PSY 2301 Lecture 12: Notes 12
Chapter 13: PERSONALITY
I. DEFINITIONS
1. Consistency - All individuals tend to behave, think, and feel in certain ways that is fairly
consistent across time and situation. While some things change, other things remain very
stable.
2. Personality - Personality is generally defined as an individual's unique and relatively stable
patterns of behavior, thoughts, and feelings.
3. Behavioral Position - A strict behaviorist would argue against the existence of personality.
They argue that behavior is determined by the situation you are in and consistency in behavior
can be explained by consistency of situation.
4. Personality and Situations - Most psychologists would argue that there is an interaction
between personality traits and situations. Cheating for example. Would you cheat if you were in
the right situation and you knew you wouldn't get caught?
II. FREUD'S THEORY OF PERSONALITY
1. Level's of Consciousness - Freud viewed what we were aware of at any time (conscious
level) as only the tip of the iceberg. Beneath this level was the vast majority of our
consciousness. The preconscious is just below the conscious level. This contains memories
and stored knowledge which we are not immediately aware of but which we can retrieve at any
time. Beneath the preconscious and forming the largest portion of the human mind is the
unconscious. These are thoughts, desires, and impulses of which we are not aware. Even
though we are not aware of these, Freud saw these as controlling our behavior and it is the goal
of psychoanalysis to get at these unconscious factors.
2. Three Components of Personality
(a) Id: Present at birth. Operates on the pleasure principle. It is there to serve your instincts and
it wants immediate gratification.
