Trait Perspective

Traits

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

• most widely used
• assess learning styles & vocational path
• insight on psych patients & their behavior

Exploring Traits

Factor Analysis

• Eysenck (German psychologist)
• worked with genetics & personality
• 2-dimensional system
• how traits correlate with each other
• extroversion vs. introversion
• emotional stability versus instability
• Eyesenck Personality Questionnaire

Biology & Personality

• our biology influences our personality
• genetics + autonomic nerveous system (fight/flight response)
• brain scans
• brain arousal (amygdala = emotional center)
• genetics (shyness, stress, anxiety)
• autonomic nervous system reactivity

Assessing Traits

• Personality Inventory
• Minnesota Muliphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
• empirically derived test
• objective test (behavior + feeling)
• lie scale

Projective Tests

A projective test is a personality test that provides ambiguous stimula designed to trigger projection of one's inner dynamics.
The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is a projective test in which people express their inner feelings & interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes.
The Rorschach Inkblot Test is the most widely used projective test. It's a set of 10 inkblots that seek to identify people's inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots.
Card I: provides clues about how subjects tackle a new and stressful task. It isn't a card that is usually difficult for the subject to handle, having readily available popular responses.
Card II: blood is shown. This provides indications about how a subject is likely to manage feelings of anger/physical harm. This can also generate sexual responses.
Card III: shows humans, providing info about how the subject relates with other people.
Card IV: serves to elicit a sense of authority. Since the human/animal seen in the card is usually seen as a man (men & authority) this is often called The Father Card.

Criticisms of Projective Tests

• Few projective tests demonstrate validity
• Not reliable (consistent results over & over)
• Interpretation - bias/questioning
• Poor diagnostic measures (free association)
• hard to connect recent experiences in reality w/subconcious thoughts & ideas

081721 Quiz

Freud believed that a healthy person's ego is stronger than the superego and id. Remember the word egocentric!

Defense Mechanisms

Freud believed these happen indirectly and unconsciously. He also believed that repression is the foundation for all defense mechanisms.

• Regression retreating to a more infantile psychosexual stage. An example is reverting to the oral comfort of thumb sucking.
• Reaction formation switching unacceptable impulses into their opposities. An example is one displaying exaggerated friendliness to compensate for feelings of hatred.
• Projection disguising one's own threating impulses by attributing them to others. "The thief thinks everyone else is a thief".
• Rationalization offering self-justifying explanations in place of the real & more threatining unconscious reasons for one's action. A habitual drinker says she drinks with her friends "just to be sociable".
• Displacement shifting sexual/aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable/less threating object/person. An example is a little girl kicking the family dog after being sent to her room.
• Sublimation transferring unacceptable impulses into socially valued motives. An example is a man with aggressive urges becoming a surgeon.
• Denial refusing to believe/perceive painful realities. An eample is Basil refusing to believe that Sunny killed Mari even though he saw it happen right in front of him.

Psychoanalytic Stages

The id is the "devil", the superego the "angel". The ego is the bridge between the two.
Enneagram types that correspond to this are:

• id - 7w8 78x
• superego - 1w2
• ego - perhaps 9w1

The id

It's impulsive, unconscious, responds directly to immediate instincts, and chaotic. It operates on the pleasure principle.
It's very sx 7w8ish to me, & this reminds me of King & Murr.

The ego

This is the reason and the logic. It satisfies the id without negative consequences. It seeks pleasure & avoids pain. It's the reality principle!
This reminds me of Monika.

The superego

This incorporates values and beliefs of society. You learn this through authority figures. It controls id impulses. The superego punishes bad behavior through guilt. It rewards good behavior by being your ideal self.
This reminds me of Iida & Kunikida.