Perspective Review

Question 1

Psychoanalytic Perspective
Major Assumptions*

Answer 1

4. Personality is dynamic
   a. Exchange and transformation of energy, fixed quantity of psychic energy that aids in functioning
   i. Some of the energy goes into superego, some goes elsewhere.. etc…
5. Personality is determined
   a. All behavior occurs by some force within in the person
   i. Unconscious mind
   b. No accidental behaviors
   i. Slip of the tongue may be significant
6. Personality is organizational
   a. 3 levels of awareness, 3 functions of personality, different types/functions, etc…
7. Focus is on development
   a. Adult personality is established by the age of 5
   i. Childhood experience is critical

Question 2

Psychoanalytic-Social Perspective

Answer 2

ajor Assumptions
- Emphasis on Ego and how people adapt to the culture or environmental stressors
- Individual sense of self is fully described
- Importance of interpersonal relationships
o How you get along w/ other people, friends, romantic partners
o Parents are not the only important people (contrary to Freud’s beliefs)
- Importance of social and cultural factors
o How society influences the way that women are perceived

Question 3

The Trait Perspective
Major Assumptions

Answer 3

• 1. Emphasis on individual differences in characteristics that are fairly stable (if youre organized at home, you will be at work too)
• 2. Emphasis on the measurement of these traits (mainly through self-report questionnaires)
• Trait: basic unit of study for personality; it is a consistent and enduring way of reacting to our environment

Question 4

Cognitive Social Learning Perspective
Major Assumptions

Answer 4

• 1. Agreements with behaviorists:
o personality is formed through interaction with the environment
o also agree that behavior is situation specific
• 2. Include more elaborate descriptions of cognitive processes: instead of focusing on condition, focus more on cognitive processes and how we make sense of what is around us
• 3. Argue that people differ in their thought processes
• 4. Can change personality by changing your thought patterns
• 5. Nomothetic approach: focuses more on groups
• 6. No animal theories

Question 5

Humanistic Perspective
Major Assumptions

Answer 5

• 1. Focuses on higher, healthier, more developed aspects of personality- things like spirituality, creativity, etc
• 2. Values the subjective experience of the individual, aka the phenomenological approach
• 3. Focus on the present, especially “here and now”
o past is only important if it affects your “here and now” perceptions
• 4. Active approach—people have to determine for themselves what their lives are going to be like-we are responsible for our outcomes because we are dynamic people and constantly changing
o don’t focus on constant stable personality traits
• 5. We are intrinsically good and self-perfecting

Question 6

Learning Perspective

Answer 6

Major Assumptions
- Personality is defined in terms of your behavior
o What you do defines your personality
- Behavior is determined by external factors in the environment
o Especially reinforcers and discriminative stimuli
- Possible to change your personality by changing the environment
- Personality change can occur throughout the lifespan
- Behaviorism uses the idiographic approach by studying the individual