Understanding Personality, Disorders, and Social Influence
Personality: An Overview
Personality refers to an individual’s characteristic emotional responses, thoughts, and behaviors that are relatively stable over time.
Psychodynamic Theory
Psychodynamic theory posits that behavior is motivated by inner, unconscious forces over which a person has little control. All psychological events have a cause; we are at the mercy of forces outside our awareness. No action is meaningless. The unconscious is considered more important than the conscious.
Sigmund Freud developed his theory while treating patients. His methods of treatment and psychoanalysis are still alive today, although heavily modified.
- Id: Impulses that seek immediate gratification; operates on the “pleasure principle.”
- Ego: The moderator between the id and superego; operates on the “reality principle.”
- Superego: Our sense of morality; internalized rules from society, caregivers, etc.
Freudian Slips: Freud believed that hidden desires and motivations underlie slips of the tongue.
Psychosexual Stages
Each stage is characterized by a certain body part being the primary focus of pleasure.
- Stage 1: Oral (0-1.5 years of age): Pleasure center is the mouth. Fixation may lead to a focus on oral stimulation and dependency.
- Stage 2: Anal (1.5-3 years of age): Pleasure center is the anus. Fixation may lead to orderliness and cleanliness.
- Stage 3: Phallic (4-6 years of age): Pleasure center is the genitals. Fixation may lead to the Oedipus complex for boys and penis envy for girls.
- Stage 4: Latency (6-12 years of age): No specific pleasure center. Children participate in hobbies and school.
- Stage 5: Genital: Focus on mature sexual relationships.
Problems with Freud’s Theory: It is virtually impossible to test, evidence is not favorable, it relies on unobservable events, and Freud did not study children.
Humanistic Approach
The humanistic approach emphasizes free will and believes that people are innately good. Humans have certain needs in common, and our core motive is self-actualization, the drive to reach our fullest potential.
Self-concept is the set of beliefs people hold about their own abilities, behavior, and personality. Self-actualization involves high levels of congruence, characterized by creativity, spontaneity, acceptance of themselves and others, and self-confidence.
- Congruence: A state of being in which our thoughts about our real and ideal selves are very similar.
- Incongruence: A state of being in which there is a great discrepancy between our real and ideal selves.
Trait Approach
The trait approach seeks to break down personality into its elemental parts.
- Openness to new experience: The tendency to enjoy new experiences and ideas.
- Conscientiousness: A sense of discipline and orderliness; correlated with life span, academic/job performance, and marriage stability.
- Extroversion: The tendency to seek stimulation and company; energized by social interaction and sensory stimulation.
- Introversion: Energized by quiet time alone; overstimulation is draining.
- Agreeableness: High agreeableness is associated with being friendly and compassionate but may involve seeking to avoid conflict at one’s own expense. Low agreeableness is associated with being callous and harsh but also resolute in one’s own beliefs.
- Neuroticism: The tendency to experience and express unpleasant emotions; positively correlated with psychopathology.
Pros of Trait Approach: Constructed from observable data; traits are predictive of behavior and outcomes. Cons: Relies on self-report; tells us the structure of personality, not the causes.
Psychological Disorders
What constitutes a disorder? Statistical rarity, subjective distress, impairment, societal disapproval, and biological dysfunction.
Medical Student Syndrome: Once you start to learn about disorders and diseases, you may start to see the associated symptoms in yourself or people you know.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Obsessions: Persistent, unwanted thoughts or ideas that keep recurring. Example: An individual cannot rid themselves of the thought that they might accidentally leave their gas stove on.
- Compulsions: Irresistible urges to repeatedly carry out a behavior. Example: Every day, an individual checks the stove exactly 10 times before leaving for work.
In Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), obsessions are persistent, irrational, disturbing thoughts. People with OCD typically realize their thoughts and behaviors are irrational.
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder causing impairments in thoughts, perceptions, and behaviors. It tends to develop in adolescence or early adulthood. Positive symptoms include delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized speech and behavior. Negative symptoms include flat affect, lack of speech, avolition, and lack of social interest. Catatonic symptoms may also be present.
“Prodromal” phase: Waning interest in social activities, difficulty meeting responsibilities, lack of care for appearance, increasingly odd behavior, and speech becoming vague or rambling.
Etiology of Schizophrenia: Genetics play a large role, as do atypical development due to factors during pregnancy and neurotransmitter imbalances.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
PTSD involves an extremely stressful or traumatic event being persistently re-experienced, along with avoidance of reminders of the trauma. Symptoms must last longer than four weeks.
Comorbidity: The presence of two or more disorders in the same person. Examples: Anxiety and depression, depression and OCD, conduct disorder and ADHD.
Anxiety Disorders
- Generalized anxiety disorder: Persistent worry that interferes with functioning for at least six months, with individuals feeling as if they cannot control the worry. Symptoms may include restlessness, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, muscle tension, and sleep disturbance.
- Social Phobia: Marked by impairment and distress in a variety of social situations; involves fear of negative evaluation and avoidance of social situations.
- Specific Phobia: Clinically significant fears provoked by exposure to a specific stimulus.
- Panic Disorder: A pattern of recurrent, most often unexpected panic attacks. These are periods of intense anxiety that onset abruptly. Bodily symptoms may include sweating, racing heart, dizziness, nausea, numbness, and heat or chills.
Mood Disorders
- Major Depressive Disorder: A severe form of depression that interferes with concentration, decision-making, and sociability.
- Bipolar disorder: Periods of depression along with periods of mania or hypomania.
- Mania: Elevated mood, increased activity or energy, more talkative and/or racing thoughts, less sleep, and inflated self-esteem.
- Hypomania: A mild form of mania that does not lead to considerable functional impairment.
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
ADHD is characterized by inattention and/or hyperactivity. Symptoms must be present by age 12 and affect functioning.
- Inattention: Careless mistakes, easily distracted, forgetful, difficulty organizing tasks.
- Hyperactivity: Fidgeting, restlessness, excessive talking.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Autism Spectrum Disorder involves deficits in social communication combined with restricted interests and behaviors. Characteristics must be present in the early developmental period and impact functioning.
- ASD Social Communication: Reduced sharing of interests and emotions, reduced use or understanding of nonverbal social cues.
- ASD Restricted Interests and Behaviors: Repetitive movements, insistence on sameness, highly restricted, fixated interests.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a psychological intervention aimed at helping people resolve emotional, behavioral, and interpersonal problems and improve the quality of their lives.
Types of Psychotherapy
- Psychodynamic
- Behavioral
- Cognitive
- Humanistic
Goals of Psychodynamic Therapy: To bring unresolved past conflicts and unacceptable impulses from the unconscious into the conscious.
- Free association strategy: Technique where the client expresses themselves without censorship.
- Dream analysis strategy: Analyze the content of the client’s dreams.
- Transference: Transfer of feelings to a psychoanalyst of love or anger originally directed to a patient’s parents or other authority figures.
Psychotherapy cons: Time-consuming, costly.
Contemporary psychodynamic approaches: Less emphasis on the past, more focus on current relationships or concerns.
Behavioral Approaches
Behavioral approaches make use of the basic processes of learning to reduce or change undesirable behavior.
- Systematic desensitization: Clients are taught to relax as they are gradually exposed to what they fear.
- Flooding: Clients are exposed to what they fear right away and for an extended period.
- Exposure and Response Prevention: Can be helpful for obsessive-compulsive disorder; the therapist prevents the client from engaging in their typical compulsive behaviors when they would typically occur.
Cognitive Approaches
Cognitive approaches teach people to think in more adaptive ways, changing dysfunctional cognitions about the world and themselves.
Cognitive distortions are driven by core beliefs that shape how we interpret events. Examples:
- Black and white thinking: “I never have anything interesting to say.”
- Jumping to conclusions: “The doctor is going to tell me I have cancer.”
- Discounting the positive: “I did well on that, but I was just lucky.”
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) assumes that our beliefs play a crucial role in determining how we respond to a situation and relies on learning principles to change the way we think and, therefore, act.
Humanistic Approaches
Person-centered therapy: The therapist is your equal, someone to talk to. The goal is to realize your inner potential for growth and gain self-acceptance.
Active listening: Restate and acknowledge. The goal is to hear. Paraphrase, seek clarification, and reflect feelings.
Eclectic approach to therapy: Therapists use a variety of techniques and integrate several perspectives.
Social Psychology
Social Psychology is the study of how people influence others’ behavior, beliefs, and attitudes.
Attribution
Attribution is how we understand the causes of behavior.
- Dispositional: Behavior is perceived to be due to a person’s traits or personality.
- Situational: External forces shape behavior.
Fundamental Attribution Error: The tendency to over-attribute others’ behavior to dispositional causes and minimize the importance of situational causes.
Actor-Observer bias: We only fall prey to the fundamental attribution error when explaining others’ behavior, but not our own.
Attitudes and Cognitive Dissonance
Attitude: An evaluation of people, objects, and their behavior. When attitudes and behaviors don’t match, we experience cognitive dissonance, a mental conflict that occurs when a person holds two or more conflicting thoughts. We are motivated to reduce or eliminate that discomfort, often altering our attitudes because of the unpleasant state of tension.
- Foot-in-the-door technique: Making a small request before making a bigger one.
- Door-in-the-face technique: Involves making an unreasonably large request before making the small request one hopes to have granted.
Conformity and Obedience
Conformity: The tendency for people to alter their behavior in response to group pressure.
Classic Asch Study: Participants in a group were asked to compare and match lengths of lines. Confederates picked the wrong line, and many participants conformed.
Obedience: Adherence to instructions from those of higher authority.
Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination
Stereotype: A belief about the characteristics of a group, applied to members of the group.
Prejudice: Drawing negative conclusions about a person, group, or situation without evaluating any evidence.
In-group bias: The tendency to favor individuals within our group over those from outside our group.
Discrimination: Negative behavior towards members of a group.
Implicit Associations: Individuals can have implicit associations of which they are unaware and that may differ from their conscious beliefs.