Humanistic Theories
- Emphasized how people strive for self-determination and self-realization
- Studied thru self-report
- Laid groundwork for positive psychology
o Criticisms: Maslow’s description isn’t scientific
o Individualism can lead to selfishness
o Naïve- Humans have a capacity for evil
Maslow
- Motivated by hierarchy of needs
Carl Rogers
- People inherently good and have self-actualizing tendencies
- Growth Promoting Social Environments Provide: Acceptance, Genuineness, Empathy
- Central feature of personality = Self-Concept (“Who am I?”)
o Positive self-concept = perceive world positively
o Negative self-concept = falling short of “ideal self”
Assessing Self
- Questionnaires: Some find dehumanizing
- Opt for interview, intimate convo
- Life story approach
Traits
Bio and Personality
- Extraverts
o Normal brain arousal is low
o Seek stimulation
- Introvert
o Behavior inhibition shows in frontal lobes
Trait Theories
- Describe personality in terms of fundamental traits
- Traits: Patterns of behavior or disposition to feel or act in certain ways
- Person-Situation Theory
Assessing Traits
- Personality Inventories
o Assess several traits at once by giving longer questionnaire covering wide range of
feelings and behaviors
- MMPI
o Hathaway
o Effort compared to Binet
o Scored objectively
Eysenck Siblings
- We can reduce many variations to 2 dimensions:
1) Extraversion-Introversion
2) Emotional Stability-Instability
Big Five Factors
- Robert McCrae & Paul Costa
1) Conscientiousness: Level of organization, care, discipline
2) Agreeableness: Helpfulness and trustworthiness
3) Neuroticism: Emotional stability vs. instability
4) Openness: Independent, likes variety, imaginative
5) Extraversion: Sociable, fun-loving, affectionate
Trait stability
- Personality changes thru late childhood and adolescence
- Maturity Principle
Trait heritability
- 40% for each dimension
Traits and culture
- All 5 common to all human groups
Social-Cognitive Theory
Albert Bandura
- Behavior influenced by interaction of people’s traits and social context
- Learn thru imitation
- What we think about a situation affects our behavior
Reciprocal Determinism
- Interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition and the environment
Individual and Environment Interaction
- Choose your environment based on disposition
- Personalities shape how we interpret events
- Gene/environment interaction
Locus of Control
- The degree to which people believe that they have control over the outcome of events in
their lives as opposed to external factors.
Learned Helplessness
- A condition where a person suffers from a sense of powerlessness, arising from a traumatic
event or persistent failure to succeed
Evaluation of Social-Cognitive Theories
- Builds from research on learning and cognition
- Fails to appreciate people’s inner traits
o Biologically influenced traits matter
Identity
The “Self”
- Center of personality
- Organizer of thoughts, feelings and actions
Spotlight Effect
- Overestimating others’ noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance and errors
Self Esteem
- Feeling of self-worth
- High self esteem
o Less shy, anxious, lonely
o Happier
- Low self esteem
o Oversensitive
o Judgmental
- 2 types of self-esteem:
1) Defensive self esteem
o Focuses on sustaining self
o Makes criticism threatening
o Responds to criticism with anger
2) Secure self esteem
o Feel accepted for self
o Don’t focus on looks or wealth
o Involved in relationships and purposes greater than oneself
Self-Efficacy
- Sense of competence and effectiveness on a task
- Academics often used as measurement
Costs of Self Esteem
- Excessive Optimism
o Person doesn’t have realistic anxiety
o Want to be hopeful, need to be realistic
- Blindness to incompetence
o Dunning-Kruger Effect: Ignorance of one’s incompetence can lead to overconfidence
amongst political leaders.
- Self-serving bias
o Perceive self favorably
o Accept responsibility for good more so than bad
o Do this to maintain positive self view
- Narcissism
Social Psychology
The scientific study of how we think about, influence and relate to one another
- Why do we act the way we do?
- Why does the same person act differently in different situations?
Attributions
Attribution Theory
- Fritz Heider, 1858
- We explain their behavior by crediting either the situation or the person’s disposition
Fundamental Attribution Error
- We underestimate situation and overestimate disposition
Factors that affect attributions
- Culture
o Westerners Personal traits
o East Asian Collective situations
Attitudes and Actions
Attitude
- Feelings influence by beliefs that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects,
people and events
Peripheral Route Persuasion
- Influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker’s attractiveness
Central RP
- Focus on arguments and respond with favorable thoughts
