than you and I'll prove it."
Now let's say Ego actually meets a really nice person, "tough" Persona steps in and interprets (to Ego) that this nice person's behavior is still something that you need to protect yourself from: "This nice person is trying to make you weak; he's trying to find your vulnerabilities and will stab you in the back later; we are badass; we don't care about kindness; don't let him into your life." Ego responds as Persona, and you can see how Persona is now influencing the interactions that Ego has with the world, even though it was Ego that created Persona. Ego, then, because of its wish to protect itself from further hurt, is reinforcing its false-face position of "I'm a badass," even if the situation doesn't warrant such a response.
This kind of scenario led Jung to say that a strong Ego is not a good thing because it is no longer objective and rational - it is interpreting the world through a mask that was created to deal with hurt - a mask that perceives the world in a distorted manner. A strong Ego, then, according to Jungian theory, is one that builds on a false-face. The stronger Persona becomes, the more Ego has to maintain this "toughness" to create a sense of continuity (or ironically, a sense of integrity); but the more Ego maintains this "toughness," the more out of touch Ego becomes from being a real person. And guess what? While the badass Persona thinks Others see him as strong and invincible, he is only fooling himself and others like him who maintain masks to negotiate the world. Those who are "real people" know that beyond the cuss words and the bravado, the badass Persona is just as scared and vulnerable as everyone else. (Remember this when you work with teenagers
).How do "real people" know this? They have walked this path already. The main difference between "real people" and those with a false-face is that "real people" have paid attention to to what their Unconscious is saying to them.
This brings us to the idea of what Jung called the True Self.
The True Self can only be found by embracing the Unconscious part of Personality and bringing it together with the Conscious part of personality. Jung's idea of the Unconscious is similar to Freud's idea: it is the part of us that is hidden away from our awareness because it houses all the feelings and thoughts that we are uncomfortable with. We shouldn't necessarily be uncomfortable with these feelings and thoughts - they are a natural part of who we are; but Others have communicated to us that they are "inappropriate."
Jung broke the Unconscious down into 2 parts: the Personal Unconscious and the Collective Unconscious.
The Personal Unconscious refers to the personal issues a person has to deal with as a result of growing up in the world. Each person has a different Personal Unconscious because each person has encountered different people and experiences growing up. Past issues that are unresolved, that cause us hurt and shame, are buried away in the Personal Unconscious. Jung referred to these unresolved issues as our "complexes." In order to be our True Selves then, in order to be "whole," we have to deal with our complexes.
Jung, however, emphasized the Collective Unconscious as most important in terms of leading us closer to our True Self. The Collective Unconscious is a "collective," if you will, of all the memories we have from being a human being. It includes all the wisdom and fears and strengths and failings that our ancestors have experienced before us. The experience of being a human being in the world has been passed down to us in our genes. Somewhere in our DNA, we remember and resonate with the story of Adam and Eve; of Noah; of Jesus - at least that's how we remember these stories in Judeo-Christian cultures. Other cultures have similar stories, but with different names: "Jesus" may have gone by the names Buddha or Mohammed. Anyway, within the Collective Unconscious lies the path to one's True Self - a Self that knows who he is, who acknowledges all the amazing things he has done in the history of the world, as well as all the evil and stupid things he has done. The True Self is both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Adolf Hitler; it is both Sarah Palin and Hilary Clinton. In other words, when you can acknowledge that you have both good and evil in yourself; when you can acknowledge that you are both ignorant and intelligent, both beautiful and ugly, both brave and afraid, you no longer have to hide behind your false face. You no longer have to be a caricature of a badass or a meek, humble brown-noser. You are free to be all things - which you actually are: your True Self.