Psychology 210
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Introduction/Syllabus
An Exercise
Why take this course?
What the course will and will not cover
What should a theory do?
3 primary goals
- known findings / simple framework
- foster new knowledge about important issues
- identify new issues to study
The Exercise
- you could do it
-- your descriptions differered in type
-- units of analysis
-- different types of pers. theories
On Defining Personality
How the pers. theories differ
- original sources of data (last time)
- standing on key issues
internal / external determinants
heredity / environment (nature/nurture)
human universals / cultural specificity
conscious / unconscious processes
analytic / holistic strategies
Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic Theories
The Development of Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory
- Freud's Early Life
- Medical School
Mechanism (vs. Vitalism)
Conservation of Energy
- Charcot, Hypnosis, and Hysteria
9/3/02
The Development of Psychoanalytic Theory
- Freud in Medical School
Mechanism (vs. Vitalism)
Conservation of Energy
- Charcot, Hypnosis, and Hysteria
- Breuer, Anna O., and the Cathartic Method
- catharsis
- 3 steps of the cathartic method
- pathogenic ideas not in consciousness
- Free Association Method
- Resistance and Repression
- The Seduction Theory of Hysteria
- and its apparent shortcomings
The Interpretation of Dreams
levels of content: Manifest
Latent
Wish Fulfillment Hypothesis
Breuer's (& Freud's) Cathartic Method
(i.e., method for treating the hysterical symptom)
1) under hypnosis, prompt patient
to recall previously "forgotten" traumatic event
2) symptom
emerges with great force (a reliving of the original emotional trauma)
3) emotional energy is released (a
catharsis), and symptom disappears after being traced to its original cause
The Interpretation of Dreams
levels of content: Manifest
Latent
Wish Fulfillment Hypothesis
Two Modes of Thought:
Primary Process, Secondary Process
Freud's Self-Analysis
Oedipus Complex
Stages of Development
oral, anal, and phallic stages
latency period and genital stage
fixation and adult pers. characteristics
Psychopathology of Everyday Life
Personality Structure in Psychoanalytic Th.
Levels of Consciousness
- conscious
- preconscious
- unconscious
Structural Model of Personality
Id
- Pleasure Principle
Ego
- Reality Principle
Superego
- ego ideal and conscience
Dynamic Processes
Instincts
Anxiety and Defense Mechanisms
Psychological experience as a repetition
of the past
9/12/02
Psychodynamic Assessment
The Free Association Method
Projective Tests
-- Rorschach, TAT
Limitations of Projective Tests
Evaluating Psychoanalysis Scientifically
- themes vs. theoretical details
Experimental Tests of Psychodynamic Ideas
- "Confessing" Trauma (Pennebaker)
- Repressive Coping Style
(Weinberger et al.)
- Brain Systems and "Somatic Markers"
(Damasio et al.)
- Are there "false memories"? (Loftus)
- Does psychoanalytic therapy work?
Hysteria Dreams
Consciously hysterical symptoms manifest content
Experienced
Unconscious pathogenic ideas: latent content:
traumatic
memories
Breuer's Cathartic Method
1) under hypnosis, have patient recall
forgotten traumatic event (via therapist suggestions)
2) hysterical symptom re-emerges with
great force
3) there is a release and freeing of emotional
symptoms (a catharsis), and the symptom is lessened in force and/or disappears
Stages of Development
oral, anal, and phallic stages
latency period and genital stage
fixation and adult personality characteristics
Psychopathology of Everyday Life
Levels of Consciousness
- conscious
- preconscious
- unconscious
Psychodynamic Assessment
The Free Association Method
Projective Tests
Rorschach, TAT
A Film
Dynamic Processes
Anxiety and Defense Mechanisms
A Film
Experimental Tests of Psychodynamic Topics
- "Confessing" Trauma (P
- Repressive Coping Style
1/29
Experimental Tests of Psychodynamic
Ideas
- Are there "false memories"? (Loftus)
- Does psychoanalytic therapy work?
Psychodynamic Theory Beyond Freud
Carl Jung: Two main differences (vs. Freud)
- aims and aspirations
- evolutionary-based mental content Collective Unconscious
- universal, inherited
- Archetypes
- 4 main personality systems
Intelligence: Questions to ask
Intelligence: Advances since the Film
- stereotype threat as an explanation of
group differences (Steele)
- Flynn effect
- beyond IQ: Multiple Intelligences (Gardner)
Trait Theories of Personality
- their relation to the study of intelligence
- Measurement
- The nature of Trait Constructs
- Idiographic and Nomothetic Trait Strategies
Traits: Real Things or Summary Labels?
Correlation and Factor Analysis
Trait Theory of Raymond Cattell
- Surface and Source Traits
- Types of Source Traits
- 3 types of Data
- a self-report questionnaire: the 16 P.F.
Trait Theory of Hans Eysenck
- Two-factor model
Extraversion and Neuroticism
- Hierarchical model of behavior, traits, and "super" traits
- Relation betw. Cattell and Eysenck Models
- Biological bases of E and N?
-- I/E: electrophysiological evidence
Five-Factor Model
- "OCEAN" of personality traits
- as a consensus trait model
Do others see us as we see ourselves?
Do our personality traits change during adulthood?
Do we inherit our personality traits or learn them?
- Behavior genetic methods (twin studies)
- assumption: separate gen. & envir. effects
- findings: Genetic, Shared Environmental, and Nonshared Environmental Influences
- problem with assumption: gene-environment interactions
--
Personality and Genetics: Molecular Genetic
Techniques
NonShared Influences on Personality
-- Birth Order (Sulloway)
Historical Influences: Changes in trait scores
Do personality trait measures predict behavior?
- person-situation controversy
- consistency of trait-related behavior
-- temporal stability
- cross-situational consistency
- "consistency paradox"
Evaluating Trait Theory
- psychological processes? traits as causes?
- Birth Order as Nonshared influence?
- Molecular genetics and personality
Behavior Genetics (conclusions)
- limitations of twin study paradigm
- molecular genetics and personality
Evaluating Trait Theory
- consistency of trait-related behavior
-- temporal stability
- cross-situational consistency
- "consistency paradox"
- traits as causes????
Evolutionary Psychology
Exam Feedback
Paper Assignment Discussion
========
10/16
Evolutionary Psychology
3 basic ideas
- mind as product of evolution
- mental systems to solve specific adaptive problems
- large number of mental "modules" ("organs")
Central Mechanism: Preferences
2 main implications for (personality) psychology
- some things a product of genes, not culture
- domain-specific variables
2 examples
-- exchange of goods and cheating detection
- mate attraction
parental investment theory
Key References
Limitations of Evolutionary Psychology
Behavioral Approaches to Personality
How they differ from other theories
- "theory"
- data
Learning/Behavioral Approaches
- data: simple systems
Early Behaviorism
- Watson, Pavlov, and Little Albert
B. F. Skinner's Operant Behaviorism
"The Behavior of Organisms": 4 contributions
- probability of response
- Skinner box
- single-subject design
- schedules of reinforcement
- fixed / variable; ratio/interval schedules
10/23
Skinner's Operant Behaviorism
Schedules of Reinforcement - Results
Style of Explaining Behavior
- example: Superstition
Complex Behavior: Shaping
Behaviorism: Three Implications/Applications
- Social change and Walden II
Behaviorism: Three Implications/Applications
- Psychotherapy as behavior change
Systematic Desensitization (clas. cond.)
Token Economies (operant cond)
- Free will?
Beyond Freedom and Dignity
Contemporary Related Research
automatic activation of goals (Bargh)
Skinner's Behaviorism as Personality Theory
Critiques of Behaviorism
- inborn/biological constraints on learning
- learning of complex behaviors
- language (and Chomsky critique)
- and cognitive modularity
- complex skills and observational learning
Toward Knowledge and Meaning in Pers. Theories
George Kelly's Personal Construct Theory
Kelly's View of Science
scientific constructs, prediction, usefulness
Constructive Alternativism
Kelly's View of Persons: "persons as scientists"
personal constructs
"Fundamental Postulate" of Pers. Construct Theory
" We can follow the path taken by physics and biology by turning directly to the relation between behavior and the environment and neglecting supposed mediating states of mind. Physics did not advance by looking more closely at the jubilance of a falling body, or biology by looking at the nature of vital spirits, and we do not need to try to discover what personalities, states of mind, feelings, traits of character, plans, purposes, intentions, or the other perquisites of automomous man really are in order to get on with a scientific analysis of behavior."
p. 15, BF&D
Critiques of Behaviorism
- learning of complex behaviors
- complex skills and observational learning
==
The rest of the course: Cognitive, Social-Cognitive, and Phenomenological Theories
-- toward knowledge and meaning construction
in personality theory
George Kelly's Personal Construct Theory
Kelly's View of Persons
"persons as scientists"
personal constructs
"Fundamental Postulate" of Theory
Constructive Alternativism
Measuring Personal Constructs
REP test
Kelly's View of Science
1) scientist tries to use (scientific) constructs to make predictions
2) scientific theory not right/wrong but more/less useful based on the ability of its constructs to make valuable predictions
3) constructive alternativism: there can exist >1 theory at a time, since >1 theory may make useful predictions
Kelly's View of Persons
1) people try to predict the events of their lives by using (personal) constructs
2) person's personal construct system is more/less useful top the individual, based on the person's ability to predict events
3) people can change, they can adopt different construct systems
3/14
Personal Construct Systems and Cognitive Complexity
- Cognitive complexity and predicting
behavior
- Cognitive Complexity as a buffer against
stress
Applications of Personality Construct Theory
From Personality Construct Theoryto Social-CognitiveTheory
Social-Cognitive Theory
General Introduction / Main Theorists
Bandura's Research on Modeling (Observational Learning)
- Bobo doll study
- 4 implications
- main theorists: Bandura, Mischel, & others
- as reaction against all prior theories
Guiding Principle: Reciprocal Determinism
- two examples
Social-Cognitive
Prior Theory Alternative
===================================================
Behaviorism: external control cognitive mediation
self-regulation
learning through shaping observational learning
Trait Theory: average tendencies average + variability
fixed set of traits idiosyncrasy
dispositions as causes dispositions as effects
Evolutionaryinnate behavioral patterns innate capacity to adapt
Psychology: to environments
Psychoanalysis: clinical data base clin + experimental data
hard to test testable (sub)theories
energy model of mind cognitive/informational
model of mind
3/26
Applications of Modeling Principles
- TV Violence and Aggression
-- Therapeutic Applications
- treatment of phobias and
participant modeling
Why do modeling therapies work?
- note theoretical contrast: nervous-system conditioning versus conceptual, self-referent thinking Perceived Self-Efficacy
-- as mediator of therapy effects
- Perceived Self-efficacy: Definition and assessment
- note theoretical contrast: contextualized definition and assessment, unlike the trait theories
- Perceived Self-efficacy: Causes and Consequences
Three Self-efficacy applications
- recovery from heart attack
- headache pain
. . . The Third Self-Efficacy Application
- career decision making (Betz & Hackett)
Self-Regulation: Goals and Standards for Performance
- Goals, Feedback, and Self-Regulatory
Processes (Bandura & Cervone)
- Proximal Goal Setting (Bandura & Schunk)
4/2/02
Self-Regulation: Goals and Standards for Performance (continued)
- Learning vs. Performance Goals (Dweck)
explaining "mastery" vs "helpless" behavior
implicit theories and personal goals Information-Processing Analysis of Self-Concept
Self-schemas and "Working" Self (Markus)
Self-Standards and Self-Discrepancies (Higgins)
cognition -> emotion
priming of self-standards
Mood, Self-Efficacy Perceptions, and Performance Standards (emotion -> cognition)
Depression and "perfectionistic" standards
Induced Mood and "perfectionistic" standards
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
Beck's Cognitive Therapy
Ellis' Rational Emotive Therapy
Delay of Gratification (Mischel)
Experimental Analyses
Individual Differences across time
4/9/02
Personality Consistency and Coherence
- Social-Cognitive strategy vs. Trait strategy
- Beyond traits
- Competency-Demand Hypothesis
- stable "if . . . then . . ." contingencies
Two General Soc-Cog Principles
- reciprocal determinism (interactionism)
- personality as a complex system
Relating Soc-Cog. Theory to Previous Theories
Social-cognitive theory: General conclusions
==
Phenomenological Theories
- General introduction: Science, variables, and persons?
- Analytic versus holistic strategies
- Carl Rogers' Phenomenological/Self
Theory
11/27
Carl Rogers' Phenomenological/Self Theory
Phenomenal Field and Self-Concept
Features of Self-concept
- available to awareness
- changeable/"fluid"
Measuring Self-Concept: Q-Sort
Motivational Processes & Self-Actualization
Evaluating Client-Centered Therapy: Outcome Study
4/16
Why do people develop psychological distress?
Intrapsychic Level: Need for Self-Consistency /
Congruence between self and experience
Interpersonal Level: Conditions of Worth
Contemporary Research on (these) Rogerian Ideas
Motive for self-consistency
seeking consistency information about the self
Conditions of worth & Personality Development
"Rogerian" Parenting Style and Creativity
Summary Evaluation: Rogers
Culture & Personality
Structure of Individual Differences: Universal?
- imposed versus indigenous methods
- findings (Yang & Bond)
Conceptions of Personality/Self
- independent versus interdependent views of
person
- individualistic versus collectivist cultures
- self-esteem in US vs. Japanese culture
(Kitayama & Markus)
Course Evaluation Form
The Example Paper
Expectancies and Self-Efficacy Perceptions
Modeling as Therapy
Social intelligence, Expertise, and "Strategies"
- optimism vs. defensive pessimism
Culture, Personality, and Self-Concept
culture and personality "make each other up"
individualism vs. collectivism
cross-cultural study of self-esteem
Person-Situation Interaction
Competency-Demand Hypothesis
Classifying Situations
Life-Course Stability
cumulative continuity
interactional continuity
Ph
George Kelly's Personal Construct Theory
Kelly's View of Science
scientific constructs, prediction, usefulness
Constructive Alternativism
Kelly's View of Persons
"persons as scientists"
personal constructs
"Fundamental Postulate" of Pers. Construct Theory
Cognitive Complexity
George Kelly's Personal Construct Theory and Cognitive Complexity
- Cognitive complexity and predicting behavior
- Cognitive Complexity as a buffer against stress
Concluding comments on Kelly and phenomenological
theories
General Course Review: What did we learn?
- Points of skepticism
- Established Findings
Future Developments
- Explaining *how* biological inheritance influences personality
- Addressing "holistic" features: identity, personal narratives
Toward an Integrative Personality Theory?
Distribute Exam Review Sheets
"The
course of our understanding of the mind does not consist in a determined
march toward an omega point where everything finally falls happily together;
it consists in the repeated deployment of distinct inquiries in such a
way that, again and again, apparently without end, they force deep-going
reconsiderations upon one another." These deployment "drive the enterprise
erratically oneward. Everything that rises need not converge: it has only
to make the most of its incorrigible diversity."
Geertz,
C. (2000). Available
light: Anthropological reflections on philosophical topics. Princeton,
N.J.: Princeton University Press.