CH-10-12 Psychoanalytic Approaches: Contemporary Issues – Personality Psychology: Domains of Knowledge About Human Nature : Chapter Notes

This Document Contains Chapters 10 to 12 Chapter 10 Psychoanalytic Approaches: Contemporary Issues Chapter Outline The Neo-Analytic Movement Although many of Freud’s ideas have not stood the test of time, others have, and have been incorporated into the contemporary version of psychoanalysis Today, psychoanalysis is best thought of as a theory containing ideas inspired by Freud, but modified and advanced by others Psychoanalysts no longer write much about id, superego, or repressed sexuality, nor do they liken treatment to archaeological expedition in search of forgotten memories Instead, psychoanalysts today focus on childhood relationships and adult conflicts with others Contemporary psychoanalyst Drew Westen argues that contemporary psychoanalysis is based on five postulates Unconscious plays a large role in life, but is not the ubiquitous influence Freud held it was Behavior reflects compromises in conflict between mental processes Childhood plays an important role in personality development, particularly in shaping adult relationship styles Mental representations of self and others guide interactions with others Personality development involves not just regulating sexual and aggressive feelings, but also moving from an immature socially dependent way of relating to others to a mature independent relationship style Another Case of Recovered Memories—A Different Outcome (Holly Ramona) Courts determined that the recovered memory of alleged sexual abuse was false, encouraged by therapist Repression and Contemporary Research on Memory Memory researcher Elizabeth Loftus argues that we should not conclude that all recovered memories are false, just because some are apparently false Also, we should not assume that all recovered memories are true, just because some are true Loftus argues that we must be aware of processes that contribute to the construction of false memories Popular press Behavior of some therapists Use of hypnosis Research indicates that hypnosis does not improve memory In fact, hypnosis may increase memory distortions Some therapists tell patients that getting better hinges on their ability to recover forgotten memory Confirmatory bias: Tendency to look only for evidence that confirms belief, and not to look for evidence that disconfirms Loftus notes that independent corroborating evidence should be sought to substantiate memories of trauma Contemporary Views on the Unconscious Cognitive unconscious versus motivated unconscious Subliminal perception Priming Research on subliminal perception indicates that unconscious information does not influence people’s motivations Ego Psychology Shift in focus from id to ego Erik Erikson: Emphasized ego as a powerful and independent part of personality Ego involved in mastering the environment, achieving goals, establishing identity Establishing secure identity (sense of self) is a primary function of ego Difficulty establishing identity produces identity crisis Erikson’s Eight Stages of Development Erikson argued that personality development occurs throughout life Erikson argued that challenges at each stage were social rather than sexual Trust Versus Mistrust Autonomy Versus Shame and Doubt Initiative Versus Guilt Industry Versus Inferiority Identity Versus Role Confusion Intimacy Versus Isolation Generativity Versus Stagnation Integrity Versus Despair Karen Horney and a Feminist Interpretation of Psychoanalysis Revised theory of penis envy: Penis is a symbol of social power rather than an organ that women actually desire to have Highlighted the influence of the culture on personality development “Fear of success”: Accounts for gender difference in response to competition and achievement situations Emphasis on Self and the Notion of Narcissism Ego psychology emphasizes the role of identity, which is experienced by a person as a sense of self Narcissism: Inflated self-admiration and constant attempts to draw attention to self and keep others focused on self Narcissistic paradox: Although the narcissist appears high in self-esteem, he or she has doubts about his or her worth as a person Object Relations Theory Emphasizes social relationships and their origins in childhood Assumptions of object relations theory Internal wishes, desires, urges of child not as important as developing relationships with significant others, especially parents Others, particularly the mother, become internalized by the child in the form of mental objects First social attachments that infant develops form prototypes for all future meaningful relationships Early Childhood Attachment Research by Harlow on infant monkeys Attachment Separation anxiety Ainsworth: Strange situation procedure for studying attachment Three attachment patterns in infants: Secure, avoidant, and ambivalent Bowlby and others: Early attachment experiences and reactions of the infant to parents, especially the mother, form “working models” for later adult relationships Working models are internalized in the form of unconscious expectations about relationships Adult Relationships Investigation of whether the attachment style developed in childhood is related to adult romantic relationship style Hazan and Shaver (1987)—Three relationship styles Secure Avoidant Ambivalent SUMMARY AND EVALUATION Material in chapter is designed to give a balanced approach to false memories—while repressed memories can occur, not all are truly cases of forgotten memories Contemporary psychoanalysts focus on interpersonal patterns of behavior and accompanying emotions and motivations Contemporary psychoanalysts view personality as the result of resolving a series of social crises and an ensuing movement toward more mature forms of relating to others Contemporary psychoanalysis is connected to empirical studies KEY TERMS False Memories Culture Imagination Inflation Effect Fear of Success Confirmatory Biases Masculine Spreading Activation Feminine Constructive Memory Gender Differences Cognitive Unconscious Self-Serving Bias Motivated Unconscious Narcissism Subliminal Perception Narcissistic Paradox Priming Object Relations Theory Id Psychology Internalized Ego Psychology Attachment Identity Crisis Separation Anxiety Erikson’s Eight Stages Strange Situation of Development Procedure Psychosocial Conflicts Securely Attached Stage Model of Development Avoidantly Attached Developmental Crisis Ambivalently Attached Working Models Identity Confusion Secure Relationship Style Rite of Passage Avoidant Relationship Style Negative Identity Ambivalent Relationship Style Identity Foreclosure Moratorium Social Power Chapter Overview This chapter provides students with an introduction to contemporary theory and empirical work inspired by psychoanalytic theory. The authors begin by reviewing the postulates of contemporary psychoanalysts, which include the postulates that the unconscious plays a large role in life, although it does not have the ubiquitous influence that Freud once held. Next the authors present another case of recovered memories, but one that ends with the legal determination that the memory is “false,” induced in the patient by her therapist. The authors then review recent empirical work documenting the ease with which false memories can be encouraged or implanted. The authors next contrast contemporary views on the cognitive unconscious with classical psychoanalytic views of the motivated unconscious. Next the authors review ego psychology, another major modification to classical psychoanalysis that turns on a shift of emphasis from the id to the ego. Erik Erikson was a leader in the field of ego psychology. Erikson argued that personality development continues throughout adulthood and that the conflicts at each stage were primarily social in nature rather than sexual in nature. Erikson’s eight stages were trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame and doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. role confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, and integrity vs. despair. The authors review the work of Karen Horney, who reinterpreted much of classical psychoanalysis through a feminist lens. Next the authors discuss the contemporary psychoanalytic emphasis on the self and on disorders of the self, such as narcissism. Object relations theory is another area of contemporary psychoanalysis. This theory emphasizes the importance of early childhood relationships, particularly with parents, but focuses on the social, not sexual, nature of these relationships. The authors review theoretical and empirical work on childhood attachment and adult relationship styles, much of which is anchored in object relations theory. Learning Objectives Identify and discuss five key postulates of contemporary psychoanalysis, according to Westen. Be familiar with the arguments and outcome of the legal case of Holly Ramona. Discuss the factors that might influence people to have false memories. Discuss theory and research on the spreading activation model of memory and how this work is relevant to false memories. Compare and contrast the contemporary view of the cognitive unconscious with Freud’s view of the motivated unconscious. Discuss recent theory and research on subliminal perception. Discuss the defining features of Ego Psychology. Compare and contrast Erikson’s eight stages of development with Freud’s five-stage theory of development. Discuss each of Erikson’s eight stages of personality development, identifying the key challenge the individual confronts at each stage. Discuss the work of Karen Horney, including her revision of “penis envy,” and her ideas about the influence of culture on personality development. Discuss the role of “self” in contemporary ego psychology. Discuss narcissism as a disorder of the self, and define the narcissistic paradox. Discuss the key features of object relations theory. Discuss the theory and research on early childhood attachment; define attachment, separation anxiety, the strange situation, procedure, and the three attachment styles (secure, avoidant, ambivalent). Discuss recent theory and research on the role of attachment styles in adult romantic relationships. Lecture Topics and Lecture Suggestions Narcissism and Romantic Attraction (Campbell, 2000). This lecture introduces students to the relationships between narcissism and romantic attraction. Both topics are typically successful in engaging the interest of students, and this lecture is an excellent springboard for involving students in an active discussion about narcissism, romantic attraction, and the possible relationships between these two phenomena. Encourage students to consider whether the hypotheses and results are consistent with their own experiences or with the experiences of their friends. A model of narcissism and romantic attraction predicts that narcissists will be attracted to admiring individuals and highly positive individuals, and relatively less attracted to individuals who offer the potential for emotional intimacy Five studies supported this model Narcissists, compared with non-narcissists, preferred more self-oriented (i.e., highly positive) and less other-oriented (i.e., caring) qualities in an ideal romantic partner (Study 1) Narcissists were also relatively more attracted to admiring and highly positive hypothetical targets and less attracted to caring targets (Studies 2 and 3) Indeed, narcissists displayed a preference for highly positive-noncaring targets compared with caring but not highly positive targets (Study 4) Finally, mediational analyses demonstrated that narcissists’ romantic attraction is, in part, the result of a strategy for enhancing self-esteem (Study 5). Reference: Campbell, W. K. (1999). Narcissism and romantic attraction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 1254–1270. Airport Separations: A Naturalistic Study of Adult Attachment Dynamics in Separating Couples (Fraley & Shaver, 1998). This lecture presents the results of a creative study designed to investigate whether there are attachment style differences in the separation behaviors of adults at airports. Students will appreciate the research design and hypotheses. Use this lecture as a springboard for discussing attachment style differences in adult romantic relationships. Encourage students to consider other research methodologies that might allow for further creative tests of the implications of attachment styles for adult romantic relationships.
Couple members, who were separating and not separating from each other, in a public airport completed a questionnaire designed to assess relationship length, attachment style, and the degree of subjective distress After they completed these measures, their attachment behavior was observed unobtrusively Analyses suggested that adult attachment behavior is organized in a manner similar to that observed in children Relationship length and separation status were associated with the expression of attachment behavior in adults Analyses also indicated that women with anxious working models were more likely to experience distress prior to a separation But the behavioral strategies exhibited by women varied as a function of avoidant, not anxious, working models Results for men were less clear Implications for adult attachment theory and research are discussed Reference: Fraley, R. C., & Shaver, P. R. (1998). Airport separations: A naturalistic study of adult attachment dynamics in separating couples. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1198–1212. Classroom Activities and Demonstrations Larsen and Buss review some of the factors that might influence people to have false memories, such as those of childhood sexual abuse. One of these factors is the popular press. There are many books currently on the market that purport to be guides to survivors of abuse. These books are likely to be some comfort to people who have been living with painful memories of abuse. For people who have no such memories, these books can provide strong suggestions that abuse might have happened, even if there is no memory of the abuse. This activity is designed to make students aware of the volume of popular press books available on the topic of recovered memories of abuse. Distribute Activity Handout 10–1 (“Popular Press Books on Forgotten Memories of Abuse”). Ask students to make a trip to a local bookstore before the next class. Instruct them to locate and jot down the titles of a few of the books they find on recovered memories of abuse. Ask them to flip through each book and determine whether the author appears to have a confirmatory bias for finding recovered memories of abuse. Have students bring the competed handout to the next class session. Use this activity as a springboard for discussing the role of the popular press in influencing people to have false memories of childhood abuse. Larsen and Buss present the results of recent work by Roediger and McDermott (1995) designed to test the spreading activation model of memory. In their work, Roediger and McDermott (1995) use a simple experimental procedure that creates a false memory in 80 percent of participants. Distribute Activity Handout 10–2 (“Memory Experiment”). Ask students to administer this test to someone they know to see if this person also has a false memory for the appearance of the word “Sleep” in the target list. The odds are high that the participant will have this false memory. Use this activity as a springboard for discussing the spreading activation model of memory, the construction of false memories, and the implications of this theory and research for classical psychoanalysis. According to Erik Erikson, a prominent ego psychologist, adolescence is a particularly turbulent time in life because of the struggle to establish a secure identity. Establishing a secure identity is the primary function of the ego. Identity is an inner sense of who we are, or what makes us unique, a sense of continuity over time and a feeling of wholeness. Ask students to consider some of the things that modern teenagers do, or perhaps that they do or once did, that might be interpreted as indicating a struggle to establish identity. Distribute Activity Handout 10–3 (“Establishing Identity”). Give students about five minutes to complete the handout. Ask students to volunteer their responses. Ask students to specify why a particular activity might indicate a struggle to establish identity. Chapter 11 Motives and Personality Chapter Outline Introduction Motivational psychologists ask, “What drives people to do the things they do?” They search for motives that propel people to do what they do Motives covered in this chapter view personality as consisting of a few general motives These motives operate through conscious or unconscious mental processes that generate intrapsychic influence on behavior Basic Concepts Motive: Internal state that arouses and directs behavior toward a specific object or goal Motive is caused by a deficit, a lack of something Motives differ from each other in type and amount Motives are based on needs: States of tension within a person, and as need is satisfied, tension is reduced Motives propel people to perceive, think, and act in ways that serve to satisfy a need Motives are part of the Intrapsychic Domain for several reasons Motivational psychologists stress the importance of internal psychological needs and urges that propel people to think, perceive, and act in predictable ways Some motives are thought to operate outside awareness Reliance on projective techniques Henry Murray’s Theory of Needs Need Need refers to a readiness to respond in a certain way under certain circumstances . . . It is a noun, which stands for the fact that a certain trend is apt to recur Needs organize perception, guiding us to “see” what we want (need) to see Needs organize action by compelling a person to do what is necessary to satisfy a need Needs refer to states of tension, and satisfying a need reduces tension Process of reducing tension that is satisfying and not a tensionless state per se Murray proposed a list of fundamental human needs Each need is associated with a specific desire or intention, particular set of emotions, specific action tendencies, and can be described with trait names Each person has a unique hierarchy of needs—individual’s needs can be thought of as existing at a different level of strength High levels of some needs interacted with the amounts of various other needs within each person—interaction makes the motive concept dynamic Elements in the environment affect a person’s needs Press: Need-relevant aspects of the environment Alpha press: Objective reality Beta press: Perceived reality Apperception: Act of interpreting and perceiving meaning in the environment Thematic Apperception Technique (TAT): Ambiguous pictures presented to a participant for interpretation Presumption that a person projects current needs into the interpretation of a picture The Big Three Motives: Achievement, Power, and Intimacy Need for Achievement People who have a high need for achievement Prefer activities that offer some, but not too much, challenge Enjoy tasks where they are personally responsible for the outcome Prefer tasks where feedback on their performance is available Sex differences: Life outcomes and childhood experiences Promoting achievement motivation: Independence training and setting challenging standards for children Need for Power Readiness or preference for having an impact on people People with a high need for power are interested in controlling situations and controlling others Sex differences: Largest is that men but not women with high need for power perform a variety of impulsive and aggressive behaviors Profligate impulsive behaviors (drinking, aggression, sexual exploitation) is less likely to occur if a person has responsibility training People with a high need for power do not deal well with frustration and conflict—show strong stress responses, including high blood pressure Need for Intimacy Recurrent preference for or readiness for warm, close, communicative interactions with others People with a high (compared to those with low) need for intimacy Spend more time during day thinking about relationships Report more pleasant emotions when around other people Smile, laugh, make more eye contact Start up conversations more frequently and write more letters Consistent sex difference: Women, on average, have a higher need for intimacy Humanistic Tradition: The Motive to Self-Actualize Emphasis is on the conscious awareness of needs and choice and personal responsibility Approach is a counter-response to psychoanalytic and behavioral traditions, both of which are held that people have little free will in determining their actions Emphasis is on the human need for growth and realizing one’s full potential Human nature is positive and life-affirming Focus on growth instead of deficiency Maslow’s Contributions Hierarchy of needs Lower needs must be satisfied before we can proceed to higher needs Need hierarchy emerges during development, with lower needs emerging earlier in life than higher needs Five need levels: Physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization Characteristics of self-actualizing persons: 15 characteristics, including spontaneous, problem centered, affinity for solitude, democratic values, and creativity Rogers’s Contributions Focused on ways to foster and attain self-actualization Fully functioning person: Person who is en route toward self-actualization All children are born with a need for positive regard Many parents and significant others place conditions of worth on when one will receive positive regard–conditional positive regard Key to development of unconditional positive self-regard and moving toward self-actualization is the receipt of unconditional positive regard from parents and significant others Anxiety results when people get off track in pursuit of self-actualization Rogers’s approach to therapy (Client-Centered Therapy) is designed to get a person back on path toward self-actualization Three conditions for therapeutic progress Must be an atmosphere of genuine acceptance of the client by the therapist Therapist must express unconditional positive regard for the client Empathic understanding—client must feel that the therapist understands him or her Much research on empathy, inspired by Rogers and other humanistic psychologists SUMMARY AND EVALUATION Motives can be used to explain why people do what they do Motive explanations imply a goal that pulls people to think, act and feel in certain ways. The motivational approach has a long and fruitful history of helping us understand why people do what they do KEY TERMS Motives Self-Actualization Needs Physiological Needs Hierarchy of Needs Safety Needs Dynamic Belongingness Needs Press Esteem Needs Alpha Press Self-Actualization Need Beta Press Flow Apperception Fully Functioning Person Thematic Apperception Test Positive Regard State Levels Conditions of Worth Trait Levels Conditional Positive Regard Implicit Motivation Unconditional Positive Regard Self-Attributed Motivation Positive Self-Regard Multi-Motive Grid Anxiety Need for Achievement Distortion Independence Training Emotional Intelligence Need for Power Client-Centered Therapy Responsibility Training Core Conditions Power Stress Empathy Need for Intimacy Humanistic Tradition Chapter Overview This chapter provides students with an overview of motivational personality psychology. Personality psychologists interested in motivation look for a driving force or motive that propels people to do the things they do. The authors begin by introducing and defining several key terms, including motive and need. Next the authors review the theory and research of Henry Murray, an early motivational psychologist. Murray proposed a set of universal human needs. According to Murray, elements in the environment (“press”) affect a person’s needs. Murray held that a person’s needs influenced how he or she perceived the environment, especially when the environment is ambiguous. Murray termed this act of interpreting the environment and perceiving the meaning in a situation “apperception,” and he developed the Thematic Apperception Technique to assess apperception. The authors next review theory and research on three key needs: Achievement, power, and intimacy. The authors then review theory and research generated by the humanist tradition, which focuses on the motive to self-actualize, or reach one’s natural potential. The authors review the work of two key humanistic personality psychologists: Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. The authors review theory and work on Malsow’s hierarchy of needs, which assumes that people work first to satisfy basic needs such as food and shelter, and then move toward satisfying psychological needs such as for esteem and self-actualization. Next the authors review the contributions of Rogers, including the development and practice of client-centered therapy. A key pillar of therapeutic success is that the therapist must demonstrate empathy with and to the client. The authors review recent research and theory on empathy. Learning Objectives Discuss the general goals of motivational personality psychologists. Define and discuss deficits, motives, and needs. Discuss the relationships among these concepts. Identify and discuss three key similarities between the motive approach and other intrapsychic approaches, particularly the psychoanalytic approach. Discuss Henry Murray’s theory of needs. What is the function of a need? What does it mean to say that the “motive” concept is dynamic, and why is Murray’s motivational theory of needs a dynamic theory? Discuss and give an example of Murray’s concept of press. Distinguish between alpha press and beta press. Discuss Murray’s concept of apperception. Discuss the Thematic Apperception Technique, or TAT. What was it designed to do? Discuss the relationships between the TAT and questionnaire measure of motives. Discuss the difference between implicit motivation and explicit or self-attributed motivation. Discuss the need for achievement and recent research on this need. Discuss the need for power and recent research on this need. Discuss the need for intimacy and recent research on this need. Describe the key assumptions of humanistic personality psychologists. Discuss the self-actualization motive. Discuss Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. What are the needs at each level, and what are the assumptions Maslow made about these needs and the satisfaction of these needs? Discuss empirical research on Malsow’s hierarchy of needs. Identify several of the key characteristics of self-actualizing persons, according to Maslow. Discuss Rogers’ key contributions to humanistic personality psychology. Discuss what Rogers meant by the following terms: Fully functioning person, positive regard, conditions of worth, conditional positive regard, unconditional positive regard, unconditional positive self-regard, anxiety, and distortion. Discuss the key features of Rogers’ client-centered therapy. What are the three conditions that need to be met before therapeutic progress can be made? Discuss the results of recent research on empathy. Lecture Topics and Lecture Suggestions Defense use and defense understanding in children (Cramer & Brilliant, 2001). This lecture is designed to give students an opportunity to learn about recent research conducted with the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). In addition, the sample consists of children, which is a rather unique sample in this sort of research. Finally, students will learn about how the TAT is used to better understand the process and function of defense mechanisms. Students typically find work using the TAT intriguing, and this lecture can be used as a springboard to discuss the use of the TAT, whether it can be effectively used with children, and whether it can accurately gauge the use of defense mechanisms such as denial and projection. Cramer and Brilliant (2001) investigated the relation between children’s use of defense mechanisms and their understanding of those defenses It was hypothesized that: once a child understands how a particular defense functions, the use of that defense will no longer be successful and will be replaced by another defense mechanism that is not yet understood Defense use was assessed from the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) stories told by 122 children Defense understanding was determined from the children’s understanding of stories portraying defenses Results Younger children (aged 6–8 years) used the defense of denial more than the older children (aged 9–11 years) Older children understood the functioning of denial and projection better than the younger children A comparison of children who did and did not understand a defense showed that younger children who understood the functioning of denial were less likely to themselves use denial Likewise, older children who understood the functioning of projection were less likely to use this defense Reference: Cramer, P., & Brilliant, M. A. (2001). Defense use and defense understanding in children. Journal of Personality, 69, 297–322. Empathy in Sexually Offending and Nonoffending Adolescent Males (Burke, 2001). This lecture is designed to give students an opportunity to learn about recent research on empathy. This study investigates whether sexually offending and nonoffending adolescent males differ in their levels of empathy. The nature of the research is controversial, and many students will for this reason find the research interesting. The results are likely to be consistent with what students might have predicted, and it may be useful to allow students a chance to predict the results before you present them. Challenge students to explain why they predict a particular set of results. Use this lecture as a springboard for discussing empathy, and challenge students to relate the present research to Rogers’ arguments about the importance of empathy. Finally, challenge students to think about what the present results suggest in terms of treating sexually offending adolescents. Is there hope for treatment? Why or why not? What would Rogers say? Empathy development is believed to be an important element in adolescent sex offender treatment Adolescence is a time of considerable self-absorption among adolescent boys This study investigates levels of empathy among adolescent offenders in comparison with their nonoffending counterparts Participants were 23 male sex offenders and 23 male nonoffenders aged 13–18 years Participants were administered Davis’s Interpersonal Reactivity Index as a measure of empathy Results The sex offender group scored significantly lower in empathy on the overall score There was, however, variation on the individual subscales Implications for research and practice are discussed Reference: Burke, D. M. (2001). Empathy in sexually offending and nonoffending adolescent males. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 16, 222–233. Classroom Activities and Demonstrations A basic set of premises of motivational personality psychology is that deficiencies lead to a need. This need generates a motive to satisfy that need, either in reality, by fostering specific actions, or in fantasy, by creating specific thoughts that are satisfying. Larsen and Buss present an example of the relationships among a deficit (have not eaten today), a need (for food), a motive (hunger), and subsequent thoughts and fantasies (thinking about food, fantasizing about a big meal) and behavior intended to satisfy the need (go to the store, buy food, bring it home, cook it). Distribute Activity Handout 11–1 (“Key Concepts of Motivational Psychology”). Give students about five minutes to complete this handout using their own example. Ask students to volunteer their responses. Use this activity as a springboard to discuss each of these key concepts of motivational personality psychology, and the relationships among them. Larsen and Buss present the results of recent research on the characteristics of people who have a high need for achievement. People who are high in need for achievement (1) prefer activities that provide some, but not too much, challenge; (2) enjoy tasks where they are personally responsible for the outcome; and (3) prefer tasks where feedback on their performance is available. Distribute Activity Handout 11–2 (“Need for Achievement”). Give students about five minutes to complete the handout. Ask students to volunteer some of their responses. Use this activity as a springboard for discussing the need for achievement, including the characteristics that define people who have a high need for achievement. Larsen and Buss present Maslow’s list of 15 characteristics associated with a self-actualizing person. Distribute Activity Handout 11–3 (“Characteristics of a Self-Actualizing Person”). Give students about 10 minutes to complete the handout. Ask students to volunteer some of their responses. Encourage students to challenge each other on whether a particular self-actualizing characteristic is fulfilled, based on the information provided by the student. Use this activity as a springboard for discussing the process of self-actualization and the 15 characteristics of self-actualizers identified by Maslow. Challenge students to consider whether some of the characteristics identified by Maslow shouldn’t be on the list, and whether there are other characteristics that are not on Malsow’s, list but should be. Chapter 12 Cognitive Topics in Personality Chapter Outline Introduction Cognitive approaches to personality focus on differences in how people process information Cognition refers to awareness and thinking as well as to specific mental acts such as perceiving, interpreting, remembering, believing, anticipating Three levels of cognition of interest to personality psychologists Perception: Process of imposing order on information received by our sense organs Interpretation: Process of making sense of, or explaining, events in the world Beliefs and desires: Standards and goals people develop for evaluating themselves and others Fourth cognitive domain of interest: Intelligence Personality Revealed Through Perception Field Dependence-Independence Field independent (relative to field dependent) people have the ability to focus on details despite the clutter of background information Measures used to assess field-dependence Rod and Frame Test (RFT) Embedded Figures Test (EFT) Field dependence-independence and life choices Education: Field independent people favor natural sciences, math, engineering, whereas field dependent people favor social sciences and education Interpersonal relations: Field independent people are more interpersonally detached, whereas field dependent people are attentive to social cues, oriented toward other people Current research on field dependence-independence Field independent people are better able to screen out distracting information and focus on a task Field-independent students learn more effectively than field dependent students in hypermedia-based instructional environment
Pain Tolerance and Sensory Reducing/Augmenting Aneseth Petrie’s reducer-augmenter theory of pain tolerance People with low pain tolerance have a nervous system that is amplified or augmented by subjective impact of sensory input People with high pain tolerance have a nervous system that is dampened; they experience reduced effects of sensory information Reducers seek strong stimulation, perhaps in order to compensate for lower sensory reactivity Reducers may use substances (nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, other drugs) to artificially “lift” their arousal level Personality Revealed Through Interpretation Kelly’s Personal Construct Theory Human nature: Humans-as-scientists; people attempt to understand, predict, and control events Personal constructs: Constructs a person uses to interpret and predict events Kelly and post-modernism: Post-modernism is an intellectual position grounded in the notion that reality is constructed, that every person and every culture has a unique version of reality, with none having privilege Fundamental Postulate: “A person’s processes are psychologically channelized by the ways in which he anticipates events” Commonality corollary: If two people have similar construct systems, they will be psychologically similar Sociality corollary: To understand a person, we must understand how she/he construes the social world Anxiety: Not being able to understand and predict life events Locus of Control Locus of control describes a person’s interpretation of responsibility for events External locus of control: Generalized expectancies that events are outside of one’s control Internal locus of control: Generalized expectancies that reinforcing events are under one’s control, and that one is responsible for major life outcomes Rotter’s “expectancy model” of learning behavior Learning depends on the degree to which a person values a reinforcer—its reinforcement value People differ in their expectations for reinforcement—some believe they are in control of outcomes, whereas others do not
Learned Helplessness Animals (including humans) when subjected to unpleasant and inescapable circumstances, become passive and accepting of a situation, in effect learning to be helpless Personality Revealed Through Goals People differ in their goals, and these differences reveal and are part of personality Different names and approaches for these goals: Personal strivings, current concerns, personal projects, life tasks Personal Projects Analysis (Little) Personal project: Set of relevant actions intended to achieve a goal a person has selected Personal Projects Analysis was developed to assess personal projects What people believe about their projects (how important they are, how stressful, how much success they are having in achieving their goals) is useful for understanding how personality works in everyday life Personality can be manifested in everyday projects people have
Cognitive Social Learning Theory Emphasizes the cognitive and social processes whereby people learn to value and strive for certain goals over others Albert Bandura and the notion of self-efficacy: emphasized the active nature of human behavior; people have intentions and forethought, are reflective and can anticipate future events, monitor their behavior and evaluate their own progress, and learn by observing others Self-efficacy: the belief that one can execute a specific course of action to achieve a goal Carol Dweck and the theory of master orientation: people with “incremental” views will set mastery goals and seek academic challenges that they believe will help them grow intellectually E. Tory Higgins and the theory of regulatory focus: people regulate their goal-directed behaviors in two distinct ways: Promotion focus Prevention focus Walter Mischel and the cognitive-affective personality system (CAPS): people’s behavior was more strongly influenced by the situations they were in than by the personality traits they brought to those situations Intelligence Achievement versus aptitude views of intelligence “g” or general intelligence versus domain-specific intelligences Widely accepted definition of intelligence (Gardner, 1983): Application of cognitive skill and knowledge to solve problems, learn, and achieve goals valued by the individual and the culture Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences Emotional intelligence (Goleman) Traditional measures of intelligence predict school performance, but not outcomes later in life, such as occupational attainment, salary, marital quality Emotional intelligence strongly predicts these life outcomes Emotional intelligence includes a set of five specific abilities Awareness of our own feelings and bodily signals, being able to identify our own emotions, and make distinctions Ability to regulate emotions, especially negative emotions, and to manage stress Ability to control one’s impulses, direct attention and effort, delay gratification, and stay on task toward goals Ability to decode social and emotional cues of others, empathy Ability to influence and guide others without incurring anger, resentment Cultural context of intelligence: We should view intelligence as being those skills valued in a particular culture SUMMARY AND EVALUATION Cognitive approaches to personality focus on differences in how people process information People differ in how they think, perceive, interpret, remember, believe, desire, and anticipate events in their lives. Personality psychologists are interested in these differences as well as characteristics of cognition that all humans share KEY TERMS Cognitive Approaches Learned Helplessness Personalizing Cognition Causal Attribution Objectifying Cognition Explanatory Style Cognition Internal Explanatory Style Information Processing External Explanatory Style Perception Stable Explanatory Style Interpretation Unstable Explanatory Style Conscious Goals Global Explanatory Style Rod and Frame Test (RFT) Specific Explanatory Style Field-Dependent Pessimistic Explanatory Style Field-Independent Optimistic Explanatory Style Pain Tolerance Personal Project Reducer-Augmenter Theory Self-Efficacy Kinesthetic Figural Aftereffect Modeling Constructs Promotion Focus Personal Constructs Prevention Focus Post-Modernism If . . . Then . . . Propositions Rep Test Achievement View of Intelligence Locus of Control Aptitude View of Intelligence Generalized Expectancies General Intelligence External Locus of Control Multiple Intelligences Internal Locus of Control Emotional Intelligence Specific Expectancies Cultural Context of Intelligence Inspection Time Chapter Overview This chapter introduces students to several key cognitive topics in personality psychology. Cognition refers to awareness and thinking as well as to specific mental acts such as perceiving, interpreting, remembering, believing, and anticipating. These behaviors add up to “information processing,” or the transformation of sensory input into mental representations and the manipulation of such representations. The authors introduce three key levels of cognition that are studied by personality psychologists: Perception, interpretation, and beliefs and desires. Personality psychologists are interested in differences among groups and individuals in these three levels of cognition, as well as in defining the characteristics of cognition that all humans share. The authors first review work suggesting that personality can be revealed through perception. The authors review historical and modern work on field-dependence, and pain tolerance and sensation reducing-augmenting. Next the authors review work suggesting that personality can be revealed through interpretation. The authors review historical and modern work on personal constructs, locus of control, learned helplessness, and explanatory style. Next the authors review work suggesting that personality can be revealed through conscious goals, the third level of cognition. Here the authors review personal projects analysis. The authors next review historical and modern work on intelligence—an important individual difference at the interface of cognition and personality. The authors highlight the many different controversies surrounding intelligence, including the achievement and aptitude approaches to intelligence, whether there is a single, general intelligence, or multiple intelligences, and the cultural context of intelligence. Learning Objectives Define cognition, including an identification of the key levels of cognition that are of interest to personality psychologists. Define and differentiate personalizing cognition and objectifying cognition. Compare and contrast human information processing and computer information processing. Define field dependence, and review recent and historical work on this personality variable. Discuss the key assumptions and concepts of Kelly’s Personal Construct Theory. Discuss historical and modern work by personality psychologists on pain tolerance and sensation reducing-augmenting. Define locus of control, and discuss historical and modern work on this personality variable. Differentiate generalized expectancies from specific expectancies. Define learned helplessness, and discuss historical and modern work on this personality variable. Discuss explanatory style, and identify how it is a reformulated theory of learned helplessness. Discuss and differentiate the explanatory style dimensions of internal/external, stable/ temporary, and global/specific. Discuss the key elements of optimistic and pessimistic explanatory styles, and provide examples of each type of explanatory style. Discuss work on the relationship between explanatory style and health. Discuss Personal Projects Analysis as a strategy for studying personality. Discuss intelligence as an individual difference variable. Differentiate the achievement and aptitude approaches to intelligence. Discuss general intelligence and specific intelligences. Discuss the cultural context of intelligence. Lecture Topics and Lecture Suggestions Developing a personality profile of the bomb-disposal expert: The role of sensation seeking and field dependence-independence. (Glocksohn & Bozna, 2000). This lecture presents the results of a fascinating study designed to examine the personality profile of bomb-disposal experts. Students will find this research intriguing, and it is an excellent example of the applied nature of research in personality psychology. Use this lecture as a springboard for discussing field-dependence versus field-independence, in particular, and other cognitive topics in personality psychology, more generally. Challenge students to consider other personality attributes that bomb-disposal experts are likely to display, including traits reviewed in previous chapters of the textbook. According to Glocksohn and Bozna (2000), the high-risk, prosocial professional should score highly on sensation seeking, particularly on the Thrill-and-Adventure-Seeking subscale (TAS) However, the TAS subscale does not permit differential prediction of who will prefer which high-risk job The cognitive style of field dependence-independence (FDI) could have predictive faculty The present study compared 42 bomb-disposal experts and 45 anti-terror operatives, all of whom were males aged 23–35 years The authors examined both personality (sensation seeking and the Eysenckian Big Three) and cognitive style It was predicted that whereas both groups would score high on TAS, they would differ on FDI Relevant data taken from published norms are provided for comparison The personality profile of the high-risk, prosocial professional was found to conform to that of the non-impulsive sensation seeker who is emotionally stable As hypothesized, bomb-disposal experts were found to be markedly more field independent than were anti-terror operatives Reference: Glocksohn, J., & Bozna, M. (2000). Developing a personality profile of the bomb-disposal expert: The role of sensation seeking and field dependence-independence. Personality and Individual Differences, 28, 85–92. Occupations and well-being: A study of personal projects (Christiansen, Backman, Little, & Nguyen, 1999). This lecture presents the results of an interesting study on the relationship between occupation and subjective well-being or happiness. The researchers employ personal projects analysis to assess current goal-directed pursuits. Students are likely to find this research interesting and with “real-world” relevance. Use this lecture as a springboard for discussing personal projects analysis, the relationships between occupation and happiness, and the use of personal projects analysis to study these relationships. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between occupation and subjective well-being A convenience sample of 120 adults (aged 19–79 years) completed a personal projects analysis, a method of rating their current goal-directed pursuits Participants also completed measures of subjective well-being (Affect Balance Scale, Life Satisfaction Index Form A) and personality traits (Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory) Characteristics of personal projects were correlated with subjective well-being scores Multiple regression analysis was used to investigate possible predictors of well-being from among the characteristics of personal projects, personality traits, and demographic variables The stress associated with personal projects was significantly and negatively correlated with well-being, as was project difficulty Perceived progress in completing projects was significantly positively correlated with well-being The strongest predictors for well-being were the composite project factors of stress and efficacy (worth and value of project to participant) Two personality traits, sensing and extraversion, interacted with the project dimension of stress to emerge as significant predictors of well-being Together, these four variables explained 42 percent of the variance in well-being scores Reference: Christiansen, C. H., Backman, C., Little, B. R., & Nguyen, A. (1999). Occupations and well-being: A study of personal projects. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 53, 91–100. Classroom Activities and Demonstrations Humans are in many ways similar to computers, and these similarities spurred a revolution in psychology that focuses on human cognition and information processing. This activity is designed to guide students to think deeply about the similarities and differences between human cognition and computer “cognition” or information processing. Distribute Activity Handout 12–1 (“Similarities and Differences in Human and Computer Cognition”). Give students about five minutes to complete the handout. Ask students to volunteer some of the similarities and differences they identified. Use this activity as a springboard for discussing why there exists a field of human personality psychology, but not a field of computer personality psychology. Larsen and Buss review the personality dimension of reducing-augmenting. First, ask students to identify the defining features of this dimension. Guide students to the conclusion that reducing-augmenting refers to individual differences in reaction to sensory stimulation—some reduce sensory stimulation, whereas others augment sensory stimulation. This activity is designed to encourage students to apply this idea to themselves, by completing an abbreviated version of a survey measure of reducing-augmenting. Distribute Activity Handout 12–2 (“Reducing-Augmenting”). Give students about three minutes to complete the handout. Once students have completed the handout, explain that students who prefer many of the stimulating (left-hand) choices are likely to be reducers, whereas students who prefer many of the less stimulating (right-hand) activities are likely to be augmenters. Use this activity as a springboard for discussing the dimension of reducing-augmenting. For additional discussion, ask students whether they think there might be a sex difference on this dimension. After soliciting a few opinions, assess by a show of hands the proportion of men versus the proportion of women who scored as reducers. If a sex difference is displayed, challenge students to think about why this might be. Larsen and Buss review research on personal projects and Little’s Personal Project Analysis. First, ask students to define and briefly describe personal projects. Guide students to the conclusion that a personal project is a set of actions intended to achieve a goal that a person has selected. Next, ask students to identify what personal projects reveal about personality. Guide students to the conclusion that, according to Brian Little, personality can be manifested in the everyday projects that people work on. Ask students to discuss this idea. Finally, distribute Activity Handout 12–3 (“Personal Projects Analysis”). Give students about 10 minutes to complete the handout. Ask students to volunteer one or a couple of their personal projects, and to discuss the ratings they gave each of those projects. Use this activity as a springboard for discussing the possibility that personal projects reveal important facets of a person’s personality. Instructor Manual for Personality Psychology: Domains of Knowledge About Human Nature Randy Larsen, David Buss 9780078035357